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SECTION TWO - THE ASPIRANT AND THE MAJOR INITIATIONS - Part 7

It will be clear to you, therefore, why this fourth initiation is ruled or governed by the fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict.  The harmonising of the lower centres with the higher, the harmonising or establishing of right relations between the three worlds of human evolution and the buddhic plane, the rapport gradually being brought about by each succeeding initiation, between humanity and the Hierarchy, plus the service of establishing right human relations among men—these are some of the results which you even now grasp theoretically; these you will also grasp practically and substantially one day in your own experience.  It is with this ray energy that the initiate works as he makes the Great Renunciation and is transferred thereby to the Cardinal Cross of the Heavens.  This is the energy which enables him to live in the Eternal Now and to renounce the bindings of time.  Through the entire experience he fights against that which is material; under the law of our planet (and, if you only knew, under the law of our solar system) nothing is achieved except by struggle and conflict—struggle and conflict associated on our planet with pain and suffering but which, after this fourth initiation, is devoid of suffering.  A hint as to the purpose for which our little planet exists and its unique position in the scheme of things can here be noted.

As I mentioned earlier, the initiate now works from "above downwards."  This is only a symbolic mode of speech.  Like his great Master, the Christ, when he seeks to serve humanity he "descends into hell" which is the hell of materialism and of physical plane life, and there labours for the furtherance of the Plan.  We read in the Christian [702] teaching that "Christ descended into hell and taught the spirits which are in prison" for three days.  This means that He worked with humanity in the three worlds (for time and the process of events are regarded by philosophers as synonymous in meaning) for a brief period of time, but was called (on account of His unique task of embodying for the first time in world history the love principle of divinity) to be the Head of the Hierarchy.

The same concept of working in the three worlds of physical plane existence (in the cosmic sense) is embodied for us in the phrase found in the New Testament that "the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom."  This is the Veil which, symbolically speaking, divides or shuts off humanity from participation in the kingdom of God.  This was rent by the Christ—an unique service which He rendered both to humanity and to the spiritual Hierarchy; He made it easier for a much quicker communication to be set up between those two great centres of divine life.

I would ask you to ponder this Initiation of Renunciation, remembering ever in your daily life that this process of renunciation, entailing the crucifixion of the lower self, is only made possible by the practice of detachment every day.  The word "detachment" is only the Eastern term for our word "renunciation."  That is the practical use of such information which I have here given to you.  I would ask you also (curious as it may seem) to get used to crucifixion, if you care to use that word; to permit yourself to get accustomed to suffering with detachment, knowing that the soul suffers not at all, and that there is no pain or agony for the Master Who has attained liberation.  The Masters have each and all renounced that which is material; They have been lifted out of the three worlds by Their Own effort; They have detached Themselves from all hindrances; They have left hell behind and the term "spirits that are in prison" no longer applies to Them.  This They have done for no selfish purpose.  In the early days of the Probationary Path, selfish aspiration is foremost in the consciousness [703] of the aspirant; however, as he treads the path, and likewise the Path of Discipleship, he leaves all such motives behind (a minor renunciation) and his one aim, in seeking liberation and freedom from the three worlds, is to aid and help humanity.  This dedication to service is the mark of the Hierarchy.

You can see, therefore, how the Buddha prepared the way for the Initiation of Renunciation or of Crucifixion by His teaching and His emphasis upon detachment.  Think on these things and study the great continuity of effort and cooperation which distinguishes the Members of the spiritual Hierarchy.  My prayer and wish is that your goal may be clear to your vision and that the "strength of your heart" may be adequate to the undertaking.

Initiation V.  The Revelation

As we undertake the consideration of the next initiation, you will find that three factors will emerge in a new light in your consciousness.  That they are factors related to past experiences, and yet which have reference to experiences which lie far ahead of you upon the Path, will also be inferred from what I say; these will not necessarily meet with your real understanding.  These factors are:

The factor of Blindness, leading to revelation.

The factor of the Will, producing synthesis.

The factor of the Purpose, externalising itself through the Plan.

These are all implicit in this new initiatory experience, but they should be approached by you with as much use of the intuition as you can employ; your effort will have to be that you endeavour to think as if you had taken the higher initiations.  You have to bear in mind that each initiation enables the initiate to "see ahead" a little further, for revelation is always a constant factor in human experience.  The whole of life is revelation; the evolutionary process is, in relation to consciousness, a process of leading the blind out of darkened areas of consciousness into greater light, and therefore into a vaster vision.

[704]

As you know, this particular initiation has been called the "Resurrection" by the Christian world, emphasising that aspect in the experience of the initiate which leads to revelation; i.e., his "rising out of the ocean of matter into the clear light of day."  The thought of revelation can be seen also in the Christian teaching anent the "Ascension"—an initiation which has no factual existence and should not be called an initiation.  You have, therefore, the following sequence, connected with the fourth and fifth initiations:

1. Renunciation, producing crucifixion and leading to

2. Ascension, or a complete "rising out of," or "mounting higher," leading to

3. Revelation, giving vision, the reward of the two above stages.

Christian theologians have made three distinct episodes out of these two initiations, but this has in no way mattered (as the initiate in the West soon learns); he now knows that the whole series of initiations, with their causes, their effects and their resultant intentions are only a sequence of processes, leading from the one to the other.  A corresponding sequence can be seen in the unfoldment of the consciousness of the human being from infancy to full maturity; each unfoldment is part of a series of revelations, as his vision of life and his capacity to experience develops.  This is true of all men from the most primitive to the advanced initiate, the difference consisting in that which each brings to the experience as the result of past effort, his point in consciousness and the quality of the vehicles through which that consciousness is developing.  With the initiate-disciple this is also the case; he enters consciously into each experience; they are integral parts of his intention.

Having renounced the three worlds, and having returned—back from a contact of great importance and interest—to those three worlds and with all that is familiar in them, the initiate suddenly realises that he has indeed been liberated, that he is indeed free, that he has been raised out of darkness and is now free in a new world of experiences.  [705] He knows that he has climbed to the mountain-top or has "ascended" to the buddhic plane, from which plane he must permanently work and not just occasionally, as has been the method hitherto.

He can work through a physical body (with its subtler sheaths) or not, as he sees fit.  He realises that he, as an individual, no longer needs a physical body or an astral consciousness, and that the mind is only a service instrument.  The body in which he now functions is a body of light which has its own type of substance.  The Master, however, can build a body through which He can approach His incoming disciples and those who have not taken the higher initiations; He will normally build this body in semblance of the human form, doing so instantaneously and by an act of the will, when required.  The majority of the Masters who are definitely working with humanity either preserve the old body in which They took the fifth initiation or else They build the "mayavirupa" or body of maya, of physical substance.  This body will appear in the original form in which They took initiation.  This I personally did in reference to the first case; i.e., preserving the body in which I took initiation.  This the Master K.H. did in creating a body which was made in the form in which He took the fifth initiation.

It may interest you to know that the Christ has not yet decided what type of physical vehicle He will employ should He take physical form and work definitely upon the physical plane.  He waits to see what nation or group of nations do the most work, and the most convincing work, in preparation for His reappearance.  He will not, however, take a Jewish body as He did before, for the Jews have forfeited that privilege.  The Messiah for Whom they wait will be one of Christ's senior disciples, but it will not be, as originally intended, the Christ.  Symbolically, the Jews represent (from the point of view of the Hierarchy) that from which all Masters of the Wisdom and Lords of Compassion emerge:  materialism, cruelty and a spiritual conservatism, so that today they live in Old Testament times and are [706] under the domination of the separative, selfish, lower concrete mind.

But their opportunity will come again, and they may change all this when the fires of suffering at last succeed in purifying them and burning away their ancient crystallisation, thus liberating them to the extent that they can recognise their Messiah, Who will not, however, be the world Messiah.  The Jews need humility more than any other nation.  By humility they may learn something of value as well as a needed sense of proportion.  They are dear to the heart of the Christ for—in the performance of His greatest work—He chose a Jewish body, but their materialism and their repudiation of spiritual opportunity has negated His use of their racial type again.  It would provide too great a handicap.  The probability is that the Master Jesus will assume (under instruction from the Christ) the part of the Messiah.

The Master, standing symbolically upon the Mount of Ascension, is equipped with a full realisation of the past, with a sound appreciation of what He has to offer to the service of humanity, and with a sense of expectancy.  During the preceding cycle of lives of initiatory service to humanity, He has several times heard "the Voice of the Father."  This is a symbolical phrase, indicating contact with that aspect of himself which was responsible for the appearance of his soul and for its long long cycle of incarnation:  the Monad, the Spirit, the One, the Life, the Father.  Each time that that Voice spoke, it gave him recognition.  It is in reality the voice of the Initiator in Whom we live and move and have our being.  All of the Master's previous visions have led Him to this high point of expectancy; He knows now where His field of service lies—within the Hierarchy, working on behalf of all living beings.  He knows also that He Himself has still to make progress, to move forward, and that there faces Him a great Initiation of Decision (the sixth) for which He must prepare.  He knows that this entails for Him right choice, but also that right choice depends upon right understanding, right perception, right willingness and [707] right vision or revelation.  So He stands again upon the mountain-top, awaiting again the Presence.  He realises that something more is needed if He is to serve rightly and, simultaneously, make spiritual progress Himself.

It is not possible for me here to indicate the nature of the revelation which is accorded to the initiate of the fifth initiation.  It is too closely related to Shamballa, and I have not myself done more this life than take the fifth initiation and climb the Mount of Ascension.  The revelation for me is not completed and—in any case—my lips are sealed.  I can, however, take up two points with you which may clarify your vision.  I would remind you again that what I am here writing in this last volume of A Treatise on the Seven Rays is written for disciples and initiates.  Disciples will see some of the significances behind the symbol and will make interpretations according to the point they have attained upon the Path.  You need to remember that the world of men today is full of those who have taken one or other of the initiations and that there are great disciples, from all the rays, working on the physical plane as senior workers for humanity under the Hierarchy; there will be many more during the next one hundred years.  (Written in 1949.)  Some of these do not know their particular hierarchical status in their physical brains, having deliberately relinquished this knowledge in order to do certain work.  That which I here write is intended—during the next forty years—to find its way into their hands with the deliberate intent of bringing to the surface of their brain consciousness who and what they are in truth.  This is a part of the programme planned by the Hierarchy, prior to the externalisation of the Ashrams.  The Masters feel that these senior disciples and initiates (being on the spot) should soon begin to work with more authority.  This does not mean that they will assert their spiritual identity and claim initiate status.  This they could not do on account of their point on the ladder of spiritual evolution.  But—knowing who they are from the angle of the Hierarchy and what is expected of them—they will strengthen their work, bring [708] in more energy, and point the way with greater clarity.  Their wisdom will be recognised as well as their compassion, but they themselves will recede into the background; they may even appear to be less active outwardly, and so be misjudged, but their spiritual influence will be growing; they care not what others think about them.  They recognise also the mistaken views of all the modern religions anent the Christ; some may even be persecuted in their homes or by those they seek to help.  None of this will matter to them.  Their way is clear and their term of service is known to them.

The two points with which I shall now deal are as follows:

1. The part which energy plays in inducing revelation.

2. The place the Will plays in the revelatory sequence:  Revelation.  Interpretation.  Intention.  Will.

These must be looked at from the angle of discipleship and are not to be considered on their face value or in the ordinary manner.  They must be approached from the angle of the world of meaning and, if possible, from the world of significances; otherwise, the teaching will be so exoteric that its occult nature will not appear.

The Part which Energy plays in inducing Revelation

You will get a hint as to what I have to say if you will refer back to an earlier statement (page 534).  There you will find the inference that three energies are necessary for the initiate to employ if he seeks revelation; no matter what the revelation may be or the status of the disciple or the initiation he faces, these same three energies will be brought into play.  They are:

a. The energy generated by the disciple. 

b. The energy coming from the Spiritual Triad. 

c. The energy of the Ashram with which he is affiliated.

These are the three essential energies and without their synthesis in the disciple's mind or in one of the three [709] higher centres, there can be no true revelation of the higher order or related to the processes of initiation.

In connection with the energy generated by the disciple, it will be obvious that this will include the energy of the soul ray, until the fifth initiation when it will be superseded by the energy of the Monad.  This will reach him, first of all, as the energy of the Spiritual Triad, and later that (in its turn) will be superseded by the direct energy of the Monad itself; the initiate will then know practically (and not just theoretically) what Christ meant when He said, "I and my Father are one."

In the earlier stages on the Path of Discipleship, the disciple works with that measure of the energy of his soul ray to which he can be receptive, plus as much of the energy of the personality ray as is responsive to that soul energy.  In doing this a great measure of discrimination can be developed, and it is one of the first places where the value of the injunction, "Know thyself" can be seen.  The nature of the soul ray at this time determines the nature of the revelation; the nature of the personality and its ray is, at the same time, either helpful or a hindrance.

To the energies which he has generated within himself the disciple learns to add that of the group which he has attempted to serve with love and understanding.  All disciples of any standing gather around them the few or the many that they have found themselves able to aid; the purity of the energy generated by this group depends upon their selflessness, their freedom from authority or the control of the disciple, and the quality of their spiritual aspiration.  As the disciple or the Master has helped them to generate this energy, and as all will necessarily synchronise with his, it becomes available as a pure stream of force, flowing through him at all times.  This he can learn to focus and incorporate with his own energy (also focussed) in order to prepare himself for further vision, provided always that his motive is likewise selfless.

The second group of energies are those coming to the disciple from the Spiritual Triad.  These are relatively new [710] to him and embody divine qualities of which he has hitherto known nothing; even theoretically he knows little, and his attitude towards them has hitherto been largely speculative.  Since he first put his foot upon the Path, he has been trying to build the antahkarana.  Even that has meant for him an act of faith, and he proceeds in the early stages with the work of building, yet scarcely knowing what he does.  He follows blindly the ancient rules and attempts to accept as factual that which has not been proven to him to be a fact but which is testified to by countless thousands down the ages.  The whole process is in the nature of a culminating triumph of that innate sense of Deity which has driven man forward from the most primitive experiences and physical adventures to this great adventure of constructing a pathway for himself from the dense material world into the spiritual.  These higher spiritual energies have hitherto been recognised by him through their effects; now he has to learn to handle them, first of all, by letting them pour into and through him, via the antahkarana, and then to direct them towards the immediate objective of the divine plan.

Hitherto he has worked primarily with the thread of consciousness; this is anchored in the head, and through that consciousness his personality and his soul are linked together until he has become a soul-infused personality; he has then attained unity with his higher self.  Through the building of the antahkarana another thread is added to the soul-infused personality, and the true spiritual individual is linked with and comes under the direction of the Spiritual Triad.  At the fourth initiation the soul body, the causal body (so called) disappears, and the thread of consciousness is occultly snapped; neither the soul body nor the thread are any longer required; they become now only the symbols of a non-existent duality.  The soul is no longer the repository of the consciousness aspect as hitherto.  All that the soul has stored up of knowledge, science, wisdom and experience (garnered in the life cycle of many aeons of incarnation) are now the sole possession of the individual [711] spiritual man.  He transfers them into the higher correspondence of the sensory perceptive apparatus, the instinctual nature, on the three planes of the three worlds.

Nevertheless he still possesses awareness of all past events and knows now why he is what he is; much of the information anent the past he discards; it has served its purpose, leaving him with the residue of experienced wisdom.  His life takes on a new colouring, totally unrelated to the three worlds of his past experience.  He, the sum total of that past, faces new spiritual adventures, and has now to tread the Path which leads him away from normal human evolution on to the Way of the Higher Evolution.  This new experience he is well equipped to face.

Three major energies begin to make an impact upon his lower mind.  They are:

1. The impulsive energy of ideas, coming to him from the abstract mind and travelling along the antahkarana; these make contact with his now illumined lower mind which, at this point, transforms them into ideals so that the divine ideas—implementing the divine purpose—may become the heritage of the race of men.  The better trained and the more controlled the mind, the easier it will be to handle this type of energy.  It is by means of this impulsive energy that the Hierarchy (upon the buddhic plane) leads humanity onwards.

2. The energy of the intuition, which is the word we use to describe a direct contact with the Mind of God at some relatively high level of experience.  The effect of this energy upon the soul-infused personality is to give to the mind (already receptive to the energy of ideas) some faint glimmering and brief revelation of the purpose of the ideas which underlie all hierarchical activity on behalf of humanity.  The intuition is entirely concerned with group activity; it is never interested in or directed to the revelation of anything concerned with the personality life.  The growth of what we might call the buddhic vehicle (though that is a misnomer) prepares the man for the ninth or the final initiation, which enables the initiate—in a manner incomprehensible [712] to us—to "intuit" (in a blazing light) the true nature of the cosmic astral plane.  Forget not, the buddhic plane is closely allied with the cosmic astral plane, and that all intuitions when regulated require the use of the creative imagination in their working out or in their presentation to the thoughts of men.  Speaking generally, the Masters intuit those phases of the divine intention which are immediate; these constitute the "overshadowing cloud of knowable things."  These They transform into the Plan; then Their disciples—with their intuitional capacity developing slowly but steadily—begin themselves to intuit these ideas, to present them as ideals to the masses, and thus precipitate the needed aspects of the Plan on to the physical plane.

3. The dynamic energy of the will follows next, and (as the disciple perfects the antahkarana) it sweeps through the medium of contact into the mind of the soul-infused personality, and from thence it finds its way to the brain.  I am of course referring here to the disciple in training and not to the Masters Themselves Who work at the centre of these energies; the Hierarchy is a great reception point for these three aspects of the Spiritual Triad—the spiritual will, the intuition or pure reason, and the abstract mind.

It is in the Ashrams of the Masters that the disciple comes into direct relation with these dynamic, revealing and impulsive energies.  These three energies focus through and are directed by the three Heads of the Hierarchy: the Manu, the Christ, and the Mahachohan.  The Manu is receptive to, and the agent of, the energy of the divine will for humanity; the Christ is the agent for the distribution of the energy which brings intuitive revelation; the Mahachohan is responsible for the inflow of ideas into the consciousness of the disciple, the aspirant and the intelligentsia.  I would beg you to remember that the main effort of the spiritual Hierarchy is on behalf of humanity, because the fourth Kingdom in Nature is the Macrocosm of the three-fold Microcosm of the three lower kingdoms in nature.

This whole subject is too vast to be entered into here, [713] but I have given you much along these lines in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire.  Much more than I can possibly give you is revealed to the initiate at the time of the fifth initiation.  The clues, the thoughts, the abstract concepts, the fleeting ideas of which all disciples are aware are at this initiation resolved into certainty, and the Master can now take His place as a distributor of Triadal energy.  The major problem confronting Him is not the distribution of ideas or the use of the intuition in grasping the stage of the divine Purpose at any particular time; it consists in the development of the spiritual will, in its comprehension and its use in world service.  Just as the disciple has to learn to use the mind in two ways:

As a common sense, a resolver of information so that a life pattern and a life service, planned and directed, may eventuate, and a perception of relationships.

As a searchlight, bringing into the light those ideas and intuitions which are needed,

so the Master has to learn the uses of the will.  A natural sequence can be seen closely related to the idea of revelation.

On the mountain-top of Ascension, following the experience of "teaching the spirits which are in prison," the Master receives a revelation; this is His right and due and something for which the long previous cycle of initiation has prepared Him.  The revelation must be followed by realisation and recognition:

1. He realises that the right interpretation of the revelation is the first essential.

2. He then comes to the understanding that the next step is for Him to formulate His intention, based upon the revelation and directed towards His world service. 

3. Having received the revelation, interpreted it and determined within Himself what He intends to do, He next realises that the factor of the will must now be employed if He and those He seeks to help are to profit by the revelation.

[714]

This opens up the whole subject of the Will, its nature and relationships and this we must study for a while: the sequence of Revelation.  Interpretation.  Intention.  Will.

The Place that the Will plays in inducing Revelation

There are three words connected with this initiation which are of real importance to its correct understanding.  They are:  Emergence.  Will.  Purpose.  With the emergence aspect we have already dealt under the term "raising up" or the "transition" from the darkness of matter to the light of the Spirit.  But of the Will, its uses and its function, as yet we know little.  Knowledge as to the nature of the will in any true sense only comes after the third initiation.  From that time on the initiate demonstrates increasingly and steadily the first divine aspect, that of the Will and the right use of Power.  This first aspect of divinity is necessarily closely associated with the first Ray of Power or Will.  I shall, however, only consider the ray angle incidentally, for I want to elucidate for you the nature of the will in some clear measure, though complete understanding is not possible.

The Lord of the World is, we are told, the sole repository of the will and the purpose of His overshadowing, cosmic soul.  These two words—will and purpose—are not identical in meaning.  Sanat Kumara and His Council at Shamballa are the only Beings upon our planet Who know just what is the nature of the divine purpose.  It is Their function and obligation to work that purpose out into manifestation, and this They do by the use of the will.  The will ever implements the purpose.  The repository of the will aspect of man's innate divinity is to be found at the base of the spine; this can only function correctly and be the agent of the divine will after the third initiation.  The head centre is the one which is the custodian of the purpose; the centre at the base of the spine indicates the will as it implements the purpose.  The purpose is slowly, very slowly, revealed to the initiate during the final five [715] initiations and this only becomes possible after the Initiation of Renunciation.  At that time the initiate says, in unison with the great head of the Hierarchy, the Christ:  "Father, not my will but Thine be done."  Then comes the initiation of emergence out of matter and, from that point on, the initiate begins to glimpse the purpose of the planetary Logos; hitherto he has only seen the plan, and to the service of the plan he has been dedicated.  Hitherto also, he has only sought to be an exponent of the love of God; now he must express, with increasing fullness, the will of God.

Earlier in these pages (Page 410) we are told that the problem which confronts the Hierarchy as it seeks to prepare disciples for the successive initiations is the right use of the will, both Their Own use of the will in relation to the initiate, and the initiate's use of the will as he works for the Plan as that Plan implements Purpose.  To produce this, a direct, understanding and powerful expression of this first aspect is demanded.  There are several reasons why the will presents a problem.  Let us list a few of them and thereby get understanding.

1. This energy of the will is the most potent energy in the whole scheme of planetary existence.  It is called the "Shamballa Force," and it is that which holds all things together in life.  It is, in reality, life itself.  This life force or divine will (implementing divine intention) is that by means of which Sanat Kumara arrives at His goal.  On a tiny scale, it is the use of one of the lowest aspects of the will (human self-will) which enables a man to carry out his plans and attain his fixed purpose—if he has one.  Where the will is lacking, the plan dies out and the purpose is not achieved.  Even in relation to self-will, it is veritably the "life of the project."  The moment Sanat Kumara has attained His planetary purpose, He will withdraw this potent energy, and (in this withdrawing) destruction will set in.  This Shamballa force is steadily held in leash for fear of too great an impact upon the unprepared kingdoms in nature.  This has reference to its impact also upon humanity.

[716]

You have been told that this force has—during this century—made its first direct impact upon humanity; heretofore, it reached mankind in the three worlds after being stepped down and modified by transit through the great planetary centre to which we give the name of the Hierarchy.  This direct impact will again take place in 1975, and also in the year 2000, but the risks will then not be so great as in the first impact, owing to the spiritual growth of mankind.  Each time this energy strikes into the human consciousness some fuller aspect of the divine plan appears.  It is the energy which brings about synthesis, which holds all things within the circle of the divine love.  Since its impact during the past few years, human thinking has been more concerned with the production of unity and the attainment of synthesis in all human relations than ever before, and one result of this energy has been the forming of the United Nations.

2. It will be apparent to you, therefore, that this energy is the agent for the revelation of the divine purpose.  It may surprise you that this is regarded as presenting a problem to the Hierarchy, but if this power—impersonal and potent—should fall into the hands of the Black Lodge, the results would be disastrous indeed.  Most of the members of this centre of cosmic evil are upon the first ray itself, and some of the divine purpose is known to a few of them, for—in their due place and in the initiatory regime—they too are initiates of high degree, but dedicated to selfishness and separativeness.  Their particular form of selfishness is far worse than anything which you can imagine, because they are completely detached and divorced from all contact with the energy to which we give the name of love.  They have cut themselves off from the spiritual Hierarchy, through Whom the love of the planetary Logos reaches the forms in the three worlds and all that is contained therein.  These evil but powerful beings know well the uses of the will, but only in its destructive aspect.

We have spoken much of the purpose of the planetary Logos.  When I use the word "purpose" I am indicating the [717] answer to the question:  Why did the planetary Logos create this world and start the evolutionary, creative process?  Only one answer has as yet been permitted to be given.  Sanat Kumara has created this planet and all that moves and lives therein in order to bring about a planetary synthesis and an integrated system whereby a tremendous solar revelation can be seen.  Having said that, we have not really penetrated any distance into the meaning of the divine purpose; we have only indicated the method whereby it is being attained, but the true objective remains still an obscure mystery—guarded rigidly in the Council Chamber of Sanat Kumara.  It is this mystery and this divine planetary "secret" which is the goal of all the work being done by the Black Lodge.  They are not yet sure of the purpose, and all their efforts are directed to the discovery of the nature of the mystery.  Hence the hierarchical problem.

3. It is this energy of the will, rightly focussed, that enables the senior Members of the Hierarchy to implement that purpose.  Only initiates of a certain standing can receive this energy, focus it within the Hierarchy, and then direct its potency to certain ends known only to Them.  Speaking symbolically, the Hierarchy has within it, under the custody of its most advanced Members, what might be called a "reservoir of divine intention."  It is the higher correspondence of that to which Patanjali refers under the words, "the raincloud of knowable things" which hovers over the head of all disciples who can see somewhat in the Light.  Just as advanced humanity can precipitate the rain of knowledge from this cloud of knowable things (the divine ideas, working out as intuitions in all the many areas of human thinking), so the lesser initiates and disciples within the Hierarchy can begin to precipitate into their consciousness some of this "divine intention."  It is this reservoir of power which embodies some of the Purpose and implements the Plan.  One of the problems of the Hierarchy is, therefore, right timing in the revelation of divine intention and in the direction of the thinking and the planning done in Their Ashrams by the recipients:  initiates and disciples. [718] Again we come back to the same necessity for right interpretation of the revelation or of the vision.

4. The problem is also one that each Master has to face in connection with His Own spiritual development, for this energy is the needed dynamic or potency which enables Him to tread the Way of the Higher Evolution.  On the way to liberation and in treading the Path of Discipleship and the Path of Initiation, the human being has to use the dynamic or the potency of the Love of God; on the Way of the Higher Evolution, it must be the dynamic and the potency of Will.

I would ask you all, therefore, to ponder on the distinction which exists between:

1. Self-will......................2.  Determination

3. Fixity of purpose.........4.  The will

5. The spiritual will..........6.  The divine will

I shall not attempt to discuss these words with you.  They each indicate a certain aspect of the will; you will learn more on this point by doing your own thinking and defining.

All that I can hope and pray is that your individual will can be merged into the divine will, that revelation will be increasingly yours, and that you will with increased steadfastness tread the Path from darkness to light and from death to immortality.

Initiation VI.  The Decision

We have been studying along three lines which, in spite of the unavoidable abstruseness of the subject, have meant much to the earnest individual disciple because the words used to express the initiations concerned have been:  Renunciation.  Ascension.  Revelation.  All these convey practical and useful concepts to the mind, and yet—at the same time—their true meaning involves a detachment, a divine indifference and the spiritual perception of which no disciple has had more than a glimpse and a dim sensing of possibility.  I then lifted these three ideas on to wider levels and endeavoured to show how the crises through which humanity is today passing and will continue to pass [719] during the next fifty years (though with lessening effects of discomfort, if right attitude is assumed) can also be related to these three words.  I do not wish you to infer that mankind is, in fact, undergoing these initiatory experiences.  The renunciation is being imposed by circumstances and is not a free undertaking; the moving onward is the result of a somewhat inchoate and uncontrolled momentum and is not the effort of a liberated soul.  The revelation which is to come will be the result of hierarchical activity, focussed through the Christ, though not presented by His coming; it will come as a result of His work and hierarchical activity.

All these initiations have their lower correspondences, and the one we are to consider at this time is no exception; all of them can appeal to the aspirant as embodying for him some immediate goal, but the concept is only preparatory in its nature; this can be illustrated by pointing out that the Great Renunciation becomes possible because, for many lives, the disciple has learnt to renounce and—when treading the Path of Initiation—to renounce consciously and with a formulated purpose.  In the same manner, the sixth Initiation of Decision also becomes possible because the initiate has, since his affiliation with the Hierarchy, learnt to make right choice, and his ability to do that emerges out of his effort whilst on the Probationary Path and on the earlier stages of the Path of Discipleship to make correct choices and spiritually motivated decisions.  I am pointing this out because, as we now begin to study the final four initiations (which are far beyond the understanding of even the advanced disciple), it will not be waste of time; in spite of a lack of true comprehension, qualities and attributes and certain needed lessons will be indicated to the true aspirant, and these he can now begin to develop.

I would like first of all to point out that the sixth initiation is to the Master Who stands before the planetary Logos what the second initiation is to the disciple; the fifth Initiation of Revelation and the sixth Initiation of Decision are the higher correspondences to the first two initiations which are regarded by the Lodge on Sirius as initiations of the [720] Threshold.  Have this carefully in mind.  Much earlier in this treatise (page 361) I made the comment that the second initiation with its evidenced control of desire (indicating right choice) was "the threshold...to those levels of impression, of contact and of future ascension which are the sevenfold goal set before the Master when the sixth initiation (the true ascension) is consummated.  It is for this reason that this initiation is called the Initiation of Decision."

This is a point of real interest and of practical value; it reveals in a new sense and quite definitely that all happenings on our planet are in truth simply preparatory to other much greater events and opportunities.  They put the Master or the Chohan (we seem to have no word to express the type of consciousness of the initiate who has taken the five initiations of strictly human evolution) in a position where at each initiation He expresses the sum total of all past attainment.  His entire past is involved in what He demonstrates.  This is not consciously so.  All that He is or knows has dropped below the threshold of consciousness, in the same way that the instinctual nature of man is today automatic and spontaneous and not consciously used.  In spite of this subjective activity, men are nevertheless in full possession of a definite part of their equipment.  So it is with the Master; all that He has been in the spiritual sense and in wisdom, perception and full comprehension is now instinctual, and the powers, knowledges, attributes involved are instantaneously His without effort or conscious activity.  He can depend fully upon what He is and has, and—as a result of initiation—He is free from the questionings, the doubts and the uncertainties which are so distinctive of the disciple.

Earlier (page 396) I pointed out that the Masters, at the sixth Initiation of Decision, face realms of service where They will have to "impart, strengthen and enlighten that which is already fused, already strong, and already full of light but which needs that which They bring in order to express the all-encompassing Whole."  This is, of course, a mysterious and rather paradoxical statement, but [721] a certain measure of light can be thrown upon it if it is remembered that this sixth initiation is related, in a peculiar way, to Path VI.  This is the Path upon which our planetary Logos is found.  This Path is necessarily related to the sixth Ray of Devotion or Idealism, and also to the sixth plane, the astral plane—the plane of glamour and of desire.  I would have you bear these relationships in mind, but I would have you also remember that at this Initiation of Decision the Master can move forward on any one of the seven Paths which He may decide is, for Him, the field of His future service.  This expression of His choice is, as you know, not dependent upon His ray energy or upon what might be the impelling force of the planetary rays; i.e., that of the planet itself (the personality ray of the planetary Logos) or upon the soul ray of Sanat Kumara.  It is not for me to tell you whether this dominating ray is His soul ray or the monadic or universal ray.

It is of interest to have in mind also that at this sixth initiation a great moment of basically historic interest occurs.  All the Masters Who are initiates of the sixth degree meet in conclave and together, and before making Their final decision (which will probably remove Them from the Path of Earth Service), decide what measures They propose the Hierarchy should take which will drastically and permanently affect the planet on which They have lived and for which They have worked.  You will notice that I have here called Them "initiates of the sixth degree," bringing to your minds the fact that before a man takes an initiation of any degree, He is already an initiate of that degree.  They in Their totality—at any given time—are the group which makes final decision anent human affairs.  It was a decision made by this group of initiates during the ancient Atlantean civilisation which brought it to an end; the decision which They will make now will produce great changes in our modern civilisation.  The Masters, however, do not "take this initiation" whenever They are ready to "make decision."  The opportunity comes to the Hierarchy every forty-nine years, and the year 1952 will see a group of these [722] higher initiates choose the Path of Their future livingness and Being, but They will do so only after setting in motion certain energy forces which will creatively change matters on Earth.  They thereby prove two things:  Their grasp of world need and Their recognition of man's freewill to make decision.  The last initiation of this kind was therefore held in 1903.  Those prepared to pass through this initiation were faced with the fact of the emerging forces of cosmic evil; They had then to decide in what manner They should bring aid to humanity and what situation They should bring about so that mankind would be forced to recognise conditions and also make free choice and decision.  What They decided to do led to the world war, to a demonstrated cleavage between right and wrong, between imprisonment and freedom, and which, in 1952 will lead to a decision—the outcome of which is hidden in the consciousness of Those Who will at that time, make it.  (Written in 1949.)

At this sixth initiation the Masters Who participate in it no longer come under the jurisdiction of the Hierarchy.  They have moved out from under it.  Their long connection with the Hierarchy is translated to a higher centre and is transferred to Shamballa, unless (as in the case of the Christ) They choose the Path of Earth Service and return to work with the evolutions upon our planet; there are many such evolutions and several kingdoms in nature besides the human, including the deva or angel evolution.

The sixth Initiation of Decision is preparatory to the true Initiation of the Resurrection, the seventh initiation.  This can only be undergone when the will of the Master is completely merged in that of the planetary Logos.  Between the sixth and the seventh initiations "an interim of divine fusion" takes place; an elementary and somewhat distorted picture of this critical fusion is given to us in The New Testament, where we read of the experience of the Christ in the garden of Gethsemane.  There again—as in the fourth Initiation of Renunciation—the human element of suffering is emphasised, whereas in the true symbolical "garden" between the sixth and the seventh initiations there is no [723] aspect of suffering.  Suffering and pain enter not into the consciousness of the Master.  Where it says in The New Testament that, "angels came and ministered unto" the Christ, the correct implication is that Those Who dwell and work in Shamballa use this period to instruct the initiate who has made his decision through an expression of his divine nature and in the significance of the divine purpose; this concerns the relation of our planetary Logos to the solar system, and decision is made through the development of that higher sensitivity which leads inevitably to cosmic perception.  We have no adequate word for this quality or type of sensitivity, for it is not something which we can consciously understand, nor is it a form of conscious reaction; neither is it awareness as we use that term.  It has been occultly defined as something akin to "immersion in a realised state of Being," because the initiate is a conscious aspect of that of which he forms an integral part.  By means of this statement you will see how impossible it is for me to explain certain things, to make clear certain unknown types of consciousness or to indicate areas of perception which lie beyond the ken even of a Master.

Revelation is a progressive matter.  Disciples are not really able to understand the extensive significances of the third initiation, for instance; in like manner, even high initiates fail to comprehend that which lies plainly before Them.  Disciples can, however, dimly sense the nature of the Transfiguration which characterises them, from the hierarchical point of view, and Masters can also dimly sense the nature of the decision with which They are faced.  It is this preparatory sensitivity in the disciple which produces true perception at all the various initiatory stages.  This is a statement of major importance and links sensitivity, its interpretation and control, with the everyday life of the ordinary disciple.  It is important because of its inclusiveness and because each stage upon the Path of Initiation has in it the germ of comprehension and an understanding (deeply hidden) of the various steps which have to be taken upon the Way of the Higher Evolution.  Upon this Way [724] the Master intelligently embarks when He has made His final decision; earlier stages are simply revelatory of the Way.

Initiation has been defined as "a progressive sequence of directed energy impacts."  These impacts are characterised by points of tension, and these lead inevitably to points of crisis; the whole process is governed by the Law of Cause and Effect.  It is this latter point which I seek now to emphasise, because it has a definite and mysterious relation to this sixth initiation.  The Master, as He makes His decision and chooses one of the seven Paths which unitedly form the planetary antahkarana, is forced thereto by the accumulation of past karma.  All evil karma has necessarily been worked off, but His accumulated good karma makes His final decision inevitable; from that instant of decision He stands entirely free and liberated from all aspects and all forms of planetary karma, which is greater and more vast than his little individual karma, be it good or bad.  He is then—in Himself—the summation of all past experience.  Unless He deliberately chooses the Path of Earth Service and decides to remain within the field, scope or influence of the planetary Life, He faces a solar or a cosmic future of which He knows relatively little, but for which the Path of Evolution, the Path of Discipleship and the Path of Initiation have fitted Him.  Even He does not know the conditions into which His "decision" commits Him, or those into which He will have to penetrate; He does know, however, and "appropriates the fact and the faculties" (as one Master has expressed it) of complete revelation and future opportunity.

You have oft been told that there are four Lords of Karma associated with the Council Chamber at Shamballa.  They represent—in Their totality—the three Rays of Aspect, and one of Them represents the four minor Rays of Attribute.  It is the Lord of Karma Who implements the destinies of Those Who are conditioned by the third Ray of Active Intelligence (and this is ever the case with Those Who are taking the sixth initiation) and Who—symbolically speaking—"wipes clean the slate" of this particular group [725] of initiates at this particular time.  Karma no longer holds Them.

The revelation accorded to the Initiate in the first stage of the initiation gives Him a complete picture "in a flash of endless time" of the processes which have brought Him to this creative moment of decision.  Immediately He achieves a point of tension which He will continue to hold until the final or ninth initiation, the Initiation of Refusal, wherein He rejects, refuses or repudiates His entire past and enters upon His chosen path entirely "free of recollected concepts, but exhibiting to Those Great Lives Who welcome Him upon the new and untried path all that He is and the essence of His Being."

In dealing with these higher initiations of which I myself have no experience, there is naught for me to do but clarify your minds, and mine also, through the use of ancient phrases and the oral teaching which is permitted to escape into the minds of men.