Navigate the Chapters of this Book

SECTION FOUR - STAGES IN THE EXTERNALISATION OF THE HIERARCHY - Part 3

It is interesting to note that when the Hierarchy seeks to meet the need of the masses for better conditions, and to aid in the changing of ecclesiastical and political abuses, men are apt then to withdraw their interest because the task is hard, or to repudiate the statements anent that which is evil because (from their point of view) it is not possible for the Hierarchy to find fault or take a stand against wrong, just as many repudiated the fact that the Hierarchy took its stand, during the war, upon the side of the Forces fighting for the freedom of humanity and refused in any way to endorse those fighting on the side of darkness.

The Hierarchy is a great fighting body today, fighting for the souls of men, fighting all that blocks the expansion of the human consciousness, fighting all that limits human freedom (I said not license) and fighting to remove those factors and barriers which militate against the return of [551] the Christ and the emergence of the Hierarchy as a fully functioning body on earth. There is nothing weak, vacillating, sentimental or neutral in the attitude of the Hierarchy; this must be grasped by humanity, and the strength and insight as well as the love of the Hierarchy must be counted upon.

I have in the above remarks enumerated for you certain of the objectives facing the Hierarchy at this time and involving the personal attention of the Christ; they all have a potent and beneficent effect upon humanity. Let me enumerate them in concise form, because it is essential that there be clear perception of the emerging values on the part of workers of all grades and kinds in the world, for otherwise perception is not possible. To each point enumerated I will append in a few brief words the reason why it is regarded as important:

1. The Reorganisation of the World Religions.

Reasons

a. To make way for the World Religion, universal religion.

b. To return humanity to the simplicity which is in Christ.

c. To rid the world of theology and ecclesiasticism.

2. The Gradual Dissolution of Orthodox Judaism.

Reasons

a. Because of its presentation of a wrathful Jehovah, caring only for his chosen people. This is a basic evil. The Lord of the World, the God in whom we live and move and have our being, is totally otherwise.

b. Because of its separativeness.

c. Because it is so ancient that its teachings are largely obsolete.

d. Because when the Jews become spiritual they will greatly benefit mankind, for they are found in every land.

3. Preparation for a New Revelation.

Reasons

a. Because where there is no vision the people perish.

[552]

b. Because human expectancy indicates its emerging presence.

c. Because the new Invocation will inevitably bring it to us.

4. The Reaction of the Hierarchy to Shamballa.

Reasons

a. Produces a direct channel.

b. Conditions the inflow of power energy.

c. Relates the will-to-good to goodwill.

d. Creates new constructive tensions and new ashrams.

5. A Closer Relation of the Hierarchy to Humanity.

Reasons

a. Produces (in the near future) the externalisation of certain ashrams.

b. Leads to the reappearance of the Hierarchy on earth.

c. Recognises that man's point of development warrants this.

d. Presents a nearing opportunity for revelation.

6. An Effort to avert War.

Reasons

a. Because the next war would annihilate the greater part of the human race.

b. Because, having a religious basis, the hate involved would be greater far than anything hitherto known.

c. Because Shamballa would be involved, and this has never been the case.

You can see therefore how critical, spiritually, are these times, and how urgent is the task which confronts the Hierarchy and its workers on earth. The war may be over in the physical sense, but great issues are still involved and undetermined and can lead either to peace or to a renewal of those conditions in which wars are generated and which, once generated, cannot be avoided.

It is with all these foregoing factors in mind that we [553] approach the next two great Festivals: the Wesak Festival and Christ's Unique Occasion. One point I must make here, and I make it with great joy: this year 1946 marks the beginning of a cycle in which humanity is more closely involved in the Festivals than ever before and in which they can take a much more important part than ever before. The Wesak Festival has long been kept in many countries and—as time goes on and the instruction of the masses proceeds—the meeting held at the time of the May Full Moon will assume great importance, but its keynote will be changed. What the new keynote will be has not yet been announced, and will not be for 35 years. As I earlier pointed out, its significance, and that of Good Friday, belong to the past and their usefulness is nearly finished. It is the intention of the Buddha and the Christ that in each country there should eventually be someone who will act as Their Representative at the time of the two Festivals, so that the distribution of spiritual energy from the first great Aspect or Ray will be direct from the Buddha (and later Shamballa) to the Christ, and then from the Christ to those disciples in every country who can be overshadowed, and so act as channels for the direct current of energy.

The same procedure will be followed at the time of the Full Moon of June, except that Shamballa will not be so involved, and with the difference that at the May Festival it will be a first ray disciple who will be overshadowed, and at the June Festival a second ray disciple will represent the Christ in every land. This can mean either the soul or the personality ray of the disciple.

It has not been possible to organise this development this year, but next year a beginning can be made, even if only three or four countries can work under this inspiration. The effects of this development will be far-reaching, though not immediately apparent to the onlooker.

This year, at the great Festival in the Himalayas at which the Buddha will appear as usual, He has let it be known that His main duty is to bring the initial inflow of the threefold energy which the Invocation invokes and will [554] continue to invoke for many decades. From the Mind of God, Light will flow through Him to the waiting world of men—that human centre whose eternal mission is to bring light to all created lives. From the Heart of God, He will bring to the Hierarchy, via the Christ, that deep unending inflow of Love which will make it possible for the Hierarchy to perform its hard task and externalise itself. It is not possible for human beings to realise the sacrifice and the hardship which this emergence will entail, and only a vast inflow of divine love can make it possible.

An effort also will be made to relate Shamballa, "the Centre where the Will of God is known," directly to the New Group of World Servers, via those Ashrams which are working along the lines of outer, practical goodwill. The reception of this energising will-to-good should produce a definite "stepping-up" or increase of goodwill and enable the Goodwill movement to proceed with greater momentum this coming autumn and winter; it will take the entire summer for the needed assimilation by those engineering this movement all over the world.

The absorption of the Love which flows from the Heart of God to the Hierarchy will necessarily have widespread effects; however, one of the most immediate will affect the Triangles and increase the potency of the network of light and of goodwill, already in existence. You can see, therefore, from all the above, how much closer the Buddha is coming this year to humanity. He now finds it possible to permit human beings to know His specific objective; this has never before been the case. It is the result of war and the efforts of the Hierarchy to bring out in the human being certain ennobling qualities and spiritual reactions which the stress of war could evoke. This year will mark a unique and peculiar opportunity, based on the fact that there has not yet been time for people to slip back into the old ways of thinking or for the setting up of any reactionary structures. This may not be the case next year and therefore it would be wise to take as full advantage as possible of the coming Festivals. Those who have faith and vision are asked [555] to link up (imaginatively, because anything else would scarcely be possible) with the Buddha, then offer themselves as channels for the spiritual potencies which He will bring.

The Festival of June which is so uniquely Christ's, and which emphasises His relationship to humanity, in reality covers three whole days, each with a different keynote:

1. The keynote of Love in its hierarchical sense—free from sentiment, emotion and personal emphasis—a love that sacrifices and understands, that acts with strength and decision, and that works on behalf of the whole and not in the interests of any group or individual.

2. The keynote of Resurrection, emphasising the new note of livingness, of the living Christ and of that "life more abundantly" which the war has made possible by forcing a return to the real values.

3. The keynote of Contact, of a closer relation between Christ and His people, between the Hierarchy and Humanity.

The word "keynote" has been deliberately chosen and signifies the sound which preceded each major inflow at the May Festival; these energies will be released at a solemn ceremony on each of the three days. At each ceremony the Christ will say the new Invocation alone, and then the united Hierarchy will intone the stanza alone, invoking light, love and the will-to-good (one on each of the three days). Those disciples or initiates who happen to be interested and watching the Triangles or the Goodwill movement will have them in their minds as they say the first and third stanzas, and the New Group of World Servers will receive some attention when the second stanza is chanted.

I would call your attention, therefore, to the interest shown by the Hierarchy in the embryonic efforts in which you are engaged and which I started; I would point out, however, that the attention paid is not exclusive, but that [556] wherever two or three are gathered together in the name of the Master of the Hierarchy, energy will flow; that wherever goodwill is a goal and evokes effort in no matter what form, the energy of the will-to-good will make itself felt, and that the New Group of World Servers is a far larger group than just the few known to you. Today its numbers are several million.

The result of this solemn three days of invocation will be followed by a climaxing day wherein the Hierarchy will unitedly, and led by the Christ, pronounce the entire Invocation, prefacing each stanza with its appropriate keynote, again sounded in unison. These notes you cannot know, but if, for instance, a very large number of the New Group of World Servers were brought together, their united OM might approximate the appropriate keynote.

It will be apparent to you, therefore, that in the new cycle now beginning with the climaxing of the war and the formation of the United Nations, the Festivals of May and June not only become more closely linked, but the procedure has been changed and the effect on humanity intensified. I would have all who care to meet together at these Festivals to try and do so subjectively (wherever they may find themselves) and to participate intelligently in the ordained ceremonies. I would ask all to think imaginatively and to act as if they were accepted disciples or at least on the periphery of some ashram. I am asking you to take part in these two ceremonies with a full play of the imagination; these ceremonies will later be externalised at some centre in every country. A trained nucleus and a devoted band of believers is in process of being gathered together (though only as yet in the consciousness of the Hierarchy), and though at the present time there will be no outer ceremonies or any knowledge as to who will be chosen in the various lands to represent the Hierarchy, in deed and in truth, the first step towards human participation is being made this year.

The knowledge of this will give purpose and fixed intention to all of you who have for years kept these [557] Festivals. In truth, I bring you the invitation of the Hierarchy to share in Their ancient work, and not—as in the past—to play the part of interested onlookers. I would warn you that, if you do succeed in any measure of participation, it will be necessary to guard yourselves from overstimulation and to take steps wisely to use, on behalf of humanity, the energy with which you may be charged.

This knowledge will be particularly useful to those who are occupied with any of the groups and organisations which are responsive to hierarchical interests. True participation may lead to the sudden conviction of the reality of that which I have told you; faith and belief and common-sense will then no longer be needed, and you will know.

I have here told you the things which the Christ has planned for the immediate future. I have told you also some of the things which He and the Masters must do as preparatory steps to the new world which can and will supersede the old unhappy world that lies immediately behind us. I have chosen to speak to you of these activities in which it is now possible for you to share, with the exception of those which affect the relation between Shamballa and the Hierarchy. However, those who are initiates of the third degree (and there are quite a few working on the earth among men at this time) can share in all of them.

This is an intensely practical message and calls for your renewed pledge to serve humanity and to find your way into an Ashram where that service may be directed. It calls for sacrifice until it hurts, and where it touches you the most; it calls for a joyous sense of unity with that station of power and light which we call the Hierarchy and which stands ready—as never before—to share with humanity that power and that light to the limit of human capacity to use it.

I beg you, in closing, to aid in two matters which are of importance to Him Whom all disciples, initiates and spiritual men have loved and followed for nearly three thousand years, the Christ. (I am referring here to His appearance as Shri Krishna and as one other who was little known [558] but who did a great work in still earlier centuries.) It is work in preparation for His coming.

I beg you to shoulder the responsibility of distributing the Invocation on as large a scale as possible and in every country. It is of great potency, and when used by men of all faiths can aid in the process of averting war. I ask you also to make possible the wide distribution of the book The Problems of Humanity which I have written, for they strengthen the hands of those who are already seeking to deal with these problems and they bring the need to the attention of the unawakened. This will require sacrifice, for it calls for the expenditure of money; even the Hierarchy works through normal channels and needs money, and even the Christ has need of financial resources in order to reach the needy sons of men. I ask your aid and I await your decision.

That He Whom we serve may be nearer to all of us than ever before, that the work of establishing right human relations may proceed apace, and that light and love may stream forth from Shamballa and the Hierarchy over all of you who love your fellowmen is the earnest wish, accompanied by my blessing, for you at this season of the will-to-good. [xi]*

Mode of Approach Toward Externalisation (August 1946)

One of the most important things emerging from the theme of this amazing and imminent event (the reappearance of the Hierarchy on the physical plane) is the factor of the developments and the adjustments going on within [559] the Hierarchy Itself in preparation for this happening. Incidentally, I would here point out that what will take place, and what is already tentatively taking place, is the externalisation of the Ashrams. The great official departments, such as the teaching department or that of emerging civilisations, will not at this time reappear. Their activities will still, for a long time, be retained within the Hierarchy upon Its own plane. The first step is the appearance of certain Ashrams, controlled by certain Masters, upon the physical plane, evoking general recognition and guaranteeing to the public the fact of the Hierarchy and the restoration of the Mysteries. Later, if these steps prove successful, other and more important reappearances will be possible, beginning with the return of the Christ.

But in the meantime, great and momentous happenings are taking place within the Hierarchy and in relation to Its Membership. Disciples upon the periphery of any Ashram are apt to be unobservant of the training and attitudes of Those Who are senior to them in an Ashram; They frequently overlook the fact that They too—from the Christ down to the humblest initiate—are in process of steady and increasing hierarchical discipline, training and instruction. Because the senior disciples and initiates have reached a goal which has seemed for long quite unattainable to the average aspirant, it is assumed that they have attained; the fact that they have only passed a milestone upon the endless Way of Bliss is entirely forgotten. But, owing to the impulsion of life itself, progress ever continues; knowledge must ever be transmuted into wisdom; love must ever be accompanied by divine will; planning must ever give way to divine purpose; light must ever be succeeded by life; from the Hierarchy, the initiate must pass to Shamballa, and from Shamballa he will follow one or other of the seven Paths; the Path of Evolution gives place to the Way of the Higher Evolution; planetary recognitions eventually expand into solar contacts; the Christ-consciousness eventually unfolds into something so all-inclusive that we have as yet no word [560] for it or any need of words; recognition of the Father and of monadic being causes all lesser recognitions to fade out, and soul-consciousness and progressive life in form are no longer goals but are left far behind.

In spite of all this, it is necessary to remember that the gain of all experience for ever persists, nothing is ever lost; that which life in form has conferred is still in the possession of the immortal spiritual entity; that which the soul-consciousness has enfolded and included is still the rich endowment of Being, centred now in the Monad; hierarchical experience is merged into the purposes of the Council Chamber at Shamballa, but ability to work in the Hierarchy ever lasts because the hierarchical constitution and institution condition all manifestation—for what reason this is so, no one knows, but so is the divine Will.

In synthesis and in the all-inclusive awareness of the great Life which enfolds all that is, everything (except what we know as evil) is persistent and for ever endures.

You will have noted (if you are true students of what I have given out to the world) that information anent the Hierarchy has fallen into three major categories:

1. The work of the Hierarchy in relation to man and to the three worlds of human evolution.

2. The interior constitution of the Hierarchy and its internal activity.

3. Its superior relation to Shamballa and to extra-planetary livingness.

A great deal that has been conveyed to you in the two final categories has been merged by you into an interested but totally impractical realisation that the Hierarchy apparently has a life of its own which proceeds independently of humanity and that it also has its own goals and objectives which are no concern of yours. These deductions are dependent upon your domination by the separative mind, for in reality the work and the activity proceeding in all three centres—Shamballa, the Hierarchy and Humanity—are [561] merged, fused and interdependent; they are all mutually evocative and invocative.

The fact, for instance, that the Hierarchy is approaching closer to humanity and will eventually make an appearance upon the physical plane is due, not only to hierarchical intent, but to the demand of mankind and to the strong vibration and note which humanity has set up. To that extent, humanity controls some of the activities of the Hierarchy and thus precipitates action. At the same time, all that is happening can be traced to Shamballa, is inherent in divine purpose and is impulsed and impelled by Shamballa energy, distributed throughout the planet, via the Hierarchy in the majority of cases. Both the Hierarchy and Humanity are brought under the influence of extra-planetary forces which make their impact upon the planet, via Shamballa. Therefore, a great interdependence emerges, of which the head, heart and solar plexus centres in the individual man's etheric body are symbols; their unified relation keeps the man functioning and demonstrating as a coherent whole at a particular level of consciousness. It is essential that students endeavour to grasp this, and so develop within themselves at least the rudiments of this synthetic unified grasp of living conditions and of a vital situation.

These instructions can aid all earnest aspirants and disciples to develop this type of understanding with as much speed and accuracy as possible. It is distinctive of the hierarchical type of mind: concerned with itself as a divine group, conscious of the pull and evocative power of the highest centre, Shamballa, responsive to the demands of humanity, and sensitive to the "call" of that third major centre through which the life of the planetary Logos expresses itself. The consciousness of the Master is therefore preoccupied with three main lines of responsibility, but only one of them is innate within the living organism of which He is a part; that aspect of His life is invocative in two directions: towards Shamballa and towards Humanity; to Him, the other two centres are evocative.

Today, human beings as a whole are so loudly invocative [562] that the entire trend of the life of the Hierarchy and Its plans to date have been subjected to change, to postponement as far as certain interior and purely hierarchical determinations are concerned, and to a hastening of certain plans which were slated (if I may use such a word) to take place several centuries later than this but which—owing to the unexpected preparedness of humanity—can take place, not prematurely really, but securely and in the fullness of time; this fullness of time, as regards the particular planning with which we are dealing, is from now until the year 2025 A.D.—a brief period of time indeed in which to see the consummation of the larger purpose of the planetary Logos, working through the three major centres within His body of manifestation. This purpose was threefold in nature:

1. It involved the ability of Those in the Council Chamber at Shamballa to react to and absorb certain extra-planetary energies and to use them in an intra-planetary sense. It had not been anticipated by the Directing Agents of these forces that our planetary Logos would achieve a certain goal so early in time and space as He has.

2. It involved a great expansion, numerically and in the consciousness of the Hierarchy. This predicates a great influx of initiates and disciples and a tremendous inflow of what is esoterically called "angelic essence" from the deva kingdom, under the direction of certain great Devas who have affiliated during the past two hundred years with the Hierarchy. This again had not been expected so early. The result of this happening has been that the door of initiation through which mankind passes stands wider open (symbolically speaking) than ever before, and at the same time, the Masters are passing with greater rapidity on to the Way of the Higher Evolution; this is due to the fact that initiates are fitting themselves so rapidly to take Their places, and disciples are moving on into initiate position so fast, that a great pressing forward has become legitimate.

3. It involved, finally, a great awakening in the human family and a major spiritual reorientation. This again had [563] been believed possible of accomplishment when the sun passed into Capricorn about 2300 years hence. But—it has already taken place and necessarily has brought about a basic adjustment in the plans of the Hierarchy and a renewed emphasis upon the purpose, as registered in Shamballa.

This, being factual, and the time ripe for decision, has caused an intra-planetary ferment and great activity in the three major centres. In the last analysis (and this is the factor of supreme importance) this development—this unexpected right absorption of spiritual energy, and this seizing of spiritual opportunity—is due to humanity itself; above everything else, it is the readiness of mankind for that which is new, and humanity's determination to create a new and better world, adapted more adequately to their "renewed" spiritual nature, that is responsible for all the activity.

In this section of our training themes (if I may call them so) we shall deal primarily with the response and the subsequent activity of the Hierarchy in relation to humanity. This will take the form of a new Approach and a reappearance exoterically.

It would be wise, therefore, to keep the following ideas constantly in mind; I will enumerate them sequentially and for the sake of clarity:

1. The work of the Hierarchy, throughout the ages, has been fundamentally threefold in nature:

a. A constant effort to set up a closer and more understanding relation with Shamballa. This involves:

An unfoldment of the will aspect in conjunction with a full use of intelligent love.

A constant adaptation of the developing Plan to the emerging, energising Purpose.

An increasing ability to transmit energy from Shamballa to the three worlds, from the cosmic etheric levels to the cosmic dense physical planes.

[564]

b. To unfold—within the periphery of the hierarchical centre—a life, a plan and a technique which will train all who find their way into an Ashram, which is in itself an aspect of the life of the Hierarchy. This ancient and intelligent effort has created and conditioned what you know as the Hierarchy. However, it is constantly subject to change in response to new situations and developments.

c. To represent, finally, within the Hierarchy, the qualities of all the seven Rays, through the medium of the seven major Ashrams and their allied and subsidiary Ashrams.

There are many other aspects of the hierarchical constitution and objectives, but these three are the ones with which we are at this time the most concerned.

2. Today, the relation of Shamballa to the Hierarchy is closer than at any previous time, owing to the following factors:

a. The one-pointed work and plan—pursued by the three great departments in the Hierarchy (the department of the Manu, that of the Christ, and that of the Lord of Civilisation)—in which the three Leaders have unitedly acted as a Triangle of transmission between the Council Chamber of the Lord of the World and the Hierarchy. They are, all three, Members of the Council, though none of Them is yet working at the very centre of affairs; in order to be of greater service in Their own sphere, They have taken Their stand upon the periphery of the Council's influence.

b. The invocative work carried out both consciously and unconsciously by humanity itself, which has been of such a potency that it has penetrated beyond the ring-pass-not (symbolically understood) of the Hierarchy to Shamballa itself, and has evoked response. This invocative [565] work reached a high point of potency as a result of the world war (1914-1945) and its note and appeal are still persistent.

c. The rapid development of integration among advanced people, which has forced many on to the Path of Discipleship, and therefore into certain of the Ashrams, and has likewise enabled many disciples to take initiation.

3. The recognition by a very much larger number of the general public of the fact of the Hierarchy; this has established a new type of relation between the Hierarchy and humanity. Hitherto the relation was dependent upon recognition, by advanced aspirants, of the nature of their position in relation to the Hierarchy; today, the recognition of thousands who are not in any way advanced aspirants or in any sense prepared for affiliation with the Hierarchy has created a new type of problem; it connotes to the Hierarchy a promising development, though at the same time an embarrassing one, requiring as it does a different mode of adjustment to human demands than that entailed by the admittance of disciples to Their Ashrams; it requires the attention of certain disciples and initiates in all the Ashrams and the ability of the Hierarchy to penetrate and dissipate the thick cloud of inchoate thoughtforms which the bewildered, interested and curious public have created anent Them.

4. The use by the Hierarchy of the destroyer aspect of divinity, the first Ray, in such a manner that it is in fact a creative factor and one which, in the last analysis, not only releases the life from its previous limitations, but also calls in—under the Law of Balance—the building activity of the second Ray. The work of destruction is now practically accomplished and over, and the work of the Builders is beginning.

5. The New Group of World Servers has been created as an [566] intermediate body between the Hierarchy and the general public. This group is divided into two lesser groups:

a. Those disciples and workers who are already integrated into some one of the Ashrams.

b. Intelligent and humanitarian aspirants and workers in world affairs and in all departments.

These two groups unitedly form a transmitting agency through which the Hierarchy can reach the mass of men with the new concepts, the techniques of the new civilisation and the basic propositions under which humanity will move forward into greater light.

6. The recognition by humanity of its major problems, and the increasing ability of the general public to view these problems in terms of One Humanity, of the whole. This ability indicates to the Hierarchy the position of Humanity upon the Path at this time and the readiness of mankind for the new revelation—to be followed later by the restoration of the Mysteries.

7. The new orientation of the human family within itself to the concept of the One Humanity and the intensely alert spiritual demand which is today distinctive of mankind everywhere, and which has forced the Hierarchy to come to certain basic decisions and to readjust Itself to a much closer cooperation with the human centre of life and purpose.

It is interesting to note (though it is of no immediate moment) that the work of destruction initiated by the Hierarchy during the past one hundred and seventy-five years (therefore since the year 1775) has in it the seeds—as yet a very long way from any germination—of the final act of destruction which will take place when the Hierarchy will be so completely fused and blended with Humanity that the hierarchical form will no longer be required. The three [567] major centres will then become the two, and the Hierarchy will disappear and only Shamballa and Humanity will remain, only spirit or life, and substance as an expression of intelligent love will be left. This corresponds to the experience of the individual initiate at the fourth initiation, when the causal body, the soul body, disappears and only the monad and its expression, the personality (a fusion of soul and form) are left. This event of final dissolution will take place only at the close of our planetary existence, when the door to individualisation is finally closed for a pralayic period and the Way of the Higher Evolution will be more closely trodden than the Path of Initiation.

Therefore, my brothers, the closer relation of the Hierarchy to Shamballa, the stimulation of its own interior life, and the readiness of humanity for revelation and for certain unexpected development, will condition the cycle into which we are now entering. This is, therefore, the most amazing period in the history of humanity. Added to this, it must be borne in mind that we are entering another greater round of the Zodiac, and this coincides with the lesser zodiacal activity because Aquarius governs the greater immediate cycle of 25,000 years and is also the sign into which the sun is now moving for a period of 2300 years—a most amazing happening and full of import in our planetary history; it is a coincidence of which our planetary Logos is well aware and of which He is making full and intelligent use. It is a cycle also wherein, for the first time, the three major planetary centres—Shamballa, Hierarchy and Humanity—are in direct and unimpeded relation, for today the alignment is correct and adjusted for the first time in planetary history. Even if this be only temporarily so, something has been initiated, the effects of which will never be lost. It is a cycle also in which the planetary Logos, having successfully taken initiation and thus affected His entire planetary life, has also established certain extra-planetary relationships which are necessarily incomprehensible to you and of no moment whatsoever to the individual human being, but which will eventually create a situation in which our planet will become [568] a sacred planet. This process, as it unfolds and develops, will have a potent subjective and deeply spiritual effect upon every kingdom in nature and in the realm also of supernature.

Let us now proceed with our consideration of our theme, after our study of these basic premises.

Steps in the Externalisation Process

For some time, ever since 1425 A.D., ( a date to which I referred earlier) the Hierarchy has been aware that the time would come when this projected move would take place. Preparations have gone steadily forward. A point to be remembered is that this impulsed intention (emanating in the first place from Shamballa) came as a major disturbance to the rhythm of many tens of thousands of years; it has been a basic conditioning factor. The Masters, however, Who will make the move outwards into contact with the world are not the Ones Who registered the initial impulse from Shamballa, nor are the three Heads of the great departments the same. The earlier Masters initiated the needed steps of preparation, and the work has gone steadily forward since.

You might well ask what were these steps and along what lines has the preparation gone? The first steps concerned internal preparation. Though the Masters of the Wisdom have all passed through the human experience and are simply men who have achieved a relative measure of perfection, there are aspects of physical contact which They have completely transcended and utterly negated. There is nothing in the three worlds with which They have any affinity, except the affinity of life and the impulse of love for all beings. Recovery of certain facilities of activity has been deemed necessary. For instance, the five senses, where a Master is concerned, exist and are used at need, but the contact established and maintained with disciples and senior aspirants in the world (through whom They primarily work) is largely telepathic; hearing and sight, as you understand [569] their uses, are not involved. The science of impression, with its greatly increased effectiveness over individual contact through the senses, has entirely superseded the more strictly human method. Except in the case of Masters working on the physical plane and in a physical body, the outer physical senses are in abeyance; for the majority of Masters Who still use these senses, the use is strictly limited; Their work is still almost entirely subjective and the mode of telepathic interplay and of impression is practically all the means which They employ to reach Their working agents. Therefore, the recovery of past usages of a more physical nature has been one of the preparatory moves.

Another has been the achievement of a wide culture and understanding of the current civilisation which will be coming into activity and control when the intended project is carried out. You have been told—and told correctly—that the Masters do not trouble Themselves to attain proficiency in all educational subjects—in modern history, for instance, or the newest scientific procedures, or in the use of foreign languages. In all Their Ashrams there are those who can supply Them with any specified knowledge which They may need at any given time or for any specific purpose. This will still remain true of Those Who have attained the rank of Master, but it is not true of all the senior initiates, many of whom, as they passed into higher grades and under instruction from a Master, have retained their worldly knowledge, besides specialising in certain strictly mundane approaches to worldly affairs. For instance, there are adepts who are authorities upon modern financial matters, and these initiates of the fourth degree are competently preparing to institute later those newer techniques and modes of financial interplay which will supersede the present disastrous methods; they will inaugurate a system of barter and exchange, of which modern money is the travestied symbol. This newer method of financial relationships will be comprehensively human and it will supersede big business and private enterprise. It will at the same time, however, retain those phases of modern enterprise which will draw out the initiative and [570] the resourcefulness of the individual. Other initiates have specialised in the various languages, and two of them are authorities in basic English; this is the form of the English language which will eventually take the place of other languages in all forms of international and business intercourse without in any way obliterating the individual national languages in daily use in any country.

Two things must be realised as the interested student considers this event of externalisation:

1. The senior Members of the Hierarchy will not at first be the ones who will make the needed approach. Under Their direction and Their close supervision, this approach will be made—in the early stages—by initiates of and under the degree of the third initiation, and also by those disciples who will be chosen and designated to implement Their efforts and so will work under Their direction. It is only in the later stages, and when the time has come for the return into recognised physical expression of the Christ, leading to the definite restoration of the Mysteries, that certain of the senior Members of the Hierarchy will appear and take outer and recognisable physical control of world affairs. The time for this will be dependent necessarily upon the success of the steps taken by the members of the Hierarchy who are not so advanced.

2. Members of the Hierarchy, whether working in the early stages or later when the true externalisation takes place, will work as members of the human family and not as proclaimed members of the kingdom of God or of souls, known to us as the Hierarchy; they will appear in office of some kind or another; they will be the current politicians, business men, financiers, religious teachers or churchmen; they will be scientists and philosophers, college professors and educators; they will be the mayors of cities and the custodians of all public ethical movements. The spiritual forcefulness of their lives, their clear, pure wisdom, the sanity and the modern acceptableness of their proposed measures in any department in which they choose to function, will be so [571] convincing that little impediment will be set in the way of their undertakings.

At the present stage of preparation, the task of the disciple who is charged with laying the foundation for the New Age methods and with the labour of getting ready for the first group of Ashram members, is hard indeed. He stands for so much that is deemed visionary and impossible; the difficulties which confront him seem impossible; he teaches truths whose first effect is necessarily destructive, because he endeavours to rid humanity of old forms of religious, economic and political doctrine; his impersonality—which recognises faults as well as virtues—enrages many and often those from whom he had expected understanding and a true impartiality; his failure to be impressed or attentive to old rites and ceremonies, to ancient and obsolete but precious ideas, and his constant warfare on conditioning glamours and illusions meet, in these early stages, with little encouragement. He works frequently alone and usually with little recognition and lacks time for his own personal hierarchical contacts; he is not necessarily connected with any so-called esoteric groups and—if he is—his task is that much harder; only advanced disciples with a full and conscious constant contact with their particular Ashram are able to work in this way. Occult bodies and esoteric groups are, at this time, the most glamoured of any of the world groups; the work of any disciple in such groups is bound, in the early stages, to be destructive. The present occult groups which came into existence prior to 1919 will eventually all disappear; the members who are true and sound, broad-minded and sane, and rightly oriented and dedicated, will find their way into esoteric bodies which are free from dogmatism and doctrines and which are recipients of hierarchical life.

The preparatory work of externalisation, therefore, falls into three phases or stages, as far as relation to mankind is concerned:

First. The present stage in which a few isolated disciples and initiates, scattered all over the world, are doing [572] the important task of destruction, plus the enunciation of principles. They are preparing the way for the first organised body of disciples and initiates who—coming from certain Ashrams—will proceed with the next phase of the work.

Second. The stage of the first real externalisation upon a large and organised scale will succeed upon the above endeavours. These disciples and initiates will be the real Builders of the new world, of the new civilisation; they will assume leadership in most countries and take high office in all departments of human life. This they will do by the free choice of the people and by virtue of their advanced and proven merit. By this means, gradually the Hierarchy will take over the control upon the physical plane—subjectively as well as objectively—of the direction of human affairs. This direction will be in virtue of their known and approved capacity and will not involve the imposition of any hierarchical control or authority; it will simply signify the free recognition by free people of certain spiritual qualities and effective activities which they believe signify that these men are adequate to the demanded job, and whom they therefore choose as directing agents in the new and coming world. Freedom of choice under the authority of a spiritual livingness which demonstrates competency will be distinctive of the attitude of the general public. Men will be put into high office and into positions of power not because they are disciples or initiates, but because they are wise and intelligent servants of the public, with an internal awareness, a deeply religious and inclusive consciousness, and a well-trained mind with an obedient brain.

This stage of hierarchical appearance is dependent upon the effective service of the first group of isolated and hard-working disciples who are the senior members of the New Group of World Servers and who are today working among the sons of men. This second group will take over from them, and theirs will be the task of instituting a more unified preparation for the return of the Christ. The first group prepare humanity for the possibility; the second group [573] definitely prepare for the return itself. They will build for a future which will arise out of the wreckage of the past, which wreckage they will remove; they will instill certain basic concepts anent right human relations into men's minds. Their immediate group work, when they are coming into power and recognition, will consist of a sweetening and a clarification of the political situation and the presentation of those ideas which will eventually lead to a fusion of those principles which govern a democracy and which also condition the hierarchical method—which is somewhat different; this effort will produce a third political situation which will not be entirely dependent upon the choices of an unintelligent public or on the control which the hierarchical technique evidently involves. The mode of this new type of political guidance will later appear.

This second group will implement the new religion; by the time they come into control the old theological activities will have been completely broken; Judaism will be fast disappearing; Buddhism will be spreading and becoming increasingly dogmatic; Christianity will be in a state of chaotic divisions and upheavals. When this takes place and the situation is acute enough, the Master Jesus will take certain initial steps towards reassuming control of His Church; the Buddha will send two trained disciples to reform Buddhism; other steps will also be taken in this department of religions and of education, over which the Christ rules, and He will move to restore the ancient spiritual landmarks, to eliminate that which is nonessential, and to reorganise the entire religious field—again in preparation for the restoration of the Mysteries. These Mysteries, when restored, will unify all faiths.

Groups of spiritually-minded financiers who are conscious members of an Ashram will take hold of the world economic situation and bring about great and needed changes. All these activities, built upon the preparatory work of the first group, are also preparatory in nature.

Third. The stage wherein Christ and the Masters of [574] the Wisdom can make public appearance and begin to work publicly, openly and outwardly in the world of men. The time of Their coming will be dependent upon the success of the work undertaken by the first two groups; it is not possible for me to prophesy anent this matter. So many factors are involved: the earnest work of the two groups, the readiness and the willingness of mankind to learn, the rapidity with which the forces of restoration and of resurrection can rehabilitate the world, the responsiveness of advanced humanitarians and intelligentsia to the opportunity to rebuild, to recreate and to reorganise the factors which the new culture and the new civilisation will demand. Even the Hierarchy Itself, with all Its sources of information, does not know how long this will take, but They are ready to move at any time.

In the meantime, as the first group struggles with the immediate problem in the outer world, and the second group—still within the confines of the Hierarchy Itself—makes due interior preparation and applies to its chosen membership the needed training and the desired reorientation, the Christ and the Masters are occupied with the task of preparing for the restoration of the Mysteries. This restoration will fall into three phases and will cover and include in its symbolism all phases of human unfoldment. The story of mankind will be pictorialised. These three phases correspond broadly and in a general sense to the three degrees of the Blue Lodge in Masonry. The analogy is not entirely accurate, owing to the unavoidable degeneracy of Masonry, but with the restoration of the Mysteries, Masonry also will come into its own. These phases are:

1. The stage of a general recognition of light in all departments of human living. This is inferred in the first stanza of the new Invocation. If the ritual of the E.A. is studied in the light of this information the significance will emerge. The poor and destitute candidate emerges into the light.

2. The stage of complete economic reorientation; in this, humanity is relieved of all economic anxiety and is free to [575] receive its due wages and the right reward of all service rendered in the building of the Temple of the Lord; this building proceeds with rapidity.

3. The stage wherein the reward of light is received and the reward of service rendered; spiritual status is recognised through the medium of what is regarded as a major initiation, for which the first two initiatory degrees are only preparatory. This first great initiation will be objectively staged and the general public will recognise it as the major rite and ritual of the new religious institution of the period. This is the stage where the forces of resurrection are active, when the Lord is with His people and Christ has returned to earth. Religion is then recognised as an attitude governing all phases of human experience.