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SECTION FOUR - PERSONAL INSTRUCTIONS TO DISCIPLES - Part 10

Herein lies your safety in the vicissitudes of your life. I am not speaking idly or symbolically, nor am I referring to the usual platitudes expressed in the injunction "dwell in the eternal." I refer definitely to the place of a disciple within an Ashram of one of the Masters, and in particular to your place within my Ashram. This place is a reality and not a dream or a figment of wishful thinking; it is a sphere of focussed awareness where the minds, the love, the aspiration and the spiritual consciousness of many meet, and meet in truth. Of this meeting you can—as many have and do—[653] become conscious. Avoid vagueness as you think of the Ashram with which you are affiliated. Oft I warn and urge disciples to concentrate upon their service and upon their outer contacts, and thus avoid concentration upon the Ashram and upon me, the Master of the Ashram. Knowing your circumstances and seeing into your future, I reverse the injunction in your case and urge you to make the Ashram a reality in your life and to count with greater definiteness and surety upon my presence there and my understanding welcome. Your natural diffidence and humility will permit this and protect me and the Ashram from any undue pressure on your part, even if—in the stress of circumstances—you were prompted to make it.

I would outline for you a meditation which will suffice for your needs for a long time to come. I am not putting it in the ordinary form, for all of you in this group should now have reached the point at which you can formulate your own meditation and reflective approach. I only indicate to you the setting for certain seed thoughts.

I suggest that you think, first of all, of the Ashram, my Ashram, as a great centre of energy with which you (in your place and in your own way) are privileged to establish contact. See the Ashram as a sphere of radiant, magnetic light; then see me, as you know me, at the centre of that sphere, both emitting and receiving light, via the Christ and via the Ashram of which I was at one time a part—the Ashram of the Master K.H. See yourself also as a soul in contact with first ray energy, and thus contributing some of this energy, reaching you via the Ashram of the Master M., to the light and power of my Ashram. Having thus served and been served, and having taken your group brothers into your consciousness and recognised them as within the ashramic light, you can proceed to take three ideas or symbolic sentences as your theme for reflection, during the next few years. They will suffice to meet your need and to evoke in you the necessary spiritual attitudes.

I. The Cross, erected high, reaches from the pinnacle [654] upon which I stand into the place of light, where dwells my Master. Against that Cross there rests a ladder. The golden Cross and the ladder of pure light are one, and by their means I rise. Upward I look and see an outstretched hand. Downward I look and see the many hands demanding aid. With gladness and with hope, I recognise the purpose of the two hands I possess. I climb the ladder, hard as it may seem, with both my hands outstretched—the one above my head to find it clasped with strength, the other down below to find it full of power to lift.

II. A burning sea of flame. Beyond, a radiant sun. Behind, a world of darkness, gloom and heavy rain—a rain of tears. There, in the centre of a fire I stand, my eyes upon the sun. The vortex of the fire, the flaming rays of heat cast outward by the sun, blend with my fire and lo! it disappears. The greater fire blends with and consumes the little one. I turn and pass back—out of the light and warmth—into the world of gloom and mist and, as I turn, I hear a voice crying aloud: "Well done. Pass through the gloom; enter the mist; dry up the rain and tears and find yourself upon the other side, and near my heart."

III. A garden full of flowers, of bees and glowing light and sun. I see a wall which separates the garden from the world of men. Beyond its gates I see the forms of those who long to enter. Into my heart there come the words, spoken I know not when: "The key is in your hands; open the gates and let the crowd in. This you can do, for the garden now is yours and yet is theirs, though you have entered first. Open the gate and welcome with a smile and words of love and cheer the sad, unwelcome, miserable crowd. The garden stands between the outer world and the inner sacred place you call my Ashram. Within the garden take your stand. There rest. Move forward to the gate at need, returning ever to the place of rest. Open the door when called upon, [655] but retain the key. The surging crowd will touch you not nor hurt the garden in its loveliness."

Behind these three symbolic stanzas, if I may so call them, are veiled three needed lessons which you must learn and master. I am not telling you what these lessons are, for the joy of discovery must be yours.

I do not need to tell you either that I send you with constancy thoughts of strength and sustaining understanding. Long years have taught you that my strength goes out to you when your own inner strength is called into play and is used by you consciously and rightly. I give not what you yourself can provide, but I can and do supplement your strength when need demands. Rest, therefore, brother of mine; be not unduly concerned at the plight of those you love. Trust their own souls and know that they, alone, must learn the needed lessons. Rest in peace.

August 1946

MY TRIED AND LOVED DISCIPLE:

The last few years have been years of agony and distress for you, both physically and mentally. You have endured almost to the limit—in pain of body, in agony of anxiety, through financial stringency and its wearing uncertainty, and in the distress which comes from watching others suffer. You have stood steady, and in your steadiness, serenity and staunchness you have brought joy to my heart and strength to the Ashram. I would have you know this.

You have worked off much karma, and whilst so working you have served. In you I now have a disciple upon whom—in your next life cycle—I can depend and lay responsibility, and whose service therefore can be great. Disciples are apt to forget that when they reach a point of complete dependability (because the lower self has been obliterated and no longer obstructs the vision) they lift a load off the Master's shoulders.

It is your due to tell you this, for your sufferings, unselfishly endured, have earned you the right of recognition. The [656] Lighted Way stretches ahead in still greater brightness, and you can enter into the brightness with confidence and surety.

This is the sum total of my brief word to you today; it will, I know, suffice. Take what I have said exactly as I say it and for what the words exactly mean, and know that I, your Master and your friend of many lives, am satisfied.

NOTE: Seventeen months later, this disciple entered "into the brightness" of the inner Ashram.

To D. H. B.

January 1940

This has been for you a hard year, my brother, and (as with your brother, D.P.R.) I seek not to add any fresh complications or considerations to the load which you already carry. You are, likewise, a clear-sighted disciple and there is small need for me to indicate the glamour which at this time disturbs your service. One thought, however, I would give you for careful pondering. The personality with its aims and ambitions, its intelligence and experience, in itself constitutes a glamour and one with a most potent effect upon you. When—as in your case—the personality is of a relatively high order and well integrated, the problem is then very real. This you realise, but in moments of service you are apt to fall into personality glamour without being aware of it, and those around you, serving with you, help you not.

Walk in the light, my brother. Let the light and radiance of the soul illumine your service and let your intellect not prove to be the dominating factor. Let spontaneous love and not a cultivated kindness condition your relations with your fellowmen. Be not glamoured by your own grasp of spiritual realities and by your spiritual knowledge. You have much to do in this life, and particularly in the next when this life's lessons have been learnt and assimilated. For this you must consciously prepare by the development of clear-sighted vision. I should perhaps point out to you that illusion more than glamour is your major difficulty for you are mentally polarised.

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August 1940

MY BROTHER AND MY FRIEND:

So much have I said to you anent glamour that in this instruction I shall not deal with it. If you have not developed an instinctual reaction to it at this time, then there is little that I can say. This instinctual recognition of a fault, a quality, a tendency and, eventually, of a revelation is one of the first steps that the disciple takes towards the transcendence of the astral plane. I would point out to all of you (for glamour is general as well as particular) that the dissipation of glamour brings revelation.

For you, this is a time of interlude in service on a large scale and it is not easy for you to accept it. The conflict of the nations has brought about an exoteric interlude in spiritual action on earth. It is also causing (and this must not be forgotten) a deepening inner growth and a subjective spiritual reorganisation which—when the war is over—will bear much fruit. It is a period of preparation for disciples and is an opportunity for greatly increased inner, spiritual relation which later will produce that outer synthesis for which all men wait.

My message to you at this time is to retreat inward and achieve a deepening which will, in its turn, produce wisdom and truth. I do not urge you to cease any of your exoteric activities, but I urge you to carry them forward in a spiritual silence. Pursue your physical plane activities and your spiritual dharma but live within yourself an intense life of aspiration, of questioning and (if I might so express it) of questing. Become, brother of mine, spiritually dissatisfied for this will produce in you an intensification of the major qualities which I suggested you cultivate many years ago. There comes a time in the life of the disciple when he goes through a process of detaching himself esoterically (though not necessarily exoterically) from his chosen and designated task and from all past achievements and thereby learns his next step upon the Path of Liberation. This detachment, based on a phase of spiritual dissatisfaction engenders also humility of heart—a quality you much need to cultivate. Humility of head is [658] largely theoretical and imposed; humility of heart is practical and inherently spontaneous. I would have you ponder on these distinctions for you will learn much thereby.

Consecrate therefore the period until the war ends to the cultivation of depth, of detachment, of humility. This process you will never regret, and in the coming period of reconstruction you will then bring to the task much that you cannot now give. As you know, it is the heart quality in you which needs intensifying and purifying. Your first ray astral body and mind produce too much of the will nature in all your activities. You need to bear this in mind particularly in connection with the astral body, for it is through that body that the love energy of the soul must pour on its way to the heart centre. It is, therefore, the second ray quality which must—in connection with your first ray astral body—be imposed and that means two things in relation to you:

1. That your soul contact must be intensified.

2. That your life problem today involves primarily three factors:

a. The soul ................. second ray.

b. The personality........ sixth ray.

c. The astral body........ first ray.

This constitutes an interesting and somewhat unbalanced triangle of energy, for the sixth ray personality is quick to respond to soul energy but the effects work out in a fanatically oriented and powerful astral body. The consequent interplay produces much of the glamour which besets you and which it is the task of your first ray mind to dissipate.

You are perhaps surprised at my use of the word "fanatical" in connection with you for you in no way regard yourself as a "fanatical devotee." Nor do I so regard you. The fanaticism which you display is in respect to your own judgment where other people are concerned and it involves also an almost proud dependence upon the wisdom which you have undoubtedly developed during many lives. This tends to give you a surety of opinion, in relation to others, which conditions and your decision do not always warrant; it produces [659] also a willingness to impose your own ideas and your judgment upon others when, my brother, it may be neither your duty nor your right so to do. This quality (oft found in disciples who are learning the nature of true spiritual humility) is esoterically called "the fanatic opposition of the wise person to the facts." This statement is most paradoxical but it is one which it would profit you much to consider and study.

Disciples like yourself (and they are fairly numerous and constitute some of the most promising material for training that we possess) are apt to be hard and unyielding—both to themselves and others. They have learnt much and surmounted much in the crucible of suffering and nothing has prevented them from a steadfast pursuit of reality. This capacity leads them to judge with harshness those who do not, apparently, achieve results or possess their own staying power. When such a disciple is naturally upon the teaching line as you are, he then handles opportunity on the basis of his truly enlightened personality but his methods are nevertheless personality ones and when—as in your case—the personality is on the sixth ray, one is apt to have a disciple fanatically identified with his own way of approach and one who expects others to go his way; he will be wedded to his own methods and anxious to impose them upon others. He is convinced that the techniques he employs are the best for all. All disciples have to learn to recognise the many ways, the many methods and the widely differently developed techniques. Their attitude (when they have learnt this lesson) is ever the fostering, the interpreting and the strengthening of the ways and the methods which suit those with whom they are associated and working, or those whom they are endeavouring to help. Remember this, my brother, and aim at decentralisation without diffusion. Think about this statement and seek to understand it and make it practical. If you can learn this lesson, there will open for you a wider field of opportunity. Decentralisation in mind from yourself and identification with the self in all should be your steady and practical objective.

To aid you in this, I suggest the following short meditation exercise which should be done each day at the close [660] of your group practice. Its objective is the increase of the flow of energy to the heart centre, remembering always that the heart centre is a twelve-petalled lotus.

1. Visualisation exercise.

a. Achieve alignment as rapidly as possible.

b. Hold in the mind, imaginatively, the straight line of the spinal column, the head centre, the sutratma and the antahkarana—thus linking the centres in the body with the soul.

c. Then carry the line which your imagination has constructed, from the centre at the base of the spine to the closed lotus bud in the centre of the twelve-petalled egoic lotus.

2. Having done this, recognise your identity with all souls who constitute—in their entirety—the One Soul.

3. Then sound the OM as a soul, as far as in you lies, breathing it out from soul levels with no fixed objective in your mind. Do this six times.

4. Then sound the OM again after a pause (thus making seven in all) sending it out into the ajna centre and from there carry it down to the heart centre and hold it there for later use. Do this as a soul whose nature is love.

5. Then, bearing in mind that the heart centre is the repository of twelve forces or energies, seek to develop them by pondering upon the twelve virtues through which these energies express themselves, taking one each month for a year.

a. Group love, embracing individuals.

b. Humility, signifying your personality attitude.

c. Service, indicating your soul's preoccupation.

d. Patience, signifying the embryonic immortality and persistence which is a soul characteristic.

e. Life, or expressed activity which is the manifestation of love because it is essential dualism.

f. Tolerance, which is the first expression of buddhic understanding.

g. Identification with others, which is embryonic [661] fusion, carried eventually to synthesis when the head centre is developed.

h. Compassion, which is essentially the right use of the pairs of opposites.

i. Sympathy, which is the consequence of knowledge and of the unfoldment of the knowledge petals. Such energy then is in touch with the heart centre.

j. Wisdom, which is the fruit of love and indicates the awakening of the love petals of the egoic lotus.

k. Sacrifice, which is the giving of the heart's blood or life for others.

6. After a quiet meditation on one of these qualities of soul expression as they manifest upon the physical plane, sound the OM three times.

I would remind you that these soul qualities, which express themselves through the heart centre, must be interpreted esoterically and in terms of relation. Bear this in mind and as you meditate, seek ever the inner significance and not just the assembling of thought upon these qualities. Most of the thoughts and ideas which will come to you in this connection will be well known and so purely exoteric. There are, however, secondary meanings which are of real significance to the disciple though almost unknown to the average man. Endeavour to find these.

I would ask you, my brother, as a service to the group, each month to write a short paper on these twelve qualities as expressions of soul energies, thus giving your brothers the fruit of your month's meditation. Be of good courage and let not physical liability hinder your inner life and joy. Seek closer contact with me, your Master, and look for response.

August 1942

1. The call to some disciples is to live the triple life: to serve without surcease, to suffer on the plane of outer things and always dream. This is the call for you.

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2. Ponder the distinction between the dream, the vision and the plan. They form the world of meaning.

3. To understand impels the heart detached. And with that understanding there awakes the will to dissipate the pain of those who tread the darker ways of earth. On these you do not walk, yet know and see.

4. The pen, when dipped in love and understanding, must be used by you for several years as your major mode of service. I tell you therefore, Write.

5. Search for the younger members of my group whom yet you do not know. Recognise them when you meet them on the way of life, and from your point of garnered wisdom and your trained experience give them a helping hand. Three await your service.

6. Stand by A.A.B. and aid her in the service of the Plan. The link is close between the Ashram of K.H. and mine. The lines of interplay must closer be.

September 1943

BROTHER OF MINE:

The call has now gone forth from your soul and from my Ashram to develop and evolve your own definitely planned service, and therefore to begin the task of finding those whom you can help—not only in this life but primarily in the next. I start with this statement because I seek to say something which will arrest your attention and give incentive to the next few years of your life.

The sixfold statement which I gave you last year was, if you have not ascertained this for yourself, full of information, indicative of your soul's desire or plan for you, and full also of esoteric symbolism. It is a symbolism which holds for you the key to the future. I would like to take these six sentences in this instruction and give you a deeper insight into them. They hold for you the blueprint of your future, and particularly are they the blueprint for your next incarnation. Study them afresh from that angle.

What, my brother, has been the keynote of your present life? I refer here to the obvious personality keynote. Is it not [663] perhaps and above aught else frustration? Plans which have not materialised; dreams which have not come true; friends who have consistently failed to understand; lack of appreciation from those who should justly have given it to you; apparently no situation in which your deep knowledge and understanding could be made available. Learning and esoteric knowledge have both apparently (I said apparently, my brother) failed you. A home life which has not measured up to your earlier dreams and a physical body which limits all you have sought to do. You likewise see the years slipping away, and from the angle of the personality there seems little to show for it all. Such is one side of the picture, is it not?

But what about the other side, my friend and co-worker? This, it is easy to overlook, because from the angle of personality appraisement it appears so nebulous and evasive and dependent for verification upon those rare moments when you contact consciously your soul, and then suddenly know. But this happens none too often. Let me tell you in words what that other side appears to us, knowing that you will believe me and that what I say may give you a fresh and living grip on life and enough confidence to enable you to make the coming years increasingly fruitful.

This has been for you an incarnation wherein certain major happenings have taken place. Your soul has, for one thing, taken possession of your personality and gripped your mind (a major determining factor in all processes connected with reincarnation), and has done this in such a way that you will return to incarnation when the time comes with a sense of convinced awareness. Secondly, you have stepped upon the Path of Accepted Discipleship and are definitely in preparation for initiation—which initiation it is for you to discover. A hint lies for you in the fact that frustration has been the keynote of your personality life, and that divine indifference is your quality objective. Do you realise the importance of those two major happenings? Again, you have learnt the meaning of pain, and again divine indifference is your goal. You have made many contacts and helped many more than you know, and you have thus established links—for what purpose, my brother? May it not be that each life that you [664] have touched with helping and with strength indicates to you those who may form the nucleus of your own group in a later life experience?

One of the things which I shall have to indicate to the senior members of this particular group of chelas in my Ashram (as their teaching is carried forward after the preparatory personal processes have been duly taught) is the Technique of Magnetism, which is the clue to the manifestation of all Ashrams. It is through spiritual magnetism and through pure love, impersonally applied, that an Ashram is assembled. It is a technique which you must learn and are beginning to learn, but the motive for so learning is now presented to you. You have made many friends and evoked much love, and that is a lasting process entailing responsibility which may not be ignored. You are learning to know me and you have ever the staunch love and confidence of A.A.B., who has a peculiarly deep appreciation of you based on ancient work together in past lives. You have also gained a little knowledge as to the intent of my Ashram, as far as you are concerned. You have worked off much karma (far more than you think) and stand much freer than was deemed possible when you entered into incarnation this life. From the angle of your soul your life has been triumphant. From the angle of your personality it has been frustrated. Which matters, my brother? Perhaps neither matters from the angle of the initiate vision and the attitude of the trained disciple.

"In neither pain nor joy is liberation found.

In neither dark nor light will the spiritual sun appear.

The pairs of opposites distract the eyes of men.

Only the single eye directs the steps

Of the initiate upon the Way."

Will you ponder my presentation of these two contrasting aspects of your life, and then pass on to fuller light and service?

I told you in my last instruction that you were called to live the triple life of ceaseless serving, of constant pain, and [665] of endless dreaming. I started off in that statement with the enunciation of that which is factual in your life. Let us see which are the other statements of fact pointed out by me, for in their sum total your future integration, development and service lie hidden. Let me, therefore, enumerate:

1. Service and pain and dreaming are your present lot.

2. You do not walk as yet the darker ways of earth. For that hard task you are in preparation, for some must serve this way and only the strong and tried can thus be trusted. Regard all that has happened to you as special training, what might be called "basic training," in order that your future initiate service may be carried out according to plan. That service is the choice of your soul. It is not imposed upon you by me or by the will of the Ashram or by any other factor save your soul.

3. The use of the pen in writing is at present your major mode of service. Find your own people, and write that which will inspire and help. Let love speed your fingers and light travel between you and those you seek to serve. Therefore, my brother, write. You have the gift and the time and a wide open door for impersonal service.

4. Search for those who are not yet in my Ashram, who are still probationers, and lead them on. Prepare them for the transition which they face when they step off the Probationary Path onto the Path of Discipleship. Have you found and recognised the three who await your guidance and your help?

5. Continue, as ever, to stand by A.A.B. The reason for this is that my Ashram is an affiliate of the Ashram of K.H. I would ask you to study what I say to R.S.U., for it applies also to you.

I have here clearly given you certain instructions which will only prove their effectiveness in your development and their ability to open doors for you when accepted and obeyed. I [666] can but indicate and suggest from my standpoint of greater knowledge, but it is for you to recognise the usefulness of the suggestions and to move forward in line with them.

I have a most interesting theme for your thought on the distinction between "the dream, the vision and the Plan." There are many ways in which these distinctions can be approached, and the interpretations will be dependent upon the status of the thinker. For you, a disciple in preparation for initiation, as are all in my group—accepted disciples in training—I will suggest the following lines of approach.

To you, the dream is the reaction of a high grade imparted knowledge and world need for service. The personality dreams of using that knowledge and meeting that need, and as he thinks of serving he thus becomes a server and a teacher. The vision is the realisation of the goal (embodied by the particular initiation for which you are being prepared); according to the status of the initiate, so will be the vision. It is the sensing of the united purpose and the spiritual intention of those who have already taken the initiation for which the disciple is being prepared. I cannot express this more clearly, as it is not permitted, but once you are clear in your own mind for which initiation you are being prepared, you can then ascertain for yourself (and will, perforce, have to ascertain) the objective, secret scope and field of service, plus the esoteric quality of those who have passed through a certain door and undergone a certain expansion of consciousness. Remember that initiation does not simply enhance and deepen the soul quality; it does not simply enable the personality to express soul powers, and thus emphasise and draw out the best that is in the disciple and his service, but it makes available to him, progressively, forces and energies of which he has had no previous knowledge and which he must learn to use as an initiate of a certain degree upon the Lighted Way. It reveals to him worlds of being hitherto unsuspected and unrecognised, with which he must learn to cooperate, and it integrates him more definitely into the "lighted area" of our planetary life, bringing fresh revelation and vision but making the unlighted area dark indeed.

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The Plan is as much of the hierarchical intent (as an entire and whole picture) as the initiate can grasp, plus an understanding of the part which he, as an individual server, must play. There is more to it than that, but I fear to complicate certain simple truths which I seek to have you grasp. The clarity of the vision and the grasp of the Plan, it might be added, are dependent upon the conscious and intelligent construction of the antahkarana. You will see, therefore, why I have asked this group within my Ashram to study the antahkarana instructions as given in the papers of the advanced section of the Arcane School. All of you have already begun to build this bridge; I seek to have you comprehend how and why.

So, my brother, see your life pattern more clearly. See the underlying purpose of all happenings in the past, and endeavour then to grasp the picture of the future, and thus make your dreams come true, because you see the vision and are cooperating with the Plan; thus materialise the vision and work at intelligent understanding of the Plan. Let naught—fatigue, frustration, people or circumstance—deflect you from your purpose. Carry all forward in silence and with love.

Take the four words: Dream, Vision, Plan, Realisation, and make them the theme for your meditation work during the four quarters of the coming year. If you will, write during this year four papers on these four words, but only write after three months' quiet reflection upon each word, and from the angle of the personality—illumined by the Spiritual Triad. I would have you note the wording of this request with especial care. This will tend to bring in more than just soul wisdom, for the angle of the spiritual will and of spiritual love (of which both soul will and soul love are only the reflection) will begin to enter in.

Go forward with joyful expectation. Get ready for your future service in this life and in the next; seek to fulfil instructions and learn to come and go between my Ashram and that of K.H., for in the one your service will appear, and in the other your love will be deepened and your heart become more understanding.

[668]

November 1944

MY FRIEND AND CO-DISCIPLE:

I would have you note this mode of address. That we are friends you have known for many years. That we are co-disciples may be, as yet, a somewhat new idea. As a wide generalisation, the theory is accepted that all in or affiliated with the Hierarchy are disciples, and therefore in a close relation to each other. I am here, however, using these words in a new sense—new, I mean, to you.

There are within the ranks of disciples certain of them who have been singled out for a peculiar and particular relation to the Christ. Such a one is the Master K.H., Who is slated (is that not the word I should use?) to fill higher office when the Christ moves on to other work than that of the World Teacher. I myself hold a similar position to the Master K.H. Through K.H. and through myself and through two other Masters, a number of disciples of high standing, and some neophytes or disciples of lesser rating, are upon the line of this contact or designated service. By the training given, these disciples of high or low degree (yet all accepted in the technical sense) are rendered singularly sensitive to the Christ force. Curiously enough, these particular disciples are selected to take this training because of their interest in esoteric values, and not because they possess a particularly loving nature, as might have been expected. They are usually on the wisdom aspect of the second ray and not on the love aspect.

The work which it is planned for them later to undertake will eventually prove so difficult that it is essential that they start with a strong bias towards wisdom. Contact with the "Ashrams of loving intent" (as certain Ashrams close to the aura or periphery of Shamballa are called) suffices later to evoke the love aspect in greater fullness, enabling the disciples, therefore, to present a balanced instrument to the Divine Organiser of their future work. Just what this work will be is not for me to say. It is connected with the training to be given neophytes and aspirants in the next race, where the [669] average aspirant to discipleship will be expected to be as intuitive and motivated by pure reason as the aspirant today has to be mental. Technically speaking, that means that the buddhic plane will be the focus or place of growth, and those who train disciples will work from the plane of atma or pure spiritual will, just as today they work from the plane of buddhi or of rational unity. Ponder on that last phrase.

The relation of the Christ to the entire Hierarchy is that of Supreme Master. His group of disciples includes all initiates over the third initiation. But through these initiates and certain of the Masters, and at their suggestion, He is slowly selecting a band of lesser disciples who can be trained for special work during the next two or three lives. Of these, you can be one. The first phase of the training given is to impose at least one life of most drastic discipline and difficult circumstances, not karmically ordained but of an educational and disciplinary nature. You have had two such lives and have consequently built up and established a persistent endurance and a trained response to events which is a guarantee to the watching Master that your stability is assured and immovable.

Much further training necessarily is demanded, but there is little that you can add to that already given during this life. The next life will see a continuance of the teaching. You can, however, develop within yourself a more conscious comprehension of the nature of "wise love." This is love free from emotion or devotion; it is love aware of the objects of love as they essentially are and a love which is able to see in character and temperament the working out of karma. It is difficult for even an advanced disciple at this time to comprehend the nature of man when he has dropped all physical conflict out of his conscious life experience and when the urge to combat (upon the physical plane) has faded completely out of the human consciousness. The field of battle then shifts to other realms of awareness, and the effect of this—within humanity as a whole—is the cause of the choosing of this special group through whom the problems emerging out of the changed conditions can be solved and handled. [670] Men will have to be trained for a state of discipleship even newer and different to the type which I have presented at this time and which intrinsically differs from that previously given.

One of the major needs in your nature is the evocation of a new and fiery incentive. For this reason, I have (as I seldom do) indicated the future ahead of you. You and F.C.D. are both numbered among the "friends of Christ," as this special group is called, and are upon a peculiar path of training. Step by step, the nature of this Path will be revealed to you, and, little by little, you will perceive the quality of the unfoldments which presented opportunity can give you.

Be not mistaken, my brother. This does not mean that in this present vehicle and with your present equipment you can contact the Master of all the Masters; nor does it mean that your advancement is ahead of that of your group brothers. There are those in this group and in my Ashram who are ahead of you, if such inexact terms can be used. The Christ, through your own Master and in no other way, knows you. Not yet can you know Him. You can, however, ponder upon the significance of what I have said; you can learn to distinguish within yourself the dual aspects of your soul ray energy, love and wisdom; you can record when either of these two forces is functioning, and which one it is. A closer study of your five rays (literally only four) will aid you to do this, particularly as your seventh ray physical vehicle will greatly facilitate the process. This seventh ray is a ray of a dual activity, because through its means the energy of the soul and of the personality can be brought consciously into relation, and this more easily than on the other rays, once the disciple is freed from glamour. Thus there can be built a true expression of the life content—from the angle of a long soul experience. This may sound to you somewhat ambiguous, but the statement is by no means as vague as it appears. It should provide you with ideas for reflection.

For the remainder of your life twelve seed phrases can provide the theme of your recurrent meditation—either for a year of twelve months or for twelve years. The longer and [671] the more earnestly you reflect upon them, the richer will be your life expression, and that I know is what you yourself desire.

1. Relation to the inner Ashram.

2. The friendship of the Christ.

3. The way of the intuition.

4. The source of your life expression.

5. Wisdom, blended with love.

6. Reaction to the consciousness of the Hierarchy.

7. The "Ashram of Loving Intent."

8. An out-going consciousness, esoterically understood.

9. The "Lighted Way of the Buddha and the Christ."

10. The pinnacle whereon the thorny crown is won.

11. The moment of perceptive understanding.

12. The quality of the perceptive race of men. (This refers to the future race.)

These phrases have a significance which is not immediately apparent; they are what I might be permitted to call "sparking" concepts, and they can be revolutionary in their effect, if you reflect upon them correctly and persistently. They are intended to make you responsive to the different currents of energy to which those who are to undergo a special training to fit them to form the special group of the "friends of Christ" must submit themselves. This right you have earned. It is my present task to aid you on this way of peculiar training.

Have you ever thought, my brother, that just as there is a discipline of pain and of sorrow, there may also be a discipline of joy and of achievement? This is a thought worthy of attention. Men need these days to learn this new truth, and its perception will greatly change human consciousness. That which is bliss is today here or on its way, and the disciples and aspirants of this present time must be taught how to recognise and implement it. Again—this is a right which you have definitely earned.

I shall be in touch with you, my brother. This instruction [672] is not long, but—coupled with that last given to you—it gives you a prospect of a possibility which should cheer you on your way. You can regard what I have told you as the reward of a life of patient endurance, of overcoming and of acceptance. It should also enable you to bring a fuller tide of loving understanding. You will thus enhance your usefulness.

August 1946

MY BROTHER:

I approach you today with such complete understanding that I believe you will immediately recognise its reality. My last instruction to you is distant and remote in its implications, and you are today wondering if I meant all that I said there and if your spiritual status is as I stated. It most certainly is, and on that statement I would have you take your stand. Will you understand me if I say that one of the guarantees to you of the truth of the past instruction is that this instruction will be relatively short? The last instruction was the important one. In that instruction I emphasised two things:

1. That you were at the point in evolution where a definite rapport with the Christ was possible.

2. That you were in process of preparation for taking a certain important initiation (as, my brother, are several of this group).

Your reaction to this was normal—as far as your human nature was concerned—but distinctly undesirable. It evoked in you a realisation that was false in many ways, but you have often been susceptible to glamour; you felt that your status was ahead of the majority of your brothers and that (because of this) you had specialised work to do for me. You took the position that, in the eventuality of A.A.B.'s passing over, you were slated to take her place as far as this group is concerned. You gave that impression to some of the group members you met last year and you gave that impression to A.A.B. She was deeply concerned over this, for she has for [673] you a very deep love and understanding as well as a clear perception of your status as a disciple.

Since that time you have yourself been inwardly disturbed, because you are fundamentally sound and correct in your reactions; for this reason I would ask you to forget all this past history and any past reactions to glamour, and to regard the present as the only factor of importance.

The new seed group is discontinued. My contact with you and with some other members of the group is exoterically not disturbed, and therefore (as long as A.A.B. is alive in the physical sense) you may, at intervals, hear from me. Subjectively, you are ever in touch, as is F.B. and three or four others in the group. The rest of the group members are linked with the Ashram, and therefore with myself, and because time is of no account esoterically, their relation remains unimpaired and is preserved intact over whatever years are necessary to re-establish their occult obedience or their true interest.

You need to bear in mind, my brother, that your second ray emphasis is that of wisdom and not of love. Therefore the love quality is not so potent, and this presents difficulties to you of which you are curiously unaware. It is your task—at any cost—to develop the love quality. The wisdom attitude makes you hard, and you have not yet balanced it—in intensity—by the love quality. This hardness you must transmute on a large and general scale. You can transmute for individuals you love or for whom you feel a sense of responsibility. It is this quality of love which you must develop before you see the Christ—not simply as an initiate taking an initiation, but as a disciple warranting His attention. You see now the purpose of my remarks in an earlier instruction? Today, few disciples realise that the Christ has two relationships to them: that of initiation, and another—far rarer—that of One Whom they may consult in connection with their work. This permission to approach is only accorded when love and wisdom are balanced and equal. This is not so in your case as yet, and I would have you bear this point in mind. Your personality ray is a serious handicap to you, not [674] because of its developed aspect but because of its crystallised assurance aspect. A sixth ray personality is ever sure of his recognition of truth, and is consequently very easily glamoured, and when this is coupled (as in your case) with a first ray astral body, the difficulty which confronts you as a disciple is very great.

Therefore, brother of mine, your immediate problem is one of glamour, plus a feeling of distress because you know that A.A.B. and I have recognised this glamour. We have, but may I assure you that it makes no difference in our understanding, love and appreciation of you. It may be a long time since I, personally, was overcome by glamour, and it may be a short time since A.A.B. succumbed, but neither of us has forgotten the difficulties encountered or lost our horror of glamour; we are therefore not critical, and upon that fact rest back.

May I recall to you an instruction I gave you in 1938 upon indifference? Ponder upon it again.

Go ahead, brother of mine, in our service. Every contact has its unrealised importance; give of yourself, therefore, and not only through others. You can induce others to work, but give of yourself and see (as far as is possible and commonsense dictates) everyone who seeks to contact you, and this with love and willing understanding. This is hard for you, but it is essential for the development of that loving understanding which is the complement of wisdom. F.C.D. needs to develop wisdom as the complement of love.

As regards your meditation during future years, build up its structure yourself, laying emphasis upon three points: the Christ, the need for the balancing factor of love, and outgoing service. I give you no outline. You have outgrown that technique and are capable—as a soul—of formulating your own.

Above all else, curb your critical mind and cease all harsh judgements. When in difficulty, go or write to A.A.B. She knows from wide experience, and she understands.

You will again hear from me, either through A.A.B. or through the medium of your own soul.

[675]

November 1948

MY BROTHER AND MY FELLOW WORKER:

I am deeply concerned in this communication to say something which will be of real service to you at this crisis in your life of discipleship. Disciples of all degrees are now being tested and tried out in preparation for the work they should do, prior to the reappearance of the Christ. Your whole life has been in reality a preparation for the work which it is hoped that you will do. This life has been for you what we call in the Hierarchy "a life of dual possibilities." When that is the case, a most difficult setting upon the physical plane is presented to the disciple and he faces two possible lines of activity:

1. He can decide to adjust himself to the circumstances and give his whole attention to their surmounting (which in this case means changing them) and he, therefore, submits to the wear and tear of life, and to the constant consideration of karmic unfoldments within his personality scope. He has no time for outstanding service but regards the period of incarnation as an interlude wherein karma is worked off.

2. Or—he accepts the seemingly impossible situation and determines that nothing in his personality or his circumstances shall deter him from the active service of humanity. He, therefore, handles both the situations and opportunity from an inner point of enlightenment and from a sustained peaceful position within the Ashram.

In what I am here saying, I am considering only an accepted disciple such as yourself.