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SECTION FOUR - PERSONAL INSTRUCTIONS TO DISCIPLES - Part 8

4. At this point, dedicate the energies of the personality (which express themselves through these five centres and the ajna centre, making six centres in all) and breathe them back again—by an act of the will—into the centres to which they belong. Do not do this sequentially and piecemeal but as one dynamic outbreathing; see these energies travelling down the spine to their respective resting places, carrying new life, pure stimulation and dynamic will to each and every centre.

5. Then, as the soul informing the body, sound the OM and proceed with the group meditation.

This meditation should definitely aid in increasing the activity of the physical body along the lines you have for so long desired, and make the discipline for which you have striven, no longer a discipline but a life of unconscious, automatic spiritual expression.

August 1942

1. Your feet have onward marched. The Path stands clear revealed. You know the step ahead.

2. I would ask you not to backward look, my brother, but [606] tread with confidence the Lighted Way. It leads to Me. Your soul and I are One.

3. Yet I am always near thee—nearer than breeze, or breath or air. Your soul, your Master and yourself are truly one. Reflect.

4. Stand free. Let naught disturb your calm. Yet seek not peace. Keep poised upon a pinnacle of love.

5. I seek to have you come closer into the work. Seize upon opportunity when it may come.

6. Move forward in my Ashram; the middle Place within that Ashram is the outer Place within the centre of K.H. You know your place.

September 1943

MY FRIEND AND HELPER:

It has been under discussion between K.H. and myself as to whether you should at this time move into His Ashram or whether you should still stay within my Ashram which—in the last analysis—is a part of His. I hinted at this fact to you in one of the six statements which I gave you in my last instruction. It has been decided between us (subject to the approval of your own soul) that the work in my Ashram calls for your cooperation and help, particularly as A.A.B. is now working at her own post within the Ashram of K.H. This decision was reached for certain definite reasons which it is only fair should be communicated to you:

First: It was felt that your present type of physical vehicle could not adequately take the heightened vibration which distinguishes the Ashram of a Chohan from that of a Master. It would require too much adjustment and consequent delay in the work to be done, especially in this time of world crisis wherein every disciple has to contribute all that is in him. You yourself know that consistently you have been told by me that your major hindrance was the physical body—a body equipped to render the service and complete certain karmic adjustments during this life. People seldom appreciate adequately the fact that the physical body is a definite channel of contact (and sometimes the only one as it expresses [607] physical plane relationships of a karmic nature) between themselves and the people with whom they have to work out certain relationships. This has been pronouncedly so in your case; this is a fact which you will grasp with greater facility when no longer limited by that physical body, as are all who are in incarnation, particularly disciples at your stage of expression. Have you not realised that one of the lessons which every disciple has to learn is the lesson of limitations? Usually this lesson climaxes in some one incarnation wherein—again as in your case—there is full and free inner expression and at the same time definite physical limitations. If you were now transferred into the Ashram of K.H., it would necessitate too much expenditure of protective force on the part of K.H. in order to prevent the disruption of some of the atoms of your body, to offset a too rapid purification of the cells of the physical body, to stem a too direct stimulation of the centres in the etheric body, and a consequent arresting of the work you are doing—and doing so well. Your personal karma still demands that you stay where you are—and I still need your aid, my brother.

Second: This particular group of disciples in my Ashram, with which you are and will be affiliated, needs your help and service. That is another phase of karma (this time the karma of a pledged disciple) which you have assumed. The years have proved your staying power, your unswerving devotion and your stable love for your co-workers. All that is still needed and will be increasingly required. An understanding heart and a steady application to the work to be done are great attributes, and speaking esoterically, both I and your group brothers "know where to find you." The part that you have to play will slowly emerge and become clear to your mind and you, I know, will meet requirements as they arise.

Third: Your work must increasingly be that of the teacher, and you must learn more and more to bring through, for the use of the many, the knowledges stored up by your soul through many lives of training; this knowledge, rapidly being transmuted by you into wisdom, must be made available for your personality to use as it seeks to help and train other personalities to become soul conscious. If you were to [608] move into the more advanced Ashram you might find that you could not do this, for you would not only be occupied in making certain needed adjustments, but would also have to apply yourself to fresh learning. It has been felt by Us, therefore, that for the remainder of this incarnation you should develop the facility to make full use of what you have acquired, so that the stream of outgoing teaching can become so direct that you will establish a teaching facility and technique for your next incarnation which will stand you in good stead when the work your soul has planned for you opens up in front of you.

You have, therefore, three things to do as the future unrolls:

1. Continue with the discipline and right control of the physical body so that it can increasingly become a better and more usable instrument.

2. Form a steady and stable focal point of loving attention to which your group brothers can turn in years to come.

3. Give out to others more and more of what you know. You have a good field of expression in the work for which A.A.B. tells me you are responsible. Use this increasingly—with firmness and judgment. Let not your heart always determine the issues at stake, but call in the balancing head increasingly. The so-called kind immediate thing or the thing which the student wants is not always the wise thing or that which will help him the most.

The remarks which I have made anent the two Ashrams will have awakened interest in your mind and you will be pondering upon the relation existing between the various Ashrams. Scattered throughout these personal instructions, as well as in the group teachings, will be found much that has hitherto not been given out or which is relatively new, and hence the value of reading with care the instructions of the individual group members. There was much of esoteric value in the various statements given last year to the group members, [609] and the sixth sentence in yours embodies a new and interesting truth.

There are many Ashrams upon the various rays. My Ashram, being a second ray Ashram, is naturally closely related to that of K.H., which is the central or the most important Ashram upon the second ray line of energy as it penetrates the hierarchical centre. K.H. is at this time, under the Christ, the working Representative of the second ray in the Hierarchy. The Christ is the link between the second ray as it expresses itself in the Hierarchy and Shamballa. Initiates of high degree and Masters on all the rays have Their Own Ashrams, but not all are teaching centres; this is a point to be remembered, as well as the fact that all of them are not concerned primarily with the unfoldment of the human consciousness and with the needs of the human kingdom. There are other types of consciousness of deep and real importance in the great chain of Hierarchy stretching from below to far above the human kingdom. This is a point apt to be forgotten.

I, as a Master upon the second ray, have an Ashram which is a branch, an affiliate, an outgrowth or a specialised part of the Ashram of K.H. It is because of this that the services of A.A.B. have been made available to me for two decades and more than two decades. Words here are limiting and confusing. In the statement of six sentences which was given to you last year, you were told to move forward in my Ashram. The meaning is that in the great interlocking directorate of the Hierarchy and in the basic relation between the Ashrams (as, for instance, all Ashrams upon the second ray) there arises a point where the circle of an Ashram overlaps or interpenetrates the circle of another Ashram, and at their point of contact and of overlapping an increased intercourse and interplay becomes possible. It is here that you have to find your place. It might be pictured somewhat like the diagram (page 610), as regards my Ashram and that of K.H.

At this Middle Point there is a coming and a going; there is relation and contact; there is increased opportunity and inspiration; there are focal points of transmutation, of transition and of transformation. It is towards this area of merging [610] and of fusion that you are now asked to move. Reflect upon this and get the deep spiritual implications which this picture of relationship between the Ashrams can convey to you. By your effort, your determination and your understanding you can form part of the group which stands in this "Middle Chamber" (to use Masonic terminology) and can work from this point in the ashramic life. This important little diagram can be applied also to the relation between the Hierarchy and Humanity—the New Group of World Servers occupying this lower midway point.

It will be obvious to you also how the symbolism of an eclipse will come into your mind, for when the merging is complete, humanity and the Hierarchy will be one; there will be no outer or inner and no middle chamber, but only complete unity. Later in our planetary history, this design will also depict the relation of Shamballa to the Hierarchy. It can also be applied most usefully to the relationship between soul and personality, wherein the "encroaching light of the soul obliterates the dim light of the personality, and within that lighted area the disciple learns to stand."

There is much more that could be said, my brother, but reflection and prolonged thought upon what has been said will enable you to add that much more.

I would suggest that you take these thoughts into your meditation, and that you also use this little diagram as the theme for reflection during the coming year. Draw up your [611] own meditation form, embodying these concepts and preserving steadfastly in your consciousness the imperative command of your soul to "move forward." Look for indications of this moving forward in the growth of increased understanding, in a sense at times of a greatly heightened vibration, and also in a greatly increased facility in imparting knowledge. Learn to know yourself as the disciple, and be not so intensely preoccupied with yourself as the struggling aspiring personality. Personalities enter not into Ashrams— only souls.

There is no need for me to ask you to stand by A.A.B. The rhythm of years cannot be disturbed and you have always stood by her and you always will.

November 1944

MY BROTHER:

The past year has seen much change in your life, and for this I earlier sought to prepare you; it is change which is largely in the nature of release and of a freeing for more effective service. In reviewing what I said to you last year (and this I have carefully done in order to help you more effectively in the process of adjustment which faces you) I am impressed with the nature and scope of the information which I saw fit to impart to you. I wonder if the implications of what I said made due impression upon your mind? The following information was given you:

1. That the Master K.H. was aware of you and of your relation to Him.

2. That it had been decided, in view of A.A.B.'s recall for more definite work in His Ashram, that you would continue to work in my Ashram for the remainder of this life. A.A.B. had temporarily given up some of her work in the Ashram of K.H. in order to be of assistance to me in the specialised work I was attempting to do and which she was equipped to aid.

3. That the "middle point" between the auras or spheres of influence of the related Ashrams should form your [612] immediate objective and the goal of your endeavour. This would mean, in your case, that when you have achieved the "freedom of the middle point" you would be sensitive to impression from me and from my Ashram with which you are now affiliated, but you would also be sensitive to impressions from the Ashram of K.H., via A.A.B.

4. It was also indicated to you that the vehicle which you should seek to discipline and subject to refinement was the physical body. The density of your physical vehicle is both an asset and a liability; it is for you to discover the nature of both and offset the liabilities through discipline and employ the assets in active service.

These are four of the more important facts which I earlier gave you and I recall them to your attention, owing to their major significances in providing vision of possibility and of necessity.

The future holds much of true service and opportunity for you, and in the place where your heart lies. When you have successfully and rightly freed yourself from other claims, I would urge you to look forward with joyful anticipation to a fuller and a richer life. A great Law of Compensation comes into play in a peculiar manner and along special lines where accepted disciples are concerned. The emphasis laid upon discipline, upon purification, upon hard demanding work and upon relinquishing that which the personality holds dear, is a needed phase of occult development. This is generally and often sadly recognised. But—paralleling the period of pain and difficulty—is a compensatory activity of the soul which brings all life and circumstance into true perspective and changes attitudes so completely that the recognition of adequate reward supersedes the realisation of pain. The Law of Sacrifice and the Law of Compensation are closely allied, but the first to become active in the life and to become a recognised factor in daily living is sacrifice. Compensation comes later into recognition.

You have, my beloved brother, lived a full and rich life; you have been brought into contact with thousands of people [613] of all degrees, religions and points of view; you have known a family life, oft of great pressures but also of frequent happiness; you have fulfilled your duties and adhered to your obligations. Along with all the many impacts upon your life and the many demands upon you, you have successfully endeavoured to live the dual life of the disciple, to serve me and participate, as far as you could see it, in the work of my Ashram. There have been failures, and of these I have not hesitated to tell you oft.

There still remains the conscious refining of the physical vehicle in order to enable you, in your next incarnation, to step into the ring-pass-not of the Ashram of the Chohan K.H. No one can do this for you. In your present circumstances it should be easy for you to apply that desired and recognised discipline—a discipline of such a practical nature that you need not that I should outline it for you. It is one that can and should be gradually applied; this method is more likely to be successful than a rigidly outlined and forcefully demanded procedure and life of physical sacrifice, which might succeed but which might, however, land you in another "field of failure."

Your place in relation to my work in the world is well recognised by you and I would have you remember that your major spiritual responsibility is essentially work that is close to my heart. Each soul you touch in the carrying out of these duties is placed in a particular and peculiar relation to you. Why, my brother? Because, as a member of my Ashram and as one who is approaching the more important Ashram of K.H., you can and do, by the fact of your relation to these aspirants and students, bring them en rapport with hierarchical force. This you should remember, and also bear in mind that the effects of implementing this relationship will be both good and bad. Contact with any disciple acts as a precipitating agency, evoking that which is good and bringing to the surface that which is undesirable and which needs revealing, in order to bring about its rejection. This force and responsibility you need to handle with more conscious understanding. Shrink not from the results, but see to it that reaction to contact with you and with your band of associates, [614] does have definite results. To handle these reactions was something which A.A.B. had to learn both to understand and use; you must learn also, brother of mine.

I will be in touch with you increasingly as you bring the physical vehicle into a greater degree of purity and refinement. You are, in any case, sensitive to my impression. Move onward into light and find me ever there.

August 1946

MY BROTHER:

I would ask you at this time to reread the instructions which I gave you last, and to read them in the light of the present circumstances. This is a painful and rather dreadful testing time for you and—to date—the immediate issue is uncertain, though the final issue is not.

The problem with which you are faced falls, in your mind (if you would only think clearly), into two parts: the problem of your reaction to the minorities question, and the problem of your relation to D.R.S. The first problem you say does not exist; the second problem you consider entirely the fault of D.R.S., and therefore, my brother, you stand clear of all blame and responsibility on both scores. As you are still dwelling in a personality and have not yet taken the third initiation, such complete innocence is far from likely.

What really lies at the root of your reaction? Let me tell you. It is a latent, unsuspected and quite unconscious jealousy. This you will naturally deny, and this matters not if you will attempt to establish immediate contact with your second ray soul. Look back over your instructions. I have often told you, have I not, that you need to love more?

I have stated the above in order to help you to see and think clearly. Right down the years, my beloved brother, I have taught you that your major limitation is your physical body; that necessarily means that your physical brain is a centre of limitation. I have begged you for nearly fifteen years to discipline your body, to attempt to refine it and to endeavour to make it more sensitive to spiritual impression. [615] It is on the seventh ray and therefore its task is to relate the inner to the outer. This it cannot yet do properly as you have taken few steps to refine it and change its quality. Your brain, therefore, responds easily to your first ray mind, and very little as yet to your second ray soul. Had it done so, truth and love would have distinguished you during this testing time, and little of these were seen. Your handling of this dual problem should make clear to you your limitations.

It is not my habit to touch upon the relations on the physical plane of personalities; however, this attitude of yours has created an ashramic situation, because of your relation in the past to the Ashram of K.H. and to the work which it had been planned that you should do as liaison officer standing at the midway point. A.A.B. has a definite position in K.H.'s Ashram and would normally be the one to act in collaboration with you. The situation is, therefore, changed, and becomes something to be adjusted. It has to be adjusted from your side, and herein lies the difficulty.

This is enough on this distressing subject. It relates at present only to this life, but it has its roots in the past, and—unless you clear it up—will have to be dealt with again by you in a coming incarnation. Again I reiterate, this is largely due to your failure to refine the physical body.

You are an earnest disciple, my brother; you are oriented to and serve the Hierarchy; you are dedicated and have much, very much, to give. Fit yourself, therefore, for a richer giving. Drop self-pity and the sense of magnanimous superiority you have lately been cultivating, and just (how can I put it to you in such a way that I can help?)—just be sorry, truly sorry, for the trouble you have caused.

I am giving you no meditation outline. What you need at this time is a period of quiet reflection. I asked K.H. if He had any word for you, as He had sensed the situation, though He has no time for the details. He replied: "Tell R.S.U. to move to the periphery of your Ashram, away from the midway point, and there learn truly to love—and love the little ones."

[616]

I can leave you with no better thought at this time, my beloved brother. I am steadily standing by—as is A.A.B.

November 1948

MY BROTHER:

You are no longer in my Ashram. I wonder if you have realised this fact? Like A.A.B. you are back in the Ashram of K. H., understudying—to some extent—A.A.B. so as to free her for work definitely connected with the coming of the Christ. You know that it is the rule in all Ashrams that all senior disciples have those associated with them who can take up the work that they are doing if need arises. When A.A.B. expressed the wish that you train for her work (to be taken up by you in certain aspects though not her work in direct relation with K.H.) the transfer was made. Your present work in ... provides a fine training ground for this future work, provided that you lay the constant emphasis upon the esoteric aspect of all the teaching which you must increasingly give, and learn yourself always to live in the world of meaning.

Last year you passed through a terrific test and it looked for a while as if the true significance of it all would escape you; the national thoughtform of any nation is necessarily a powerful entity. You can observe an instance of this in the thoughtform of the Jews which is the most powerful of all because they are not a nation in any true sense but an ancient religion; they have resurrected something which has been dead for many, many centuries and are now attempting to call it a nation. It is as if the ancient Incas and Aztecs suddenly announced themselves as nations in South America and sought to gain recognition; they were great nations and as civilised as were the Jews, possessing a great and beautiful religion. There is always trouble when that which should be past and gone seeks recognition along ancient lines, and this is a lesson which the Zionists must perforce learn.

But you, my beloved brother, belong to no nation; disciples of your standing have no national allegiances but stand [617] for the One Humanity; this was the basic lesson which confronted you last year. You learnt the lesson and earned the right to undertake advanced work. It is hard for disciples to realise what of beauty and opportunity lies ahead when confronted with a situation in which—at the time—they see no light and which involves the testing of their mental perception, their emotional reactions and their physical relationships. All these three were involved in last year's testing and it took some months for you to see with clarity the trend of events.

All that is past and over. Today you stand clear—a disciple who can pass back and forth into all second ray Ashrams, carrying benediction as you go. The parting of the ways has come for you this life as regards the family with which you have been associated through physical birth—with the exception of those few who are—perhaps as yet unconsciously to themselves—associated with my Ashram. The members of one's family upon the physical plane may or may not (in any particular incarnation) be also one's spiritual family.... This incarnation has for you one major lesson: the lesson of standing free from all environing limitations, whilst steadily giving love where association exists but doing so with complete detachment. That is the concept or idea behind the apparently peculiar episode in the life of the Christ where he repudiated His mother; it is a symbolic story and probably has no basis in fact but it nevertheless carries a lesson for all disciples.

The lines of your life have fallen for you now into those which your soul desires, for your brother travels with you and you are doing the needed work. Those who bear or have borne the same family name as yourself invoke your loving sense of responsibility and obligation but only temporarily and only for this life. Is this a hard saying for you? Think not about it unduly, brother of mine; your next incarnation is necessarily duly arranged, the needed relations retained and the unneeded discarded.

One of the great lessons to be mastered by all disciples and perhaps one of the hardest is that trained recognition [618] which recognises the spiritual family to which one belongs and this is seldom the same as the earthly family. A.A.B. had to learn that none of her earthly family were related to her and it was not an easy lesson for her, particularly as she had to learn it while quite young. It is a lesson which I am now with deliberation bringing to your notice.

Your work lies in training the senior students and for this you are well equipped and need not to handicap yourself with self-depreciation as A.A.B. has done for years. It is, as she has learnt, a form of false humility and a desire to have people realise that you are not proud and so that they will then like you. Put it from you, brother of old, and move forward with confidence into fuller service both in this world and in the Ashram of K.H.

I indicate to you no meditation work. In the doing of the meditation work of the advanced group and your presentation of the problems, you bring to them both life and substance. That is the service which you can render and one that A.A.B. has quietly rendered for many years. Each group—through its meditation work—must have its focal point and its energising area and these you must attempt to provide. This is one of the most deeply esoteric arts. In the Groups of Nine and in the New Seed Group, it was the cause of much difficulty. I myself was the central focal point and the energising centre, and my vibratory quality was too potent for the majority; more than half of those chosen reacted in such a manner that they threw themselves out of the group. I may deal with this in greater detail when communicating with P.G.C. who has always been deeply interested and concerned with the causes of the various defections. A handful remain profoundly attached to the work and to the purpose. Another handful is still in receipt of the group instructions but lack dynamic. The rest have moved temporarily to the outer periphery of the Ashram awaiting another life.

This, my brother, is all that I have to say to you at this time. My love goes with you and you may call on me for strength when the pressures of life seem too heavy.

[619]

TO W. D. S.

August 1940

BROTHER OF MINE:

A strenuous winter's work lies ahead of all disciples who are engaged in our service which is, as you have ever been told, pre-eminently the service of humanity. This service is intensively preoccupying us at this time and only in group formation can it be adequately handled. In spite of this, for some reason, my brother, you stand peculiarly alone. As I realise this, I find myself wondering in what manner I can bring you to a knowledge of this situation in your life, for you need to change conditions so that you can become an integral part of the group life. When I say group, I mean neither your immediate circle of co-workers nor the group of my disciples who are recipients of these instructions. I mean the entire group of serving disciples who are at work in the world and are the hope of the world at this time.

Of your desire to serve, of your inherent determination to serve and of the honesty of your dedication there is no possible doubt. Two factors which almost defy definition contribute to the fact that esoterically you stand alone, spiritually repulsing contact from the inner side of daily living (and consequently on the outer side also). It is not your willingness to cooperate, for that is proven; it is not your effort to understand, for that is evident; it is not intrinsically anything which you do which surrounds you as a wall, for that is really not the trouble. It is the fact that you yourself—as a personality—have for too long placed yourself in the very centre of your picture and also because your first ray personality militates against your identifying yourself with the world of relativity in which you find yourself. Your personality is always in your way. It is never forgotten and conditions everything you do and say. The realisation of this is not evident in your mind because all the time you yourself are the most real factor in the situation and yet—as you would yourself teach people—that personality attitude is the [620] great deceiver and essentially illusion. This condition of personality emphasis gives to other people whom you contact a sense of insincerity and thus evokes from them a reaction that leaves you alone. This in its turn evokes a response from your personality which is in the nature of self-defence, plus an effort to force cooperation, a willingness to go the way that the majority go, to do the expedient thing and also to attempt to prove to yourself and to others that you are what you know yourself to be and that they are not right in their reaction to you. Having pointed this out to you, is anything really clearer in your consciousness? I doubt it, for words—requiring as they do right interpretation—can mislead as much as they can help. I might however put it this way. Your second ray soul and your second ray mind are stepped down in expression to such an extent that they are expressions of personality love and a loving manifestation (apparently, though not in fact) of a mental attitude. With these you delude yourself and make a wrong impression on others for there is no real expression of truth in any of this. There is also no soul strength in your expression of life but only the determination of the personality and this you misinterpret as strength. This shows itself in various ways, according to the type of person with you at any given time and does not demonstrate the steady force of the soul, centred in spiritual being and illumined by soul light, being dedicated to group work and not to personality aspiration and personality ambition.

What then can you do? I would remind you that one of the things which it is the task of the Master to demonstrate to His disciple is the particular "blind spot" in his life which it is the purpose of the soul to illumine and bring into the light of his consciousness, thus dispelling the darkness and the blindness. This is done by stimulation and suggestion. The stimulation you have been subjected to for years and it has had its dual effect in stimulating the personality to a measured (but inadequate) response to the soul and also by stimulating the personality tendencies to fuller expression. These tendencies, when evoked, registered and recognised for what they are and so handled rightly can then be eliminated. [621] The task however becomes more difficult as progress on the Path is made, for the subtler qualities and weaknesses emerge and are not so easily detected as are the cruder forms of personality reaction. I would suggest, therefore, that you study the weaknesses of your position in connection with your fellow-workers and your group brothers and so discover the cause of your "aloneness" by registering daily your effect upon people. That means that you study them and not yourself. Do you evoke in your friends and associates a good and happy response or the reverse? Do they show a disposition to seek you out and spend much time in your company? Do they tell you their difficulties in happy discussion and seek your sympathy? How will you discover and be able to answer these questions? That is for you to find out. I can but indicate, for truths accepted on the statement of others are of no real service save as signposts on the way and are not often convincing. It is that which you know for yourself, which is self-ascertained and which is found out through pain, failure, suffering and hurt pride which will bring you to liberation and the end of your (as yet) largely unrealised loneliness.

Let the strength of your personality and of your emotional nature (which is today building around you an isolating barrier) be transmuted into that loving understanding which comes because its possessor is identified with others and not so much with himself. He does not take the attitude: "I am identified with others" and so watch to see if he is, being at the same time focussed on himself and his reactions and so seeking to achieve identification because he wants to end isolation because it is wrong, and he seeks to be happier in his work and so in his consciousness. He says to himself instead: "What is my brother feeling and thinking?" and he does this because he is more interested in the happiness of his brother than in his own feelings or thought and so forgets himself in ascertaining the situation in order to aid, stimulate and love with wisdom. These, my brother, are the platitudes of the spiritual experience and these are the platitudinous truths of which you need to make experimental use, thus turning them into the ascertained facets of your daily experience and expression. More I cannot say to you at this [622] critical time. There is much that you can do in the work if you will face yourself by forgetting yourself; if you will be strong by rendering the personality weak; if you learn to love by not caring whether you evoke love or not. Such are the occult paradoxes which you must resolve and which—when resolved—will greatly increase your effectiveness in service.

If you care to talk to A.A.B. who is an older disciple than you are, you might find it suggestive and useful. But A.A.B. begs me not to suggest this and adds that she knows that a hint from me is worth more than a multitude of words from her or from anyone else. She will not speak of this matter to you or even make an opening for this discussion; but if you speak to her and seek light upon my words, she will do what she can.

One of your group brothers asked a rather lengthy question which I should like to answer here, for it has psychological implications which may be useful to you. His question was as follows:

"What precisely is the relation between thought and emotion? Can thought be best described as sublimated emotion? Do not our thoughts, however remotely, arise out of our feelings, past as well as present? As reflecting past emotional reactions, may not thoughts be described as 'fossil feelings'? In the connotation of the present, are not our thoughts but our finer feelings? Does not the mental grow out of the refinement of the emotional body?

"In this sense, the evolutionary, is not the emotional body itself but a sublimation of the etheric, as that in turn is but the sublimation of the inorganic chemical? As we progress on the Path of Return, do we not but successively 'gather up our bodies within us,' raising each into the Light of the next one above, and is not this the meaning of culture, education, refinement, purification? Is not that the personal work we should constantly be at, and is it not what is symbolised, in Roman Catholic Doctrine, by the Assumption by the Christ of the body of the Virgin Mary, His Mother, into Heaven?"

[623]

My reply to him is:

In the above enquiry, my brother, you have asked nine questions, all bearing on the same subject. Some of them would not have needed a reply had you had the time to study A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, for in that book much of your question is answered.

The difficulty in distinguishing between thought and emotion is due entirely to two things:

1. The point in evolution of the Observer, which determines very largely the field of his observation and the focus of his directed attention.

2. The present status of the human race. Most of humanity is not, at present, thinking but is actively feeling.

The quality of mind, which is primarily discrimination, is largely lacking in the bulk of mankind. The quality of emotion is however becoming understood as the mind develops. It is the result of a measure of discrimination which enables the Observer to realise that he is undergoing an emotion, or passing through an emotional crisis. This emotion is, in its turn, the result of sensory perception. There can be much feeling reaction without emotion. There can be no emotion, as a result of feeling, without some measure of mental unfoldment and of thought being present. Therefore, the relation between thought and feeling is called by us emotion. Your question is therefore answered by saying, in a large and general way, that feeling can be (and frequently is) present where there is no thought at all. But when thought enters in, then the result of the interplay between thought and feeling is the production of emotion.

We pass on then to your second question where you seek to describe thought as "sublimated emotion." Here you are putting the cart before the horse, as the saying is. Thought is the medium whereby emotion can be sublimated. It is feeling without thought which has produced the world of illusion, of glamour, and of delusion. It is thought, with its [624] discriminating and analysing faculty which makes us aware of this maya in which we are ceaselessly walking. Thought throws a clear light into the fog and mists of the astral plane. Astral energy—the energy of sensitive feeling reaction—has for millions of ages been thrown into activity by all the forms of life in all the kingdoms of nature. This has produced the world illusion. Only in the human family, however, is it seen for what it is, and the power of thought and the white light of the mind begin to play upon the matter of that plane, producing emotion, but the emotion is an astral condition recognised by the mind and later seen to be one of the effects of the steadily growing mind power of the race.

This is the thought underlying the phrase found so often in the theosophical books, kama-manas—desire-mind—for all feeling-emotion inevitably evokes desire. If the emotion evoked by the mind's recognition of the feeling (registered in the astral body) is pleasurable, then desire is evoked for the continuance or the repetition of the experience. If it is not pleasurable, but painful, then the reaction is desire for the cessation of the experience and therefore liberation from it. This is the basic human desire, leading to desire for liberation (in the first and earliest instance) from the womb into life on the physical plane, on and up to that great and final desire which is for liberation into life itself. This thought leads us into the world of the most technical esoteric psychology.

It is very difficult for the beginner to grasp the basic differentiations which he has welded into unities through his innate capacity to identify himself sequentially with that which is revealed. Feeling and mind are, for the individual, the two basic differentiations in time and space. That which is registered in the interplay between the two is emotion and, later, thought. But thought is a later realisation and reveals emotion; it is not however emotion. It discovers feeling with which the soul has consistently identified itself for aeons, and—if I may so express it—it is the turning of the searchlight of the slowly developing mind into the world of feeling, of glamour and of illusion which reveals man's reaction [625] to it all, and this we call emotion. In a deeply and truly esoteric sense, it is the intuition which is sublimated emotion, and not the mind.

Therefore, in answering your third question, I would say that thoughts do not arise out of our feelings, but that when the mind begins to be active, our feelings stand revealed and the result of that revelation we call emotion.

Thoughts, again, are not "fossilised feelings," but emotions which can be registered by the image-making faculty of the mind, and the thoughtforms thus created (embodying the mind's reaction to the world of feeling) can be so powerful that they can persist in the treasure-house of the memory and can be constantly revitalised by a recurring emotion. It is the mind's activity in relation to feeling or to the range of feelings which reveals emotion. In the present time when the average human being and the average aspirant cannot distinguish accurately between mind, emotion, feeling and the thoughtforms which memory guards, it is impossible for a clear line of demarcation to be drawn. But this is owing simply to the point of evolution of the race. Such lines and differentiations can be drawn clearly by the developed disciple and the initiate. He then discovers that thoughts are the product of the principle of intelligence, dealing with life and enabling a man to say: I am not my body. I am not my feeling apparatus. I am not that which is developed through the interplay between myself and my environment. I am something other than all this. I am.

In connection with the sixth part of your question, my brother, you have forgotten your technical occultism and the ancient teaching anent the involutionary arc, wherein the various bodies and forms are created by the descending, involving Spirit, and the consciousness appropriated in a great moment of crisis, when each kingdom in nature came into being. The mind exists and needs to be consciously used. Few are yet aware of that quality in matter which is called the mind. But, as on the involutionary arc Spirit created as it descended, and appropriates as it reascends, so each appropriation marks a new point upon the Path of Return and so the Eternal Pilgrim, the soul, does the same in a lesser [626] way. On the path into physical manifestation, the bodies or forms are built. On the Path of Return, they are appropriated and used, and the consciousness of their use steadily grows. For the evolved human being, the goal is a clear and conscious appropriation of that which has been built and its use in the service of the Plan.

Forget not that all aspects or externalisations which the soul uses and through which it expresses itself are constituent parts of the vehicle of expression of the One in Whom we live and move and have our being. Therefore we appropriate that which we earlier "earmarked" (if I may use that ancient phrase in its deepest and truest occult significance) on the Path of Descent. We learn to use it consciously. We hear its note as we descend; we see it as we ascend. We identify ourselves with the form as its sound reaches us during the process of involution. We distinguish it on the evolutionary arc, and when the stage wherein we identify ourselves with form begins to die out, we then "see" it and enter the stage of duality.

Yes, my brother, we do indeed raise our bodies into heaven, but the raising takes place within the realm of conscious effort, for when the distinctions of the lower mind fade out, and the work—the necessary work—of discovery and of differentiation has played its part in teaching us the lesson of desirelessness, we find that the form and consciousness are one, the light is one, and the energy is one. But we find also that "one star differeth from another star in glory" because there is One Flame but many sparks of differing brightness within that Flame. Such is the glory of the great Eternal One. This realisation is the soul's aspiration and the goal of its great enlightenment. It is, as you rightly point out when viewing the subject from the angle of mother-matter, the assumption of the Virgin into Heaven, there to be glorified. Much of the mystery connected with "the three vestures of the Buddha" is related to this glorification of the three bodies. Much can be learnt by a careful study of the connection between the three bodies of a human being and the vestures or vehicles of the Lord Buddha. The whole story of Sublimation, of Purification, and of Transfiguration is hidden [627] in this relationship. The correspondences remain, however, to be pointed out. It is a task that has not yet been done.

Let me now return to your own specific instructions. I am going to give you no set meditation form to follow. I am however going to give you something to do which, if successfully done, may bring you release.

Seek each day for ten minutes to get into touch spiritually, mentally and emotionally with one or other of your group brothers. Take each of them on successive days. Seek to establish a definite rapport and pour out love and help. Forget yourself in so doing and drive out of your consciousness the realisation that you are an emanating centre of force. Ponder upon the circumstances of their lives as you may know them; try to comprehend their problems of time, character and of aspiration. Write to them, if you care to do so, and try to get them to help you. Let them draw from you the very essence of spiritual service, which means that they will draw from your soul that which they need; in giving thus, you will be enriched yourself.

My blessing rests upon you, my brother.

August 1942

1. At the centre of a great tornado is a point of peace. Thus does the story go. It can be found. And thus it is with all the storms of life. They lead to peace if you are not a leaf.

2. Hold to your old established links and with your brothers walk. Walk as a group upon the Lighted Way. The chain of Hierarchy firmly stands.

3. The light that streams from out my Ashram is a part of the Lighted Way and on that thread of light you move and with you move your brothers.

4. Loneliness—such as you think you know—is but a glamour, brother of mine. You are not alone. But loneliness such as you can know is a light that lights the darkness. Seek that out.

5. Upon the pinnacle of loneliness is the sole peace where truth is known. Stand on that pinnacle.

[628]

6. And when the truth is clearly seen (blowing away the cobwebs and the dust of lower life) then can your service carry fresh truth to men.

September 1943

MY BROTHER:

I have watched with interest as you have made many drastic adjustments in your life during the past two years. I have noted the increased strength of your spiritual links with your own soul, with the Ashram and with me, your Master and your constant friend. Of this you may not be constantly or inspiringly aware, but you have done one surprising thing—surprising because it is not usual. You have made these drastic adjustments without losing temporarily any ground. This is a thing rare indeed. Usually during these basic life changes, and during periods wherein the pattern of a daily life is altered, there is a temporary loss of time and of ground. It is seldom permanent but it usually exists for a short time until the new arrangements and adjustments have been regimented into rhythm, and then the threads are picked up, the old spiritual habits are reinstated, and the disciple again proceeds upon his way. This has not, however, happened to you. You seem to have gone steadily on, with no great or vitally important spiritual experience but with a pronounced stability. This should indicate to you something of importance. It means that you have reached that point upon the Path of Discipleship where you need no longer ask yourself if you are going to fail as far as a steady and undeviating moving forward is concerned. You may and will fail on details, techniques and methods; you may err in understanding or in prompt reaction to spiritual opportunity. That is inevitable, and the method whereby a disciple learns. But you will not fail in going on; for you there will be no turning back nor any real tendency to do so—only moments of unutterable fatigue when temptation may appear, but to it you will pay no attention.

I wonder if you can realise, my brother, what this means to the Master who has a disciple under training and guidance. [629] It means that one possible danger can be definitely discounted and that along one line at least He can feel sure of His disciple. He need no longer question his staying power; He knows that it is good and that the disciple will take what is coming to him with steadfastness.