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LETTER VI - THE USE OF FORM IN MEDITATION - Part 1

LETTER VI

THE USE OF FORM IN MEDITATION.

a—The Use of Form in raising the consciousness.

b—The Use of Form by the mystic and the occultist.

c—Specific Forms.

d—The Use of Form collectively.

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LETTER VI

THE USE OF FORM IN MEDITATION.

August 6, 1920.

Your very natural desire to have me give you in this sixth letter certain specific forms to achieve certain results cannot be fully acquiesced in.  I do not propose to outline for you any forms for careful following.  The risks, as before I have pointed out, are too great apart from the supervision of a teacher at hand to watch reactions.  These forms may later be given.  The work is duly planned out for the coming generation of students, this series of letters having its place within that outline.  What I intend to do today is something different.  I purpose to do four things which we will separately take up and elucidate.  These things, if duly assimilated and acted upon, will lead to further enlightenment.  In the occult method of teaching step by step is given, point by point slowly laid before the pupil, and only as each step is taken and each point is grasped, will the next in order become clear.  The teacher gives an indication, drops a hint, and touches some high light.  The pupil follows the point emphasised, and finds on thus acting that further light pours in, another stage appears and other hints are dropped.  In joint action and reaction therefore the occult student is trained by the occultist.

In studying the topic, "The use of form in meditation," the four divisions under which I seek to place the intended data are as follows:—

1—The use of Form in raising the consciousness.

2—The use of Form by the mystic and the occultist.

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3—The use of specific forms for specific ends.

4—The use of Form collectively.

In the exposition of these subjects you will see that what I am endeavouring to produce is a just apprehension of the value of forms in meditation and not the imparting of any definite method.  I seek to show the essential nature of proceeding under law in this the most important means of bringing about union with the divine, and of producing that at-one-ment between the higher and the lower that is the aim of all evolution.  I desire to leave in the minds of those who read these words a just apprehension of the relationship between spirit and matter which is the basis of all work of this nature.

The method employed by the Logos in this the second solar system is definitely the use of form for purposes of manifestation, as a medium of expression and as the vehicle whereby the indwelling life may grow, expand, experience and find itself.  This is the case whether the form is an entire solar system, whether it is a human being in his complexity, or whether it is a form built by that human being in his endeavour to realise and know,—a form built for the very purpose of providing a vehicle whereby the consciousness may, by set stages, raise itself step by step to some visualised point.  This brings us to our first point:

1—The use of Form in raising the consciousness.

We have under this heading to consider three things:

a—The Consciousness itself.

b—The goal towards which it seeks to rise.

c—The steps whereby it succeeds.

Each unit of the human race is a part of the divine consciousness, and is that which is conscious of, or is [142] aware of something without itself,—something which knows itself to be differentiated from the vehicle which encloses it or the forms which environ it.

At this particular stage in evolution the average man is simply conscious of differentiation, or of being separated off from all other members of the human family, thus forming in himself a unit among other units.  He acknowledges this and acknowledges the right of all other separated units so to consider themselves.  He adds to this a recognition that somewhere in the universe there exists a supreme Consciousness, Whom he theoretically calls God, or Nature.  Between this purely selfish point of view (I use the term "selfish" in the scientific sense and not as a belittling adjective) and the nebulous theory of God immanent there are to be found numerous stages, at each of which occurs an expansion of consciousness, or an enlargement of the point of view, that leads that self-recognising unit, step by step, from self-recognition to the recognition of superior selves, to the fitting of himself to be likewise recognised as a superior self, and eventually to the occult recognition of his own superior Self.  He comes to recognise his Higher Self or Ego as his true Self, and from that stage passes on into that of the group consciousness.  Here he realises first his egoic group and then other egoic groups.

This stage is succeeded by the recognition of the universal principle of Brotherhood; it involves not just a theoretical recognition, but a merging of the consciousness into that of the human consciousness, in its entirety; this is really that development of consciousness which enables a man to realise not only his egoic group affiliations but his place in the human Hierarchy on its own plane.  He knows himself in fact as a part of one of the great Heavenly Men.  This expands later into an almost [143] inconceivably vast point of view—that of his place in the Grand Heavenly Man, as represented by the Logos Himself.

This is as far as we need go for our purpose, for this series of letters, aims not at the development of cosmic consciousness.

It will therefore be apparent to you that all these stages have to be taken systematically and that each one has to be mastered step by step.  It is necessary first to grasp that the place where the expansion takes place, and the realisation has to be felt, has to be finally in the thinking, waking consciousness.  The Ego on its own plane may be well aware of the unity of its consciousness with all other consciousnesses, and be realising his group as one with himself, but until the man (in physical plane consciousness) has raised himself to that same plane and is likewise aware of his group consciousness, and likewise regards himself as the higher Self within the egoic group and not as a separated unit, it is of no more use than a recognised theory is of use when not carried out in experience.

The man has to experience these stages in his physical consciousness and to know experimentally and not just theoretically that whereof I speak before he is deemed ready to pass on into the succeeding stages.  The whole matter resolves itself into the expansion of the mind until it dominates the lower, and into the faculty of abstract conception which results eventually in physical plane manifestation.  It means making your highest theories and ideals demonstrable facts and it is that blending of the higher and the lower and the equipping of that lower until it provides a fitting expression for the higher.  It is here that the practice of meditation plays its part.  The true scientific meditation provides [144] graded forms whereby the consciousness is raised and the mind expanded until it embraces:

1—Its family and friends.

2—Its environing associates.

3—Its affiliated groups.

4—Its egoic group.

5—Other egoic groups.

6—That Man of the Heavens of which the egoic groups form a centre.

7—The Grand Heavenly Man.

To effect this certain forms will be laid down later, that (working along the line of a man's ray) will teach him in graded steps to do this.  You will note that I have dealt with the consciousness itself and the goal it aspires to and have thus dealt with our first two points.  This brings me to our last subsidiary heading, the steps whereby attainment eventuates.

Each man who enters upon occult development and who aspires toward the higher, has passed the stage of the average man,—the man who regards himself from the purely isolated standpoint and who works for what is good for himself.  The aspirant is aiming at something different; he seeks to merge himself with his higher Self and with all that is entailed when we use that term.  The stages beyond that, in all their intricacies, are the secrets of Initiation and with them we have naught to do.

Aspiration towards the Ego and the bringing in of that higher consciousness with the subsequent development of group consciousness very directly concern all who will read these letters.  It is the next step ahead for those upon the Probationary Path.  It is not achieved by simply giving thirty minutes a day to certain set forms of meditation.  It involves an hour by hour attempt, [145] all day long and every day, to keep the consciousness as near to the high pitch attained in the morning meditation as possible.  It presumes a determination to consider oneself at all times as the Ego, and not as a differential Personality.  Later, as the Ego comes more and more into control, it will involve also the ability to look upon oneself as part of a group, with no interests and desires, no aims or wishes apart from the good of that group.  It necessitates a constant watchfulness every hour of the day to prevent the falling back into the lower vibration.  It entails a constant battle with the lower self that drags down; it is a ceaseless fight to preserve the higher vibration.  And—which is the point I am aiming to impress upon you—the aim should be the development of the habit of meditation all the day long, and the living in the higher consciousness till that consciousness is so stable that the lower mind, desire and the physical elementals, become so atrophied and starved through lack of nourishment that the threefold lower nature becomes simply the means whereby the Ego contacts the world for purposes of helping the race.

In so doing he is accomplishing something that is little realised by the average student.  He is building a form, a definite thoughtform that eventually provides a vehicle whereby he steps out of the lower consciousness into the higher, a kind of mayavirupa that acts as his intermediate channel.  These forms are usually, though not invariably, of two kinds:—

The student builds a form daily, with care and love and attention, of his Master, to him the embodiment of the ideal higher consciousness.  He lays the outline of this form in meditation and builds in the fabric in his daily life and thought.  The form is provided with all the virtues, scintillates with all the colours, and is vivified, [146] first of all, by the love of the man for his Master, and later (when adequate for the purpose) it is vitalised by the Master Himself.  At a certain stage in development this form provides the ground for the occult experience of entering into the higher consciousness.  The man recognises himself as a part of the Master's consciousness and through that all embracing consciousness slips into the egoic group soul consciously.  This form provides the medium for that experience until such a time as it can be dispensed with, and the man can at will transfer himself into his group, and later consciously dwell there permanently.  This method is the one most largely used, and is the path of love and devotion.

In the second method the student pictures himself as the ideal man.  He visualises himself as the exponent of all the virtues, and he attempts in his daily life to make himself what he visualises himself to be.  This method is employed by the more mental types, the intellectuals, and those whose ray is not so coloured by love, by devotion or by harmony.  It is not so common as the first.  The mental thoughtform thus built up serves as the mayavirupa as did the other and the man passes from these forms into the higher consciousness.  As you therefore see, in building these forms certain steps will have to be taken and each type will build the form somewhat differently.

The first type will start with some beloved individual, and from that individual, will rise through the various other individuals to the Master.

The other type will start with meditation on the virtue most desired, add virtue to virtue in the building of the form of the ideal self until all the virtues have been attempted and the Ego is suddenly contacted.

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Tomorrow we will take up this same subject from a different angle and study the difference between the occultist and the mystic.

August 8, 1920.

2—Form as used by the occultist and the mystic.

The subject of this letter today will interest you for we are to take up form as used by the occultist and the mystic.

It might be of value to us if we first differentiated with care between the two types.  I would begin by a statement of fact.  The mystic is not necessarily an occultist, but the occultist embraces the mystic.  Mysticism is but one step on the path of occultism.  In this solar system—the system of love in activity—the path of least resistance for the majority is that of the mystic, or the path of love and devotion.  In the next solar system the path of least resistance will be that which we now understand as the occult path.  The mystic path will have been trodden.  Wherein lies the difference between these two types?

The mystic deals with the evolving life; the occultist deals with the form.

The mystic deals with the God within; the occultist with God in outer manifestation.

The mystic works from the centre to the periphery; the occultist reverses the process.

The mystic mounts by aspiration and intensest devotion to the God within or to the Master Whom he recognises; the occultist attains by the recognition of the law in operation and by the wielding of the law which binds matter and conforms it to the needs of the indwelling life.  In this manner the occultist arrives at those Intelligences Who work with the law, till he attains the fundamental Intelligence Himself.

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The mystic works through the Rays of Love, Harmony and Devotion, or by the path of the second, the fourth and the sixth rays.  The occultist works through the Rays of Power, Activity, and Ceremonial Law, or the first, the third and the seventh.  Both meet and blend through the development of mind, or through the fifth Ray of Concrete Knowledge (a fragment of cosmic intelligence), and on this fifth ray the mystic is resolved into the occultist and works then with all the rays.

By finding the kingdom of God within himself and by the study of the laws of his own being, the mystic becomes proficient in the laws which govern the universe of which he is a part.  The occultist recognises the kingdom of God in nature or the system and regards himself as a small part of that greater whole, and therefore governed by the same laws.

The mystic works as a general rule under the department of the World Teacher, or the Christ, and the occultist more frequently under that of the Manu, or Ruler, but when both types have passed through the four minor rays in the department of the Lord of Civilisation, then a completion of their development may be seen, and the mystic becomes the occultist and the occultist includes the characteristics of the mystic.  To make it more simple for general comprehension:—after initiation the mystic is merged in the occultist for he has become a student of occult law; he has to work with matter, with its manipulation and uses, and he has to master and control all lower forms of manifestation, and learn the rules whereby the building devas work.  Before initiation the mystic path might be expressed by the term, Probationary Path.  Before the occultist can manipulate wisely the matter of the solar system he must have mastered the laws that govern the microcosm, and even though he is naturally [149] on the occult path yet he will still have to find the God within his own being before he can safely venture on the path of occult law.

The mystic seeks to work from the emotional to the intuitional, and thence to the Monad, or Spirit.  The occultist works from the physical to the mental, and thence to the atma or Spirit.  One works along the line of love; the other along the line of will.  The mystic fails in the purpose of his being—that of love demonstrated in activity—unless he co-ordinates the whole through the use of intelligent will.  Therefore he has to become the occultist.

The occultist similarly fails and becomes only a selfish exponent of power working through intelligence, unless he finds a purpose for that will and knowledge by an animating love which will give to him sufficient motive for all that he attempts.

I have attempted to make clear to you the distinction between these two groups, as the importance of the matter is great when studying meditation.  The form used by the two types is entirely different and when seen clairvoyantly is very interesting.

The mystic form.

The expression, "the mystic form," is almost a paradoxical remark, for the mystic—if left to himself—eliminates the form altogether.  He concentrates upon the God within, brooding on that inner centre of consciousness; he seeks to link that centre with other centres—such as his Master, or some saint, or even with the supreme Logos Himself—and to mount by the line of life, paying no attention whatsoever to the environing sheaths.  He works along the path of fire.  "Our God is a consuming fire" [150] is to him a literal statement of fact, and of realised truth.  He rises from fire to fire, and from graded realisations of the indwelling Fire till he touches the fire of the universe.  The only form that the mystic may be said to use would be a ladder of fire or a cross of fire, by means of which he elevates his consciousness to the desired point.  He concentrates on abstractions, on attributes more than on aspects, and on the life side more than the concrete.  He aspires, he burns, he harmonises, he loves and he works through devotion.  He meditates by attempting to eliminate the concrete mind altogether, and aspires to leap from the plane of the emotions to that of the intuition.

He has the faults of his type,—dreamy, visionary, impractical, emotional, and lacking that quality of mind that we call discrimination.  He is intuitive, prone to martyrdom and self-sacrifice.  Before he can achieve and before he can take initiation he has three things to do:—

First, by meditation, to bring his whole nature under rule, and to learn to build the forms, and hence to learn their value.

Secondly, to develop appreciation of the concrete, and to learn clearly the place within the scheme of things of the various sheaths through which the life he so much loves has to manifest.  He has to work at his mental body and bring it to the store house of facts before he can proceed much further.

Thirdly, to learn through the intelligent study of the microcosm, his little spirit-matter system, the dual value of the macrocosm.

Instead of only knowing the fire that burns he has to understand and work through the fire that builds, that fuses and develops form.  He has, through meditation, to learn the threefold use of Fire.  This last sentence is of very real importance and I seek to emphasise it.

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August 10, 1920.

The occult form.

We studied, two days ago, the method whereby the mystic attains union, and outlined very briefly the path whereby he attempts to reach his goal.  Today we will outline as briefly the course taken by the occultist, and his type of meditation, contrasting it with that of the mystic, and pointing out later how the two have to merge and their individual elements be fused into one.

The line of form is, for the occultist, the line of least resistance, and incidentally I might here interpolate a thought.  The fact being admitted, we may therefore look with some certainty at this time for a rapid development of occult knowledge, and for the appearance of some true occultists.  By the coming in of the seventh ray, the Ray of Form or Ritual, the finding of the occult path, and the assimilation of occult knowledge is powerfully facilitated.  The occultist is at first occupied more with the form through which the Deity manifests than with the Deity Himself, and it is here that the fundamental difference between the two types is at first apparent.  The mystic eliminates or endeavours to transcend mind in his process of finding the Self.  The occultist, through his intelligent interest in the forms which veil the Self and by the employment of the principle of mind on both its levels, arrives at the same point.  He recognises the sheaths that veil.  He applies himself to the study of the laws that govern the manifested solar system.  He concentrates on the objective, and in his earlier years may at times overlook the value of the subjective.  He arrives eventually at the central life by the elimination, through conscious knowledge and control, of sheath after sheath.  He meditates upon form until the form is lost sight of, and the creator of the form becomes all in all.

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He, like the mystic, has three things to do:—

1—He has to learn the law and to apply that law to himself.  Rigid self-discipline is his method, and necessarily so, for the dangers threatening the occultist are not those of the mystic.  Pride, selfishness, and a wielding of the law from curiosity or desire for power have to be burnt out of him before the secrets of the Path can safely be entrusted to his care.

2—In meditation he has, through the form built, to concentrate upon the indwelling life.  He has to seek the inner burning fire that irradiates all forms that shelter the divine life.

3—Through the scientific study of the macrocosm, "the kingdom of God without," he has to reach a point where he locates that kingdom likewise within.

Here, therefore, is the merging point of the mystic and the occultist.  Here their paths become one.  I spoke earlier in this letter of the interest to the clairvoyant in noting the difference in the forms built by the mystic and the occultist in meditation.  I might touch on some of the differences for your interest, though until such vision is yours my point may be but words to you.

Occult and mystic forms clairvoyantly seen.

The mystic who is meditating has built before him and around him an outline nebulous, inchoate, and cloudy, and in such a way that he himself forms the centre of the form.  Frequently, according to the trend of his mind, the nucleus of the form may be some favourite symbol such as a cross, an altar, or even his pictured idea of one of the Great Ones.  This form will be wreathed in the mists of devotion, and will pulsate with floods of colour bespeaking aspiration, love and ardent longing.  The colours built in will be of singular purity and clarity [153] and will mount up until they reach a great height.  According to the capacity of the man to aspire and to love will be the density and the beauty of the ascending clouds; according to his stability of temperament will be the accuracy of the inner symbol or picture around which the clouds of colour circulate.

The forms built by the man of an occult trend of thought, and who is more dominated by mind, will be of a geometrical type.  The outlines will be clear, and will be apt to be rigid.  The form will be more painstakingly built and the man, during meditation, will proceed with greater care and accuracy.  He will (if I may so express it) take a pride in the manipulation of the material that goes to the building of the form.  Matter of the mental plane will be more apparent and—though certain clouds of emotional matter may he added to the whole—matter of the emotional plane will be of secondary importance.  The colours employed may be of equal clarity, but they are apportioned with specific intent, and the form stands out clearly and is not lost in the upward surge of emotional colours as the mystic form is apt to be.

Later, when the man in either case has reached a point of more rounded out development, and is both an occultist and a mystic, the forms built will combine both qualifications, and be things of rare beauty.

This will suffice for today, but I would like to outline for you the ideas that must be brought out later.  We will deal with the use of forms in achieving specific results, and though it is not my intention to give or outline such forms, I wish to group them for you so that later when the Teacher moves among men He may find ready apprehension among students everywhere.

1—Forms used in work on the three bodies.

2—Forms on certain rays.

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3—Forms used in healing.

4—Mantrams.

5—Forms used in one of the three Departments:—

a—The Manu's Department.

b—The Department of the World Teacher or the Christ.

c—The Department of the Lord of Civilisation.

6—Forms for calling elementals.

7—Forms for contacting the devas.

8—Special forms connected with Fire.

August 11, 1920.

...Periods of physical weakness are of value only for the reason that they demonstrate the absolute necessity there is for the worker to build a strong body before he can accomplish much, and the importance of good health before the disciple can go forward on the Path.  We cannot permit those we teach to do certain things, nor inform them along certain lines unless their physical vehicles are in good shape, and unless the handicap of ill health and disease is practically negligible, and the karma of accidental trouble almost completely obviated in the personal life.  National or group karma occasionally involves a pupil, and upsets somewhat the plans, but this is unavoidable and can seldom be offset.

The use of specific forms for specific ends.

Until now we have dealt more with the personal aspects of meditation, and have considered the two types that are practically universal and fundamental, having studied briefly, (a) Meditation as followed by the mystic, and (b) Meditation as pursued by the occultist.

We have largely generalised and have not in any way attempted to enter into particulars.  It is neither desirable [155] at this stage nor proper.  At a certain point in meditation, nevertheless, when the pupil has made the desired progress and covered certain specific stages and attained certain objectives (which attainment can be ascertained by a review of the pupil's causal body) and when a foundation of right living has been laid which neither storms nor attack will be liable easily to upset or destroy, the Teacher may impart to the earnest pupil instructions whereby he can build in mental matter and under definite rules, forms that will lead to specific actions and reactions.  These forms will be imparted gradually, and at times the pupil (this especially at first) may not be in the least conscious of the results achieved.  He will obey the orders, say the imparted words, or work through the outlined formulas, and the results attained may do their work even though the pupil is unconscious of the fact.  Later—especially after initiation, as the subtler faculties come into activity, and the centres are rotating in fourth dimensional order—he may be aware of the effects of his meditation on the emotional and mental planes.

Results never concern us.  Strict obedience to the law, and steady adherence to the rules laid down, with skill in action aimed at are the part of the wise pupil.  The effects then are sure, and carry no karma with them.

...Let us take up each of the forms in order, but first I would give a warning.  I do not intend to outline forms, or to give specific instructions as to how the results indicated may be achieved.  That will be done later, but when, it is not possible to say.  So much depends upon the work done during the next seven years, or on the group karma, also on the progress made, not only by the human hierarchy, but by the deva or angel evolution as well.  The secret of it all lies hid in the seventh Ceremonial Ray, and the hour for the next step onward will [156] be given by the seventh Planetary Logos, working in conjunction with three Great Lords, especially with the Lord of the third department.

Forms used in work on the three bodies.

These forms will be some of the first revealed, and already in the various meditations advocated by the wise Guides of the race you have some of the lesser foundation outlines designed for working on the lower mind.  These forms will be based on the special need of any one body, and will seek through the manipulation of matter to build that which is needed to fill the gap, and thus to supply the deficiency.  This manipulation will be begun first on the etheric matter of the physical body, by forms of breathing (respiration and inspiration), and by certain rhythmic currents set up on the mental plane and driving from thence to the lower ethers.  The etheric body will thus be strengthened, purified, cleansed, and rearranged.  Many of the diseases of the dense physical body originate in the etheric, and it will be an object of attention at as early a date as possible.

The emotional body likewise will be dealt with through special forms, and when the pupil has strenuously cultivated the quality of discrimination, and made it a working factor in his life, then these forms will be gradually imparted.  But until he can distinguish somewhat between the real and the unreal, and until his sense of proportion is wisely adjusted, the emotional plane should be for him a battle ground, and not a field for experimentation.  Let me illustrate the type of work that these forms which work on emotional matter will accomplish.  The aim of the pupil who treads the Path is to build an emotional body that is composed of matter of the higher subplanes, is clear and sensitive, an accurate transmitter, and which [157] is characterised by a stable vibration, a steady rhythmic motion, and is not prone to violent storms and the agitating effects of uncontrolled emotion.  When the idealism is high, when the percentage of matter of the two higher subplanes is approaching somewhat the desired figure, and when the pupil recognises practically all the time that he is not his vehicles, but is indeed the divine Dweller within them, then certain things will be imparted to him, which—when carefully followed out—will do two things:

They will act directly on his emotional body, driving out foreign or lower matter, and stabilising his vibration.

They will build in emotional matter a body or form that he can use for certain work, and can employ as his agent to attain results that will be part of the purificatory and constructive work of the emotional body.  This is as much as can be said, but it will serve to show the type of form aimed at.

Ray forms.

This is a profoundly interesting and vast subject, and may only be indicated in general terms.  Certain forms, built up on the numerical aspect of the various rays, are the special property of those rays and embody their geometrical significance, demonstrating their place in the system.  Some of these forms being on the concrete rays or building rays are the line of least resistance for the occultist, while other forms on the abstract or attributive rays are more easily followed by the mystic.

These forms are for three objects:—

a. They put the pupil in direct contact with his own ray, either the egoic or personality ray.

b. They link him up with his group on the inner planes, either the group of servers, the group of invisible helpers, or later with his egoic group.

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c. They tend to merge the occult and the mystic paths in the life of the pupil.  Should he be on the mystic path he will work at the forms upon the Rays of Aspect, and so develop knowledge of the concrete side of Nature—that side which works under law.  You can reverse the case for the man of occult tendency, till the time comes when the paths merge and all forms are alike to the Initiate.  You have to remember that at this point of merging a man works ever primarily on his own ray when he has transcended the personality and found the egoic note.  Then he manipulates matter of his own ray, and works through his own ray-forms with their six representative sub-ray forms until he is adept, and knows the secret of synthesis.  These forms are taught by the Teacher to the pupil.

You will find that though I have imparted but little on this subject, yet, if you brood over what I have given, it contains much.  It may give those who wisely assimilate it the key they seek for their next step on.  I may touch on this and somewhat enlarge when we take up the subject of access to the Masters through meditation.

Forms used in healing.

We must touch now on these forms, remembering first of all that they will be necessarily arranged in three groups, each with many subsidiary heads.

a. Forms for use in physical healing.  You would be surprised how seldom these forms will be required, and how few in number therefore they are.  The reason for this is that very few of the troubles of the dense physical body arise within that body itself.  A few arise directly in the etheric body, but at this stage of evolution most of the troubles arise in the emotional body, and the remainder in the mental.  We might generalise and say that:

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25% of the ills flesh is heir to, arise in the etheric body.

25% in the mental body.

50% find their origin in the emotional body.

Therefore, though accidents may occur which lead to unexpected physical disaster and for which forms for healing may be given, yet the wise student will find that the forms that affect the etheric body may be the first point of departure.  These forms, built up in meditation, will act directly on the pranic channels that go to the makeup of the etheric—that intricate web which has its counterpart in the circulatory system of the dense physical body.  They are the seat of much of the present disease in that body, either directly or through causes set up on the emotional plane and reacting on the etheric.

b. Forms for healing the emotional body.  As said above, much of the present sickness is due to causes set up in the emotional body and these causes are mainly three.  I would point out that I but outline broadly and give general indications.

Violent emotion and unstable vibration.  This, if indulged in, has a shattering effect and reacts on the nervous system.  If suppressed and inhibited it has an equally dangerous effect, and results in a diseased condition of the liver, in bilious attacks, in the poisons which are generated in the system and find their outlet in certain cases of septic poisoning, in skin diseases, and in some forms of anemia.

Fear and forebodings, worry and despair.  These types of emotion—which are so common—have a general debilitating effect on the system, leading to loss of vitality, to sluggish action of the organs, and to many forms of obscure diseases of the nervous system, of the brain and of the spine.

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Sex emotions, covering a very large range of feeling, ranging from the suppressed sex emotion which is now beginning to be studied by our psychologists to the unclean criminal emotion that finds its expression in violent orgies and license.

Under all these heads many points may be gathered, but I write not letters on healing, but letters on meditation, so I must not further enlarge.

In the forms used in these three cases attention will be paid to the cause of the trouble, to the plane on which it originates, and to the effects on the lower bodies or body.  In apportioning forms different aims will be in view.  Where, for instance, the trouble is based on suppressed emotion, the effect of the form (when rightly followed) will be to transmute the emotion and turn it upward.  When, by right use, the emotional body is cleared of the emotional congestion, the life-giving forces of the Ego, and of the pranic life everywhere available, will be set free.  They can then circulate with facility, tuning up the entire system and cleansing all organs that were suffering from the inner congestion.

c. Forms for mental healing.  These will be, for the majority of you, much more obscure, and in fact mental trouble is far more difficult to cure than either of the other two.  This is due to two causes, one being that our polarisation as a race is not yet in the mental body.  It is always much more easy to contact a body and to manipulate it when it is the seat of the centre of consciousness.  The emotional body likewise, being more fluidic, is more easily impressed.  I cannot enlarge upon the troubles of the mental body today save to point out that these causes may arise within the mental body itself as a karmic inheritance, or may originate on the emotional plane and work their way back into the mental body.  For instance, [161] a person may be prone to some emotional storm.  This—if persisted in—may set up an analogous vibration in the mental body.  This vibration in its turn may become practically permanent, and by the interaction of these two bodies serious trouble may be set up.  This trouble may go all the way from simply causing a general souring of the Personality, so that the man is recognized as an unhappy, unpleasant individual, to definite brain disease, resulting in lunacy, brain tumours and cancer in the head.

For all these troubles forms of meditation may be found which—if followed in time—will eventually dissipate them.  The fundamental fact to be grasped here is that only when the pupil has an intelligent appreciation of the trouble or troubles affecting him, only when he has the ability to conscientiously follow the imparted formulas, and only when his object is unselfish, will he be trusted with these forms.  When his object is to equip himself for service, when he aims only at the acquirement of healthy vehicles for the better carrying out of the plan of the Great Ones, and when he desires not to escape disease for his own personal benefit, only then will the formulas work in connection with the egoic consciousness.  The downflow of life from the God within results in sound vehicles, so that it is only as the Personality becomes merged in the Ego, and the polarisation shifts from the lower to the higher that the work becomes possible.  That time is nearing now for many, and progress in the new medical school—based on thought—can be looked for.  Forms in meditation are but forms in thought matter, so that it will be apparent to you that a general beginning has been made.

One more hint on this matter I give:—Through the various centres of the body—those seven centres with [162] which the pupil has to do—will come the power to heal the corresponding physical centre.  As the centres are vitalised certain physical effects will be demonstrable, and in specific forms that work on and through the centres will come results that may throw light on this obscure matter of healing through the subtle bodies.

August 20, 1920.

Mantric forms.

We must today continue the discussion on the forms that will some day be in common use among the students of occult meditation.  We have touched upon three of the forms, and five more remain to be dealt with.

Mantric forms are collections of phrases, words, and sounds which by virtue of rhythmic effect achieve results that would not be possible apart from them.  These mantric forms are too numerous to study here; suffice it to indicate somewhat the types of mantrams there will be in use, or are now in use among those privileged to use them.

There are mantric forms based entirely on the Sacred Word.  These, sounded rhythmically and on certain keys, accomplish certain results, such as the invoking of protective angels; they lead to certain effects, either objective or subjective.  These forms or mantrams are much more in use among orientals and in the eastern faiths than at present among occidentals.  As the power of sound is more completely understood and its effect studied, these mantrams will be adopted in the occident.

Some of them are very old and when enunciated in the original Sanskrit have unbelievably powerful effects.  So powerful are they that they are not permitted to be [163] known by the ordinary student and are only orally imparted during preparation for initiation.

There are a few very esoteric mantrams that exist in the original Sensa, and that have remained in the knowledge of the Brotherhood from the early days of the founding of the Hierarchy.  They were brought by the Lords of Flame when They came to earth and are only thirty-five in number.  They form the key that unlocks the mysteries of each subplane on the five planes of human evolution.  The adept receives instruction on their use, and can employ them in the right place and subject to certain conditions.  They are the most powerful known on our planet and their effects are far-reaching.  As you know, each plane vibration responds to a different key and note, and its matter is manipulated, and its current tapped, by the sounding of certain words in a specific manner, and in a specific tone.  When so sounded, the adept enters into the consciousness of that plane and of all contained therein.  Mantrams in any tongue are founded on them, even though so far removed and unlike as to be practically useless.

Certain of these original mantrams are chanted in unison by the Brotherhood on great occasions, or when the united power of the Lodge is required to effect desired ends.  Great events are inaugurated by the sounding of their key note with appropriate words employed; each root-race has its mantric chord known to those who work with races.

Again there are, as you know, certain mantrams in Sanskrit that are employed by students in meditation to call the attention of some one Master.  These mantrams are communicated to Their disciples, and by their means the Master's attention is attracted, and His assistance called for.

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Other and greater formulas are sometimes imparted by which the three Great Lords may be contacted, and Their attention drawn in any specific direction.

A mantram, when rightly sounded forth, creates a vacuum in matter, resembling a funnel.  This funnel is formed betwixt the one who sounds it forth and the one who is reached by the sound.  There is then formed a direct channel of communication.  You will see therefore why it is that these forms are so carefully guarded and the words and keys concealed.  Their indiscriminate use would but result in disaster.  A certain point in evolution has to be reached, and a similarity of vibration somewhat achieved, before the privilege is afforded the pupil of being custodian of a mantram whereby he may call his Master.

There are also seven mantrams that are known to the three Great Lords and the Heads of the Hierarchy, whereby They can call the seven Planetary Logoi, or the seven "Spirits before the Throne" as They are called in the Christian Bible.  One of these mantrams, which causes contact with the Logos of our planet, is known to the adepts as well.  So the scale is mounted, and the Words are sounded forth, until we reach the mantram of our planet, which is based on the key of the Earth, and embodies a phrase which sums up our evolution.  Each planet has some such note or phrase whereby its guides may contact their Planetary Logos.  The seven Logoi in Their turn have Their available ritual or form whereby They can communicate with the threefold Lord of the Solar System.  This is done always four times a year, or when urgent need arises.

Once a year the entire Hierarchy employs a composite mantram that creates a vacuum between the highest and the lowest members of that Hierarchy and on up—via the seven Planetary Logoi—to the Logos Himself.  It marks [165] the moment of intensest spiritual effort and vitalisation during the year, and its effects last throughout the intervening months.  Its effect is cosmic, and links us up with our cosmic centre.

Ray mantrams.  Each ray has its own formulas and sounds which have a vital effect upon the units gathered on those rays.  The effect of sounding it by the student of meditation is threefold:

1. It links him and aligns him with his Higher self or Ego.

2. It puts him in contact with his Master, and through that Master with one of the Great Lords,—dependent upon the ray.

3. It links him with his egoic group and binds all into one composite whole, vibrating to one note.

These mantrams are one of the secrets of the last three initiations and may not be sounded by the pupil before that time without permission, though he may participate at times in the chanting of the mantram under the Master's direction.

Mantrams, or formulas of words, sung by the pupil, which have direct effect on one of the three bodies.  These mantrams are largely already in use—though in a much distorted degree—in the services of the religious bodies in all lands.  Some light on them is being communicated in the ritual of the Church..........The passwords as used in Masonry—though practically valueless now—are based on the use of mantrams and some day when there is an Initiate Head to all these organisations (such as Masonry, various esoteric societies, and religious bodies) the old mantrams will be given back in pure form to the peoples.

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There are also mantrams for use in healing, and for the development of certain psychic faculties.  Some mantrams have a direct effect on the centres of the body, and will later be used under the guidance of the Master for increasing vibration, for causing fourth dimensional movement, and for the complete vivification of the centre.

Still other mantrams act upon the hidden fire, but I will deal with them a little later.  There are numerous oriental books on the subject, which is so vast a one that I caution the student from investigating much.  It would but prove for the worker in the world a waste of time.  I have touched upon the matter because no book on meditation would be complete without a reference to what will some day supersede all preliminary meditation.  When the race has reached a certain point of development, and when the higher mind holds greater sway, these occult mantrams—rightly imparted and rightly enunciated—will be part of the ordinary curriculum of the student.  He will start his meditation by the use of his ray mantram, thereby adjusting his position in the scheme; he will follow this with the mantram that calls his Master, and which puts him en rapport with the Hierarchy.  Then he will begin to meditate with his bodies adjusted, and with the vacuum formed that may then be used as a medium of communication.

August 13th, 1920

Forms used in one of the three departments.

The interest of what I have to communicate today is very great, for we have to take up the matter of the forms used in the Departments of the Manu, the World Teacher and the Mahachohan, the Lord of Civilisation.

These three Departments represent in the Hierarchy the three aspects of the Logos as manifested in the solar [167] system,—the Aspect of Will or Power, the Aspect of Love and Wisdom (which is the basic aspect for this system), and the Aspect of Activity or Intelligence.  You know from your studies the work undertaken by these departments.

The Manu manipulates matter and is occupied with the evolution of form, whether it is the dense physical form of animal, mineral, flower, human being or planet, or the form of races, nations, devas or the other evolutions.

The Bodhisattva or World Teacher works with the evolving life within the form, with the implanting of religious ideas and with the development of philosophical concepts both in individuals and races.

The Mahachohan, who synthesises the four lower rays, deals with mind or intelligence, and, in collaboration with His Brothers, controls the evolution of mind whereby the Spirit or Self utilises the form or the Not-Self.