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RULE THIRTEEN - Part 1

Let us now descend to thoughts more practical and within the range of comprehension, and consider the thirteenth rule somewhat in detail.  It runs as follows:

Rule XIII.

Let the group get ready to reveal the hidden mystery.  Let the group demonstrate the higher meaning of the lessons learnt, and these are four and yet are one.  Let the group understand the Law of Synthesis, of unity and fusion; let the threefold mode of working with that which is dynamic carry the group together towards the Higher Three where the Will of God holds sway; let Transfiguration follow Transformation, and may Transmutation disappear.  Let the O.M. be heard right at the center of the group, proclaiming God is All. 

The key to the significance and the clue to the secret of this rule are to be found in the preparatory rule given to applicants in the earlier book (Initiation, Human and Solar).  It is included here so that you can refer to it as you study its higher corresponding rule, as given to initiates and to advanced disciples.

Rule XIII.  For Applicants.  Four things the disciple must learn and comprehend before he can be shewn the inmost mystery:  first, the laws of that which radiates; the five meanings of magnetisation make the second; the third is transmutation or the secret lost of alchemy; and lastly, the first letter of the Word which has been imparted, or the hidden name egoic.

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In this earlier rule, the disciple is told that before he can advance to the mysteries which will be revealed to him sequentially as he advances along the Path of Initiation, there are four things which he must "learn and comprehend."  These are:

1. The laws of that which radiates.  1 would call your attention to the fact that this does not refer to the Laws of Radiation.  That which radiates comes under its own laws which are different to those which produced radiation.  Students need to read with increasing care as they advance upon the occult way which leads to the Way of the Higher Evolution.

2. He must study the five meanings of magnetisation.  This refers to the five modes in which the Law of Magnetisation works; this is another name for the Law of Attraction.

3. He must comprehend what transmutation is and in which consists the secret art (now lost along with the Lost Word) of Alchemy.  Esoterically speaking, transmutation is the mode whereby force is transmuted or changed into energy.  This means (where a disciple is concerned) the transmutation or changing or stepping up of personality force into egoic energy.

4. He must know the "hidden name egoic" or the first letter of the imparted Word.  Two things should be noted here.  The "Word" here does not refer to the Sacred Word but to the name of the planetary Logos, the hidden name of Sanat Kumara Who is the soul of the world in all its phases, the manifesting Ego of the Logos on the cosmic mental plane.  Only the first letter of that "ineffable name" is permitted expression to initiates until the fourth initiation.  You will see, therefore, how vast a field this instruction on Rule XIII covers.

The higher correspondences of these four requirements are expressed in the following terms:

1. Let the group understand the Law of Synthesis.  (This is the law which governs the thinking of those great Lives Who form the Council of Sanat Kumara in Shamballa.)

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2. Let the threefold mode of working with that which is dynamic carry the group together towards the Higher Three where the Will of God holds sway. 

3. Let Transfiguration follow Transformation and may Transmutation disappear.

4. Let the O.M. be heard right at the centre of the group, proclaiming God is all.

You can gather from the above what a tremendous field of esoteric truth is here covered and how abstruse to the average occult student is the theme.  Again I would remind you that the real significance will only be perceived by the trained initiate and that what I say here must necessarily be veiled and even meaningless to the non-initiate, even whilst radiantly clear to those who truly know.  Again, I would remind you that I write this particular section of A Treatise on the Seven Rays entirely for initiates, and that aspirants who have not taken initiation cannot understand or duly appreciate the inner meaning of these fourteen rules.  In this fact lies no reason for discouragement, nor is there any suggestion that those with initiate consciousness should endeavour to explain, even if—through compassion or from the desire to stimulate approach to the Mysteries—they desired to do so.  No true initiate would be so tempted, for he would realise that it would not only be impossible but also that there is a vital necessity for the disciple to work out significances and meanings through the medium of his own life experiment and to arrive at understanding through direct experience.  Then no questioning can ever arise and sure knowledge takes its place.  There are no questions of any kind in the consciousness of those who form the Hierarchy.  The lower analytical concrete mind which questions and separates this from that has been completely controlled and superseded; response to indicated group activity takes place.  Students need to realise more concretely that group consciousness, universal awareness, and therefore synthetic effort, synthetic understanding and synthetic activity are possible to a Master or an initiate of the higher degrees.  That involves the keynote of this solar [250] system, particularly within this planet, the Earth; it will be succeeded in the next solar system by a type of life activity which is as yet only known in Shamballa.

Here I should like to pause a moment and interpolate some remarks.

There are certain phases of teaching and knowledge which I have given to the world which are relatively new—new to the modern esotericist and occult student though not new to disciples and initiates.  It might be useful here if I mentioned one or two of these new aspects of the fundamental Truth which have been given by me to the public.  If these new phases of the teaching have been later given to the public by other occult groups, it will have been because the information was gained by those who have read the books put out by A.A.B. for me or who are directly and consciously in touch with my Ashram.

An instance of this is that book by C. W. Leadbeater on "The Masters and the Path" which was published later than my book, Initiation, Human and Solar.  If the dates of any given teaching are compared with that given by me, it will appear to be of a later date than mine.  I say this with no possible interest in any controversy among occult groups or the interested public, but as a simple statement of fact and as a protection to this particular work of the Hierarchy.  I would remind you that the instructions given by me as, for instance, those in A Treatise on White Magic and A Treatise on the Seven Rays were given sequentially over a period of years, antedating the publishing of the books.  The same time factor prevailed in the publishing of the earlier books.  All my books were written over a long period of years, prior to publishing.  All that appears of the same type of information over other signatures harks back to these books.  Even if denied by their writers, a comparison of the dates of publishing with the original dates of issuing the instructions (in the form of monthly sets for reading and study in the Arcane School) or with the books published before the formation in 1925 of the Disciples [251] Degree of the Arcane School will prove this conclusively.  Bear in mind this factor of timing.  A.A.B. takes down to my dictation an average of seven to twelve pages of typing (single-spaced) each time she writes for me; but owing to the exigencies of my work I cannot dictate to her every day, though I have found that she would gladly take my dictation daily if I so desired; weeks sometimes elapse between one dictation and another.  I write the above paragraphs for the protection of the hierarchical work in years to come and not for the protection of A.A.B.  or myself....

What are some of these newer truths for which I am responsible as transmitting agent to the world of occult students?  Let me briefly state them in the order of their relative importance:

1. The Teaching on Shamballa.  Little has ever been given on this subject.  Only the name was known.  This teaching includes:

a. Information as to the nature of the will aspect. 

b. Indications as to the underlying purposes of Sanat Kumara.

c. Directions as to the building of the antahkarana, which is the first step towards achieving monadic consciousness, and thus the first step towards the Way of the Higher Evolution.

2. The Teaching on the New Discipleship.  This has been revolutionary where the older schools of occultism are concerned.  The teaching includes:

a. A presentation of the new attitude of the Masters to Their disciples, due to the rapid unfoldment of the mind principle and the growth of the principle of "free will."  This changed technique negates the old attitudes, such as that portrayed in the Theosophical literature, and it was a recognition of the difficulties of correcting the wrong impression given which prompted H.P.B. in one of her communications to the Esoteric Section of her day, to regret ever having mentioned Their names.  That earlier presentation was useful but has now served [252] its purpose.  Unless the schools based on the old methods change their techniques and their approach to truth, they will disappear.

b. Information as to the constitution of the Hierarchy and of the various Ashrams of which it is composed.  I have presented the Hierarchy as the Ashram of Sanat Kumara in its sevenfold form, thus linking will and love.

c. A presentation of the newer type of meditations, with its emphasis upon visualisation and the use of the creative imagination; I have presented a system of meditation which has eliminated the attention paid hitherto to personal problems and the intense earlier focus on the relation of the disciple and the Master.  The keynote of group fusion and of service underlies the newer form of meditation, and not this powerful emphasis upon the personal relation of the disciple to the Master and the achievement of the individual aspirant.  This was degenerating into a form of spiritual selfishness and separateness.

3. The Teaching on the Seven Rays.  The fact of the seven rays was well known to the heads of the Theosophical Society, was mentioned very abstractly and vaguely in The Secret Doctrine, and formed in an elementary form some of the teaching given in the Esoteric Section; the names of the rays were given, and some information as to their qualities, and the Masters on the rays, was imparted but not much else.  I have given out much information upon the subject and have endeavoured to show the importance of this teaching from the psychological angle, because the new psychology is in the making.  If esoteric teaching is eventually to be public in its presentation, it will be given out along the lines of psychology because esoteric teaching in its fullest and deepest sense concerns the consciousness aspect of man and God.

4. The Teaching on the new Astrology.  This teaching too has gone out to a few hundred students before its publication in book form.  This new astrology has been hitherto [253] ignored by those astrologers who have read it and (with the exception of four astrologers who have deeply appreciated it but who wish I would be more explicit) see little in it.  I have given enough, could the open-minded astrologer but realise, to establish the coming astrology on a firm basis; the accuracy of what I have given will in the course of time he ascertained when astrologers who are dealing with the horoscopes of advanced people and disciples will use the esoteric planets as given by me, and not the orthodox planets as usually used.  The accuracy of their deductions will necessarily depend upon their own point of development and also upon their ability to recognise an advanced person, a disciple or an initiate when they meet him and undertake to cast his horoscope.  If they are themselves advanced disciples, they may have a tendency to set too rigid a standard for those seeking astrological deduction, and thus fail to recognise a disciple; if they are not advanced, they may regard people as advanced who are far from being even true aspirants.  In either case then the horoscope may prove inaccurate.  It is of no use to use the esoteric planets in relation to the average man.

5. Information about the New Group of World Servers and their work.  This information includes

a. The recognition of this group as intermediate between the Hierarchy and Humanity. 

b. The nature of their work as it influences the human soul and as it seeks through the instrumentality of the men and women of goodwill to determine the period in which we live.

c. The Triangle work which embodies two phases of their work, i.e., the forming of the network of light as the channel of communication between the Hierarchy and Humanity, and the forming simultaneously of the network of goodwill, which is the objective expression of the subjective influence of light.  Ponder on this statement.

6. The attempt to form an exoteric branch of the inner Ashrams.  This is evidenced in the work I have done with a [254] special group of aspirants and accepted disciples whose instructions, emanating from my Ashram, have been embodied in the book Discipleship in the New Age (Vols. I and II).

7. Teaching upon the new world religion, with its emphasis upon the three major Full Moon periods (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, falling usually in April, May and June respectively) and the nine (occasionally ten) minor Full Moons each year.  This leads to a consequent relation being established between the work of the Christ and of the Buddha in the minds of spiritually inclined people everywhere, with the result of a great broadening of the human aspiration.  This work is as yet embryonic, but it should receive increasing attention.  Eventually it will demonstrate as the main linking unit between the East and the West, particularly if Shri Krishna is shown to be an earlier incarnation of the Lord of Love, the Christ.  Thereby three major world religions—the Christian, the Hindu and the Buddhist—will be intimately related, whilst the Mahommedan faith will be found to be linked to the Christian faith because it embodies the work of the Master Jesus as He overshadowed one of His senior disciples, a very advanced initiate, Mahomet.

A close study of all the above will indicate to you the lines along which I would like to see the work expand in future years.  I would ask for a careful study of these words, for I regard this as an important instruction and one which could be regarded as the skeleton outline of the work I wish to see done.  It will involve an intensification of the work of the advanced section in the Arcane School, a greater emphasis upon the Full Moon meetings, a careful organisation of the Triangle work and the Goodwill work as an added effort to aid the work of the New Group of World Servers, plus an attempt to recognise the members of the New Group whenever and wherever contacted.  This will not be at all an easy task, my brothers, if you look only for those who think and work your way, or who recognise the Hierarchy as you recognise it, or if you exclude those who labour in relation to religious and other fields in a manner different [255] to yours.  Forget not, as an instance of this, that the great Labour Movement in the world was initiated by one of the Masters and is implemented from His Ashram at this time.

We come now to a detailed analysis of Rule XIII.  In the foregoing pages I gave you certain broad principles and outlined a new aspect of the work which I had undertaken to do for humanity—under instruction from the Hierarchy.  The teaching I gave there is very abstruse; little of it can as yet be of real service to the majority of aspirants but a wide and general idea can take form and provide the immovable background for later teaching.  I would have you remember that the teaching which I have given out has been intermediate in nature, just as that given by H.P.B., under my instruction, was preparatory.  The teaching planned by the Hierarchy to precede and condition the New Age, the Aquarian Age, falls into three categories:

1. Preparatory, given 1875-1890 . . . written down by H.P.B.

2. Intermediate, given 1919-1949 . . . written down by A.A.B.

3. Revelatory, emerging after 1975 . . . to be given on a worldwide scale via the radio.

In the next century and early in the century an initiate will appear and will carry on this teaching.  It will be under the same "impression," for my task is not yet completed and this series of bridging treatises between the material knowledge of man and the science of the initiates has still another phase to run.  The remainder of this century, as I told you elsewhere (Destiny of the Nations, page 106), must be dedicated to rebuilding the shrine of man's living, to reconstructing the form of humanity's life, to reconstituting the new civilisation upon the foundations of the old, and to the reorganising of the structures of world thought, world politics, plus the redistribution of the world's resources in conformity to divine purpose.  Then and only then will it be possible to carry the revelation further.

It is with the above indicated sequence in mind that I [256] come to the analysis of the sentences in Rule XIII, beginning with the first:

1. Let the group get ready to reveal the hidden mystery.

The readiness here referred to has nothing to do with personal preparedness or with the group unity which I have so often emphasised.  It does not refer to individual purity or consecration or to mental development or to group relationships, as they work out in harmony and understanding.  I am considering something far different to all these factors which are regarded as automatic and necessarily present.  I refer to that which is the result of all of them, just as they in their turn are the result of soul contact.  I refer to effects wrought out in the group owing to the present and factual nature of the monadic control which is taking place increasingly.

What does this mean?  It signifies the fact that the members of the group are each and all of them upon the Path of Initiation at some one or other of its stages and that the group, as a group, is in process of taking initiation, for initiation is a process at this stage, and not an event.  It signifies that the group antahkarana is built and is being consciously used, and that therefore divine purpose is being sensed (even if only faintly so) and that the Plan is being obeyed and carried out.  It signifies also that the three strands of the "rainbow bridge" are now so strong and so firmly anchored that they not only connect the two aspects of the mental equipment (higher and lower mind), but that they have been carried also through the three levels of the triadal consciousness; it means also that these three strands are firmly anchored in what I have symbolically called the Council Chamber at Shamballa.

This Council Chamber is not a location or a place, but a state of consciousness within the all-enveloping Life.  These three points of anchorage within the sphere of the planetary Consciousness, or (if you like it better, though remembering ever that we are speaking and thinking in terms of symbols) in the planetary brain, find their feeble correspondence in [257] the three points of sensitivity in the head of a disciple or initiate, that is, in the region of the pineal gland, the pituitary body and the carotid gland.  These, as you know, are to be found within the areas to which we give the names the head centre, the ajna centre and the alta major centre.  These correspondences are very real, even though functioning upon a minute scale; the initiate achieves his desired "perfecting" when the triad within his head is related, and love, will and intelligence are functioning in synthesis.  Here we find a relation to the spiritual Triad and the three points in the Council Chamber which are presided over by the three Buddhas of Activity, and within Whose exalted consciousness the three strands of the antahkarana meet and become active in a way incomprehensible to you.  Necessarily, this great antahkarana is not constructed correctly except by those whose individual antahkaranas are likewise in process of construction.

See you, therefore, the necessity of eventually organising a group in the world which will be so constituted and so carefully chosen and interiorly related that all its members are initiates, all have created their own "rainbow bridges" with understanding and accuracy, and all can now work in such complete unity that the group antahkarana becomes a channel of unimpeded communication direct from Shamballa to the group because every member of the group is a member of the Hierarchy.  In this manner the three planetary centres arrive at the needed relationship, and another great triangle reaches true functioning activity.  When this takes place, a revelation undreamt of will be manifested upon the Earth; a new divine quality, of which no knowledge at present exists, will make its presence felt, and the work of the Buddha and of the Christ, and the work of the coming Avatar, will be superseded by One for Whom both Shamballa and the Hierarchy have unitedly waited and of Whom the doctrine of the Messiah and the doctrine of Avatars have been and are today only the dim distant symbols.  They preserve this concept of the Great Revelation in the consciousness of men, in the expectancy which the Hierarchy evidences, [258] and through the "preparatory work" now being undertaken at Shamballa.

The group, therefore, to whom I address this instruction is not the group or groups who will first receive these papers.  The instruction is intended for a group which will come later and which will prepare the way, and of which some of the more advanced aspirants can form part if they "walk humbly with their God."  This, my brother, is one of the most advanced injunctions in any of the world Scriptures and is found in The Bible.  It has no reference to humility as usually interpreted and understood.  It signifies the ability to view all life with a sense of divine proportion and from the angle of spiritual mathematics, and (paradoxical as this may sound) with no sense of dualism.  The usual meaning is not correct.  It involves acceptance and comprehension of purpose, and this in such a manner that the consecrated personality—under control of the Monad, via the antahkarana, and in cooperation with the one known God—walks the ways of Earth as a channel for the three divine qualities (love, will and intelligence), but also as a channel for that which these three qualities will enable him later to sense, know and reveal.

These are solemn and important statements.  They have within them the element of prophecy, but it is prophecy which has no relation to the salvation of humanity in any sense at all.  It is related to an active Appearance which will, under the Law of Synthesis, indicate That which the three great planetary centres of divine life are unitedly intended to reveal.  Something lies behind the three divine aspects of so great an importance, beauty and revelatory strength that all the happenings of all time, up to the present emerging Aquarian Age, have been only the initial and the initiatory preparation.

In this rule we find posed two preparatory steps and four major undertakings or demonstrations of fitness, if you like so to call them, for the work to be done.  These latter correspond to the "four things the disciple must learn and comprehend before he can be shewn the inmost mystery," [259] as it is said in the Rule for Applicants.  There is a definite relation between the two sets of rules and it is one which we shall note as we proceed.  The two preparatory injunctions simply summarise the effects in the life of the disciple who has applied and learned the significance of the Rules for Applicants, but they are this time demonstrated by a group of disciples who have passed through certain initiations and are functioning as a unified group.  The simplicity of the subject is great and yet it is ever deemed to be complex.  The applicant has become soul conscious, and is therefore an initiate; remember always that the soul on its own plane is an initiate of all degrees.  Initiation is, in the last analysis, the realisation, the recognition in the brain consciousness of various spheres and states of divine awareness, with a consequent life demonstration of this fact, this eternal fact.  Because of this, the man thinks only in group terms and does this automatically and without any consciousness that he is so doing; he expresses this group integrity simply as a part of his nature, just as in the personality stage and during the elapsing aeons since individualisation, he has thought only and naturally in terms of the separated self.

As long as a person makes a conscious effort to be group-conscious and has to train and discipline himself to work in group formation and as part of a group, he is still centred in the personality.  This personality expression may be of an exceedingly high order and the aspirant or disciple may be the highest kind of selfless person, but true group living is as yet not present.  The transition stage is most difficult and oft bewildering; it presents its own problems, based upon a newly presented phase of dualistic consciousness.  The disciple reacts to group conditions and group problems; he tunes in with facility on the consciousness of those in the group; he is aware of group reactions and aspirations, but he is still himself; he is still passing through a stage of inner adjustment to a state of being and of awareness for which all past relationships have provided no guiding precedent.  The group and the group personnel which are capable of adjustment (and which can carry out and [260] conform to Rule XIII for disciples and initiates) have become so merged with the soul (within themselves and within all other selves) that the situation is reversed.  It would now be an effort for such people to think and react as personalities.  I word the problem thus, so as to clarify it for you, if possible.

When this stage of centralisation is achieved, then the group can begin to reveal the hidden mystery.  All that I can tell you about that mystery is that it concerns the purpose and the reason for which our planetary Logos took incarnation and became the informing Life of our planet, the Earth; it concerns the necessity, inherent in His Own nature, to reach a point upon the cosmic ladder of evolution which would make Him—as a result—the informing Life of a sacred planet.  Forget not that our planet is not yet a sacred planet, though it is close to that great transformation.  The cosmic secret of this transforming process is one that Sanat Kumara is now learning, and when That which overshadows Him during this incarnation has wrought the needed changes through a process of transformation and transmutation, then a great Transfiguration will take place and He will take His place among those empowered to work through a sacred planet.

This process is that which implements the evolutionary process.  Evolution is an effect of this hidden work, emanating from cosmic levels; only when evolution has run its course through all the multiplicity of forms, of cycles, chains and spheres, of rounds and races and of world periods, will we know something of the true nature of the hidden mystery.  In the Council Chamber of Shamballa it is being dimly sensed.  The Buddha and the Christ are expressing the qualities which—when more universally demonstrated—will indicate its nature, if I might so express it.  They are together mobilising the equipment upon our planet which will make the revelation of the mystery inevitable.  This should give you a hint and much food for thought.  More I cannot say, and even this you will only vaguely [261] understand.  Let us pass now to the second of the preparatory steps.

2. Let the group demonstrate the higher meaning of the lessons learnt, and these are four and yet are one.

Aspirants learn, as they proceed upon the Path of Probation, to see the meaning of their physical plane activities in terms of the world of desire, of the astral plane.  What they do originates upon that plane and gives their deeds meaning.  This is the a.b.c. of elementary occultism and of true psychology.  Later, they enter a higher world of meaning and find that "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."  Thus the lesson of kama-manasic impulse is slowly mastered and (in the process of learning) desire, prompted by the mind and implemented by the personality, loses its hold upon the aspirant.  Later again, and as the soul begins to dominate, he learns the meaning of love and slowly, and oft through the mastering of pain, he absorbs the significance or meaning of group activity, group relation, and group initiation.  He stands, therefore, at this stage ready (as this Rule expresses it) to learn the higher meaning of four lessons, processes or stages which are in themselves, nevertheless, one lesson.  The four lessons which he has learnt up to this point have prepared him for the four lessons which—as an initiate and as one whose consciousness is focussed in the Spiritual Triad—he must now master.  To summarise, they constitute the four phases of an activity which will bring him to a point of tension which will indicate the next possible initiatory stage.  Four words could be used to express these processes: Radiation.  Magnetisation.  Transmutation.  Impartation.  Let me very briefly indicate some of the elementary significances of these words to the initiate-consciousness:

1. Radiation.  The initiate is a radiating centre of light and love.  This radiation has two effects:

a. It has made him an essential and vital factor for unity in the Master's Ashram.

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b. It has enabled him to gather around him his own group and thus begin to form his own ashram. 

The personnel of the world group which will reveal the hidden mystery will all of them be "radiant centres" to a greater or lesser degree.  They will thus be invocative and evocative.  This thought holds the clue to the Law of Synthesis, of unity and of fusion as given in Rule XIII for initiates.

2. Magnetisation.  The initiate who is radiating light and love is himself being magnetised by the highest of the present known divine aspects—Life.  This expresses itself through will and purpose and is therefore dynamic in character.  The initiate is charged constantly with life, and consequently can work with the impelling Law of Evolution which (as worded in the rule we are considering) will "carry the group together towards the Higher Three."  See you not how the different phases of the teaching lead from one to another and provide a great ladder of approach to reality?  I would call to your attention that in the Fourteen Rules for Applicants and in the Fourteen Rules for Disciples and Initiates you have the two great foundational courses of the coming Schools of the Mysteries, for which I have prepared the world in Letters on Occult Meditation.

3. Transmutation.  This indicates here an achievement and not a process; the work of transmuting the lower nature into the higher and desire into love, of transforming personality purpose into group livingness and being, has led to that complete transfiguration which makes the entire process of transmutation no longer needed.  But—and this is the point to be emphasised—because of this achievement, the art of transmutation is now the instrument which the initiate can use and transmute that which is not himself, and thus consciously and with clear purpose further the ends of evolution.  Transmutation "disappears" out of his own life, but the forces which have been transmuted into spiritual energy begin now to have a dynamic transmutative effect in the world of forms wherein he now chooses to work and serve, according to his ray and ashramic intent.

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4. Impartation.  Reference to this is made in the Book of Revelation, found in The New Testament.  There we are told that the initiate is given a white stone, and in the stone "a new name" is found written; this is the "hidden name egoic."  I am at a loss at this point as to how to express the higher significance of this.  This impartation marks a climaxing point in the attainment of the point of tension where the Sound can be heard and not the Word alone.  Never forget that the O.M. is simply a symbolically sounded word which is intended to bring into the minds of those upon the Path those two great points of tension wherein

a. The "hidden name egoic" is conferred upon the disciple.  This, as far as he is concerned, is the Word of his soul ray.

b. The Sound heard of which the O.M. is a symbol.  This is the first letter of the sevenfold Name of the planetary Logos.  More upon this subject may not be given, nor am I in a position to give it.

These two preparatory injunctions will give you some idea of how abstruse is the teaching conveyed in the rules for initiates.  The understanding and the expressing of the four rules for applicants, as demonstrated by the disciple now functioning in a group, can all be summed up in the word:  Being.  Having said that, what does it mean to you?  Being, per se, can only be grasped by those who have "come alive" monadically, who function in the three worlds of the Spiritual Triad with even greater positivity than the highly advanced personality functions in the three worlds of human evolution; and who have grasped somewhat the purpose for which Sanat Kumara has come into being and through directed livingness is working out His intention.

We can now take up the four major injunctions given to the initiated disciple as he prepares to work under the Laws of the Spirit, as a conscious soul, and (for purposes of service) through a personality.  There are many initiates working without a body of contact which a personality provides, but we shall not consider them in our studies.  We shall only deal with those disciples who can work as a group [264] on the physical plane, fulfilling ashramic intent on the one hand and preparing themselves to tread the Way of the Higher evolution upon the other.  The first major injunction in this Rule XIII reads as follows:

3. Let the group understand the Law of Synthesis, of unity and fusion.

The Law of Synthesis, as you know, is the law of spiritual existence, and one of the three major laws of our solar system, as well as of our planet.  It is a basic cosmic law, applied from sources of which we know nothing, as are the Laws of Attraction and of Economy.  I dealt with these somewhat at length in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, and of these two other laws I have given much and hinted more.  Of the Law of Synthesis, I can tell you but little.  It is the law governing the activities of the Spiritual Triad, and the conditioning law of monadic living.  It works neither through the use of the energy of love nor through the application of the principle of economy.  The fulfillment of these laws is necessary and preparatory to an understanding of the Law of Synthesis, and under the Law of Synthesis the worlds of illusion and glamour are mastered and the control of maya is negated; under the Law of Attraction the nature of love is revealed, first of all through desire for form life, and then through attraction to the soul and a consequent resolution of the dualities of soul and personality.  This brings about a unity which—in due time—serves to reveal a greater potential dualism—that of soul and spirit; this fundamental duality must also be resolved, leaving the essential, universal planetary duality, Spirit-matter, present in time and space.

The Law of Synthesis has reference to this relationship and to the factual nature of the tremendous assertion of H. P. Blavatsky that "Matter is spirit at its lowest point of manifestation and spirit is matter at its highest."  It is of this synthesis that the group must learn; it is this relation which they must begin to comprehend, and the distinction (for there is a distinction) between synthesis, unity and fusion must in due time be mastered.

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To you, it may seem that these three words connote the same thing, but that is not so; fusion is ever related to the conscious merging of soul and substance until a point of equilibrium is achieved; at this point, unity becomes possible and the point of balance—through the attainment of a point of tension—is disturbed.  This takes place in three definitely defined stages when the fusion of personality and soul is brought about through the self-initiated effort of the disciple:  first of all upon the Probationary Path, then upon the Path of Discipleship, and finally at the third initiation, upon the Path of Initiation.  It is essential that you ever remember that this third initiation, the Transfiguration, is the first major initiation from the standpoint of the Hierarchy, though the third from the limited vision of the aspirant.  The initiate then goes on to learn the significance of unity in its true sense; this is only possible when monadic influence can be consciously registered and when the antahkarana is in process of conscious construction.  I emphasise the word "conscious" here; much of the work of fusion and of attainment proceeds unconsciously under the fundamental Law of Evolution, which is a Shamballic law, embodying as it does the working out of the inscrutable will of Deity.  The work now being done on the three stages of the Path has to be intentional and, therefore, consciously undertaken and intelligently planned; it must be backed, first of all by determination, then by the spiritual will, and finally as an implemented aspect of purpose.

Fusion might therefore be regarded as the individual process of spiritual integration, relating—in full waking consciousness—the three divine aspects in man.  Unity might be regarded as the conscious adaptation of the initiated disciple to the greater whole, as his absorption into the group through his obedience to the laws of the soul, and as governing his attitude to that in which he lives and moves and has his being.  This goes on until he sees no distinction, registers no differences and is aware of no separative reaction, and all this because the instinct to separation no longer exists in him.  It refers to his oneness in the world of [266] energies in which he moves, making him an unimpeded channel for energy and, therefore, an integral and smoothly working part of his total environment and, above all, of the group to which, automatically and under the laws which govern his soul, he has been attracted.  He has learnt all that he can learn through the processes of differentiation to which he has been subjected for aeons.  The principle of intelligence controls him and the principle of love motivates him, and he has consequently attained unity.  But, my brothers, it is the unity of his ray, of his Ashram and of the Plan; it is the unity of the Hierarchy which exists for purposes of service and active work in its seven major groups and its three main departments or divisions.  It is indeed attainment and liberation.  But more must still be learnt if the Way of the Higher Evolution is to be trodden and a choice between the seven cosmic Paths made—a choice which curiously enough is not dependent upon ray, for all rays are to be found on all these paths.

This can only be done through synthesis.  This Law of Synthesis

"works through the Seven which yet are One; which points to the seven ways and yet those upon the seven ways are one; which initiates the universal into the many but preserves its integrity; which originates the plan but preserves intact the purpose; which sees the multiplicity needed under the Law of Sacrifice but subordinates that law unto the Law of Synthesis; which breathes forth the many Breaths and yet is Life Itself."

In this attempt to paraphrase an ancient definition of the Law of Synthesis, I have said all that I can upon the theme.  Only as disciples build the antahkarana and function as the Spiritual Triad within the monadic Life will inspiration come, just as they learnt to make contact with the soul and to function as the threefold personality within the soul, and then revelation ensued.  Naught is gained by further elucidation.  Proceed with the work of building the antahkarana and light will shine upon your way and revelation will attend your steps.

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The second major injunction (though the fourth phrase in our rule) is:

4. Let the threefold mode of working with that which is dynamic carry the group together towards the Higher Three.

This injunction holds in it information which is somewhat new to the modern initiate, functioning in a physical body; it is difficult for him to grasp even a modicum of its significance.  To convey any faintest hint of its meaning is incomparably difficult for me where disciples such as you are concerned.  All I can do is to fall back upon the Law of Analogy, by means of which the microcosm can arrive at a glimmer of understanding of the more obvious aspects of the Macrocosm.

First, let me make reference to the words "the Higher Three"; let me see if I cannot somewhat clarify the entire complex idea.  The words "Higher Three" refer to the three Buddhas of Activity Who still remain actively cooperating with the Lord of the World.  They are, as you have been told, close to Sanat Kumara and came with Him when He decided to take incarnation through the medium of our planet, Earth.  It is difficult to understand Their mysterious and peculiar functions.  They do not belong to this solar system at all; They have passed through the human stage in such far distant and remote world cycles that the experience is no longer a part of Their consciousness; They act as advisors to Sanat Kumara where His initial purpose is concerned, and that is why the words "the will of God holds sway" occur in this rule.  It is Their supreme task to see that, in the Council Chamber of Shamballa, that purpose is ever held steadily within the "area of preparation" (I know not how else to word it) of that Council.  They function, in a peculiar sense, as linking intermediaries between the Logos of our solar system and the informing Life of the constellation Libra; They relate these two great centres of energy to our planetary Logos.

In the last solar system They were the planetary Logoi of three planets in which the mind principle reached its [268] highest stage of development; They embody in Themselves in a most peculiar manner the wisdom aspect of the second ray, as it expresses itself primarily through what has been called in the Bhagavad Gita "skill in action."  Hence Their name, the Buddhas of Activity.

Sanat Kumara has now moved one step ahead of Them upon the great cosmic ladder of evolution, for an aspect of the Law of Sacrifice has conditioned Them.  However, within the planetary consciousness and among Those Who work out the divine purposes, there are none Who approach the Eternal Youth and these three Buddhas in point of Evolution.  They work out Their plans—these four Great Lives—through the medium of the Lords of the Seven Rays.  Under the Law of Analogy, They are to Sanat Kumara what the three mind aspects upon the mental plane are to the disciple and the initiate.  They represent in action:

The concrete or lower mind of the planetary Logos,

That energy which we call the soul and which the disciple calls "the Son of Mind,"

The higher or abstract mind,

but all this from cosmic levels and with cosmic implications.  It was Their activity which (after evolution had run a long course) brought about the act of individualisation and thus brought the human kingdom into existence.  In a mysterious sense, therefore, it might be said that the three Buddhas of Activity are responsible for:

1. The Act of Individualisation.  The work of the particular Buddha responsible at the time for this major activity, has been temporarily quiescent since Lemurian days.  He works, when active, through the seventh ray and draws the needed energy from two constellations:  Cancer and Gemini.

2. The Act of Initiation.  I would call your attention to the word act; I am not here referring to process.  His work only begins at the third initiation when the planetary Logos is the Initiator.  At that initiation, the will aspect begins to function.  The Buddha behind the initiatory process is extremely active at this time; He works through the Christ [269] and the Lord of the second ray, drawing the needed energy from the constellations Capricorn and Aquarius.

3. The Act of Identification.  This involves what has been called a "moment of opening-up," during which the initiate sees that which lies within the cosmic intent and begins to function not only as a planetary unit but as a cosmic focal point.  The Buddha of Activity, responsible for this type of planetary activity, works with the Lord of the first ray and functions as an outpost of the consciousness of the informing life of Aries and of Leo.  His work is only now beginning to assume importance.

I realise that this information has little meaning to you and lies beyond your understanding, but so was much that I gave you in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire.  Its sole value for you lies in the revelation of the linking up and the interplay between all parts of our solar system, our universe and the zodiac.  Through these three great Buddhas there is a basic relation, established aeons ago and steadfastly held, between our planet, three of the seven sacred planets, and six of the major constellations—the three and the six which most uniquely concern the fourth kingdom in nature.  Other planets and other constellations are also related to the human family, but their relation is more aggressively (if I might use that word) related to the three subhuman kingdoms; with these we shall not here deal.  Their relation to the human kingdom has been covered by me in the astrological section of this Treatise:  A Treatise on the Seven Rays, Vol. III (Esoteric Astrology).

You will note that I have here indicated the existence of five triangles:

1. That existing in the interplay of the energies of the three Buddhas of Activity Who create a triangle, closely related to the planet Saturn.

2. The triangle of the three rays through whom the three Buddhas work.

3. The three planets which are connected with the three Lords of the three rays and by means of which They express Their impelling energy.

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4 - 5. Two interlaced triangles, created by the six constellations from which the three Buddhas of Activity draw Their needed energy and to which They are uniquely related through Their individual karma.  These two interlaced triangles are the cause of the six-pointed star, so familiar among the many occult symbols.

From the Law of Analogy, another exceedingly important triangle is found in the human body and (esoterically considered) is related to the subject under consideration:

1. The ajna centre, embodying the directing energy of that body of activity which we call the personality.

2. The throat centre, which is peculiarly active today in all human beings; this testifies to the success of the creative work of the Buddhas of Activity.  This, in its turn, has a small symbolic triangle of its own, to which I would call attention: the thyroid gland and the para-thyroids.

3. The centre at the base of the spine.  This is galvanised into activity at a certain stage of the evolutionary process, by energy emanating from the Buddhas of Activity Who are the least active at this particular time.  It is an energy pouring towards the fourth kingdom but not directed towards any individual.  These great Lives work through major groups.  Their potency is such that it would otherwise prove destructive.

The purpose of Deity is necessarily embodied in a mental proposition; it is through this mental proposition that the three Buddhas of Activity implement Their work.  I can put it no clearer.  There will come a time in the experience of all initiates when—each for himself—a formulation of this mental proposition will be absolutely necessary.  By means of this, each initiate will embody his individual understanding of the divine purpose as the Plan has been revealed to him.

This he can do only through the means of group experience, in cooperation with his group and when the group—as a whole—has reached a similar point of realisation and [271] has together touched the fringes of this highest of all revelations for humanity.  When, for the first time, they succeed in doing this, they will come—as a group—under the direct emanation of the Higher Three and under an aspect of the Council Chamber at Shamballa which has been hitherto unknown and unrealised.  This will connote a high stage of initiation of the group and is, in effect, connected with inter-hierarchical activity.  It is a working out into the consciousness of the group members of an event which has taken place within the Ashram of Sanat Kumara, the Hierarchy itself; this takes place through the stimulation of all the Ashrams at a certain Full Moon, and concerns the relation of the Ashrams as a whole to Shamballa, and not to Humanity.