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SECTION ONE - THE ASPIRANT AND THE MYSTERIES OF INITIATION - Part 3

Thus within His Ashram the Master learns "occultly to decide" and to condition the creative centre for which He is responsible.  He has to do this with the Ashram, surrounded by all those who are in training and who are the agents of His will.  Through them He must act, and they thereby limit necessarily the vision to which He reacts, and step down the rate and quality of the energy of which He is the focal point.  This energy constitutes the animating life of the Ashram as well as the force which the disciples and initiates must use in their work in the world, this of course in cooperation with the energy which each disciple within himself "occultly generates" and for which he—in his lesser degree—is responsible.

More anent this subject will be given when we study specifically the nine initiations wherein another synthesis, interlocking with the synthesis of the Will, will appear.

The seven Paths confronting the Master

It will be apparent to you now that the Master confronts two crises:

1. The crisis of the will, as it demonstrates in unalterable decision.

2. The crisis of the new step which will probably "cast Him adrift upon the shore of some distant sphere wherein His will must be expressed in love."  These ambiguous words of the Old Commentary mean that [396] His decision will (with one exception) take Him away from all that He has hitherto known.

The majority of the Masters then enter into realms wherein They are needed "to impart, strengthen and enlighten that which is already fused, already strong and already full of light, but which needs that which He brings in order to express the all-encompassing whole."

I have to leave you with these words as food for reflection as there is little further that I may say upon this point.  In any case and for all deciding groups of Masters, the work with the Hierarchy is over, except for the few Who choose Path I.  Part of the mistake which the Buddha made was connected with this subject of decision.  He loved humanity so much that He felt He could not and did not choose the Path which He was in reality ordained to follow; He chose instead the Path of Earth Service—which was not His Path at all.  This He knows and will in due time pass on to His rightful Path.  This little incident will demonstrate the complete freedom of choice which distinguishes the sixth initiation.

The seven Paths are, as you know from your study of Initiation, Human and Solar the following:

1. The Path of Earth Service.

2. The Path of Magnetic Work.

3. The Path of Training for Planetary Logoi.

4. The Path to Sirius.

5. The Ray Path.

6. The Path on which our Logos is found.

7. The Path of Absolute Sonship.

In that first book which I wrote for the world, I gave a simple definition of the exoteric significance of these Paths—so simple as to convey but little.  I wrote then for the general public.  I will now endeavour to convey some of the deeper meanings, writing as I do for advanced disciples and for initiates who—reading between the lines and understanding the symbolism involved—will comprehend according to their point in evolution.

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As we approach the subject of the seven Paths, I would point out that the only basic point which can be presented to you is that of relationship.  All these seven Paths lead to some objective which is thereby put in touch with our planetary life; these objectives—with the life and conditions they represent—present to the Master a vision of possibility.  This vision is adequate to the task of drawing Him forth from the hierarchical Ashram, except in one case where vacancies in Shamballa need to be filled.  The progressive experience of the greater Lives Who work in the Council Chamber of Sanat Kumara form no part of our studies.  Many of these supreme Workers, as you have read in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, found Their way to our planet from our sister planet, Venus, thereby in Their turn establishing relationship.  Remember also that all the seven rays are the subrays of the great cosmic Ray of Love-Wisdom, which is ever expressive of relationship, implemented under the Law of Attraction; it is this form of esoteric attraction which draws the Master forth from His Ashram, conditions His decision and eventually leads to His passing through the door which opens on to other spheres and planes of activity.

Let us now consider—very briefly and necessarily inadequately—these seven Paths, taking them one by one:

1. The Path of Earth Service

This is the only Path which the Lord of the World regards as within the field of His spiritual interference.  He reserves the right to retain in the service of the Hierarchy, and consequently of Humanity and the subsidiary evolutions, Those Masters Whom He regards at any one time as essential to the work to be done.  This He does by asking Them to record Their decision when taking the sixth initiation, but to postpone moving on to one or other of the Paths until He gives the word.  This word He has lately given in the case of the Buddha, Who has expiated His most understandable mistake and will now move forward—in His own good time—on to the Path which will lead Him to His rightful field of expression.  In due time also, though [398] not for some time, the Christ will move forward "to the place which calls Him," and the Master K.H. will assume the role of World Teacher.  All these moves present their unique problems; they produce vacancies in the ranks of the Hierarchy which must be filled; they lead constantly to the inflow of new and powerful energies, for it must be recognised that these energies reach us along Paths leading to our planet as well as away from it.  The invocative note of our united evolution at stated times and cycles sounds out and reaches Those Who are waiting for spiritual opportunity and service.  They then follow the Path to our planet.  From other spheres and planes They emerge along the lines of Their destiny and intention; we then call Them Avatars or Great Enlighteners or Planetary Saviours or Spiritual Regents; They act at the request of Sanat Kumara, given on higher cosmic levels.

It is nevertheless a statement of fact that in due time even Those Who choose the Path of Earth Service and remain in hierarchical work are eventually given the right to follow Their decision and pass to extra-planetary service.  The Hierarchy, as we have seen, gives the needed training for that wider service, and the theme of what I might call the educational process to which the Masters submit is the unfoldment of the consciousness of the relationships which lie beyond the aura of our planet; this is, in reality, a higher and most abstruse branch of the Science of Impression, which disciples upon their lower level have to master.  This aspect of impression is, however, concerned with the formless worlds, whereas all the impressions to which the disciple has to learn to react emanate from and within the cosmic physical plane, of which all our seven planes are an integral part; our highest spiritual world is a part of the substantial world.  The Masters, therefore, are working at a conscious receptivity or sensitivity to the cosmic astral plane, the source of the spirit or energy of love.  There is a fundamental connection between the Hierarchy (the source of expression of love on Earth) and the cosmic astral plane, and it is towards this objective that the Masters work Who choose the Path [399] of Earth Service.  The major ray of our solar system is that of love-wisdom, and there is no better field on which to master the preliminary stages of that divine unfoldment and receive the needed development and education than on the Earth.

On the Earth, the Masters have overcome glamour and illusion, and for Them no astral plane exists.  Now ahead of Them, and owing to Their freedom from these "bewilderments," will come the opportunity to enter into the Heart of God, the centre of pure love, and from that centre to tread the way of love.  All these seven Paths lead either to the cosmic astral plane or to the cosmic mental plane, according to the decision made at the sixth initiation.  Upon the cosmic astral plane there is no glamour, but instead a great vortex of energy—the energy of pure love—under the domination of the Law of Attraction.  It might be stated that:

Path 1.  The Path of Earth Service leads to the cosmic astral plane.

Path 2.  The Path of Magnetic Work leads to the cosmic astral plane.

Path 3.  The Path for Training for Planetary Logoi leads to the higher levels of the cosmic mental plane.

Path 4.  The Path to Sirius leads to the cosmic astral plane.

Path 5.  The Ray Path leads to the cosmic mental plane.

Path 6.  The Path the Logos Himself is on leads to the cosmic buddhic plane.

Path 7.  The Path of Absolute Sonship leads to the cosmic mental plane.

Three Paths, therefore, lead to the realm of loving attractive energy; one Path leads to its higher correspondence, the cosmic level of pure reason; three lead to the realm of divine Mind.  Four of the Paths relate the advancing Master to the Heart of the Great Life Who functions through this solar system, and three to His Mind nature.  All of them lead the initiate eventually to the Central Spiritual Sun. [400] All Who work in Shamballa find Their way to this supreme centre by the three most arduous ways, whilst the remainder reach the same goal via the way of love.

The unfoldment of the will has much to do with Their decision.  It must not be thought that Those Masters Who are on the first, third and fifth rays, for instance, follow the Path numerically the same; such is not the case; nor that Those Who are predominantly on the second line of energy find the cosmic astral plane Their goal.  Such again is not the case.  Their response and decision is based on a realisation of cosmic need—a need of which you can know nothing, any more than it is possible for you to comprehend the nature of cosmic evil.

As to the detail of the work of Those Who choose—until released—to stay on Earth and work in or with the Hierarchy, is there more that I can tell you?  You know much anent this subject for I have given much—far more than has ever been given before.  I have not dealt with the work of the Hierarchy in relation to evolutions other than the human, for two reasons:

Your unfoldment is still such that you do not and cannot yet include or register the consciousness or nature of the subhuman kingdoms.

The work done by the Hierarchy in those kingdoms is largely carried forward via humanity and modern scientific development.

There are many Masters Who do not work with the human kingdom at all, but are fully occupied with carrying out the divine Will in other kingdoms.  With this work we have, at present, no concern.  When any one takes the sixth initiation and makes his decision to follow the Path of Earth Service (either temporarily at the request of Sanat Kumara, or until the end of the world cycle), he will find himself faced with a secondary decision as to which of the four kingdoms will profitably provide the field of his sacrifice and service.  We will now consider:

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2. The Path of Magnetic Work

In referring to this Path, I have stated that Those Who find Their way on to this Path work with fohat, or with the essential energy of our solar system which differentiates into seven major types of energy.  Our planet with its ruling Lord is an integral part of the life expression of a still greater Entity, the solar Logos, and it is with the astral energy incident to His cosmic nature that the Master has to work.  He learns to direct the currents of this essential energy, and because of His past relation to the Earth, He is part of the directing agency for astral energy within the planetary ring-pass-not.  I also said that many Masters Who have reached liberation upon the fifth ray find Their way to this Path, thus proving the statement that it is not the ray which determines decision.  These fifth ray Masters (among many others, of course) will be working in a great second ray vortex of energy.

It must be pointed out that, in its original state, this pure astral energy, directed under law into our planetary life, is free from all that is at present associated with the astral plane:  glamour and delusion, emotional fog and poisonous deceiving phenomena.  These well-known aspects of the astral plane are all the creation of humanity down the ages and present, therefore, an increasingly difficult problem to all aspirants.  The tormenting turmoil and chaos of the astral plane are due largely to three factors:

The force of the constantly developing glamour as self-centered and undeveloped human beings create it.

The force of those aspirants and disciples who are seeking to combat this in their own lives and in the lives of others.

The inflow of pure solar astral energy under cyclic law and the direction of the Master working on the second Path.

These three factors create great trouble; during the past crisis of the world war (1914-1945) it reached most serious proportions.  The hierarchical crisis to which I have earlier [402] referred was involved, and many Masters from the various Ashrams made a decision to work on this second Path in order to bring order out of chaos by pouring into the planetary astral plane pure astral energy, untainted by glamour and revelatory of pure love.  They were experts in timing and in energy manipulation.

You will also note how three types of astral energy are therefore related:

The astral force of our planet, distinctive of the planetary astral plane in the three worlds of human enterprise.

The astral force of the solar Logos, the true God of Love.

The astral energy of the cosmic astral plane.

These forces are symbolised to the manipulating Master by a triangle.  In the Old Commentary it says:

"The Master throws Himself—under the liberating Law of Sacrifice—into the vortex of the astral life of the One to Whom our Lord relates Himself with humble joy.  And as the Master works, there forms before His eyes a triangle of force in shades of varying rose.  By His magnetic power, He concentrates the energy required.  Then through this triangle of force, as through an open door, He sends the potency of love into our planet, and till His cycle ends He thus must work."

This is but a rough translation of some very ancient phrases, and is perhaps less symbolic than it may appear.  It is in connection with this Path that the work of the Triangles which I initiated is related; the function of these Triangles is in reality to facilitate the work of distributing the pure incoming love energy (expressing itself as light and as goodwill) into the Hierarchy and Humanity.  This deeply esoteric purpose of the Triangles will not be understood by the general public, but some of you who read this will appreciate the opportunity to serve in this manner consciously.

The Path of Magnetic Work takes the Master, first of all, to the Heart of the Sun, and from thence to the cosmic [403] mental plane, passing through and pausing temporarily upon the cosmic astral plane.  The above statement does not in reality refer to progress from point to point in an ordered sequence.  It refers to high states of awareness and to a form of cosmic contact which is registered by the Master from the point at which He stands upon this second Path, for all the planes are interpenetrating.  This has been somewhat easy to understand in connection with our seven planes, as the rarer substances could be visualised as interpenetrating the denser.  It is not so easy to comprehend, however, when we pass out of the cosmic physical plane (in our imagination, needless to say) and enter those planes of which we know nothing and of whose composition and substance (if they are substantial, as we understand the term) we are totally ignorant; besides that, we are not in a position to ascertain the truth.

The method of the Master's work upon this Path is also not easily understood.  It can be summed up in the following words which may bring some light via their united meaning (each phrase contributing an idea), if due reflection is brought to bear upon them:

Isolated Unity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

the position of the Master

A positive Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

the mental attitude

Sound, under the Law of Attraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

the means employed

Precipitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

the intention visioned

Passage through the Triangle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

the projection ensuing

Directive work under the Law of Distribution . . . . . . 

direction towards the goal

These phrases may give some vague idea of a process, based on "reception, then direction, producing rejection and impact where the rejecting agency ordained."

Another aspect of the work done by the Master on the second Path is the drawing off of those phases of glamour which no longer have the power to deceive mankind.  They are not allowed to accumulate or to remain upon the astral plane.  They are therefore, through the magnetic power of the Master, withdrawn from our planetary life and are "occultly [404] absorbed" by the Master; the substance of the glamour, purified and freed from all that conditioned it on the planetary astral plane, and with only the pure essence retained, sets the law in motion which draws this purified remainder into the cosmic astral plane.

Constantly, therefore, this great circulatory process goes on, demonstrating anew the essential synthesis underlying all life—human, planetary, systemic and cosmic; it reveals also that the Law of Attraction, the Law of Magnetic Work, and the cosmic Law of Synthesis are three aspects of one Law for which, as yet, we have no name.

It might be said that the Masters working on the second Path are working in relation to and in contact with certain great Lives Who work on the periphery of the constellation Libra, the Balances.  This is due to the fact that Those Masters Who can work with magnetic energies, and with the three above Laws, have achieved a point of balance which makes Their work possible; it involves also a poised attention and directive power, permitting the inflow of energies from Libra which could not otherwise enter our planetary life at all.  These Libran energies enter our solar system via the Heart of the Sun and are peculiarly amenable to magnetic attraction and distribution.

All these Paths gradually came into being when our planetary Logos created the Earth and started the involutionary process of creation, leading in due time but much later, to evolution.  They are therefore, all of Them, Paths of Return.  This second Path was one of the first to be used and (again quoting the Old Commentary) "the door once opening inward now opens outward and permits the exit of those who hold the key because they entered by that door in aeons long gone by."

All the Masters (and not only Those upon the fifth ray) receive careful training in the manipulation of energies, and hence the statement of the Master K.H. to His disciples that the occultist has to learn to master and control the forces and energies within himself; the disciple and the initiate work with hierarchical energies and with the forces [405] of the kingdoms of nature in the three worlds; the Master receives instruction in the handling of the energies which are extra-planetary but within the solar ring-pass-not.  Those Masters Whose decision it is to tread the second Path are taught the control and direction of systemic energies and of certain energies emanating from Libra and from one of the stars in the constellation of the Great Bear.  In the more advanced stages of Their work, and when the Master is far more advanced than the word indicates, He works consciously upon the cosmic mental plane; His activities will then be concerned with the relation of the energies of the Great Bear to the Pleiades, and their dual relationship (a higher correspondence to atma-buddhi) to the solar system and only incidentally to our Earth.  Great is the interlocking, the interdependence and the interpenetration!

3. The Path of Training for Planetary Logoi

It is obviously impossible to say much about this Path.  Those Masters Who tread it find Their way to the various schools for the training of planetary Logoi which are found within certain of the major planetary schemes, as stated in Initiation, Human and Solar.  They are necessarily few in number, and a small group of Them remains to study in our particular planetary enterprise under Sanat Kumara.  This They do after making Their decision and passing through the door on the periphery of our planetary ring-pass-not.  Then—out of incarnation and working through the medium of the higher telepathy—They receive instruction of a nature incomprehensible to us, from the Members of the Council Chamber at Shamballa, and primarily from two of the Buddhas of Activity.  Having learnt the technique and having passed certain tests, They move into the planetary life of Venus, our Earth's Alter-Ego, and there They complete Their training, as far as our solar system can give it, finding Their way eventually on to the cosmic mental plane.

Two things should be borne in mind in connection with this abstruse subject:

First:  These Masters work primarily with the "psyche" [406] or the soul aspect within the solar system.  They are occupied with the subtler expressions of consciousness, with occult impressibility and that acute sensitivity which produces instant and accurate registration of all soul reactions within any particular planetary life.  These kingdoms are not necessarily identical with those found on the Earth, but they are, in all cases, vast groups of living forms which are manifestations or expressions of the nature of any particular planetary Logos.  The Masters taking this training are not occupied with individual states of consciousness within any group.  It is the consciousness of the whole, and its responsiveness to cosmic impacts, that engages Their attention.  They are not (if I might so express it) interested in any individual unit of any kind or in its individual reactions, responsiveness or susceptibility to impression.  They are only concerned with those higher processes of identification which indicate an advanced state of evolutionary development.  Their work is to further progressive development of identification.  They begin with the identification of the Monad within our planetary sphere with the Purpose and the Will of the Lord of the World, and proceed—as Their training produces the desired capabilities—with greater identifications within the solar system.  Beyond that we need not proceed.

Their whole training is concerned with the planetary, systemic and cosmic building of the antahkarana, for it is via the antahkarana that spirit works, that life processes are controlled, and the will of all developing aspects of Deity function.  Forget not that relating our planet to the planet Venus is a planetary antahkarana, passing from thence to the Heart of the Sun and later to the cosmic mental plane.  There are "rainbow bridges" carrying the sevenfold energies of the seven rays from planet to planet, from system to system, and from plane to plane on cosmic levels.  It is over these bridges that the will of the related spiritual Identities is projected, producing that synthesis of effort which is distinctive of the cooperative systemic life.  The work of the Masters in training from our planet is, among other [407] things, to unfold within Themselves not only sensitivity to systemic purpose, but the ability to transmit that Purpose to the Council Chamber at Shamballa.  They have—in an extraplanetary sense—a definite correspondence with and relation to the group of Nirmanakayas within our planet Who work in contemplative activity with the antahkarana which connects the Hierarchy with Shamballa and Humanity with the Hierarchy.

As planetary Logoi when Their Own time comes, these Masters will be concerned with the registration of the Purpose and expressed Will of some solar Logos.  They will then, through the planetary and systemic antahkarana, supervise the gradual evolutionary impartation of that Will (which is now Theirs) to all the forms through which They function in any particular planet for which They have assumed responsibility.  This definitely involves working with the soul aspect and with the unfoldment of conscious responsiveness and sensitive reaction to all the higher impressions.

Second:  These Masters are the directing builders and Creators eventually of all forms of planetary life—forms embodying qualities and intentions as yet undreamed of by us.  They have developed in Themselves a perfected synthesis of the two energies of atma-buddhi, or of spiritual will and spiritual love, completely unified and energetically active in a comprehensive condition seldom attained by any other group of Masters in training.

It must be realised that the Buddhas of Activity, of Whom there are only three on our planet, are similarly active.  They are active love-wisdom or a complete synthesis of active intelligence, active love and active will.  The Masters on this third Path will, therefore, some day complete Their training for planetary Logoi by attaining the status of Buddhas of Activity, and will for a period serve in that capacity in some planetary scheme, before taking the control and guidance of Their Own body of manifestation.

The training of these Masters on the third Path might be described as an intensive study of a most exalted form of the Science of Impression.  The supreme task of a planetary [408] Logos is to impress His sevenfold body of manifestation, via its seven states of consciousness and the seven centres, with His will and intention; these are progressively imparted as the etheric body is brought into an increasing state of receptivity through the awakening of the seven planetary centres, primarily the three major centres.  The Masters thus in training gain experience of the methods used by the planetary Logoi of all the seven sacred planets, and the training is therefore an exceedingly lengthy one.  It must be remembered however that—except in dense physical incarnation and, therefore, conditioned by the brain and its special limitations—the spiritual man is not conscious of time, once He is separated from the physical body.  Time is the sequential registration by the brain of states of awareness and of progressive contacts with phenomena.  There is no such thing as time on the inner planes, as humanity understands it.  There are only cycles of activity or of non-activity; this non-activity for Masters on the third Path takes the form of cyclic periods of contemplation and mental activity, followed by active periods of energy direction to impress the will of certain planetary Logoi and Their agents upon the Council Chamber of our planet in particular, and upon other planets, as Their training is perfected.

It is the impulsive incentive of these Masters which bridges and links between the Monad on the monadic plane and the three worlds of dense expression on the cosmic physical plane; in this process the antahkarana between the spiritual man in incarnation and the spiritual Triad is aided and finally constructed, but this is only incidental to the far greater work of relating Shamballa to all kingdoms in nature and to other planets.

The number of Masters deciding on this Path is, as I said, not large; the training is peculiarly arduous and is followed, when opportunity is offered to function as a planetary Logos, by an act of sacrifice which confines Them indefinitely to the limitations of the ring-pass-not of Their body of manifestation, a planet.  It is for this reason that Sanat Kumara has ever been called "The Great Sacrifice."

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Certain Hierarchical Changes

Before proceeding with our consideration of the seven cosmic Paths, I would like to pause here and clarify your mind, A.A.B., and answer certain questions which you are formulating.

Some years ago (in 1925) I gave out to the world through your instrumentality A Treatise on Cosmic Fire.  In that volume I elaborated upon the very elementary information given upon this subject in Initiation, Human and Solar—a book published earlier (in 1922).  In both these volumes I touched upon the cosmic Paths.  I gave (in very abstruse terms) some information; the terms were so abstruse that few can understand their meaning.  The true significance is only for advanced initiates, of which I am not one, from Their point of view, though from yours I may be.  In Initiation, Human and Solar very little was said, because the book was written for the general public and thus only a few ideas were indicated to point direction.  Now, in A Treatise on the Seven Rays I have added to that already given; this book is, however, intended for a much larger number than those who read (and claim, erroneously, to understand) A Treatise on Cosmic Fire.  In what I have to say, the teaching is carefully guarded.  Two things should, however, be pointed out here in order to save confusion:

1. It had not been the intention of the Hierarchy to give any further information anent these Paths; it was felt that enough had been said about this naturally incomprehensible subject.  Owing, however, to the fundamental changes in the hierarchical plans, this decision was altered.  I was permitted to add to that already given.  This was due to two causes:

a. The tremendous unfoldment of the human consciousness during the last twenty-five years warrants more information; so many aspirants were being admitted to the Path of Discipleship and were finding their way into the Ashrams, thus forcing the passage of many initiates on to the Way of the Higher Evolution. [410] This in itself is a most joyous happening, but necessitated many ashramic adjustments.

b. Owing to this advancement, owing to the increased sensitivity of the human mechanism, and owing to the decisions humanity is in process of making (as a result of the frightful testing period of the war, 1914-1945), the Hierarchy—far earlier than had been hoped or anticipated—has prepared Itself for physical plane manifestation, or for what is called by Them "the process of externalisation."

This has necessarily produced problems, and among them the strictly hierarchical problem of the passage of the initiate of the sixth degree on to the cosmic Paths.  You will find, if you study closely the three presentations of the teaching (in Initiation, Human and Solar, A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, and A Treatise on the Seven Rays) what may appear to you as contradictions or differences.  This is not truly so, but the casual reader may feel them to be present even though the differences are apparent more than real.  Two causes account for this:

a. The decision to throw open initiations higher than the fifth to the ready Master, and to familiarise the world of aspirants with their existence.  Little has ever been given beyond the fifth initiation.  Many initiates are becoming Masters, and many disciples are achieving the first initiation, and this fact confronts the three Great Lords Who rule the Hierarchy with a definite problem.

b. To make the sixth initiation and not the fifth initiation the Initiation of Decision.  Here I must state the existence of a hierarchical problem:  the use of the will aspect in the unfoldment of the initiate.  It must be remembered that this first ray aspect is:

A definite and most potent energy.  It is the most potent energy in the planetary life and is carefully held in leash by Those Who are in a position to wield it.

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The medium whereby the purpose of creation is finally revealed.

The force which enables the Hierarchy to present the Plan in the three worlds.

The needed dynamic whereby the "deciding" Master sets His foot upon the Path of the Higher Evolution.

Owing to the success of the influence of this Shamballa energy upon humanity when the experiment was made to test its impact without stepping it down through the medium of the Hierarchy, the entire course of man's spiritual history was most peculiarly altered.  This had not been anticipated, for—as oft I have told you—the Masters know not which way mankind will go, nor may They interfere by action or thinking in humanity's decision.  It was therefore necessary to control more definitely the passage of initiates on to the seven Paths; only a certain number are required to fulfill cosmic intention; it was therefore decided to make the rules of entrance more difficult and more rigid.

Forget not, brother of mine, that this is not the first time that this has happened.  Changes were made in Atlantean times; the door of entrance for the animal kingdom or for animal man into the human kingdom was stopped.  No more units have since then been admitted from the third kingdom into the fourth, except in a few cases and for specific reasons.  Here, however, you have a reverse situation.  The Hierarchy, owing to its constitution at that time and to the fact that very few, relatively, of our Earth humanity were members of the Hierarchy, could not influence directly the more developed human beings or train more aspirants.  They therefore closed the door.  That particular condition does not now exist, and the supreme Directors of the seven cosmic Paths are today in the same position as was the Hierarchy then; the word has gone forth to our three Great Lords—the Manu, the Christ and the Mahachohan—via the three Buddhas of Activity, to act in order to tighten up on requirements, to make the sixth initiation and not the fifth, the decisive one, and to present those on the seven rays with [412] a wider range of choices and a greater diversity of choice.  Thus the Masters will have nine choices to face when They face Their decision; there will then be no need for Those on certain rays to pass to certain already determined Paths, but They can move forward under Their Own inspiration and with greater freedom.  The cosmic mental plane is not barred to Them, as has hitherto been the case.

All these changes have been due to the successful response of our planetary life, expressed through the human kingdom at this time, to the processes of evolution and to the inflow (since 1825) of the will energy from Shamballa.  This, in its turn, is due to the progress of Sanat Kumara Himself, within His Own identified life upon the cosmic Path which emerges from the cosmic mental plane.  All that we can contact and know is interdependent, and the unfoldment of the Life in Whom we live and move and have our being affects every aspect and department of His manifestation, just as the successful spiritual unfoldment of a human being and his ability to contact his soul produces incredible changes in the personality and affects every aspect and organ of his little manifestation upon the physical plane.

2. The intelligence of humanity now is of such a nature that certain earlier initiations no longer exist, and mankind has shown itself to possess the potentialities which will enable its individual units to tread not only the one or two cosmic Paths hitherto open to them, but all of them, if given the right training.  This the premature discovery of the release of atomic energy has well demonstrated to the Hierarchy.

All these factors have forced a reorganisation in the Plans at Shamballa and, in a unique conference, in that far greater Council Chamber over which our Solar Logos presides; greater opportunity was consequently offered to the Members of our planetary Hierarchy.  I stress that point:  the opportunity was not offered or presented to the fourth kingdom in nature, but to the fifth kingdom.

It is all these facts which have caused what may look to you like discrepancies and limitations in what I have given and [413] in comparison with that given in the earlier volumes of this Treatise, but they are not so in reality.  The Master of the fifth initiation, even if now He does not at that time make His decision, faces intelligently and with some understanding of the choices to be made, the sixth initiation and its decisions.  He begins to take also the particular training, and to this the teaching in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire now applies.  He is shewn the newer opportunity, the modes of decision, and the limitations which are no longer legitimate.  I would like to point out here that these changes are a cause of deep joy to the Hierarchy and to the Great Lives in the Council Chamber at Shamballa, for they indicate the strength and potency of Sanat Kumara's success and the incredible progress made in the consciousness of humanity as a consequence; this will lead also to future paralleling decisions on the physical plane in human affairs; this deeply spiritual and mysterious success (mysterious because the human mind knows naught about it) was also the reason for the violent attempt of the Forces of Evil to gain control, and their resultant failure.

4. The Path to Sirius

I have frequently hinted in my various books that the Sun, Sirius, is closely related to our planetary Life; much is known in the Hierarchy anent this connection, and the particular relationship of this fourth Path to humanity, the fourth kingdom in nature, but little can be communicated to the general public.  I may, however, tell you certain things which may make your imaginative rangings (if I may use so strange a phrase) creatively profitable to you.

This great Sun which is to our solar Logos what the Monad is to the spiritual man, has a peculiar part to play where our Earth is concerned.  It might be considered by those with a sound sense of occult proportion that our tiny planet with its planetary Logos (one of the "imperfect Gods" of The Secret Doctrine) would be too small to enter in the slightest way into the consciousness of that Supreme Illumined Entity Who is greater even than our Solar Logos. [414] Such, however, is the case.  There is a relationship of very ancient date between our Lord of the World, Sanat Kumara, and the Lord of Sirius, and this exists in spite of the fact that our planet is not a sacred planet.  It might be added that our planet is, in the immediate cycle, owing to the factors I have lately considered with you, rapidly passing out of this category, and on the inner planes and subjectively considered is a sacred planet; the effects of this transition from non-sacred to sacred have not fully demonstrated themselves objectively.  The mystery of this relationship is partially revealed at one of the higher initiations and it is then realised by the initiates that there is a good and adequate reason for the relation and that the following esoteric events, relations and happenings are simply consequences:

1. The majority of liberated humanity, and therefore a large number of the initiates who have to make decision, choose this way to the cosmic centre.

2. The relationship as it expresses itself is between the Hierarchy and Sirius, and not between Shamballa and that stupendous Sun.  The energy evoked in response to this relationship enters the Hierarchy via the Heart of the Sun, creating as a consequence a triangle of spiritual energy of enormous potency.  You have, therefore:

 

Sirius

 

 

*

 

 

 

 

 

The Hierarchy   *

 

 

 *   Heart of the Sun

3. As progress is made in the course of taking the higher initiations, it becomes apparent to the initiate that two major streams of energy enter our planetary life:

a. A stream of energy coming from the cosmic mental plane and from that focal point which is to Sanat Kumara what the egoic lotus, the soul, is to the spiritual man; it carries the life principle of our planet and centres itself in Shamballa.  From there it is dispersed throughout all forms upon the planet and we call it LIFE.  It must be remembered that this life principle embodies or is impregnated with the will and purpose [415] of THAT which overshadows Sanat Kumara as the soul overshadows the personality.

b. A stream of energy coming from the sun, Sirius; this enters directly into the Hierarchy and carries with it the principle of buddhi, of cosmic love.  This, in a mysterious way, is the principle found at the heart of every atom.

The life principle follows the line of 1.3.5.7, whilst the buddhic flow follows the line of 2.4.6.  Thus atma-buddhi becomes the blended reality which is brought to full unfoldment as evolution proceeds.  The energy of Sirius by-passes (to use a modern word) Shamballa and is focussed in the Hierarchy.  Its effect is not felt until after the third initiation, though the Masters use this energy whilst training disciples for the second, the fourth and the sixth initiations.

4. The entire work of the Great White Lodge is controlled from Sirius; the Ashrams are subjected to its cyclic inflow; the higher initiations are taken under its stimulation, for the principle of buddhi, of pure love (i.e., love-wisdom) must be active in the heart of every initiate prior to the initiation of the great decision; it is therefore only initiates of the fifth, sixth and higher initiations who can work consciously with the potent buddhic "livingness" which permeates all Ashrams, though unrecognised by the average disciple.

5. This Sirian influence was not recognised, and little of it was definitely focussed in the Hierarchy, until Christ came and revealed the love of God to humanity.  He is the expression, par excellence, of a Sirian initiation, and it is to that high place He will eventually go—no matter what duties or hierarchical obligations may take Him elsewhere between that time and now.  The Buddha was originally to have chosen the fourth Path but other plans confront Him now and will probably claim His choice.

6. Sanat Kumara is not on the Sirian line but—to speak in symbols, not too deeply veiled—Lucifer, Son of the Morning, is closely related, and hence the large number of human beings who will become disciples in the Sirian Lodge.  This [416] is the true "Blue Lodge," and to become a candidate in that Lodge, the initiate of the third degree has to become a lowly aspirant, with all the true and full initiations awaiting him "within the sunshine of the major Sun."

7. None of the above facts indicates divergence of view between Shamballa and the Hierarchy, nor do they signify cleavage or differing aims and goals.  The whole subject is reflected in such minor relations on Earth as those between:

a. The Spiritual Triad and the Personality.

b. The mental unit and the manasic permanent atom.

c. Atma-Buddhi.

d. The Christ and the Buddha.

The above somewhat uncorrelated items of information will give you a general idea of the significant connection between our unimportant little planet and that vast expression of divinity, the Life which is manifesting through Sirius; it is an expression which is organised and vital beyond anything man can vision and which is free to a completely unlimited extent, again beyond the power of man to comprehend.  The principle of freedom is a leavening energy which can permeate substance in a unique manner; this divine principle represents an aspect of the influence which Sirius exerts on our solar system and particularly on our planet.  This principle of freedom is one of the attributes of Deity (like will, love and mind) of which humanity knows as yet little.  The freedom for which men fight is one of the lowest aspects of this cosmic freedom, which is related to certain great evolutionary developments that enable the life or spirit aspect to free itself from the impact, the contact and the influence of substance.

It is the principle of freedom which enables Sanat Kumara to dwell on the Earth and yet stand free from all contacts, except with Those Who have trodden the Path of Liberation and now stand free upon the cosmic physical plane; it is that which enables the initiate to achieve a state of "isolated unity"; it is that which lies behind the Spirit of Death and forms the motivating power of that great releasing Agency; it is that which provides a "pathway of power" [417] between our Hierarchy and the distant sun, Sirius, and gives the incentive towards the "culture of freedom" or of liberation which motivates the work of the Masters of the Wisdom; it is that which produced the ferment and the vortex of conflict in far distant ages and which has been recognised in the present through the results of the Law of Evolution in every kingdom in nature; this is that which "substands" or lies under or behind all progress.  This mysteriously "exerted influence," this "pulling away" from form (as we might simply call it), emanates from Sirius and for it we have no name; it is the law of which the three cosmic laws—the Laws of Synthesis, of Attraction and of Economy—are only aspects.  None of these three subsidiary laws imposes any rule or limitation upon the Lord of the World.  The Law of Freedom, however, does impose certain restrictions, if one can use such a paradoxical phrase.  It is responsible for His being known as the "Great Sacrifice," for (under the control of this law) He created our planetary life and all that is within and upon it, in order to learn to wield this law with full understanding, in full consciousness, and yet at the same time to bring release to the myriad forms of His creation.

The Law of Economy affects humanity as a whole today throughout every phase of its life; the Law of Attraction is beginning to gain some control, particularly in the work which the Hierarchy undertakes to do; and many initiates and senior disciples are becoming aware of the significance of the Law of Synthesis and are reacting to its impact.  Later on, when moving to one of the seven Paths, the Master will work with the Law of Freedom.  This is not, as you may well surmise, its true name, for in the last analysis, freedom and liberation are effects of its activity.  This unique and mysterious law governs the Life and the Lives upon Sirius, and it is to that unknown "sphere of functioning and intelligent activity" what the Law of Economy is to our planet—the lowest of the laws controlling existence in planetary form.

This Law of Economy includes, as you know from my earlier writings, many lesser or subsidiary laws; it might therefore be stated that this Law of Freedom also does the [418] same.  Until more divine attributes are realised as existing and recognised as aspects, it is not possible for the name of the law which embodies the Law of Freedom to be given, for there is no word in our language adequately available.  The above information will, however, link Sirius and our little planet, the Earth, in your minds.