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SECTION THREE - TEACHINGS ON INITIATION - Part 9

Every initiate is himself a polarised point of precipitated energy; every initiate works from a known point of polarisation, and his main task is the precipitation of energy in order to energise, stimulate and create that which is needed in any immediate field of divine activity. Occult obedience is in reality the ability to work with these energies in relation to the Plan, even if only a tiny part of that Plan is known to the initiate. He becomes a part of a great energy distributing group. You will realise, therefore, from the above, that these three words which we have been considering are major key words in the hierarchical programme. One of the tasks of a Master, in connection with His disciples, is to aid them in bringing about effective polarisation and a consequent spiritual stability. The disciple has to effect the stage of penetration alone and unaided; during the process of polarisation, the Master of his Ashram is permitted to help. The stage of precipitation falls into three parts:

1. That in which a relation is set up between the initiate-disciple [433] and the Initiator. The Initiator focusses the new and probably unrecognised energies within Himself and by their means sets up a spiritual rapport with the new initiate.

2. That in which the energies, transferred by the Initiator into the aura of the initiate, are precipitated by him. This is preceded by a short primary phase in which the initiate polarised the energies of which he is the recipient into whichever centre is active in any particular initiation. For the second and third initiations he polarises them or focusses them in the heart centre. After the third initiation they are focussed in the head centre, but are precipitated and distributed through the medium of the centre between the eyes, the ajna centre. This latter centre is, as you know, the directing agency of the soul within the soul-infused personality.

3. Later, he finds that he can use any centre as the point of precipitation, according to the needs of the work to be done or the service to be rendered. An advanced initiate, however, works from a point of polarisation within the Hierarchy itself, distributing and precipitating the energies via any appropriate centre. In working with the subhuman kingdoms, initiates use the centres below the diaphragm more than initiates working in the human family.

The first Initiator is, as you know, the Soul, the Angel of the Presence, and the stage of penetration covers the long evolutionary cycle wherein the Soul is seeking to establish contact with and control of the personality. The stage of polarisation covers the cycle in which Soul control is stabilised and consciously imposed upon the threefold lower man. The stage of precipitation is only known for what it essentially is when the energies of the Spiritual Triad can be passed through the antahkarana into the soul-infused personality. We have, therefore:

1. The Path of Evolution . . . . . The stage of Penetration.

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2. The Path of Discipleship . . . The stage of Polarisation.

3. The Path of Initiation . . . . . .The stage of Precipitation.

These stages are presented in dramatic form during the process or the recognition of initiation. As you have oft been told, it all concerns the use of energy, and covers the entire period of training for energy distribution.

Initiation is in fact a process wherein the initiate is taught how to work with energy, how to use the creative, attractive and dynamic energies in accordance with the hierarchical Plan in order to bring about the precipitation of the planetary Purpose into the outer field of manifestation. You may say that there is little new in these things which I am telling you and that is somewhat true, but not entirely so.

The use of the three words which I have been attempting to elucidate for you brings in, however, an exceedingly deep occult apprehension of the hidden Mysteries and of the spiritual Realities: the conception of a goal to which penetration must be made; of a fresh area of consciousness in which the initiate must be stabilised and polarised; and the result—the dynamic use of hitherto unknown energies. These are made available to the initiate because he is initiate and must proceed to carry out what has been revealed to him of the hierarchical Plan, from the attained Point of Revelation. All this is implicit in these words, and in their brevity they convey the greatest spiritual truths. They convey an increasing sense of eternal livingness, activity and movement; the initiate discovers himself to be a point of energy in an ocean of energies—energies which are being directed by groups of Living Beings Who work from the angle of a proved immortality, and Who—because of Their livingness—can be precipitating centres of energy under the divine Plan and in accordance with the divine Purpose.

The word "revelation" is one that has been greatly misused by the mystics of the Church and of the great world religions; by them, its use is usually of a selfish nature and the concept implied is that revelation is the due reward, conceded to the mystic because of his struggles and his deep search for God. Then, suddenly, God is revealed to him; [435] suddenly the Angel speaks; suddenly his search seems ended and reward in the form of revelation is accorded him. This procedure and sequence of events has been the ordinary form for centuries and all the time the idea of God Transcendent dominated religious thought. But the revelation accorded is, in reality, related (until the sixth Initiation) to God Immanent, to God in form, to God in the human heart, and to that veiled and hidden supreme Reality which motivates all existence and which is for ever consciousness aware of itself. Revelation is a progress of penetration: first into the Mind, then into the Heart, and lastly into the Purpose of the One in Whom we live and move and have our being.

The agent of revelation is, for the first two initiations, the Soul and—for that reason—the first initiation is said to be (and with truth) the expression of the man's own inner divinity. This is the reason why these first two initiations are regarded as "initiations of the threshold." It is here that the work of the Christ or Whoever is the cyclic Head of the Hierarchy should be considered, working in cooperation with the Soul of the initiate upon the plane of the Soul, the mental plane; the Son of Mind is set free and then the higher initiations become possible. After that, the One Initiator can be faced or confronted step by step and revelation is accorded of the world soul, of the planetary consciousness—that of which the Soul or the individual consciousness is an integral part.

After the sixth Initiation of Decision, the revelation begins to shift on to cosmic levels and off the cosmic physical plane. A developed wisdom then grows in relation to God Transcendent. The initiate now has knowledge of God Immanent within the planetary sphere and can now add, to knowledge, wisdom and can learn to give correct and understanding interpretation to that which is being revealed to him, stage by stage, as he demonstrates that he is initiate. After the sixth initiation the initiate begins to penetrate, through his projected spiritual awareness, on to cosmic levels where he contacts unimagined revelations. The fact that I want you to understand can perhaps be best expressed by the following words out of the Old Commentary:

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"The light that shines within the heart of man discovers light and, in these blended lights, comes revelation. The light that shines within the sacred Hierarchy of Souls discovers these two lights revealed and they reveal a third—the revelation of the higher states of Being which hide and veil a Light which is not of planetary creation. These are four lights which reveal a Light Supreme, a Light which comes from distances beyond the ken of man. Yet all these lights have been revealed because a light has burned—immovable, secure—within the human heart."

The whole theme of revelation is the revelation of light, and that implies many different interpretations of the word "light"; it concerns the discovery of the lighted areas of being which otherwise remain unknown, and therefore hidden. We create light; we employ light; we discover greater lights which serve to reveal to us the Unknown God. It is the guiding light within us which eventually reveals those brighter lights which usher in the process of revelation. I am, my brother, speaking symbolically as you can well understand.

So much of human thought anent religion is concerned with the light of knowledge; the reason for this is that the first "great lighted area" which the initiate can grasp is the "circle of the Mind of God," as it expresses itself in the living, active state of the planetary consciousness. There is a point in the initiate process when the initiate becomes aware—in a manner which I cannot or may not explain to you—of the light as it blazed forth at the consummation of the previous solar system; to it we give the inadequate name of the "light of the intelligence." It is really the light of what we call the light of the anima mundi; in this initiate experience the light of the Kingdom of Souls is added to that light. At a later initiation there comes a point of revelation where the initiate perceives and records as a definite revelation the "light of the divine Purpose," and this happens in such a way that the light of the divine Mind or the divine Intelligence becomes available for this increased enlightenment and informing. When this takes place, a point is reached wherein the intelligence [437] and its various phases as known to him hitherto, drops below the threshold of consciousness and becomes instinctual, irrevocable habit, but is no longer a major preoccupation. The "light of love" which flows from the Heart of God (and—from the angle of the solar system—from the Heart of the Sun) supersedes the light which has hitherto enlightened his way. At that point of revelation (again speaking symbolically), he realises for the first time a threefold "lighted relation": a triangle composed of the light of the Spiritual Triad, of a light which is streaming forth from the "Heart of the Sun," and of a steadily burning light which glows from the cosmic physical plane. As he has penetrated into the higher stages of the Path of Initiation, he has moved forward into a light which has been revealed to him by the use of the triple light of his personality and the threefold light of his soul which (when blended) represent two great lights; as he moves forward again, he now blends with these lights the triple light of the Spiritual Triad; and the union of all these lights reveals a light and lights which are extra-planetary.

The above elucidation is of a deeply instructive, though symbolic, nature and can only be correctly understood if the basic premise is grasped that "light is substance" and that "substance is energy." I have here attempted to reduce to words which you could understand some pages out of the Rules for Disciples to which access is granted as the initiate proceeds on the Way and comes to the critical stage where "he recognises revelation." I would ask you to think carefully about these three words because they involve the perception of some truths which are apt to be forgotten. For instance, the truth that revelation is the revelation of that which is ever present; it is not in reality the revelation of something new and hitherto unknown. To put this in its simplest terms: the initiate discovers he can perceive more than he ever knew was existent or perceptible but that he is only perceiving something that has always been there. The limitation, he discovers, is in himself, and the Way of Revelation is through the discovery and the discarding of his own personal, or rather, individual limitations.

The next point to be remembered is that these limitations [438] have been rejected by him under the applied stimulation of the Rod of Initiation, wielded by the Initiator. I would ask you to remember that this Rod is the Rod of Stimulating Light which is projected by the Initiator with all its Lighted energy on to the centre which is receiving attention during any specific initiation.

There is another point of revelation on the Way of Initiation to which I would like to refer. It occurs when the light which the initiate has generated or received is projected into the Past and the subconscious mind (as the psychologists inadequately call it) is revealed to him; this subconscious mind relates him to all the four kingdoms in nature. This is one of the earliest phases and precedes the shifting of the penetrating, focussed light in extra-planetary areas of consciousness. It constitutes a fundamental revelation and is in the nature of a "summarising point of penetration."

I endeavour, my brothers, to give you—as far as I can—some teaching on the points of revelation which the Christ will make possible for mankind to grasp, and try to give you some understanding of the quality of the light of knowledge which is inherent in the planet, and the quality of the light of love which is of solar origin; this is one of the teachings which He will make somewhat clearer to mankind.

More along these lines I cannot tell you. It was necessary for me, however, to speak of these matters, even if they sound to you to be but symbols and parables; they will aid you to gain a more just appreciation of initiation.

In the planetary and cosmic processes, the fate, the attainment and the progress of the individual initiate are of small importance in the vast scheme of the divine life. Can you grasp anything of what I mean when I say that initiation is a planetary activity, based on the life of the planetary Logos and the point of spiritual attainment of Sanat Kumara? This attainment sweeps or carries the initiate into ever widening spheres of "lighted consciousness," and this makes him not only welcome the revelations of light but also to become one of the Agents of the Light.

These are deep mysteries and you cannot expect or anticipate full comprehension. Many lives of struggle, service and [439] progress lie ahead, but the reward of revelation is adequate compensation for all that must be endured as the initiate discards limitation. The goal of all this process has been summed up, as far as planetary humanity is concerned, in the words of the fifth Point of Revelation: "When the light of the seven Rays is blended with the seventh Ray, then Light Supernal can be known."