Five Planetary Centers: Darjeeling
Like Geneva, Darjeeling is more of a subjective center than the others, meaning that it is easier for pure spiritual energy to be directed through them. For this reason, Darjeeling is described as the high point of the London – New York – Darjeeling triangle. The City has a 2nd ray soul and a 5th ray personality and India the nation has a 1st ray soul and 4th ray personality. The 4th ray makes us think of harmony, beauty and art, and these continue to be gifts that India brings to human development – life is incredibly colorful and there is a richness to it in India that is not present in the West. In many ways, these ray combinations make us think of the light of the East, and the role this light is playing in the awakening of the mind of humanity to the reality of the great chain of being, the Spiritual hierarchy and the continuity of consciousness. All the rays of the city and the nation contribute to the important role that this center has played and continues to play in human spirituality. Some find it surprising then that the force pouring through the planetary inlet, conditioning the greater part of Asia, is that of the first ray of Will or Power – the same ray that conditions the London planetary center. But whereas in London the first ray is described as a building force, and it comes with a keynote I serve, in Darjeeling the first ray has a keynote I hide the light. At first glance this keynote refers to the fact that light ever comes from the East, and India has played this role in the spiritual life of humanity. But, when viewed in terms of the Shamballa impact, DK suggests that the keynote has another level of meaning. When the intent and purpose of the great Life which works through Shamballa is carried out and is in process of expression, a light will be revealed which has never yet been seen or known. There is a word in the Christian Scriptures which says “In that light shall we see light;” this means that through the medium of the light of wisdom shed abroad in our hearts through the Ageless Wisdom, we shall eventually see the Light of Life itself – something meaningless and inexplicable to humanity at present but which will be later revealed when the present point of crisis is surmounted. [Destiny, 98 – 99].
It makes sense to think of Darjeeling as something of a ‘hidden’ planetary center. Even though it has historically been regarded as a spiritual center in India, it is a hidden, background, quiet spiritual center – nothing like the famous centers of pilgrimage where millions assemble for Mela’s or where Buddhists visit the famous towns associated with His life, or where devotees come in large numbers from around the world to visit the ashrams of famous saints. Darjeeling is not ‘famous’ like this – for some it is best known because of the tea that famously grows in the area, or because of the numerous schools established by the British which continue to be some of the most famous schools in India. But it is still a center of pilgrimage, partly because of ancient myths, but mainly because it is physically dominated by the view of the third highest mountain in the world, Mount Kanchenjunga, a mountain with five stunning peaks, which is revered as a sacred mountain in all the different traditions of the region. The sacredness of the mountain is so deeply embedded in culture and law that climbers are prohibited from placing their feet on the summit.
In visualizing the Darjeeling center, rather hidden from the gaze of the world that it is, it can be useful to bear in mind two comments by DK. In 1949 he noted that the center is “occultly ‘vibrating’ in response to “the relative nearness and propinquity of the Himalayan Brotherhood.” Darjeeling has an unusual geography – if you look at a map of North Eastern India you will see that the city is part of a small finger of Himalayan territory surrounded on the west by Nepal, on the East by Bhutan and the north by Tibet. It is also bordered by Sikkim which, during the time of the Tibetan’s writing was an independent kingdom, but is now a state of India. And a little earlier, sometime between 1939 and 1942, in Esoteric Astrology, the comment is made that the effect of force flowing through Darjeeling is not as obvious as it is in the other centers, but that it is especially important as a distributing agency for members of Hierarchy influencing human affairs during the crisis of the Second World War. So one has the sense of a powerful hidden first ray center where Shamballa Force touches and ‘safely’ radiates out throughout the network of the five points – where it can be drawn upon by disciples and members of the group of World Servers. As India, independent and strong, finds its voice and establishes itself in the modern world, we might expect the hidden light of Darjeeling to become a little more evident, more ‘present’ in consciousness. Darjeeling reminds us that one element of the current crisis in the world is that the Light of Life itself is in some way to be revealed, known and understood within the higher reaches of human consciousness.
Steve Nation