The love of God, focussed in the Christ, seeks to express itself in some act of peculiarly useful service to humanity. This service has taken different forms down through the ages, but it has always expressed itself through two episodes: One of them, the first, reveals the Christ in His capacity of the God-Saviour, sacrificing Himself through pure love for His fellowmen. The annals of the Hierarchy contain many such histories of sacrifice and service, dating far back into the very night of time. The saving principle of pure love finds its expression at the hour of humanity’s greatest need in the work of a World Saviour and “for the salvation of His people, He comes forth.” He thus meets the need, and at the same time strengthens the link which relates the Hierarchy to Humanity. The task of the Christ (as the expression in time and space of the second divine aspect) is to establish relationships. Every cyclic Representative of Deity furthers the approach of the Hierarchy to mankind, and seals this service by some final act which becomes the historical nucleus whereby later generations remember Him.
That accomplished, He stays with His people as Head of the Hierarchy until His second opportunity comes, in which as Representative both of Humanity and the Hierarchy, He can relate them both to Shamballa. This He does through a great act of evocation, seeking to bring about a closer relationship between all the three great planetary centres: Shamballa, the Hierarchy, and Humanity. He can do this because the development of the Wisdom aspect in His nature makes it possible. The major linking agent in the universe is the energy of Love-Wisdom. Love relates the Hierarchy to Humanity, and Wisdom relates the Hierarchy to Shamballa. Only when Humanity and the Hierarchy are working together in a practical synthesis, can the Shamballa energy be permitted complete inflow through the medium of the two other centres.
[90] To aid in this process of gradual perfecting and an eventual bringing about of a complete alignment, the help of the Buddha must be invoked and accepted. The work of the Christ as God-Saviour can be carried forward by Him alone and unaided. The work of the Christ as God the Preserver needs the united work, as yet, of the two highest Representatives of the second divine aspect when present together upon the Earth, as is the case today of both the Buddha and the Christ. This is the first cycle in the history of humanity when this has been the case. One or the other has been present down the ages, but not the two simultaneously. The reason for this is that the time has now been reached when Shamballa can be contacted and its energy evoked. Hence we have the activity of the Buddha at the May Full Moon and that of the Christ at the following June Full Moon. Their united activity serves to bring about a much closer approach between the Lord of the World and the Hierarchy, via His four Representatives: the Buddha, the Christ, the Manu, and the Mahachohan—the five points of energy which are creating the five-pointed star of Humanity at this time.
An ancient rule—Rule IV for Applicants gives us in perfect wording the nature of the urge which prompts the present activity of the Christ. He has accomplished His task as God the Saviour. The fourth Rule, as it is given to all applicants and probationary disciples, gives His work the following definition:
Let the disciple tend the evocation of the fire, nourish the lesser lives and thus keep the wheel revolving.
It is given in this short form to all who are approaching the Path, in order to convey to them with the utmost brevity and beauty the nature of the life of the Head of the Hierarchy, the Initiator Whom they must face at the time of the first and second initiations, and upon Whose activities they—as individual aspirants—must learn to model their lives. Only today is it possible to present that work in other terms than those which emphasise the part the Christ plays in the salvaging of man.
[91] It is now possible, however, to present His true and wider task, because man’s sense of proportion, his recognition of others, his growing sense of responsibility, his power to suffer for the good, the beautiful and true, his appropriation of the vision, and his point in evolution warrant a truer picture which—if adequately grasped—will enable the disciple to comprehend the requirements of Rule IV as given for disciples and initiates. Only as they grasp the nature of the work of Christ, after His final act of service as God-Saviour, can they understand the nature of group service and begin to pattern their lives and natures so as to meet similar requirements in group formation.
This has become possible because of the point in the evolutionary process which the Hierarchy has attained. The attitude and position of the members of the Hierarchy are not static. All are moving forward. The Christ Who came two thousand years ago embodied in Himself not only the principle of love in the planetary sense (a thing which Shri Krishna had achieved), but a cosmic principle of love also, and this for the first time in human history. His achievement was made possible by the fact that the human family had reached a point at which it could produce the perfect Man, Christ, the “eldest in a great family of brothers,” a Son of God, the Word made flesh. The future progress of humanity is also aided and hastened because of the attainment and activity of the Christ, and because He remains with us as God the Preserver.
His task today is threefold, and the Rule states in very simple language these three aspects of His divine activity or phases of His work. These are:
1. He “tends the evocation of the fire.” His major task as Head of the Hierarchy is to evoke the electric fire of Shamballa, the energy of the divine Will, and this in such a form that the Hierarchy can be drawn nearer to the source of Life, and Humanity can consequently profit by this hierarchical Approach and know eventually the meaning of the words “life more abundantly.” Christ’s evocation of the fire of the will was initiated symbolically in the Garden of [92] Gethsemane. He has twice symbolically shown His individual response to the Shamballa energy: Once in the Temple of Jerusalem as a child, and again in the Garden as a full grown man at the close of His earthly career. His third and final response (which climaxes His work from our human angle) covers nine years, from the Full Moon of June, 1936, to the Full Moon of June, 1945. This period, in reality, constitutes one event to Him Who lives now free in His Own world and free from the limitations of time and space. Having related Humanity to the Hierarchy (which in the case of individual man means relating the personality to the soul), He now seeks to relate more closely, with the aid of the Buddha, the Hierarchy to Shamballa, love to will, electric fire to solar fire.
2. He “nourishes the lesser lives.” This refers to the task of the Christ which proceeds day by day, in His capacity of God the Preserver. He “tends the little ones.” The work here referred to concerns His activity as Initiator and His responsibility as Head of the Hierarchy. The nourishing of the little lives refers primarily to His task as World Teacher and to His responsibility to lead humanity on into the light, with the aid of all the Masters, working, each of Them through His Own Ashram.
3. He “keeps the wheel revolving.” This has a specific relation to His work as the Word of God, which manifests as the Word made flesh. This refers specifically to the great Wheel of Rebirth whereby, upon that turning wheel, souls are carried down into incarnation and then up and out of the soul’s prison; through the turning of the wheel, human beings learn their needed lessons, create cyclically their vehicles of expression (the response apparatus of the soul in the three worlds) and in this way, under soul guidance, and aided by the Hierarchy and its schools of instruction, they arrive at perfection. This entire process is under the control of the Christ, assisted by the Manu and the Lord of Civilisation. These three Great Lords thus represent the three divine Aspects in the Hierarchy; They, with the four Lords of Karma, form the seven Who control the whole [93] process of incarnation. The subject is too vast and intricate to be adequately considered here. The above truth does, however, give us a clue as to why the Christ made no specific reference to the work of incarnation in His spoken utterances whilst on Earth. He was then occupied with His task of World Saviour.
His work as Preserver and as Head of the Hierarchy had not then begun. It was at that tim
e dependent upon the experience in the Garden of Gethsemane and upon the Resurrection initiation. Some day the gold and the silver threads of the Gospel story will be disentangled, and men will know the two interpretations which can be put upon the events and episodes in the career of Jesus the Christ. The underlying true events give us great steps and developments in the work of the Christ as He “enveloped humanity in the mantle of love, grasped the rod of initiation on behalf of His brothers, and faced the Lord of Life Himself, unattended, unafraid and in His Own right.” The episodes refer to happenings in the life of Jesus.
At the present time, and at the immediate point of tension, Christ has added to His two immediate and constant tasks that of hastening the coming of the Avatar Who waits for the perfected work of the Hierarchy, focussed in the Christ, and the powerful work of Shamballa, focussed in the Lord of the World. When the exact moment has arrived, the work of the Buddha, representing Shamballa, and of the Christ, representing the Hierarchy, plus the sincere demand of Humanity, will bring about an arrangement or an alignment which will release an evocative Sound which will be extra-planetary, and then the Avatar will come.
Ask me not for the date or the hour, brother of mine, for I know it not. It is dependent upon the appeal—the voiceless appeal—of all who stand with massed intent; it is dependent also upon the hour of exact alignment and upon certain aspects of work being done at this time by the senior Members of the Hierarchy, and also upon the steadfastness of the disciples in the world and the initiates—working in their various Ashrams. To this must be added [94] what Christians call the “inscrutable will of God,” the unrecognised purpose of the Lord of the World Who “knows His Own Mind, radiates the highest quality of Love, and focusses His Will in His Own high Place outside the Council Chamber of Shamballa.”
That the Avatar will come is a predictable certainty. That His forerunner will be the Christ is equally sure. When Christ comes it will be for the advanced units of the human family; they will recognise Him because He has always been with us, whilst His advent will evoke a responsive vibration from the masses, but not straight recognition. In connection with the Avatar, it will be a process of hierarchical recognition of an overshadowing Presence within Whose aura the planetary Logos will take His stand as the planetary Representative. Then from Shamballa will descend a stream of spiritual potency, qualified by the will-to-good, and this will reach the attentive Hierarchy. The Members of this Group will, through the medium of the Christ, pour light and healing energy upon the Earth and peculiarly into the consciousness of men. I am not able to express the effect of the outpouring from Shamballa in clearer terms. We are told in the Bible that Christ will come in the air, and that He will bring the “healing of the nations” in His wings. I would call your attention to this thought and to its appositeness to this day and generation. I make no prophetical predictions, I only indicate possibility.
When the Avatar has made His appearance, then will the
“Sons of men who are now the Sons of God withdraw Their faces from the shining light and radiate that light upon the sons of men who know not yet they are the Sons of God. Then shall the Coming One appear, His footsteps hastened through the valley of the shadow by the One of awful power Who stands upon the mountain top, breathing out love eternal, light supernal and peaceful silent Will.
“Then will the sons of men respond. Then will a newer light shine forth into the dismal weary vale of [95] earth. Then will new life course through the veins of men, and then will their vision compass all the ways of what may be.
“So peace will come again on earth, but a peace unlike aught known before. Then will the will-to-good flower forth as understanding, and understanding blossom as goodwill in men.”
So speaks a prophetic passage in the ancient Archives of the Hierarchy which deals with the present cycle of distress (written in June, 1943). For this time men must prepare. You will know when the Avatar links up with the planetary Logos because I will then give you the final Stanza of the Great Invocation (given out in April, 1945). Its use will serve to bring the Coming One to recognition and enable Him to draw upon the resources of the Avatar in the task of world reorganisation and regeneration. He will again come as the World Saviour, but owing to the stupendous nature of the work ahead, He will be fortified and buttressed by the “silent Avatar” Who (occultly speaking) will “keep His eye upon Him, His hand beneath, and His heart in unison with His.”
The keynote of Christ’s mission will be to evoke from humanity a response to that influence, and an unfoldment on a large scale of intuitive perception. When He came before, He evoked from humanity a gradual response to truth, and mental understanding. That is why at the end of the cycle, which He inaugurated, we have formulated doctrine and mental development.
The work now being done by Shamballa and the Hierarchy on behalf of humanity will tend also to develop group consciousness and the formation of many groups which will be living organisms and not organisations; it will make group initiation possible and will enable certain aspects of the will to flower forth correctly and with safety. The tendency to overlook the distinction between groups and organisations is still very deep-seated; the coming of the Christ will throw much light upon this problem. A study of Rule IV as given to disciples and initiates will also serve [96] to clarify this matter, and with that we shall now concern ourselves.
Rule IV.
Let the group see that all the eighteen fires die down and that the lesser lives return unto the reservoir of life. This they must bring about through the evocation of the Will. The lesser wheels must not for aye revolve in time and space. Only the greater Wheel must onward move and turn.
This is a rule peculiarly related to the fourth Creative Hierarchy, embodying its goal as the Aryan rootrace can sense and approximate it. It is peculiarly related also to the quaternary to which we give the name “personality,” composed of a vital or etheric body, a sumtotal of emotional states and a mind, plus that integrated something which we call the whole man. Rightly understood and followed, this rule reveals the nature of the fourth plane or fourth state of consciousness, that of buddhi or the plane of pure reason, the intuition. From the angle of the higher initiate, this rule is related to the activity of Monad, Soul and body within the planetary Life, and covers a great mystery and an entire system of relationships of which man in the three worlds is a dim and uncertain shadow. Some clue to the higher quaternary dealt with in this rule will emerge dimly in your consciousness (more is not yet possible) if you will attempt to realise the following:
1. The Monad relates the initiate to the Will of God, to the Council at Shamballa, to forces active on the planet Pluto, and on another planet which must remain nameless, and also to the Central Spiritual Sun.
2. The Soul relates the initiate to the Love of God, to the consciousness aspect of Deity, to the Hierarchy as a whole, entering it through the Ashram of the Master Who has aided him to take initiation, to the planets Venus and Mercury, to the Sun Sirius, and to the Heart of the Sun.
3. The Personality relates the initiate to the Mind [97] of God, to the intelligence principle of the planetary Life, to humanity as a whole, to Saturn and Mars, and to the physical Sun through its pranic aspect.
4. The Life aspect of the planet, or that great ocean of forces in which all these three aspects live and move and have their being, relates the initiate to that Life which works out through Shamballa, through the Hierarchy and through Humanity, thus forming part of the great sumtotal of manifestation.
It is to these major quaternaries that Rule IV refers, and their relationships only emerge as the initiate keeps the rules. Let us now take this rule stanza by stanza, and so get some understanding of its basic significances.
1. Let the group see that all the eighteen fires die down and that the lesser lives return unto the reservoir of life.
A very casual consideration will show the student that this rule contains four sentences which refer to one or other of the four aspects we h
ave been considering. Bear this in mind as we study significances, interpretations and carry our thoughts into the world of meaning.
A very cursory reading of the Rule leads one to the surmise that one of the most important hints concerns the effect of the group life and radiation upon the individual in the group. “Let the group see that all the eighteen fires die down and that the lesser lives return unto the reservoir of life.” These words deal with the group personality, composed of all the personalities of its members. It should be borne in mind that a group is in itself an entity, having form, substance, soul and purpose or objective, and that none of these is better or greater, or more developed than the aggregate of group lives which compose it. Though individuals of varying points in evolution form the group, none of them is below the level of disciples upon the evolutionary ladder. A Master’s Ashram has in it disciples and initiates of all degrees, but no probationary disciples at all. No one below the rank of disciples—accepted and dedicated—is admitted. This is one of the first Rules given to an accepted [98] disciple when first admitted into the Ashram, and it is from that angle that we should now consider it.
The three Rules we have earlier considered are general in nature and relate to certain broad themes or demanded hypotheses which must govern the consciousness of the disciple in the future. In this particular Rule we enter the realm of the specific, and are presented with certain “intentional” activities which must govern the disciple’s life now that he is an integral part of the Ashram. He is faced with the proposition of making his life of such a nature that it furthers the group purpose, enhances the group strength, eliminates all that might hinder group usefulness, and brings closer the objective for which the group was formed—the carrying out of the Master’s plans. It was the disciple’s innate, instinctual and individual response to this ray objective, and his effort to subordinate his personality to the dimly sensed soul dedication, which led the Master in the first instance to recognise him and incorporate him into his Ashram. The moment that happened, the disciple came not only under an increased impact of egoic force and egoic impulsive intention (using those words in their occult sense), but the group radiation began its beneficent work upon him. The magnetic “pulling” power which had hitherto led him forward is now superseded by a radiating stimulating potency; this effects great changes in him, and produces both eliminating and substituting results. The effect of the life of the Ashram, as far as the group which forms it is concerned and apart from the Master’s Own potency, can be described as follows:
The Rays and the Initiations Page 11