The Rays and the Initiations

by Alice A Bailey

  The assumption by orthodox church people that the word “spiritual” connotes profound and effective interest in orthodox religion is not borne out by the facts of the spiritual life. Some day, when the world is increasingly led by its initiates, this erroneous assumption will be discarded, and it will be realised that all activity which drives the human being forward towards some form of development (physical, emotional, intuitional, and so forth) is essentially spiritual in nature and is indicative of the livingness of the inner divine entity. [365]

  I have felt it necessary to point this out because it will become apparent as we read and study this section of the Treatise that the Master—moving forward into higher areas of impressionability—may not and frequently will not express this development in terms of what is now regarded as “spiritual” by the religious devotee and by the man used to the wording and the terminology of the churchmen of all faiths. The discoveries of science, my brother, or the production of some great work in literature or in the field of art, are just as much an evidence of “spiritual” unfoldment as the rhapsodies of the mystic or the registration by the so called occultist of a contact with the Hierarchy.

  There will, however, come a point in the experience of all those thus making a spiritual approach along some specialised line, where a meeting place will become apparent, where a joint goal will be unitedly recognised, where essential unity under diversity of forms, of methods and of techniques will be acknowledged, and where pilgrims on all ways of approach will know themselves to be one band of demonstrators of the divine.

  One such meeting place is upon the periphery of the Hierarchy during the stage immediately prior to acceptance into an Ashram. It is interesting to note that—on a world-wide scale—the world disciple, Humanity, is today on the verge of this major awakening and joint registration of a unity not hitherto reached; the growth of the spirit of internationalism, the inclusiveness of the scientific attitude, and the spread of a universal humanitarian welfare movement are all indicative of this meeting place.

  Another such meeting place is recorded and entered (symbolically speaking) when the third initiation is taken, and still another is realised at the time of the seventh initiation. These all register development in group awareness, as well as in the recognition of the individual initiate, as to what is happening within the consciousness aspect of humanity. [366]

  The door into the Way of the Higher Evolution simply permits the entrance of the sensitive initiate into “spheres of intimacy” (as they are sometimes called) which are this time cosmic in their implications, planetary in their effects, and which give to the initiate what has been called the “key to the Sun”—as it conditions the solar system—just as the door to initiation gives to the aspirant the “key to the kingdom of God.”

  We have dealt in the foregoing pages with deep matters and have touched upon topics too high for the understanding of the average student or probationary disciple; dim recognitions, based on past acceptances are, however, possible to some of you. We have seen, among other things, that the so-called “door of initiation” presents obstacles whose purpose is to block entrance and to draw out the latent will of the applicant; an initiate is one who succeeds in penetrating to the further side of the door, where recognition awaits him. We will now concern ourselves with the basic theme of the Ashram itself.

  THE ENTERING OF THE ASHRAM

  This theme necessarily has great interest for all aspirants and would-be disciples, but I am not at first going to deal with the subject from the angle of humanity and its effort to establish contact with the Ashram. I desire first of all to speak of the Ashram as a whole, constituted of many Ashrams and creating an “invoking area” of relationship for the supreme Head of the Ashram, Sanat Kumara, the Lord of the World. I seek to enter into no discussion of this leading Life of our entire planet. HE is to a still greater Being, the One referred to elsewhere as “the One about Whom naught may be said,” what the vehicle of a Master in physical incarnation is to Him, and on a less accurate basis, what your personality is to you; it is an expression of the soul or of the Monad when a disciple has attained initiate-consciousness. [367] All the qualities, the love and the purpose of a supreme Entity, referred to in The New Testament as the “Unknown God,” are focussed in Sanat Kumara. Some gauge of the unfoldments which can lie ahead of humanity will enter the human consciousness when:

  1. The fact of the Hierarchy,

  2. The nature of its relationship to Shamballa,

  3. The spiritual nature of Those Who respond in reverent obedience to the slightest wish of the Lord of the World,

  are among the accepted truths whereby men live. This will happen after the externalisation of the Hierarchy.

  This Lord of the World is the sole repository of the will and purpose of the One of Whom He is an expression; this again can be understood by you as evoking the same relation to the “unknown God” as your personality—when expressing adequately the soul and later the Monad—conditions your perception, knowledge, plans and purpose, and controls the quality of your life and directs the energy which you express.

  His vehicle of manifestation is the planet with its seven centres, of which only three are yet recognised by the occult student: Shamballa, His head centre, the Hierarchy, His heart centre, and Humanity, His throat centre. The other four centres are concerned with evolutions which are reached, controlled and related from one or other of these three major centres. The solar plexus is dominated by the Hierarchy, the heart centre of Sanat Kumara, and has a close relation to the deva evolution, hinted at by me in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire. The vastness of this subject will be understood by my use of the word “hint” in reference to what I have earlier written on the subject.

  The centre which we call Shamballa controls that mysterious centre which is the correspondence to that which we call “the centre at the base of the spine”; this is the inadequate name given to the reservoir of threefold fire, latent and quiescent, which is found at the base of the human spine; it is entirely inactive except in those people who have [368] taken the third initiation. The planetary centre is related to the three fires (electric fire, solar fire, and fire by friction) which are the source of the life, warmth, moisture and growth of all forms upon our planet. It may seem curious and inexplicable to you, but the centre of creativity is affected, and I had almost said guarded, by the “centre which we call the race of men”; the reference in the serious occult books to the future of humanity as the Saviour of all the subhuman kingdoms has relation to this fact.

  The ajna centre of the Lord of the World is just beginning to express itself in a recognisable manner through the New Group of World Servers. This intermediate group—between the Hierarchy and Humanity—is a carrier of the energy which makes the Plan possible (the Plan of which the Hierarchy is the custodian). This Plan implements the Purpose, and later, when the New Group of World Servers is organised and is recognised as a living organism, it will definitely receive energy from Shamballa in a direct reception, via the Hierarchy. This information is, I realise, of little immediate importance to you, but—towards the end of the century—it will be found explanatory of much.

  Though the Christ is the Head of the Hierarchy, it is Sanat Kumara, the Ancient of Days, Whose Ashram it truly is. The Christ (I am using one of His official names) is indeed the Master of all the Masters and the Coordinator of the entire life of the great Ashram, in conjunction with the two other hierarchical Officials, the Manu and the Mahachohan. The information I gave as to the constitution of the Hierarchy, in Initiation, Human and Solar, was along the same line. The Hierarchy is the Ashram of Sanat Kumara, but He has delegated His authority, right down the ages, to the so-called World Saviours successively; Their life expression embodied in every case the goal of the period during which They held office.

  In the early days of the Hierarchy, millennia of years ago, neither the official Directors of the Hierarchy nor the Masters were of the calibre which They are today. Had They been
so, They would have been too far removed from [369] the factual life of the cycle, and therefore useless for the cycle of divine life which existed. The growth of humanity and its evolutionary status (when compared with primordial and primitive man) can be seen in the quality of the Hierarchy today, which humanity produced and towards which it looks for guidance and teaching. This is an interesting point which I offer for your consideration. Never forget, my brothers, that as it is humanity which has furnished the personnel of the Hierarchy—including the Christ, the first of our humanity to achieve divinity—we have, therefore, the guarantee and the assurance of humanity's ultimate success.

  The three major Executives of the Hierarchy:

  1. The Christ, representing the second Ray of Love-Wisdom,

  2. The Manu, representing the first Ray of Will or Power,

  3. The Mahachohan, representing the third Ray of Active Intelligence,

  are responsible to the Lord of the World for the processing of the life and impulse which condition the evolutionary process. This statement is made without any further definition by me because the whole subject is too abstruse and it would require another Treatise like that on Cosmic Fire to make it even a little clearer.

  Humanity can only be the recipient of this type of information after the first Ray of Will or Power has become more active; this will take place when the work of the second Ray of Love-Wisdom has reached its next cyclic crisis point. The crisis points of a ray are ever indicative of success and have in them the quality of joy. Mankind will then be much freer from the spirit of separateness, and a measure of peace, unity and cooperation will be conditioning human relations. There is a constant shifting in the state of the planetary consciousness and this, though implemented from Shamballa, is produced by humanity itself; this unfolding human consciousness leads mankind eventually out of the fourth kingdom in nature into the fifth, the hierarchy of souls, and—at the same time—raises the level of consciousness [370] in all the three subhuman kingdoms. This series of happenings will remain for a long time inexplicable to man, though the results can be seen in the effect which humanity has had on the animal kingdom, through domestication; on the vegetable kingdom, through specialisation and science; and on the mineral kingdom, through the skilled utilisation of metals and the widespread use of the mineral products of the earth.

  It must be borne in mind that the Council Chamber of the Lord at Shamballa is a unit, but that the Hierarchy is a differentiation of this basic unity into the seven major Ashrams and the forty-nine Ashrams which are gradually forming. The Hierarchy is, however, a unity within itself, for the entire ashramic life is guarded by a ring-pass-not, created by its radiation; the seven and the forty-nine Ashrams are held together by the magnetic interplay of the whole. It is this radiation which affects by its quality the senior aspirants in the world, and draws them gradually into relationship with itself and finally into its magnetic field. This is aided by the clarity of perception, the intensification of the livingness of the rightly oriented aspirant. I prefer the word “livingness” to that of “vibration,” so widely used in modern occultism.

  There is therefore a dual inflow into the Ashram of Sanat Kumara, controlled and directed by the three hierarchical Directors:

  1. From Shamballa itself. This is a flow of energising life or of what we might call “unfettered enlightenment”; this impresses the purpose or the will of the Lord of the World upon the united Hierarchy in a manner incomprehensible to you; it also creates a dynamic magnetic impulse which enables the graded initiates, through the medium of the Ashrams, to organise the Plan and set it in motion, so that the Purpose gradually materialises on earth. Because the senior initiates, from the Christ down to initiates of the fourth degree, are conscious in varying ways (according to ray) of the Eternal Now, and can work free from the compulsion of time, They can see the impressed Purpose as a [371] more complete whole than can initiates of lesser degree and development. It is this capacity which makes Them responsive to Shamballa, where the living will of the “Unknown God” (for a period of a life cycle) is seen in completeness and is already existent. The Hierarchy is, however, handicapped in its activity by the time sense and the materialistic focus of the “centre which we call the race of men.”

  2. From Humanity. There is a constant (and increasing) flow of reoriented human energy penetrating into and beyond the radiatory periphery. This penetrating energy, implemented by the individual aspirant and disciple, is that of intelligent activity and—little as you may have realised it—it is this constant inflow which aids in the intelligent application of the Plan to human affairs. The Science of Impression, which governs the technique of Shamballa, functions through the three different centres in three different ways:

  a. Shamballa . . . dynamic impression

  b. The Hierarchy . . . magnetic telepathy

  c. Humanity . . . radiatory sensitivity

  yet these three are only manifestations of the will of God as it works out in the activities of His three major centres.

  One point should here be made: the entry of a member of the human family into the ranks of the initiates and his participation in the activity of some one or other of the Ashrams produces a movement out of the Hierarchy of some Master and into the highest centre of all; it has this effect only after the entering initiate has taken the third initiation, and can therefore take his part in the hierarchical life as a monadic expression susceptible to impression from Shamballa. When a Master thus emerges He is immediately confronted with the choice between the seven Paths. With this development and decision we shall later deal. The seven Paths are all concerned with purpose, just as the seven Ashrams are all concerned with the plan. There is, as you will later see, a direct relation between the seven Paths and the seven Ashrams. Though we shall not deal with the subject at all, there is likewise a correspondence in the third [372] major centre, Humanity. You have, therefore, curiously interrelated:

  The seven Paths

  The seven Rays

  The seven Ashrams

  The seven Races

  Students would do well to bear in mind that these relationships are the result of the involutionary activity of the life expression of the Lord of the World. The key to the mystery of differentiation is found by the Master when He is faced by the choice of the seven Paths. At that high point of will expression, He discovers the secret of that evolutionary process which proceeds from unity to differentiation, and from differentiation to unity again. Individualisation, Initiation and Identification are the three main stages in the evolutionary activity of the life of God and condition the quality of each of the three divine centres. The four related septenates, enumerated above, eventually produce a synthesis which will consummate upon the cosmic mental plane. This is of course beyond my powers to teach or to explain, as I am not yet a liberated Master, though I am a liberated human being.

  In the human centre, the man becomes identified with himself; in the Hierarchy, he becomes identified with the group; in Shamballa, He becomes identified with the planetary WHOLE. When that takes place, He is then aware for the first time that other identifications—lying beyond the planetary ring-pass-not—confront Him; His choice of one or other of the Paths is conditioned by the quality of His previous identifications, which are in their turn conditioned by His ray type.

  Passing from these broad generalisations, which in reality lie far beyond our present grasp but which will have their future usefulness, let us now consider the Hierarchy as it exists (in the consciousness of Sanat Kumara, as His Ashram) and as it constitutes “the noble middle Path” to which the Buddha refers, and fills the intermediate and the [373] mediating place between Shamballa and Humanity. This position of the Hierarchy must never be forgotten.

  The seven Groups of Ashrams within the Hierarchy

  It is because the first Ray of Will or Power, through its Ashram, is related to Shamballa, that the Master Morya is the Head of all truly esoteric schools. In the esoteric enterprise and in the wo
rk done by disciples in the Ashrams, the Will is developed so that the Purpose may eventually be understood. He relates the three points of the triangle composed of the Hierarchy, the world of souls on the mental plane, and those human souls who (on all Rays) are ready for contact with the Hierarchy. They have made contact with their souls, and this is registered in the Hierarchy. The triangle is, therefore, as follows:

  As the externalisation of the Ashram proceeds, those souls upon the physical plane who are ready for enlightenment will find their way into the New Group of World Servers; this group will increasingly assume potent relation between the units of life within its periphery, the Ashram, and humanity. From one point of view, the New Group of World Servers can be regarded not only as a relating group, but also as a great transforming station, dowered later (though not noticeably so at the present time) with two functions in relation to the Ashram:

  1. One function is to enable “externalising units of perfection” (the higher initiates and the Masters) to step down Their individual potency to such a degree that They will be able to work in physical objectivity on the earth, with no undesirable effects upon humanity. I refer to average and undeveloped human beings. Students should bear in mind that contact with Those Who are initiates of high degree [374] and members of an Ashram has the following three effects upon humanity:

  a. On evolved men, aspirants, probationers and disciples, the effect is stimulating and magnetic.

  b. On average human beings, capable of little response yet susceptible to impact and sensitive to impression, the effect is not helpful and is often destructive, because their etheric bodies are not competent to entertain and employ such high vibrations.