The Rays and the Initiations

by Alice A Bailey

  c. On undeveloped humanity, the effect has been called “condensation or concretisation”; all their natural qualities (the qualified substance of their three bodies) are solidified; thus they create an automatic barrier to the entry of the too high impulses and vibrations.

  2. The second function is to enable those who are making definite soul contact, reorienting themselves and nearing the periphery of the Ashram, to absorb with profit the radiation of the Hierarchy.

  I would like at this point to refer back to the time sense in relation to the Hierarchy and its work, to which I referred a few pages back. It involves the inability of the average disciple to think in terms of the Ashram—the Ashram of the Christ, representing Sanat Kumara. When he turns his thoughts to the Master and the radiatory and magnetic group which He has attracted to Himself, the disciple almost inevitably thinks in terms of “my Master and His Ashram.” Yet this is not in any sense a statement of truth. There is one great Ashram, the Hierarchy, radiating (after due absorption of light, understanding and power from Shamballa, and this inflow is adequate to hierarchical need) as it seeks to aid not only the human evolution but all the other evolutions, of which humanity, in several cases, knows nothing. The great Ashram is likewise magnetic in its effect, and through its magnetic potency (brought about by an inflow of first ray power) “units of life and devotion”—human beings—are brought into the Ashram as disciples in preparation for initiation. People are apt to regard magnetic [375] potency as evidence of love; it is, in reality, evidence of the radiation of love when enhanced and strengthened by first ray energy. It is the admixture (if I may use such a peculiar term) of love and will which produces radiation. It is the conscious use by the Hierarchy of the power coming from Shamballa which results in the magnetic impact and the spiritual “pull” which draws the soul, incarnated in the body, towards the Ashram. This pull is directed towards the world of souls which is, through its manifesting units, undergoing experience in the school of life, yet overshadowed by the soul on its own level. It is this overshadowing soul which absorbs and utilises the magnetic power and which, from soul levels, transfers it to the souls of men.

  There is still another point upon which I would like to touch. Owing to the fact that the Law which governs the Hierarchy is the second systemic law, the Law of Attraction, students are apt to think that magnetism is a second ray quality. They are right in so far that all the systemic laws are expressions of the life of God through the medium, at this time, of the second ray, which makes our solar system a second ray system. All other laws and qualities (for a law from the divine angle is the motivating, qualified agent of the divine will, as understood in Shamballa) are related to the second ray as it manifests through our planetary Logos. Nevertheless, magnetic action is more closely allied to first ray functioning than it is to the second ray, and is an aspect or quality of the Law of Synthesis. It was this magnetic power of the first ray to which the Christ referred when He said “I, if I be lifted up (The Ascension Initiation. A.A.B.), will draw all men unto me.” He faced then those initiations which would qualify Him to become what is esoterically called “a Shamballa recipient.” There is, in magnetic action, more of the element of the will and of an expressing purpose. In explanation it might be said that the radiation of the Hierarchy, which is definitely second ray in nature, and which is projected as attractive radiation, is implemented by the magnetic aspect. This—as the Old Commentary puts it—is “a point of focussed fire, found in the centre of the jewel. [376] It stirs to life the quality of love which permeates the Ashram of the Lord. Radiation then can penetrate to other centres and to other lives, and thus the Lord is served.” It is this point of focussed dynamic will at the very heart of the Hierarchy which in reality implements the Plan.

  To put the matter as simply as possible—too simply to be entirely exact, yet near enough to the truth to be clarifying and helpful—it is this magnetic potency, this dynamic active and energising will, which enables the Hierarchy to move forward upon the eternal Path. Its functions might be listed as follows:

  1. It is the connecting energy which comes from Shamballa and “enlivens” (literally and occultly understood) the Ashram of Sanat Kumara. It is, in one sense, the higher correspondence to the prana which “enlivens” the dense physical body of man.

  2. It is the stimulating factor which produces cohesion among the various Ashrams, and is one of the sources of hierarchical unity. Putting it in other words, it is the service of the Plan which binds the seven Ashrams, with their subsidiary Ashrams, coherently into the one great Ashram. The Plan is the expression of the Purpose or the Will of God.

  3. This Shamballic magnetism not only relates the Ashrams to each other, but it is also the potency which evokes the will or the first ray nature inherent in every man but which is only consciously and definitely unfolded within the periphery of the great Ashram.

  4. In a mysterious sense, it is the life of that seed or germ which will come to fruition in the third solar system:

  a. In the “centre which we call the race of men” the potency of intelligence (developed in a previous solar system) is brought to fruition and the stirrings of the potency of love are felt.

  b. In the “centre which is nearest to the Lord” the potencies of intelligence and love are expressed, and at the third initiation the magnetic pull of the potency of will is felt. [377]

  c. In the “centre where the will of God is known” the intelligent loving Master, now responsive to the energy of the will, is faced with the seven Paths whereon that will can come to fruition and the “units of love can be transferred because they also will and know.” They can then form part of the third solar system which will be definitely under the influences coming from the cosmic mental plane, just as, in this solar system, the energies coming from the cosmic astral plane have been the major influence.

  All this is, of course, an inadequate expression of abstruse truth. The cosmic astral plane is not an illusion, as is the astral plane with which we are all so unhappily acquainted. The reason for this lies in the fact that all our planes constitute the cosmic physical plane and are therefore regarded—as far as three worlds of human evolution are concerned—as illusion, for the dense physical substance is not a principle. This you have oft been told. The cosmic astral plane is a reservoir of love energy, pouring into two of our planes which constitute part of the cosmic etheric body—the monadic plane and the buddhic plane.

  5. It is that which permeates the radiation from the Hierarchy to which humanity is responsive. No disciple or aspirant can be drawn into the periphery of the Hierarchy, and from thence into an Ashram, without finding that his will nature is being affected. It will only show itself at this stage as persistence and determination. Persistence is a quality of life and related to immortality, whilst determination is the lowest aspect of the will. Their development produces a reorientation which becomes a permanent attitude, and the disciple then becomes responsive not only to the “vitalised radiation” coming from the periphery of the Hierarchy but also, in an increasing measure, to the “magnetic pull” which emanates from the Hierarchy itself, and in particular from the Ashram to which he must eventually find his way.

  If you will make a close study of all the above information, you may find some measure of enlightenment. It is the great simplicities which must be ever kept in mind: the [378] three great divine aspects, the septenates of the evolutionary process, the divine qualities or principles, and the relation of energy to force. With these clearly held in mind, the detail is of small moment the intuition rapidly assimilates and relates the detail, if there be need to do so, to the manifesting whole.

  To return to our theme, which is the expression of the great Ashram through the medium of the seven Ashrams, it is this magnetic energy of the first aspect which is found at the heart of the seven Ashrams, energised and enlightened from the reservoir of will energy found at the heart of the great Ashram itself. This reservoir is fed from the “centre where the wi
ll of God is known,” and the directing agent of this energy, within the Hierarchy itself, is the Christ and His two Associates, the Manu and the Mahachohan. The forty-nine subsidiary Ashrams (not all of which are yet functioning) are energised by the potency of will from the reservoir of energy at the heart of each major Ashram, these in their turn being fed from the central reservoir. The correspondence of this in the human centres is called the “jewel in the lotus.”

  Let us now study the formation of the great Ashram and then (this will have more meaning for you) the gradual formation of the seven Ashrams under direct ray activity. This process lies in the past history of humanity and I shall only briefly touch upon it. Once formed, it became the task of these seven Ashrams to produce the forty-two Ashrams. These seven Ashrams express ray qualities, and the whole forty-nine are expressive of the forty-nine fires, referred to in The Secret Doctrine; through these fires, the God of Fire seeks to make Himself known.

  As we study some of the esoteric details connected with the life, the quality and, later, the appearance of the Ashrams of the Masters, I would remind you of certain points I have already made; your minds then will be predisposed to right thinking and interpretation. I am anxious for your approach to the subject to be correct. I have given you a number of definitions of an Ashram in the previous pages [379] and in my other books, and I would have you bear these in mind. The concept of a college group, of a band of workers or of a number of men and women working under the supervision of a Master is too apt to colour your thoughts. The complete freedom from all coercion or from any supervision of daily activity, the instinctive reaction of all within the Ashram to the ray influence and to the “breath of the prevailing Will” (as it is called) is something very different. I seek in what I intend to impart to you to give a very different impression. In our next section, on the dual life of the initiatory process, the newer concepts may emerge more clearly. The points I want you to bear in mind are as follows:

  1. The great Ashram, the Hierarchy, is composed of many Ashrams, creating an “invoking area” of relationship for Sanat Kumara.

  2. The Christ, aided by the Manu and the Mahachohan, is the Coordinator of the entire life of the great Ashram.

  3. The personnel of the great Ashram is today entirely provided from the ranks of humanity. This was not so in the earlier cycles.

  4. The great Ashram is formed of seven major Ashrams and forty-two secondary Ashrams which are gradually forming.

  5. The entire Ashram is a unity, for the ashramic life in its differentiated groups is guarded by a ring-pass-not.

  6. This ring-pass-not is provided by radiation.

  7. The forty-two lesser Ashrams are held together by the magnetic interplay of the whole.

  8. Aspirants are drawn into relation with the Ashram through its radiation and enter finally into its magnetic field.

  9. There is a dual flow of energy or force into the great Ashram:

  a. Energising life from Shamballa or what is called “unfettered enlightenment.” [380]

  b. The energy of active intelligence from Humanity, thus enabling the Masters to formulate the Plan.

  10. The seven Ashrams are all concerned with the Plan.

  11. The Master Morya is the Head of all esoteric schools which truly prepare an aspirant for ashramic contact and work. The reason that a first ray Master is thus the Head is because it is the Will aspect which is developed within the Ashram.

  12. It is the service of the Plan which binds the seven Ashrams, with their subsidiary Ashrams, into the one great Ashram.

  13. It is only within his ray Ashram that the will of the disciple is developed.

  14. The magnetic, dynamic energy of the first aspect of divinity is found at the heart of each of the seven Ashrams, fed from a reservoir of will energy which is found at the heart of the great Ashram itself.

  15. The forty-two subsidiary Ashrams are energised by the reservoir of will energy found at the heart of each of the major Ashrams.

  16. The seven Ashrams express each the quality of their ray, one of the seven ray types.

  If you will have these points in mind, the whole hierarchical theme will be recognised and correctly interpreted by you.

  There was a time when (in the early history of the planet) there was no Hierarchy; there were only two major centres in the expression of the life of the Lord of the World: Shamballa and His embryonic throat centre, Humanity. Shamballa was the head centre. There was no humanity, such as we now know it, but only something so primitive that it is well-nigh impossible for you to grasp its significance or factual expression. But the life of God was there, plus an inherent “urge” and a dynamic “pull.” These two factors rendered the mass of men (if one may call them so) inchoately invocative, thus drawing from high spiritual centres certain developed and informed Lives Who—in increasing [381] numbers—”walked among men” and led them slowly, very slowly, forward into increasing light. The early history of the Hierarchy falls into two historical eras in the process of its becoming a “mediating Centre”:

  First: The time when the relating, mediating, enlightening correspondences to Those we now call the Masters trod the earth with men and were not withdrawn and apparently invisible, as is now the case. Their task was to bring the primitive intelligence of humanity to the point where there could be the presentation of the Plan, with eventual cooperation. In occult parlance, Their work was the establishing of a rapport between the unrevealed second aspect (to which They were responsive) and Humanity. In this They succeeded, but the matter aspect and quality—that of active intelligence—was so strong that the second historical phase became essential.

  Second: The time when the Hierarchy was created as we know it today; the heart centre of Sanat Kumara came into its own life, formed its own magnetic field, possessed its own ring-pass-not, and became a dynamic mediating centre between Shamballa and Humanity.

  It has oft been told in occult and theosophical literature that the Hierarchy withdrew as a penalising measure because of the wickedness of mankind. This is only superficially true and is an instance of a man-made interpretation; giving us the first example of the fear-and-punishment psychology which—from that time on—has conditioned all religious teaching. The withdrawing Masters had Their Paul to distort the truth, just as had the Christ, Their august Head today. The truth was far otherwise.

  The time came in those distant aeons when a certain percentage of human beings reached, through their own efforts, the stage (at that time demanded) of preparedness for initiation. This attainment brought surprising results:

  a. It became possible for certain of the Masters to “return from whence They came.”

  b. It became necessary to provide conditions where [382] these men “accepted for unfettered enlightenment” could receive the needed training.

  c. The process of creation had reached the evolutionary stage where the centres of the Lord of the World were differentiated; function and radiatory activity were established, and this produced a stronger “pull” and placed the Hierarchy “at the midway point.” A station of light and power was formed. All this was made possible because humanity could now produce its own “enlightened ones.”

  These two historical periods (not events, except in so far that all TIME is a sequence or pattern of events) covered vast cycles; aeon by aeon, the work went on until we have today the three major centres in the planet, demonstrating great activity, much more closely related than ever before, and ready now to enter into a third historical period. In this coming cycle we shall see the first stages of the great spiritual fusion towards which all evolution tends; it will take the form of the externalisation of the Ashram, so that the Hierarchy (or the centre where the love of God is known and the purpose of Sanat Kumara is formulated into the Plan) and Humanity will meet on the physical plane and occultly know each other. Two centres then will be “visible in the light”—the Hierarchy and Humanity. When these two centres can work in full cooperation, then Shamballa will take
form and will no longer be found existing only in cosmic etheric substance, as is now the case.

  What this means, how it will be accomplished, and what the implications are, will be revealed in such a distant future that we need waste no time considering it. We are working and living in the initial stages of the period wherein preparation is being made for the emergence of the Hierarchy into the world of men. This emergence is at present purely on to mental levels, but when the thoughtform of exoteric existence is created by Humanity itself and the invocative cry is intense enough, then the Great Ashram will slowly make its appearance upon the physical plane.

  On that plane, the distinction between the two centres [383] will be preserved, but the inner relationship and the spiritual fusion will steadily proceed until:

  Soul and personality are one,

  Love and intelligence are coordinated,

  Plan and fulfillment are achieved.

  All this will be brought about through the invocative spirit in man, plus the initiatory process, carried on in the Ashrams of the great Ashram. What this coming process will entail of change in civilisation, in human nature and in the group expression of the human spirit—religions, society and politics—it is not possible here to say; so much lies hidden in the free will and right timing of mankind. But that future of spiritual cooperation and interplay within and without the great Ashram is assured, and for it all true disciples are working. The world situation today is therefore one of great interest. Humanity, the world disciple, is in process of recovering from a major test, prior to a great step forward towards a conscious approach to more spiritual living; this, factually, means a definite approach to the Hierarchy.

  In the meantime the Hierarchy is orienting itself to a much closer rapport with humanity, and to an interior reorganisation which will make it possible to admit disciples in large numbers into the great Ashram. This will lead to the implementation of the lesser Ashrams and also to a preparation for the transmission of more of the Will energy, through the great Ashram, into the throat centre of Sanat Kumara, Humanity.