The Rays and the Initiations

by Alice A Bailey

  The application of this radiant energy is a definite mode of spiritual service and activity, but until a disciple has advanced in knowledge and can control his radiation (permitting only those streams of energy to escape from him which are appropriate to the need) the “passing-by” of a disciple can produce much difficulty, both for the individual and for the group.

  It will be obvious to you, therefore, that the presence of a Master will have a potent effect where an individual disciple is concerned. I have employed that separative term “individual disciple” because it indicates the cause of the possible difficulty or even danger. Such difficulty is always possible as long as any separative or self-centered instincts exist in the disciple; it takes a long time for a disciple to attain that disinterestedness and that inclusive spirit which will enable him to stand in the presence of the Master and present no barriers to direct contact with the Master's mind. This contact, leading to the desired fusion, falls into certain clearly defined stages:

  1. Occasionally in the disciple's hours of meditation, at a moment of great tension or in a crisis (related to his service activities), there may occur a momentary fusion of the minds of the disciple and the Master. This can only [546] occur when the mental focus is so steady and so firmly directed in intention that emotional reactions or the intrusion of personality affairs are eliminated.

  2. Later on in his training, the Master may attempt to impress his mind unexpectedly, and thus train him to recognise what we might regard as a direct call from the Centre of the Ashram.

  3. As the disciple proves his value and demonstrates that he is desiring nothing for the separated self, the interrelation between the two minds—of the Master of the Ashram and the disciple—finds no impediment; there is consequently no risk of overstimulation, of self-satisfaction or of the emergence of qualities which would disturb the rhythm of the Ashram. There can take place (as the Master wills it) a flow of thought between the two. At first, the impression is carried forward entirely on the side of the Master, and the disciple is simply an agent who can be impressed by ideas and instructed along some particular line which may be of service to humanity; he can, however, produce no current of thought flowing back to the Master. Later on, as a disciple moves forward into light and is simultaneously a server, he can be permitted to reach the Master with his own reaction to the impression.

  4. Then comes the final stage wherein the disciple can be trusted to be the initiatory agent of impression and of contact and is allowed to evoke the Master's attention and to penetrate to the Centre of the Ashram. Students would do well to relate these four stages to the Six Stages of Discipleship, dealt with in the latter part of Discipleship in the New Age, Vol. I; these four stages correspond to the final four considered in that book.

  These contacts are naturally in the field of telepathy, which is an aspect of the Science of Impression, and are entirely in the realm of mental interplay. I have dealt with the basic science itself in the book Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle. The relation considered above is between the instrument of contact used by the Master—that of the higher or abstract mind, for the Masters do not work [547] through the lower mind at all—and the lower or concretising mind of the disciple. The Masters are therefore dependent upon the use of the antahkarana which the disciple is in process of building; this is rapidly becoming a part of the group Antahkarana, built by disciples (working in the three worlds but on mental levels) who have been admitted into the Ashram. You can see why, therefore, the teaching anent the Antahkarana was deemed by us to be timely and wise. Relationship to the Ashram and contact with the Master are dependent upon the existence of the Antahkarana. In the early stages of its creative construction, the Antahkarana is adequate to permit some contact with the Ashram and with certain of the disciples, though not with those of very high degree. Later, as the Antahkarana perfects itself, higher and more durable contacts become possible.

  The results of these developed and registered contacts are finally seen in the complete impressibility—at any time and without any effort on either side—of the disciple's mind. It is now so attuned to the Ashram and to the Master's ray quality that his mind is one with that of the Master at the centre. Reciprocal activity becomes possible.

  It is needless, surely, for me to point out that the theme of all impressions coming from the Master to the disciple, and from the disciple to the Master, is the service of the Plan, the problems connected with group work in the Aquarian Age, or with the life and relationships within the Ashram. Forget not that the Ashram has its own objectives, intentions and inner techniques which are unconnected with the disciple's life and his service in the three worlds. The work of the disciple in preparation for initiation is not basically concerned with his daily world service, though there would be no initiation for him if that life of service were lacking. His life of service is, in reality an expression of the particular initiation for which he is being prepared. This is a theme too vast for us to consider here, but it is an idea upon which you could well ponder. [548]

  One hint I will give you, based on the life of the Christ. The life history and the experiences of the great Initiates are rarely given, but much has been communicated to us anent the life of the Christ, both in the Gospels and in connection with His earlier incarnations. As you know, He took one of the greatest of the initiations (the sixth initiation, that of Decision). This initiation is related to the throat centre and also to its higher correspondence, the throat centre of the planetary Logos; this is the centre which we call Humanity. Thus “the Word came forth.” He had a dual mission to fulfill in order to prove His fitness (if one may use such a word in connection with an initiate of His exalted standing). He had, first of all, to give a great impetus to human evolution by proclaiming two things:

  1. That “the blood is the life.”

  2. That all men everywhere are sons of God, and therefore divine.

  Secondly, He had to bring to an end the Jewish dispensation which should have climaxed and passed away with the movement of the sun out of Aries into Pisces. He therefore presented Himself to them as their Messiah, which was His reason for manifesting through the Jewish race. They not only rejected Him, but have succeeded in perpetuating the Jewish dispensation through the medium of its religious presentation throughout the era of the Christian dispensation. This lies at the root of their trouble and is the cause of their constant emphasis upon the past—a past which is based on their experiences in Aries and not upon their growth in Pisces.

  This entire subject of the telepathic interplay between the disciple and the Ashram, and between the Master and the disciple, is one of unique interest. It is part of the dual life which all disciples must lead. It is that which intensifies the life of introspection which is only rightly understood and carried forward when the man is in truth a soul-infused personality. It is the source or origin of the extraverted life which the disciple must also lead, producing an intense activity in the three worlds—an activity [549] which in no way disturbs the calm procedures of the life of ashramic contacts. Rightly followed, it produces the possibility with which our third point deals.

  Impression on the mind of the disciple of hierarchical intent

  This is something far greater and more inclusive than the ability of the mind of the disciple to register the content of the minds within the Ashram with which he is affiliated or even the mind of the Master. The purpose aspect of the Plan begins to impress his now highly illumined abstract mind, for the integrated purpose—as far as the Hierarchy is concerned—begins slowly to impress him. Little by little, he begins to register impressions from Shamballa. With this I cannot deal; it concerns the growth which follows the fourth and fifth initiations, and therefore training given to a Master. With it you have no concern.

  Your major task, as aspirants, is to cultivate the higher sensitivity; to render yourselves so pure and selfless that your minds remain undisturbed by the happenings in the three worlds; to seek that attentive spiritual sense which
will enable you to be impressed, and then to interpret correctly the impressions received.

  I have said that initiation is in reality a great experiment with energy. The life of the occult student is consciously lived in the world of energies. Those energies have always been present, for the whole of existence in all the kingdoms of nature is manifested energy, but men are not aware of this. They are not conscious, for instance, when they succumb to irritation and find themselves voicing that irritation in loud words or in angry thoughts, that they are taking astral energy and using it. The use of this energy admits them with ease to a level of astral living which is not suitable for them; continual use of this energy brings about what the Master Morya has called “habits of residence which imperil the resident.” It is when the aspirant recognises that he himself is composed of energy units—held in coherent expression by a still stronger energy, that of integration—that he begins consciously to [550] work in a world of forces similarly composed; he then begins to use energy of a certain kind, and selectively, and takes one of the initial steps towards becoming a true occultist. This world of energy in which he lives and moves and has his being is the living, organised vehicle of manifestation of the planetary Logos. Through it energies are circulating all the time and are in constant movement, being directed and controlled by the head centre of the planetary Logos; they create great vortices of force or major points of tension throughout His body of manifestation. The Spiritual Hierarchy of our planet is such a vortex; Humanity itself is another, and one which is today in a condition of almost violent activity, owing to its becoming a focus of divine attention.

  Certain great readjustments are going on in that centre, for it is beginning to conform at long last to divine intention. I have elsewhere pointed out that for the first time in the long history of human development, energy from Shamballa has made a direct impact upon this third planetary centre. This is not due entirely to the point in evolution attained by mankind; this attainment is only a secondary reason or cause. It is due to the will of Sanat Kumara Himself as He prepares for a certain cosmic initiation. This initiation requires the reorganisation of the energies flowing through and composing that “centre which we call the race of men”; this creates a rearrangement within the centre itself, and thus brings into manifested expression certain aspects and qualities—always inherent in those energies—which have not hitherto been recognised. This creative crisis has been made possible by three major happenings:

  1. The conclusion of a twenty-five thousand year cycle or movement around what is called the lesser zodiac. This connotes a major cycle of experience in the life of our planetary Logos. It is related to the interplay between the planetary Logos and the solar Logos as the latter responds to energies emanating from the twelve zodiacal constellations. [551]

  2. The end of the Piscean Age. This simply means that the energies coming from Pisces during the last two thousand years are now being rapidly superseded by energies coming from Aquarius. These result in major changes in the life of the planetary Logos and potently affect His body of manifestation through the medium of His three major centres: Shamballa, the Hierarchy and Humanity.

  3. The increasingly dominant activity of the seventh Ray of Order or Ceremonial Magic, as it is somewhat erroneously called. This ray is now coming into manifestation and is in close cooperation with the two above factors; it produces also the lessening of the power of the sixth Ray of Idealism. This has had a long cycle and has greatly hastened the evolutionary process; it demonstrates its effective work in the emergence today of the great world ideologies. I am necessarily considering these energies only in relation to the human consciousness.

  There are other factors present in our planet today, but these are the ones which will (in a vague sense) mean something to you, as you think and seek to understand.

  The great cosmic initiation through which our planetary Logos is passing (forget not my words, “initiatory process”) produces an entire reorganisation of all the energies of which His body of manifestation is composed; it heightens the quality or the vibration of certain of the ray energies, and lessens the potency of others. Direction also enters in; certain planetary centres become the recipients (in a new and vital manner) of the redirected ray potencies. Among these, at this time, the human family (or the third vital centre) becomes a prime objective. The three major centres in the body of the planetary Logos are:

  The head centre—Shamballa—1st Ray of Will

  The heart centre—Hierarchy—2nd Ray of Love-Wisdom

  The throat centre—Humanity—3rd Ray of Active Intelligence

  The impact of the new incoming energies upon Humanity [552] will result from a planned redirection. This will bring in an era of greatly enhanced creative activity; it will be an activity such as has never been seen before, and which will express itself in every department of human living.

  In this connection I would remind you of the relation existing between the sacral centre (the physical creative centre) and the throat centre, and of the teaching anent the raising of the energies from this lower centre to the throat centre. This can be seen happening in the human being as he progresses along the Path of Evolution, and is equally present in the life and experience of the planetary Logos.

  This progressive “creative raising” necessarily produces a cycle of tremendous difficulty in the life of the aspirant to initiation, for the microcosm undergoes—in his minute living process—what the planetary Logos undergoes in a cosmic process. When—as is the case today—Humanity itself is in process of becoming creative in the higher sense, and when this synchronises with a major creative planetary activity, then a cycle of very great disturbance eventuates which necessarily affects every individual within “the race of men.” Hence the sexual disturbance to be seen everywhere, with the license present in every country and the apparent breakdown of the marriage relation. This indicates the emergence eventually of a creativity of such wondrous dimensions that the world will stand amazed; nothing like it will have been seen before. A creative planning for human well-being and a political expression, implementing this planning, will demonstrate in every country; a creative thinking will be apparent which will express itself in writing and in poetry; creative imagining will produce the new art, the new colours, the new architecture and the new culture; a creative responsiveness to the “music of the spheres” will bring forth the new music. All this will be in response to the creative reorganisation and the newly directed energies which are engaging the attention of the planetary Logos at this time.

  [553] All this reorganisation and redirection of energies is carried forward in the realm of the divine third aspect, that of divine active intelligence. Therefore the human centre registers this major aspect and becomes intensely invocative; this invocative appeal, being unitedly directed towards the second major centre, the Hierarchy, inevitably evokes a response. Invocation, accompanied by the creative imagination, will produce that new creative activity which will bring “the new heavens and the new earth” into being.

  Three points I would like to make here; they have a definite bearing upon our subject:

  1. This intense creative activity falls into two parts:

  a. A destructive cycle, wherein the old order passes away and that which has been created—human civilisation with its accompanying institutions—is destroyed. With this destructive action Humanity is today occupying itself—mostly unconsciously. The major creative agents are the intelligentsia of the race.

  b. A cycle of restoration, with many accompanying difficulties in which the mass of men take part, under the influence and inspiration of a regenerated intelligentsia.

  2. This process received its initial impulse as a result of a group decision within the Hierarchy itself. Certain Masters Who were facing the sixth Initiation of Decision at the time—a relatively small but powerful group—decided together to tread the Path of Earth Service (technically understood) in order to bring about the changes which They sensed as desira
ble and as already existing within the consciousness of the One Initiator, the planetary Logos. It was Their decision, taken early in this century, which precipitated—in the centre which we call “the race of men”—those potencies and stimulating energies which produced that major destructive agency, the world war (1914-1945). As these energies occultly “fell into the centre,” the effect produced was both good and bad. Human unity and unanimity, human planning for group welfare, and human [554] creativity (expressed primarily at this time through science) received a tremendous stimulation. Simultaneously, the entering potencies released by this decision produced an up-surging of evil in the hearts of men so inclined, leading to an analogous or paralleling unity, unanimity and creative activity of separative and hateful evil. This, in its turn, “opened the door where evil dwelt” and let loose on earth the full fury of the Black Lodge.

  That this would be the result the Masters knew when making Their decision; They consciously struck a blow at the materialism which was binding humanity and imprisoning the human spirit. This evoked a prompt reaction from the Forces of Evil which had created and “held in being” the modern materialistic world, with its emphasis upon forms and money. The Masters had confidence that the human spirit would be able to live through the period of upheaval and emerge eventually into the new era, ready to build the new world and to reorganise all human resources—material, mental and spiritual.

  3. The response of humanity, from the angle of a spiritual realisation of the presented opportunity, was the emergence of the New Group of World Servers. They appeared in every country, conscious of their task of crystallising and making effective human goodwill, though generally unconscious of their hierarchical relationship. Their appearance evoked an immediate reaction from the Spiritual Hierarchy, and experienced disciples made their appearance in the ranks of the New Group of World Servers, directing their efforts, voicing their aims and stimulating their understanding. The new group worked in and through every department of human thinking, human welfare and human planning; as a result, and almost immediately, the men of goodwill everywhere in the world took heart of grace (a most appropriate phrase) and became active.