SECTION ONE
DISCIPLESHIP IN THE NEW AGE
BY THE TIBETAN
TALKS TO DISCIPLES
PART I
MY BROTHERS:
It is of importance that you realise that today something new is happening. There is the emergence of a new kingdom in nature, the fifth kingdom; this is the Kingdom of God on earth or the kingdom of souls. It is precipitating on earth and will be composed of those who are becoming group-conscious and who can work in group formation. This will be possible, because these people will have achieved a self-initiated perfection (even if relative in nature) and will be identified with certain group expansions of consciousness. It will also be because they have arrived at love of their fellowmen, just as they have loved themselves in the past. Think on this with clarity, my brothers, and grasp, if you can, the full significance of this last sentence.
Their work will largely be to summarise and make effective the work of those two great Sons of God, the Buddha and the Christ. As you know, One of Them brought illumination to the world and embodied the principle of wisdom, and the Other brought love to the world and embodied in Himself a great cosmic principle—the principle of love. How can the effectiveness of Their work be brought about? The process will follow three lines:
1. Individual effort, made by the individual disciple, using the technique of detachment, of dispassion and of discrimination which the Buddha taught.
2. Group initiation, made possible by the self-initiated effort of individual disciples, following out the injunctions of the Christ and leading to a complete subordination of the personality and of the unit to group interest and group good.
3. Group endeavour, carried forward as a group, to love all beings and to apprehend and understand the true significance of the Aquarian technique of group love and work.
I have felt that a linking up of your minds in connection with the work of the Buddha and of the Christ might serve a useful purpose and give you all a glimpse and an indication of Their two systems of unfoldment—one preparatory to accepted discipleship and the other to initiation—which would be sequential and inter-related. The synthesis of Their work is easily seen by us who work with a fuller vision and a less impeded outlook than is as yet possible to you.
I am, therefore, dividing my disciples into groups so that they may work on different aspects of the Plan, and also laying the ground for group work which will greatly help the individual but which will also—above everything else—forward the work of the New Age.
It is, therefore, my intention to write a little in detail in connection with these groups. My time is very limited and I shall have to put a great deal of information into these talks and into any individual instructions which I may be led to give (probably at widely separated intervals) to my disciples. I am not basically writing for any of you at all but in order to lay the foundation for the group work to be done in the world during the coming years. What I say should be read with care, for the written word may contain several meanings and these can be sensed, according to the intuition—awakened or otherwise—of the aspirant.
I, your Tibetan Brother, am supposing upon the part of each of my disciples, one basic essential at least and that is a persevering earnestness which nothing will deter. Each of you starts upon this work with certain fundamental characteristics; each of you is beginning this definite enterprise of training for initiation with certain defects which act as deterrents and as handicaps; each of you has been recognised by his light and for his potentialities and with these we must perforce do the best we can. Note, therefore, the difficult problem confronting Those Who are guiding world evolution and looking for those who can aid in Their work.
I will teach you. Whether or not you profit by the teaching is entirely your own affair; that is something that the disciples of the New Age need to learn. There is no such thing as occult obedience as usually taught by the current occult schools. In the olden days in the East, the Master exacted from His disciple that implicit obedience which actually made the Master responsible and placed upon His shoulders the destiny or the karma of the disciple. That condition no longer holds good. The intellectual principle in the individual is now too much developed to warrant this type of expectancy. Therefore, this condition no longer holds good. In the coming New Age, the Master is responsible for the offering of opportunity and for the right enunciation of the truth but for no more than that. In these more enlightened days, no such position is assumed by the teacher as in the past, and I do not assume it. I shall with frankness speak. I know my disciples, for no disciple is admitted into an Ashram without deep consideration on the part of the teacher. I shall convey by hint and symbol that which should be apprehended and it will be noted and understood by those among my disciples who have the opened, inner ear and true humility of heart. If it is not recognised, time will pursue its onward course and revelation will ultimately come. I exact, therefore, no blind obedience. But, however, if advice and suggestion are accepted and you choose—of your own free will—to follow my instructions, those instructions must be followed accurately. Also, there must be none of that constant looking for results and for phenomena which has deterred the course and the progress of many would-be disciples.
This is also for me an experiment, for those of us who are members of some degree of the Hierarchy are necessarily changing the old ways and adapting the old methods to the newer circumstances and to the advance of evolution. Many tried disciples and aspirants (should I have said "tired," brother of mine, for I surmise that both words are true?) are to be subjected to experiments which will involve the application of the ancient rules in a modern way. Disciples in the olden days were the product of more peaceful times. The "chitta" (or mind-stuff as Patanjali calls it in his famous Book of Rules) was neither so highly developed nor was it tinctured by so much thought or potentially so illumined. Today, knowledge is widespread and many, many people are already thinking for themselves. The material for discipleship with which the Masters have to deal and the type of person which has to be developed and led on towards illumination is of a higher quality and grade, if I may employ so inadequate a term. The experiment of changing methods and of implementing the new technique of group work has to be carried out, likewise, in the midst of the stress and strain of Western civilisation. This imposes on all chosen to participate in this work an undue effort, but if continuance is found possible and success ensues, it tempers the material to a finer degree of power. As has been said, the jungles of the Occident are of a different kind to those within the Eastern zone. They call for peace in turmoil; for power in fatigue; for persistence in spite of bad health; for understanding in spite of the clamour of Western life. Progress is, therefore, made in spite of, and not because of, existing conditions. For disciples, such as those I am now going to attempt to teach, there is no retiring from the world. There is no condition of physical peace and of quiet wherein the soul may be invoked and in which work—potent in results—may be achieved in the calm of silence and the rest of what the Hindu calls samadhi—complete detachment from the calls of the body and the emotions. The work has to go forward in clamour. The point of peace must be found in the midst of riot. Wisdom must be attained in the very midst of intellectual turmoil and the work of cooperation with the Hierarchy on the inner side of life must proceed amidst the devastating racket of modern life in the great cities. Such is your problem and such is my problem as I seek to aid you.
For me, there is also the problem of excessive expenditure of force as I attempt to reach each of you and to study each of you at certain intervals. There is the work, at long range, of reading your minds, of seeing your light, and of vitalising your auras. This has not hitherto been the problem of the Eastern Teachers, except in very rare cases. Those who are now working in the modern world under the Masters of the Wisdom have undergone a preliminary tuning-up process and a training in receptivity during an earlier incarnation or incarnations. Forget not, therefore, that I also have a problem which I am willing to undertake for the sake of a needy world and as my contribution to hastening the coming in of the new and more fruitful era. Let us, therefore, facilitate each others' efforts.
I promise no quick results. I undertake to provide no spectacular unfoldments. The results rest entirely with you. They depend upon your patience, your exactness in detail, the discipline which you are willing to impose upon your lives and your self-forgetfulness. May I beg of you to leave results alone and to work without attachment for you know not with exactitude what are my goals for you; may I beg you to desist from that constant self-analysis which is such an outstanding characteristic of the introspective, yet ambitious Occidental mystic.... What, therefore, is the position I take? That I, one of a great group of disciples who—from the humblest aspirant up to the highest Member of the Hierarchy link humanity with the spiritual kingdom—can teach you the ancient rules and give suggestions to you so that you may travel more rapidly along the Path and arrive at greater usefulness to your fellowmen. There is not the slightest suggestion of authoritative pronouncement by a member of the Hierarchy who must be obeyed and whose word is infallible. Let this be remembered, otherwise work will not be possible, elements of danger may enter in and the present effort come to naught. My anonymity has always been preserved and will continue to be so though members of this group of disciples know me for who I am. You know me as a teacher, as a Tibetan disciple and as an initiate of a certain degree—what degree being of no importance to you at all. It is the teaching that I shall give you which will matter. I am an initiate into the mysteries of being. That statement in itself conveys information to those who know. You know also that I am in a human body, and am a resident of northern India. Let that suffice and let not curiosity blind you to the teaching.
We stand together in spiritual enterprise. All of you have voluntarily and without pressure stated your willingness to go forward into a more intensive spiritual life. This you must do in the freedom of your own souls and through the power of your own intellects. You will follow such instructions as seem to you reasonable and right but—when you do choose to follow them—you will attempt to fulfil the requirements with exactitude. You will analyse and question the requirements which from time to time come from me and you will accept no belief in their verbal inspiration. Language ever handicaps and limits. You will also be guided in your work by health and circumstance, and you will ever remember that Masters are made through the achieving of mastery and not through obedience to any person. You will bear in mind that I, your teacher, am not constantly aware of your physical condition or daily doings. I concern not myself with the affairs of the personality and those misguided aspirants who claim that the Masters are forever telling them what to do and are guiding them in their personal affairs are still far from the grade of accepted discipleship. You will remember that the light will shine into a mind that is self-controlled and free from the mental dominance of another mind. With these provisos clearly understood, let us pass on to the enunciation of certain principles and to a consideration of what it may be possible to do.
First: Let it be constantly remembered that the new discipleship is primarily an experiment in group work and that its main objective is not the perfecting of the individual disciple in the group. I regard this statement as basic and essential. The individuals are intended to supplement each other and complement each other and in the aggregate of their qualities should eventually provide a group capable of useful, spiritual expression and one through which spiritual energy can flow for the helping of humanity. The work to be done is on the mental plane. The spheres of service of individual disciples remain the same as before but to their differing fields of individual endeavour there will be added a group activity and life which will become more clear as time elapses. The first objective is, therefore, to weld and unify the group so that each person in it can work in close mental rapport and spiritual cooperation with the others. This inevitably takes time and the success of this new effort on the part of the Hierarchy will depend upon a non-critical attitude and the outpouring of a spirit of love on the part of each member of the group. This will be fairly easy for some disciples to achieve but very difficult for others. So many high-grade people today have an over-development of the analytical mind. As time goes on, however, and if real effort is made, the welding process will make much progress. This, therefore, is our first effort, as it is the first effort of the group of every Master and the achievement of the Hierarchy itself—group unity.
Every disciple has to learn to subordinate his own ideas of personal growth to the group requirements, for—in order to have a coordinated group, functioning as a serviceable unit—some disciples will have to hasten their progress in certain directions and others will have to slow down theirs temporarily to the pace of the majority. This will happen automatically, if the group identity is the dominant factor in the thoughts of each disciple, and desire for personal growth and for spiritual satisfaction is relegated to a secondary place. The groups within each Ashram are intended to work together eventually just as the various departments of some great organisation work together effectively as a unit. They must function smoothly and intelligently. This will be possible when the individual members in the groups and the individual groups lose sight of their own identities in an effort to make this experiment of the Hierarchy successful. The feelings, reactions, wishes and successes of the individual most emphatically do not count. Only that is regarded as of moment which will further group effort and enrich the group consciousness. Only that, for instance, attracts my attention which brings more spiritual power to my group of disciples or which increases its light or dims its radiance. You need to remember that I look at my groups of disciples always subjectively and as a group. It is the total radiance which I see; it is the united rhythm which I note and the united tone and colour; it is the sound they collectively emit which I hear. May I reiterate that in one sense your individualities are of no interest or moment to me, except in so far as you raise or lower the group vibration. As personalities, you matter not to us, the teachers on the inner side. As souls you are of vital moment. Each disciple in the group of any Master may have many weaknesses and limitations. These act as hindrances to others in the group. But, as souls, such disciples are somewhat awakened and alive and have achieved a certain measure of alignment. So it is with all of you in my group. As souls, I cherish you and seek to aid and lift, to expand and enlighten.
I would like here to emphasise one point as we consider the individual in the group and his group relations. Watch with care your thoughts anent each other, and kill out at once all suspicion, all criticism and seek to hold each other unwaveringly in the light of love. You have no idea of the potency of such an effort or of its power to release each other's bonds and to lift the group to an exceedingly high place. By the pure light of love for each other, you can draw nearer to me and to the teachers on the subjective side of life and arrive more rapidly at that Gate which opens on the lighted Way. You have the opportunity to demonstrate to each other the scientific value and power of love, regarded as a force in nature. Make this demonstration your endeavour. You will thus release for each other all that is needed to bring about potent and vital changes in the life patterns and purpose of the group members. Love is not a sentiment or an emotion nor is it desire or a selfish motive for right action in daily life. Love is the wielding of the force which guides the worlds and which leads to the integration, unity and inclusiveness which impels Deity itself to action. Love is a hard thing to cultivate—such is the inherent selfishness of human nature; it is a difficult thing to apply to all conditions of life and its expression will demand of you the utmost you have to give and the stamping out of your selfish personal activities.
Disciples in the group of a Master have to love each other with intelligence and an abiding strength and thus release that light and power which will eventually make the group of effective value in the world. As I work with you in the future, I shall not wait to wrap up the truths I have to say to each of you in such a way that they cannot hurt. I shall not in the future consider your personality feelings and reactions because I count upon the sincerity of your purpose.
It is perhaps wise to remember here that, as a general rule, no one believes what others may tell him—no matter how apparent the truth or how much the person may protest that he accepts that truth. Only those truths which are wrought out individually in the crucible of experience really penetrate into the living consciousness and bear fruit. But in this group effort which we are undertaking, the fact that all in the group are made aware of what is said to the individual may prove most useful and produce much more rapid adjustments than could otherwise be the case—provided that, unitedly and in love, they will then help their fellow disciple to change the undesirable condition. I count on one thing only, my brothers, and that is your deep sincerity. It is not a negative thing (as some claim) to point out a fault or error. As the clear light of the soul pours in, it reveals the personality for what it is. If true dispassion is practised, this group of disciples can see things as they are and remain untouched by the revelation of the desirable or the undesirable qualities. If you are depressed or irritated or hurt by such revelation, it indicates a basic lack of dispassion and proves attachment to the personality and to the opinions of others.
Secondly, it is essential that all disciples in an Ashram should be contemplatives, but contemplatives in the occult sense and not the mystical. In any meditation work which you are doing or may in the future do, your aim should be to achieve as rapidly as possible the highest point in the meditation process, passing quickly through the stages of concentration, alignment and meditation to contemplation. Having achieved that high point, you should strive to preserve it and should learn thus to function as a soul in its own world, contemplating the world of energies in which all initiates work and in which you each must some day—in this life or another—take your place. This status (if I may call it by such a name) must be carefully striven for, accurately observed when in any way attained, and an exact record of impressions kept. You should, therefore, constitute a group of active contemplatives, and the result will be facilitated if you will ponder upon and struggle for the first condition of your group existence—group unity.
Third: This group unity which will have its roots in united group meditation or in the contemplative life (wherein the soul knows itself to be one with all souls) must work out in some form of group activity. This should demonstrate at once in the group itself and later on—when the unification is more complete—in the world at large. It is in this way that the Masters' Ashrams will be externalised on earth and the Hierarchy function openly on the physical plane and not behind the scenes as hitherto. Then will come the restoration of the Mysteries.
PART II
The question might here be asked: How can this work out practically in a group of disciples—all of them individuals but all sincerely anxious to cooperate and aid in this work? Let me try and give a clear reply.
You have undertaken voluntarily to work together when proffered the opportunity by me. You are aiming towards a group solidarity which will be based upon the fact of your being souls. This should eventually manifest itself subjectively and essentially in the form of a group telepathic inter-communication, as group understanding also of each other's problems and difficulties and, therefore, as a group opportunity to aid and help one another. This helping should not and must not come through personality effort or contact, or through the stating of problems related to circumstance and character, or through the tendering of advice and suggestion. We deal not with personalities in connection with each other in a Master's group. At the same time, it should be possible for each of you to learn to strengthen and aid each other, avoiding always any intrusion of the personality. You can each learn to transmit your soul ray quality to a fellow disciple, stimulating him to greater courage, to finer purity of motive and to deeper love, yet avoiding the vitalisation of his personality characteristics. You should learn always to think of each other as souls and not as limited human beings.
We have, therefore, the following three objectives before us:
1. Group unity ... through thought, exoteric knowledge of each other and a constant sending forth of love.
2. Group meditation ... as a group of contemplatives, thus rooting this group within the kingdom of the soul and strengthening all the individuals involved.
3. Group activity ... resulting in the aiding of each other in specific problems of character but not of circumstance. Ponder on this distinction, my brothers.
Later, when the group is really established, it should begin to function outwardly and its lifeshould begin to make its presence felt. It should steadily tend to increase the spiritual potency of all groups with which the group members are related and with which they may be associated. I refer to all groups which belong to the New Age and are working along spiritual lines. The eventual effect will be along the line of healing the various ills of mankind—physical, mental, psychological and emotional.
There are certain simple but definite rules which should govern the interior spiritual life of neophytes in training for the various stages of discipleship. Let me here outline to you my suggestions for this simple and immediate work.
First of all, all disciples practise regular and daily meditation. These meditations are each individually suited to the disciple concerned and vary according to ray, point in evolution and the stage of discipleship which is the immediate objective. These cannot be given here. These meditations will be given to you as suggestions for your use and acceptance. Endeavour at some stage in your meditation to link up with me but let this linking up take place after you have worked at and brought about an alignment with your soul. The reason that it is essential that you link up after alignment is that you can then avoid the glamours and the illusions of the astral plane whereon thoughtforms and masquerading entities personalise the teachers and the Masters and do so in their myriads. Add also to your meditation a short period wherein you will try and link up with your co-disciples, sending them love, soul force, and help.
You would find it useful to keep what might be called a spiritual diary. This does not involve the daily entering of the day's events and has no relation to the happenings which may concern the personality. Note this. In this diary you should record the following:
1. Any spiritual experience which may come to you, such as contact with some Presence, either that of your own soul, the angel of the Presence, contact with some disciple and eventually—when your life and work and discipline warrant it—contact with one of the Masters. Record this in an impartial way, preserving the scientific attitude and seeking ever a practical explanation before accepting a mystical one. A spirit of agnosticism (not of atheism) is of real value to the beginner and preserves him from the snares of the world illusion and of lower psychism.
2. Any illumination which may come to you, throwing a flood of light upon a problem and revealing the way that you or the group should go. Any intuition which—corroborated by the reason—carries one forward into knowledge and evokes the wisdom of the soul and its registration by the brain, via the mind.
3. Any telepathic happenings between you and your fellow disciples. This telepathic interplay should be cultivated but it must be most carefully checked and counterchecked and the strictest accuracy preserved. Thus we shall have the fostering of the spirit of Truth, which is the governing principle of all true telepathic communication. An Ashram functions telepathically when fully and rightly organised.
4. Any phenomena of a mystical and spiritual kind should also be noted. The seeing of the light in the head comes under this category. Its brilliance should be noted, its growth and dimming; the hearing of the Voice of the Silence which is the voice of the soul but not of the subconscious; the registering of messages from the soul or from other disciples and world Servers; expansions of consciousness which initiate you into the conscious life of God, as it manifests through any forms and the hearing of the note of all beings. A close study of the third part of The Light of the Soul (the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali) will indicate the type of phenomena which should find its place in this diary.
5. Any experiences of a psychic kind which do not come under any of the above headings. Those mentioned above come under the heading of the higher psychism and concern the higher psychic faculties, spiritual perception, intuitive knowledge, mental telepathy (and not the telepathy which is based upon the solar plexus activity). The lower psychic experiences can also be noted—whether pleasant or unpleasant. Once noted, however, they should be forgotten for they are of no moment.
Days may go by and weeks with no record. Let this in no way disconcert you. The sensitivity of the mechanism of the soul to spiritual vibration has to be cultivated and existing sensitivity to lower psychic impressions has to be tuned out; so many voices clamour for attention, so many impressions—emanating from the physical and astral forms around us—register upon our consciousness, that the vibrations and sounds coming from the subjective and spiritual world are lost and not registered and recorded. You will find it interesting to note, at the end of a few years, the difference in the data recorded and the development of sensitivity to the right kind of impression. This can only be realised after much time has elapsed and much spurious material has been eliminated, after being recognised for what it is: astralism, spurious claims and thoughtforms.
Another question might here be asked: What should disciples in a Master's group look for as evidence of successful group work? First and foremost, as you well know, group integrity and cohesion. Nothing can be done without this. The subjective linking of the disciples with each other in their own group, and the linking of the group with other groups occupied with special work within the Ashram and the emergence (as a result of this) of a group and an ashramic consciousness are vital objectives. It is hoped that this will also eventuate in a telepathic interplay which will bring potent results and successful outer work. From these activities will emerge a group circulation of energy which will be of service in world salvage. Each of you should remember that purity of body, control of the emotions and stability of mind are fundamental necessities and should be daily the attempted achievement. Again and again, I come back to these prime character requirements and—tiresome as the reiteration may be—I urge upon you the cultivation of these qualities. I would like to remind you also that you are adult and mature men and women who need not specific statements as to faults and characteristics. I seek only to make suggestion as to trends of thought. Note here the word suggestion, for that is all I seek to give. The disciple must be left free to follow a suggestion or a hint as seems wise to him. This entire work might be termed an experiment in esoteric commonsense and in willingness to accept suggestion. It is a trial of the intuition and a test in discrimination. This work to which I have called you is also an experiment in impersonality, in willingness to work and learn, in freedom to choose or reject, in observation and in techniques. All have their value.
This is an experiment likewise for me. I have worked hitherto with only three occidental chelas, of whom A.A.B. is one. The other two are totally unknown to any of you. I ask for your aid and cooperation during these early stages of the work as far as the reaching of conclusions is concerned. I ask you to stand together—no matter what eventuates or what forces may seek to separate you. I ask my disciples to love each other in spite of character and ray differences and to work loyally together for group coherence and integrity—no matter what diverse opinions you may hold or what may occur as time elapses. If you can hold together down the years and throughout this life cycle, then the group can carry forward into the future and work together on other planes, thus conserving energy. Can you persist and carry on? Can such a telepathic interplay be set up that the barrier of death will eventually prove no barrier at all and continuity of communication persist?
Many such questions arise and time alone will give the answer. If there is persistence in effort, if there is the loyal link of love, if there is adherence to the group ideal and if there is mutual forbearance and understanding and patience, it may be possible that this group can be welded into a unit which will indeed be a living atom in the hierarchical body. You are all on the Path of Discipleship at some stage or another; in this lies opportunity.
This is a body (small indeed) of disciples who—through devotion to truth, through their attempt to do their duty, and their mutual karmic relation both to each other and to me—have been chosen (in spite of limitations and faulty development) to work together towards the specific end of forming a nucleus of spiritual power and energy for the helping of humanity. But above all else, it is a group formed to inaugurate the methods of the New Age as regards group work, and the training of disciples and their preparation for initiation, along with other groups all over the world who have caught the new vision and are working under the inspiration and the impression of the Masters. The foundation of these schools of the Mysteries which will later be restored to the world and to which I referred in Letters on Occult Meditation may be possible if all of you measure up to opportunity. This should be borne in mind. The experiment may fail. Whether it does or not, real profit will in any case eventuate.... That you may one and all measure up to the opportunity and carry the work forward in the three worlds and in the kingdom where the light of the soul streams forth is my earnest wish and desire.
PART III
As you face this opportunity in a world which is passing through a major crisis, I would like to state that it is necessary for all working brothers and disciples to have three things in mind if they are to work efficiently and as desired.
First: Disciples should know that the Masters have three grades of workers. There are those doing the difficult work in the outer world. They materialise the forms through which the Hierarchy can express its intentions and they make the human contacts. There are many such disciples and they are doing this work from their own free choice and because they have realised the immediate and coming need of humanity and have pledged themselves to serve. There are, secondly, those who act as links between the Elder Brothers of the race, the Masters of the Wisdom Who embody the divine plan and the workers mentioned above. I do not say that they act as links between the disciple and his Master for that is a direct relationship which none may touch, particularly in the more advanced stages. This second group of working disciples, however, act as intermediaries in the working out of the plan in the world and they hold themselves in readiness to go anywhere when requested, thus aiding with their wisdom and experience and supplementing the capacities of the field workers, conferring with them. There are several such that are being sent expressly into the field at this time to hasten the work whenever possible and to increase the magnetic attraction of those centres through which the spiritual force of the New Age can flow.
This is all being done preparatory to a supreme effort which the Hierarchy of Masters plans to make. Should all of you in the field at this time work with complete surrender and devotion—giving of all your time and interest to the cause—it may be possible to prepare the ground in such a manner that the coming effort of the Masters may prove adequate to the emergency.
The third group is that of the Masters Themselves and Their cooperating initiates. They work primarily upon the inner side. Their activities are confined largely to the mental plane and to the scientific use of thought. Thus They guide Their workers and helpers and influence and direct Their working disciples and the world disciples.
There is at this time an inner intention of blending the occidental and the oriental approaches to the ancient wisdom and to the Hierarchy. Cooperation and the mutual interchange of wisdom and of knowledge are essential if this is to be perfected. The objectives of both methods—the mystic and the occult—are the same.
Second: It is necessary for working disciples at this time to appreciate the immediate emergency. There is a crisis in the affairs of men. This crisis must be viewed in terms of opportunity and not in terms of cataclysm or catastrophe. Just as in the life of an aspirant to discipleship, there comes a life or a series of lives wherein there is direct conflict between the soul and the lower nature, so there is now an analogous crisis upon our planet. The object in both cases is that the soul may assume an increasing control over the form aspect.
Looking at it from another angle, this planetary soul—functioning as a Hierarchy of Masters —is in direct conflict with the forces of evil. It should, however, be borne in mind that those forces also constitute a hierarchy of entities, constituting the material forms and, therefore, in their place, true and correct. It is a question, in reality, of what is the objective in any particular time cycle. The present objective is that the human family should now, as a whole, do three things and anything which militates against this is evil.
1. Manifest the nature of the soul, through the integrated personality. The nature of the soul is love and the will-to-good.
2. Transfer the energy, now turned to the vitalising of the physical body and physical creation, to the nurturing of the creative faculty upon the mental plane; thus the entire human family will be transmuted into a dynamic, self-conscious, creative agency.
3. Usher in a period of spiritual unfoldment in every kingdom in nature. At the close of this period, the door into the animal kingdom will again be opened and opportunity offered to waiting embryonic souls. Many also, at this time, can take initiation and hence the balancing of forces at either end of the human line of unfoldment. This is to be brought about by the renewed cyclic activity of the Great White Lodge and will be carried forward through the medium of those energies which are ushering in the New Age. This crisis is upon us almost prematurely, owing to the exceedingly rapid advance made by humanity since 1850. Through the driving urge of men themselves, a new realm and a new dimension has been contacted. Humanity has loosed energies hitherto unknown and the effects are of a dual kind, producing both bad as well as good results.
Third: Disciples must now organise for a steady united effort. This must take the form of a closer cooperation between all groups and a standing together in a closer relationship, thus strengthening each others' hands and, where possible, pooling resources. It should result also in a united push forward of all spiritual and occult agencies and the carrying of the truth along all possible lines, down among the masses of men. Just as in Atlantean days, spiritual forces were subordinated to the selfish desires of men, so today, they are being subordinated to the minds and the ambitions of men and the results will be profoundly evil. The world situation today demonstrates this. For though material benefit and physical prosperity might eventually emerge from certain countries where great experiments are being undertaken, they will only exemplify the triumph of the form and will finally come to naught. Just as every human being struggles through in some one life to personality achievement so it is among the nations. Yet at the heart of every nation lies latent the mystical soul and eventually—after dire struggle and distress—all will be well. Tendencies towards materialism and towards personality achievement must, under the larger plan and the will-to-good, be offset by a counter move of spiritual living and this must be the objective of all working disciples.
Let such working disciples see to it, therefore, that their love for all beings deepens and that the growth of their love comes through their tapping the group love which lies back of all world happenings. My brothers, when will the time come when the world will realise that the loveaspect of the Logos—as it affects the human kingdom—is focussed through the inner subjective group of workers? That love is now in the stage of anchoring itself physically through the new groups (such as this group) which are in process of forming all over the world. These new groups are centres (or should be) of divine love, magnetic, constructive and pure. See to it, therefore, that your conformity to the requirement is met in the measure of your physical strength, bearing ever in mind that you are equal to more effort and to greater strain than ever before.
This experiment which I have instituted and to which you have voluntarily and willingly submitted yourselves is one undertaken for group purposes. The Hierarchy seeks to discover how sensitive groups are, as a whole, to subjective guidance and instruction, and how free the channels of communication are between the various individuals in the group and the Master, and between the various groups within the Ashram of a Master. A Master's group of disciples, upon the inner side of life, forms an integrated organism, characterised by mutual life, love and interplay. The relationships in such a group are entirely on mental and astral levels and hence the limitations of the etheric force body and of the physical brain are not felt. Needless to say the fundamental relation is on soul levels. The fact that the etheric body and the physical brain lie outside these basic relations where the Ashram is concerned leads to greater facility in understanding and to reciprocal interplay. It is wise to remember, however, that the astral potency is far more strongly felt on the physical plane than elsewhere and hence the major emphasis laid upon emotional-desire control in all treatises on discipleship or on preparation for that state. It is not easy for the average beginner on the Path of Discipleship to grasp this or to see the necessity for the rules and suggestions made. For some people to conform to rule and discipline is not easy unless it is entirely self-initiated. The suggestions which I make to you, my brothers, are only suggestions but it is surely the part of wisdom to follow them as long as you have voluntarily put yourselves under my tuition. Your working under me has been entirely of your own free will and choice. You are subjected to no compulsion. Other types of disciples evince willingness to follow instructions but their real difficulty consists in bringing the life into conformity with the desired rhythms. The narrow path, which all disciples have to tread, requires obedience to the ancient rules for disciples. This is given willingly and with eyes open, though no rigid adherence to such rules is ever expected. The disciple grows through intelligently adapting his life to these requirements as far as is reasonably possible and not by adapting the requirements to his life. Flexibility within certain limits is always needed but that flexibility must not be set in motion by any personality inertia or mental questioning.
A change in this relationship between disciples is now being made. An attempt is being set on foot to see if a group activity and interplay can now be set up upon the physical plane, involving consequently the use of the etheric body and the brain. The difficulties confronting you are, therefore, great and I am anxious that you should realise this. Will you realise, for instance, that any differences of opinion which may occur in the relations of this group of disciples will be caused by astral-brain reactions and, therefore, must not be considered of any importance whatsoever? They must be immediately eliminated and wiped from the slate of the mind and of the memory and classed as entirely personality limitations and unworthy of hindering group integrity.
This experiment, being attempted by a group within my Ashram, is one in mental relations and in soul contact, with the emphasis and attention placed basically there. The astral- physical brain reactions should be regarded as non-existent and as illusion and should be allowed to lapse below the threshold of the group consciousness—there to die for lack of attention. This type of group work is a new venture and unless something definitely new emerges as a result of this experiment, the time and effort are not warranted. You must not imagine that the particular line of work on which you may be engaged is the factor of main interest. It is not primarily the unfoldment of the intuition, or of the power to heal, or of telepathic efficiency which is of importance. That which counts with the Hierarchy as the Ashrams function is the establishing subjectively of such a potent group interplay and group relation that an emerging world unity can be seen in embryo. A joint power to be telepathic or a group capacity to intuit truth is of value and somewhat novel. It is the functioning of groups who have the ability to work as a unity, whose ideals are one, whose personalities are merged into one forward swing, whose rhythm is one and whose unity is so firmly established that naught can produce in the group the purely human characteristics of separation, of personal isolation and selfish seeking, that is new. Unselfish people are not rare. Unselfish groups are very rare. Pure detached devotion in a human being is not rare but to find it in a group is rare indeed. The submergence of personal interests in the good of the family or in that of another person is often to be found, for the beauty of the human heart has manifested itself down the ages. To find such an attitude in a group of people and to see such a point of view maintained with an unbroken rhythm and demonstrating spontaneously and naturally—this will be the glory of the New Age.
To see the link of pure love and of soul relation, realised and utilised in group form and work is indeed new and the attainment of this is the ideal which I set before this group of my disciples. If this group measures up to the vision as it exists in my mind, there will be established upon the physical plane focal points of specialised force through which the Hierarchy can work with greater surety than heretofore. There will (through this and analogous groups) be set in motion on earth a network of spiritual energies which will facilitate the regeneration of the world. The influence of these groups—when permanently established and potently working—will have a wider objective than just the elevation of humanity.
The potent rhythm which animates the inner Brotherhood of the Lodge of Masters will make itself felt everywhere on earth and these groups, if successful, may be regarded as the first step toward the emergence into manifestation of the Great White Lodge. But remember this: the keynote of the Lodge is not attainment or degree. It is stable relationship, unity of thought, plus diversity of method, of effort and of function and its quality is friendship in its purest sense. The Brotherhood is a community of souls who are swept by the desire to serve, urged by a spontaneous impulse to love, illumined by one pure Light, devotedly fused and blended into groups of serving Minds, and energised by one Life. Its Members are organised to further the Plan which They consciously contact and with which They deliberately cooperate.
It will be apparent to you, therefore, that the purpose of these groups is to unfold in time the three major powers of all illumined minds:
First: the power to work in and with all thought substance. The Hierarchy of Illumined Minds is a group Whose telepathic powers enable Them to be sensitive to the mind currents and to register the thoughts of Those Who personify the Mind of God, the Universal Mind, and to register the thoughtforms of Those Who are as far beyond the Hierarchy of Masters as They, in Their turn, are beyond the disciples of the world.
Those Lives Who carry out the ideas of the Divine Mind, exist in Their graded orders, and with the detail of Their groupings we are not concerned, except with the fact that the planetary Brotherhood is in telepathic rapport with Those Who are responsible for the planetary conditions in the solar system, with the Great Council, therefore, at Shamballa. They are also in immediate telepathic rapport with each other. The slowly manifesting powers of the radio and the sensitive workings of the perfecting radio mechanisms and of television are but the response in physical matter of the perfected telepathic powers and television of the minds of the Masters of the Wisdom. Forget not, that such powers are inherent in all men.
The inner group of Masters with Whom I am associated work telepathically also with Their disciples and the disciples with each other in lesser degree. The power to "see" the Master —which has been the misguided impulse of the devotees of the world who substitute this desire for aspiration towards soul contact—is but their response to the "television" of Those Who seek to guide them into the light of their own souls. They are only reacting to one of the demonstrated divine powers of the Master but not to soul action.
Your response to such stimulation as I can give you and an earnest endeavour on your part to love with unselfishness will gradually perfect in you a similar relation to other workers. This will work out in three directions:
1. In a demonstrated ability to be in telepathic rapport with me and with Those with Whom I am associated.
2. In power to communicate with each other at any time.
3. In sensitivity to the thoughts of humanity as a whole.
Can you not see, therefore, how a miniature replica of the Brotherhood can be established on earth and how in decades to come the working disciples of the world, the isolated initiates in the many world organisations and the personnel of the New Group of World Servers will automatically respond to the telepathic sensitivity of such groups as will be found working in the many Ashrams of the Masters? The result of this success will not be the recognition of any particular group but it will lead to the recognition of a universal power and the state of mind of disciples of all degrees. This will establish in time and without controversy the unity of all beings. The revelation of unity through the power of thought is the glorious consummation of the work of the Brotherhood and to this you do, as do all disciples, respond in your highest moments. It can, in a smaller way and according to the measure of your consecration, be your glory and your goal also if you hold the thought of oneness, of service and above all else of love.
Second: the power of the intuition, which is the goal of much of the work which disciples must do, requires the unfoldment of another faculty in man. The intuition is a function of the mind also and, when rightly used, it enables man to grasp reality with clarity and to see that reality free from glamour and the illusions of the three worlds. When the intuition functions in any human being, he is enabled to take direct and correct action for he is in touch with the Plan, with pure and unadulterated fact and undistorted ideas—free from illusion and coming direct from the divine or universal Mind. The unfoldment of this faculty will bring about a world recognition of the Plan and this is the greatest achievement of the intuition in this present world cycle. When that Plan is sensed, there comes the realisation of the unity of all beings, of the synthesis of world evolution and of the unity of the divine objective. All life and all forms are seen then in their true perspective; a right sense of values and of time then eventuates. When the Plan is truly intuited and at first hand, then constructive effort becomes inevitable and there is no lost motion. It is the partial realisation of the Plan and its interpretation at second or third hand by the ignorant which is responsible for the wasted effort and the foolish impulses which characterise the present occult and world organisations.
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