The
evolutionary journey on which we are engaged is marked off by
five major points of crisis, major expansions of consciousness,
which are the five steps to Liberation and Mastery.
These
are the five planetary Initiations which free us from further
incarnational experience on this Earth. All of the Masters have
taken these five Initiations (some have taken further, higher
Initiations) and Their presence in this world is the result of
a conscious decision to serve the Plan of Evolution and not from
any need (through personal karma) to incarnate.
The
esoteric process we call Initiation is an artificial forcing process,
introduced into our planet in mid-Atlantean times to speed up
the evolutionary process. Without it we would inevitably arrive
at the same point of development as we evidence today, but it
would take millions of years longer to do so. In those far-off
days, a crisis occurred in a part of this solar system which required
the presence of some of the most advanced members of the Hierarchy
of this planet Who at that time came from Venus.
The
process of Initiation was therefore introduced to enable the most
advanced members of our Earth evolution to undergo this forcing
process, and so equip them to take over the lower posts in the
Hierarchy, thus releasing the Senior Masters for other work. The
highest Initiation possible for an Earth man at that time was
the third Initiation, and among the first group to reach that
achievement were the Christ and the Buddha, Who have remained
at the forefront of our evolution to this day.
Symbolic
Seen
from the esoteric stand point, the Gospel Story is really the
story of Initiation, a story presented to humanity again and again,
in different ways, long before Christianity. The account of the
life of Jesus is the symbolic presentation, dramatically re-enacted
for us, of the Initiate's journey to Perfection.
The
first Initiation is called the Birth of Christ and is symbolised
by the birth of the Disciple Jesus at Bethlehem. When the evolutionary
energy which we call the Christ Principle or Consciousness is
awakened in the human heart (the spiritual heart Centre at the
right side of the chest: "the wise man's heart is at the right
side, the foolish man's heart at the left"), the man or woman
becomes ready for preparation to take the first Initiation. It
is important to realize that the man or woman is already Initiate
before he or she stands before the Initiator.
The
human soul, the first Master, brings its vehicle to the point
of Initiation through its life experience and meditation. Then
the Master (of the Hierarchy) steps in, and by a combination of
stimulus, testing and presented service opportunity, prepares
the candidate to come before the Hierophant to receive the impact
of the energy from the rod of Initiation which He wields.
The
Christ, Maitreya, is the Hierophant at the first and second Initiations,
the third and higher Initiations being taken before the Lord of
the World, Sanat Kumara, on Shamballa. "I am the Way." "No man
can know the Father except through me." These sayings of the Christ
are esoterically true, but they have been interpreted by the Churches,
quite wrongly, to mean that Christianity (or more correctly Churchianity)
is the only religious path, that only if a man accepts the (man-made)
dogmas and doctrines of the Church can he know God.
The
Christ embodies the Christ Principle on this planet. It is through
the manifestation of this Principle that we re-orient ourselves
and enter the Initiatory Path. In this sense, He is indeed, "the
Way". Likewise, only when one has stood before the Christ at the
first two Initiations can one take the third, which opens up for
one contact with the Monad, the Spirit, the "father in heaven".
The "born-again" Christian groups have an inkling of the truth
in that the first Initiation is the "second birth" of the Bible;
but, of course, this is an experience shared by millions today
throughout the world, and not exclusive to the "born again" Christians.
The
first Initiation demonstrates control over the
physical body, in particular over the tiny devic (or elemental)
lives which make up the bodies of man. The second Initiation
demonstrates control over the astral emotional body or elemental
lives which make up that vehicle. This is called the Baptism Initiation
and is symbolised for us by the Baptism of Jesus at Jordan. The
third - the first true soul Initiation - is called
the Transfiguration and is symbolised by the Transfiguration of
Jesus on the Mount. It demonstrates control over the mental elemental
and body and brings in Monadic contact and energy for the first
time: "The Jewel in the Heart of the Lotus". Jesus entered the
world at Bethlehem as a third degree Initiate and so simply symbolised
these three stages of growth for us. He had to undergo the fourth
Initiation and did so in full physical fact for our sake to dramatise,
symbolically, the experience of Renunciation.
In the West this Initiation is known as the Crucifixion; in the
East it is called the Great Renunciation, when all is renounced
position, family, even life itself if necessary for the higher,
spiritual life.
Resurrection
Resurrection
then follows, and this is the core of the Christian Gospel Story,
the fifth Initiation, the Resurrection, symbolised by the resurrection
of the body of Jesus after the Crucifixion. Each Initiation attracts
to the bodies of the Initiate matter of sub-atomic particles -
literally light. By the fourth Initiation the bodies of the Initiate
are three-quarters sub-atomic or light. This process is completed
at the fifth or Resurrection Initiation, when the Initiate stands
free from the pull of matter for ever, a perfected Master.
The
evolutionary goal has been achieved and the Master has finished
his life experience on this planet. His choice to remain on this
Earth and so serve the Plan of our Planetary Logos is His alone.
There are higher Initiations which call the Master to further
effort.
The
Ascension, symbolised by the Ascension of the Christ after His
appearance before the Disciples in the Resurrected body of Jesus,
marks the sixth Initiatory experience and confers Cosmic Consciousness
and total immortality of the body to the Ascended Master. Seen
in this way, the Gospel Story holds before humanity the promise
of Divinity, a Divinity realised not alone by one extraordinary
man - the Son of God - but a Divinity attainable by all who make
the necessary effort to expand their consciousness to include
the spiritual levels; a Divinity achieved, too, by a scientific
process, of which the Christ and His Masters are the custodians
- the process of Initiation
Reprinted
with the kind permission of Share International Magazine.
