I
have shown the gospel story
as the presentation to humanity, in symbolic form, of the esoteric
path of initiation. Many people today stand on, or at the threshold
of, that path, yet very little is known about the actual requirements
for these great expansions of consciousness which constitute initiation.
It would seem appropriate, therefore, to touch on these requirements,
remembering always that an article of this kind can do no more
than cover, rather superficially, the basic essentials.
Initiation is a complex, profoundly esoteric and mysterious subject,
and those who wish to read more deeply about it are referred to
the writings of the Master Djwhal Khul through Alice A. Bailey,
in particular Initiation, Human and Solar.
It
is important to remember that initiation is a process, not a ceremony
(although it does involve ceremony), nor the successful passing
of an examination. It is the result of a gradual expansion of
consciousness. It is a growing awareness and demonstration of
the spiritual realities which lie back of our outer physical plane
expression - our higher Self or soul, and that of which the soul
itself is a reflection, the divine Monad or spark of God. It is
a process whereby successive and graded stages of unification
and at-one-ment take place between the man or woman in incarnation
and these higher aspects of our threefold constitution.
There
are a great many minor, but only five major, planetary initiations.
Each one represents a definite stage of integration and at-one-ment
reached by the initiate. The goal is achieved when, at the fifth
initiation, the liberated Master stands in full at-one-ment with
the Monad, His Father in Heaven. He has expanded His consciousness
to include the spiritual planes and needs no further incarnational
experience on this planet. For the Master there are higher at-one-ments
-- with the planetary and systemic Logoi -- with which we need
not concern ourselves.
Initiation
indicates a point achieved, but does not bring about that achievement.
Life itself is the field of development of the process; it is
the experiences, the trials and failures of everyday life, and
the gradual mastering of oneself that brings about the control
over matter and the consciousness on all planes that characterizes
the initiated Master.
An
Ancient Science
Technically,
initiation is an artificial, scientific process which speeds up
the evolutionary process; historically it is very old. It is not
obligatory - individual men and women can take as long as they
like to achieve perfection. But it provides the means whereby
those who are ready and willing to make the effort to undergo
the trials and tests and, above all, to make the sacrifices and
renunciations which initiation demands, can speed the journey
of evolution immeasurably, and thus serve more fully the Plan
of the Logos.
The requirements for each initiation have necessarily changed
as mankind has evolved; each new stage reached by humanity as
a whole pushes upwards these requirements. Today, from the Masters'
point of view, the third is the first true (soul) initiation,
the first and second being really preparatory, demonstrating the
control of the vehicles - physical and astral respectively - of
the personality.
Through
these purified and integrated bodies, the divine inner man, the
soul, makes its presence felt, gripping the vehicles and shining
through the personality. When that integration includes the controlled
mental body, the third initiation can be experienced. Synchronicity
of vibration is the key to this process. The soul can only manifest
itself to any great extent through vehicles of analogous vibration.
It is for this reason that so much emphasis has been laid, in
all teachings, on purity - of physical body, of feelings, of mind
and of motive. The process of purification rightly starts on the
Probationary Path; by the time the Initiatory Path is being trodden,
the habits of purity are expected to be already established and
automatic.
The
physical body is the first to undergo purification and, for those
in preparation for the first initiation, a vegetarian diet becomes
essential. Meat eating has a lowering effect on the vibration
of the physical body of man and must be eliminated from the diet.
It is interesting to note how many people today, especially the
young, are turning to vegetarianism. There is no doubt that this
relates to the fact that several millions now stand on the threshold
of the first initiation; consciously or unconsciously, they are
responding to the inner precepts of the soul.
Hallmarks
of Each Initiation
Consciousness
on a plane is a very different thing from control on that plane,
and initiation is the result, not only of consciousness, but also
of control. At the first initiation, the control of the soul (or
Ego) over the physical body must be well advanced. The desires
of the body for eating, drinking, sex, sleep, rest, must no longer
dominate. That is not to say that the aspirant must no longer
eat, drink, sleep or have sex, but all of these should be in moderation,
regulated, and under the control of the soul.
This
control is really over the physical elemental. All our bodies,
material and spiritual, are made up of the bodies of tiny devic
(angelic) lives or elementals, the so-called lunar and solar pitris.
The lunar pitris form the physical, astral and mental bodies of
the lower man, while the solar pitris constitute the body of the
soul, or causal body.
The
first initiation is called the Birth Initiation. It is
the result of the birth of the Christ consciousness in the cave
of the heart, and aspirants who have undergone this experience
will have oriented themselves towards the spiritual life - which
does not necessarily mean the religious life. A general rightness
of conduct and thinking and an attitude of goodwill will be demonstrated.
The character will still have many faults (the ideal is seldom
attained), but a new and more comprehensive and inclusive attitude
to all beings will be shown, and the desire to serve will be strong.
As a result of the control of the physical elemental, a greater
creativeness will manifest itself. This is due to the shift of
the energy flow from the lower chakras to the throat center. It
is not by accident, therefore, that the culture of any civilization
is created by the initiates.
The
second initiation demonstrates emotional control, control
of the astral elemental, just as the first demonstrated control
of the physical elemental. This initiation is said to be the most
difficult. The initiate, enmeshed in the fogs of desire, of the
astral mists, has to clarify his responses to reality and free
himself from emotional bondage. So powerful is the astral nature
of man that this is an enormously difficult task and can take
many lives to achieve. The soul, through the agency of the mind,
has to control the emotional body and make it limpid and clear
for its true purpose: a fitting vehicle for the buddhic or intuitional
level of consciousness. The fifth principle of mind, working through
the mental body, acts as the director and organizer of astral
reaction, and thus as the dispeller of glamour. The Master Djwhal
Khul has written: "The second initiation is a profoundly difficult
one to take. For those upon the first or second rays of aspect
it is probably the most difficult of them all."
However,
with the advent of the Christ, acting as the dispeller of glamour
on a world scale, the way forward for the large number of aspirants
now approaching this experience will be facilitated, and many,
having long ago taken the first initiation, will pass through
the portals for a second time during this life. The second initiation
behind him, the initiate has to learn control of his mental vehicle.
Just as the fogs of glamour on the astral plane have had to be
dissipated, so now the illusions of the mental plane must be dissolved
in the light flooding in more and more brightly from the soul.
The
third initiation, the Transfiguration, demonstrates the
completely integrated personality, soul infused and responding
now to the energy of the Monad. Love, wisdom and dynamic will,
the attributes of the soul, now shine clearly through the personality,
and a creative life of world service and effectiveness ensues.
These
first three major planetary initiations must always be taken in
incarnation, on the physical plane. In this way the initiate's
consciousness is demonstrated through both mind and brain.
To
conclude this brief and necessarily incomplete account of the
requirements for each initiation, I quote again from the writings
of the Master Djwhal Khul: "When a man takes the fourth initiation,
he functions in the fourth plane vehicle, the buddhic, and has
escaped permanently from the personality ring-pass-not. This great
act of renunciation marks the moment when the disciple has nothing
in him which relates him to the three worlds (physical, astral
and mental) of human evolution. His contacts with those worlds
in the future will be purely voluntary, and for the purpose of
service." (Rays
and Initiations, p.696.) "The life of the man who takes the
fourth initiation, or the Crucifixion, is usually one of great
sacrifice and suffering. It is the life of the man who makes the
Great Renunciation, and even exoterically it is seen to be strenuous,
hard and painful. He has laid all, even his perfected personality,
upon the altar of sacrifice, and stands bereft of all. All is
renounced, friends, money, reputation, character, standing in
the world, family, and even life itself."
Reprinted
with the kind permission of Share International Magazine.
