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Discipleship in the New Age II - Teachings on Initiation - Part VI
On Hints

I have continually laid the emphasis upon the need of [318] disciples to think esoterically, and this is perhaps the most difficult demand that I can make upon you. A consideration of these hints should teach you much, for they are not what they seem upon superficial reading, and the effort to understand and to interpret should lead you far on your way towards "occult thinking." The Masters do not convey teaching through the medium of hints which could be safely given in a more open form. They have no intention at any time to be mysterious or to hold back teaching from the enquirer. Their method is, in reality, threefold:

  1. The presentation of those truths which obviously grow out of a recognition of truths already presented. There is here usually a close adherence to the esoteric teaching of the time, and this method is essentially a linking presentation.
  2. Occasionally (usually once in a century after their Conclave at the close of the first quarter) there is the imparting of a more advanced body of teaching. This teaching will only be recognized by a few of the foremost disciples in the world; it will, however, prove to be the ordinary form of occult teaching during the next developing cycle. It is this type of work which I have been endeavoring to do with the aid of A.A.B.
  3. There is also the teaching which is definitely given within the Ashram, and which is not, at the time when the other two forms are prevalent, reduced to writing; it will find its way out into expression as need arises and as opportunity is offered to the disciples who are its custodians. Its presentation is dependent upon the unfoldment - rapid or slow - of the lesser disciples of the world.

All these three methods are in use at this present time.

As a man progresses nearer and nearer to his goal, he finds himself beginning to realize that the entire technique of this unfoldment consists of a sequence of revelations which are induced by his recognition of subjective significances which are of a nature entirely different to the usual and apparent meanings. In the olden days, as you well know, [319] the Master would say to a disciple: "Here is a hint" and, having stated it, he would proceed to enjoin upon his disciple the necessity to withdraw and search for the true meaning until he found it; then, and only then, could he return for a consequent new hint.

Today, this method is no longer being used, and this change constitutes one of the modes of training the disciples of the New Age. The modern disciple has to recognize the hint which is related to his point in consciousness and which is to be found in the mass of instruction made available for his use. He has to seek for the - to him - most deeply esoteric statement he encounters in the current teaching; from this isolated hint he has to abstract the significance, after removing it from its context; later, he must learn and profit from its meaning.

The hints given at this stage are related to the theme of revelation, or they concern themselves with the techniques which make revelation possible. The hint, for instance, with which you can work until you receive the next sequence of teaching is contained in this paragraph and the one above; you can discover it if you take each phrase, release your intuition and seek for meaning and significance related to the possibility of revelation. My one effort today is to indicate the relation between initiation and revelation. The revelation - induced by right orientation and right thinking - is a part of the training of the initiate, and many thus in training delay their progress by not recognizing the revelation when it tops the line of their spiritual horizon.

Five hints have already been given to you, and I would like you to get their sequence, for it may prove valuable to you and to other disciples:

  1. That the changes brought about in the Hierarchy have been the work of the disciples of the world. Have you asked yourself (in studying this hint), Why the disciples?
  2. That human world planning is today the first indication of the emergence of the will aspect. Why is this rightly so? [320]
  3. That disciples in all the Ashrams have the task simultaneously of "modifying, qualifying and adapting the divine Plan." Why is this so? Why is the Plan not imposed?
  4. That the initiate knows because he works. What does this hint mean to you?
  5. A key to the correct interpretation of a hint lies in its association with the idea of direction in time and space.

Study these and see what is their relationship and what you feel is the inner meaning which they are intended to convey.
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