In the past, it was the Master who succinctly gave the disciple the hint which he deemed appropriate to the immediate need. Decisions as to the need of a disciple are based on his soul-fusion and upon the world need at the time, which may be calling imperatively for the disciple's service. The hint given was usually removed from all context; the disciple had to recognize it for what it was, and had then to proceed to discover its meaning and to find the significance of its indications. Owing to the point attained in the evolution [412] of humanity, the hint was practically and invariably of a mental nature, and stimulated the intelligence, and intensified the strength of the mind, the mental search light, or the soul. Such hints are now constantly given by senior disciples to aspirants upon the Probationary Path. They serve to clarify thought; they remove glamor and illusory veils; they reveal the mental approach of the personality to the problem of soul contact and are an integral part of the process which enables the aspirant to establish a rapport which will bring the soul and the personality together and lead to soul fusion with its instrument.

But, as the race has unfolded the principle or aspect of intelligence and has reached its present relatively high stage of mental understanding and perception, the older process has proved too simple and elementary; the modern disciple did not profit by the single mental statement presented to him by his Master; it proved no real challenge and became a point upon which discrimination of an interior activity must be made, and not a factor calling for the needed higher illumination. The older position was that of understanding and following a hint, and this brought the aspirant closer to acceptance in a Master's Ashram; it developed the mental apparatus, providing a better instrument for soul contact, and later, for service. The major emphasis was, however, soul contact, and the hint was usually of a purely personal nature, and was concerned with those inhibitions, wrong interpretations and negations which interfere with true soul contact and present a barrier to progress into an Ashram.