Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul - Discipleship in the New Age II - Personal Instructions to Disciples

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Discipleship in the New Age II - Personal Instructions to Disciples - I.A.P.

To I. A. P.

August 1940

BROTHER OF OLD:

In the present world upheaval and with its steady approach to the western hemisphere, it is not easy for world disciples - with their unusual sensitivity - to detach themselves from the general psychic condition. Yet the aim of each pledged and obligated disciple (such as you are, my brother, by your own proving - which is the only sure testimony) must be to hold a subjective attitude of detached contact - an occult paradox! - and at the same time to carry forward the life of active service upon the physical plane. This is your problem and one which you will have increasingly to face in the future. The present situation must and will touch all nations and every disciple will be tested and will have to express the utmost that is in him in service. I point this out so that you can comprehend the present and be prepared for the future.

I write to you as a soul and not as a personality and would ask you to study the implications of that attitude which I hold towards you. For the remainder of your life there should be a close application to the establishing of the gained soul contact and the training of the inner attentive man to catch the communications of the soul, plus the dedicated will to forget all personality applications in the meeting of surrounding need - as far as you can in your own country and allied nations. This may come to you as a surprising statement but at the close of the war, the period of rebuilding and the establishing of right human relations may (I do not say it will, for the constant element of free will must enter in) force each disciple to work in those places where earlier effort, the ties of karma and national heritage, and inclination [493] determine his personal allegiance. This will be true for you too but only time will indicate whether you work with close relationship or from a distance - the first being preferable, if possible. I ask you simply to hold these possibilities in mind, to avoid fanatical conclusions, and to be prepared to work where the opportunity confronts you.

The glamor to which I referred in my first communication to you this year (Vol. I, Page 188) is being handled by you with right attitude and common sense. For this I commend you, reminding you always that soul contact is universal and inclusive in its effects but that the separate mind (even at soul levels) can still differentiate and place imparted truths under categories and sources. It is the imparted truths, the teaching and the inspiration which is of moment and this fact I believe that you are learning. I, the Master D.K., am a member of the Hierarchy and am teaching you through your own soul on mental levels, in the world of glamor at times also, and exoterically upon the physical plane through a much older disciple, A.A.B., who transmits to you my ideas. Through me, however, and through your contact with me (which is based on the recognition and unfoldment of your soul) you are en rapport with a world of spiritual inspiration and awareness which you can appreciate. Appropriate it, my brother, and transmit the teaching to those you serve but be not occupied or interested in the sources or origins of this teaching. They matter not. Nevertheless, the responsibility of the teacher rests upon you. The teacher should be so occupied with the need of the taught and with the clarification of the truth, as it is given to him, in terms that they can comprehend that he cannot be sidetracked through undue interest in the origin of the revelation.

A.A.B. here reminds me that I have not given you the rays which control your personality. Your major rays - 1 and 2 - are identical with those of J.W.K-P. and C.A.C., and should lead to a satisfactory understanding between you. This combination of the first and the second rays - governing either the soul or the personality - is the dominating influence in this work which I am attempting at this time to do. They are to be found quite often in this group and this [494] is to be expected owing to the fact that the Masters M. and K.H. are the over-shadowing influences behind my efforts. Seven of the group members are conditioned by these energies and most of the others have the second ray present either in their personality or egoic expressions. This should be noted as definitely coloring the group and creating (if I might so express it) the group note. Of these potencies the whole group can, therefore, avail itself for it means that the inflow of understanding, light and love is thereby greatly facilitated.

The rays of your personality are as follows:

Mental body - The fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict.
Astral body - The first Ray of Power.
Physical body - The third Ray of Active Intelligence.

This constitutes an interesting combination and produces a close relation and a line of least resistance in connection with the soul ray, through the medium of the brain (embodying the third ray force) and the astral body. I would point out to you that the brain is ever composed of atoms and cell units which vibrate to the energy of the ray which controls the physical body. This is a basic occult fact given out in a definite statement for the first time but ever deducible and implied when the student studies intelligently and has a real grasp of basic esoteric implications. Through the powerful aspiration of your first ray astral body (which is in fact transmuted desire) and its intelligent expression, and through the third ray power of your directing, awakening brain, soul contact is fairly easy of achievement for you at this particular point in your evolution. Your real problem is to free the results of this contact from distortion and glamor by the power of the illumined mind - an illumination achieved through conflict and discrimination and resulting (when the victory is gained) in the harmonizing, of soul and its form on earth.

I would like, therefore, to give some meditation exercices [495] which will facilitate the achievement of this clear vision and a correct interpretation of emerging facts and relations.

I. Exercise prior to Meditation:

Stand erect, facing your soul. Then say audibly, if possible:
"I accept the responsibility of discipleship which my soul has placed upon me."

Then pause a minute, endeavoring to realize the full significance of this undertaking. Then dismiss it.

Again face your soul and say:
"I accept with joy and with confidence and with a sense of comradeship, my share in the responsibility of making the spiritual work in the world successful."

Pause again, trying to grasp the true implications of this pledge.

II. Meditation Work:

Sit erect but relaxed. Withdraw the consciousness inward in successive stages, using the imagination in so doing. The imagination is a creative activity, producing definite inner change. Upon this you can depend because it is one of the forces influencing substance itself. Therefore,
1. Withdraw from the physical brain, after definitely focusing your consciousness there. Withdraw to the astral plane.
2. Withdraw from the astral body to the mental body. From that point recognize yourself as an integrated personality.
3. Withdraw from the personality into the soul.
As you do this work, try to see the thread of golden light which connects these three aspects of yourself. At the same time keep your consciousness steadily focused in the head at the center between the eyebrows, the ajna center. This thread - dual in nature, like two golden cables intertwined - passes [496] from the heart and connects you, the personality, with the soul.
Having achieved this alignment and withdrawing, and having thus related the three aspects of the personality, quietly realize three facts:
1. That you are now face to face with your own soul, standing before the Angel of the Presence.
2. That you, this angelic Being, are essentially Reality, manifesting through three aspects.
3. That therefore separation does not exist.
Then say with emphasis and understanding:

"Having pervaded this world of the little manifested self with one fraction of my greater Self, I remain, greater, wider, inclusive and therefore over-shadowing all my daily living."

Ponder on this for five minutes.

Then add to the above the following statement:
"I, the manifesting Self, through the magical power of my nature, redeem, reabsorb and revitalize this fraction, dwelling in my form."
Then sound the OM three times:
1. Sound it mentally, breathing forth radiance on to the mental plane.
2. Sound it next in a whisper, breathing forth the dispelling power of Light on to the astral plane.
3. Then sound it audibly, breathing illumination on to the physical plane.
This is followed by a period of listening or what is called esoterically "egoic conversation."

I have, my brother, in this instruction given you much food for thought, also the basis for real encouragement and an indication of your needed line of approach to reality. [497]

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