I shall now be very practical. I speak for the man on the Probationary Path, who has therefore an intellectual grasp of what has to be accomplished. He realizes approximately his place in evolution and the work to be done if he would some day pass through the portal of Initiation. In this way what I will say will teach the majority who study these letters... The man undertakes to meditate and seeks to conform to the necessary rules. Let me give a few preliminary hints:

• The aspirant seeks daily a quiet spot where he can be free from interference and interruption. If wise, he will always seek the same spot, for he will there build up a shell around it that will serve as a protection and make the desired higher contact more easy. The matter of that spot, the matter of what you might term the surrounding space, becomes then attuned to a certain vibration (the man's own highest vibration, reached in consecutive meditations) which makes it easier for him each time to start at his highest and so eliminate a long preliminary keying up.
• The aspirant composes himself to a position in which he can be unconscious of his physical body. No hard and fast rules can be laid down as the physical vehicle itself has here to be considered, - it may be handicapped in some way, stiff or crippled. Ease of posture is to be aimed at, coupled with alertness and attention. Slothfulness and laxness lead a man nowhere. The position most suitable for the average is cross-legged upon the ground, sitting against something that affords support to the spine. In intensest meditation or when the aspirant is very proficient and the centers rapidly awakening (perhaps even the inner fire pulsating at the base of the spine) [62] the back should be erect without support. The head should not be thrown back as tension is to be avoided, but it should be held level, or with the chin slightly dropped. When this is done, that tenseness that is the characteristic of so many will be gone and the lower vehicle will be relaxed. The eyes should be closed and the hands folded in the lap.
• Then let the aspirant note if his breathing is regular, steady and uniform. Should this be so, let him then relax his entire person, holding the mind positive and the physical vehicle supple and responsive.
• Then let him visualize his three bodies, and having decided whether his meditation shall be in the head or within the heart (I will later take up this point) let him withdraw his consciousness there and focus himself in one or other of the centers. In so doing let him deliberately realize that he is a Son of God, returning to the Father; that he is God Himself, seeking to find the God-consciousness which is His; that he is a creator, seeking to create; that he is the lower aspect of Deity seeking alignment with the higher.
• Then let him three times intone the Sacred Word, breathing it forth gently the first time and thereby affecting the mental vehicle; more loudly the second time, thereby stabilizing the emotional vehicle; and in a still louder tone the final time, acting then upon the physical vehicle. The effect upon each body will be threefold. If correctly chanted with the center of consciousness steadily held within whichever center has been chosen, the effect will be as follows:

On Mental Levels:

1. The contacting of the head center, causing it to vibrate. The stilling of the lower mind. [63]
2. Linking up with the Ego to a more or less degree, but always to some extent through the permanent atom.
3. The driving out of coarse particles and the building in of finer.

On Emotional Levels:

1. The definite stabilization of the emotional body through the permanent atom, and the contacting and setting in motion of the heart center.
2. The driving out of coarse matter and the rendering of the emotional or desire body more colorless, so that it will be a true reflector of the higher.
3. It causes a sudden rush of feeling from the atomic levels of the emotional plane to the intuitional plane, via the atomic channel that exists between the two. It sweeps upward and clarifies the channel.

On the Physical Planes: