MEDITATIONS ON THE

OCCULT LIFE

BY

GEOFFREY HODSON

WITH A FOREWORD

BY

G. S. ARUNDALE, M.A., LL.B., D.Litt., F.R.Hist.S.

THE THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING HOUSE.

ADYAR, MADRAS, INDIA

1937
 DEDICATION

TO

ALL ASPIRANTS
 Grateful thanks are due and given to
J.H., A.D.M., F.W.W., S.C., V.G., and M.S.S.
 FOREWORD

MR. HODSON is right when he says that his work

is not a text book. I doubt if, except to a definitely
limited extent, there could be a text book on Occult¬
ism, for while there are undoubtedly certain funda¬
mental principles which those who run may read,
such principles are but the bare foundations for that
study and experience which are absolutely indi¬
vidual both to the teacher and to the pupil. No true
occultist would dream of writing a book describing
such study and experience, as he would very well
know the irretrievable harm that must inevitably
result from so doing.
Mr. Hodson seeks in his “ Meditations on the
Occult Life ” to set forth certain of these funda¬
mental principles as he has learned them from his
teachers. He could not do more than this in a
book which is available to the public, though in
these days of unbridled curiosity, and of the belief
that one has only to travel in the East to enter
deeply into the facts of Occultism, we find ignorant
dabblers publishing even in newspapers methods of
alleged Yoga practices and titbits of occult lore.
Real Yoga, real Occultism, is ever for the few
alone, for those who have sought their teachers
 X

having which has not been achieved at a great

price, and specially is this true in the ease of the
glories of Occultism. Only those who know how to
persevere, who cannot be overcome by defeat or
difficulty, who regard no obstacle as insurmount¬
able, no sacrifice as too much to give, no hardship as
too much to endure, are worthy to begin to enter
the outer court of Occultism. For when they be¬
come ready for the inner court, they must have
become spiritual athletes, knowers of the all-
pervading Wisdom and selfless wielders of the
power of the eternal Law.
George S. ARUNDALE
 AUTHOR’S PREFACE

This work is not published as a text book1 offering

complete expositions of its., subject matter. It
consists of a collection of ideas which have arisen
in the author’s mind during attempts to verify
certain occult teachings.
As the title suggests, the method of these
attempts was that of meditation in which attention
was focused upon fundamentals of occult science
in an endeavour to translate them into experience*
The author dissociates himself from occult claims,
particularly from those which might be inferred
from his references to diseipleship and Initiation.
By meditation and aspiration knowledge may be
gained of stages of evolution which lie in the future.
Indeed the aspirant deliberately tries to envisage
the path before him, to gain fore-knowledge of the
heights which later he hopes to ascend.

1 Fop such expositions vide :

The Masters and the Path, by C. W. Leadbeatep.
In the Outer Court, The Path of Diseipleship, Initiation,
by Annie Besant.
Talks on the Path of Oeeultism, by A. Besant and
C. W. Leadbeatep.
At the Feet of the Master, by J. Kpishnamupti.
 In the author’s ease such inner realization as
came to him was not infrequently accompanied by
a flow of illuminating ideas. He offers this book
for publication in the hope that it may serve as
a starting point for similar voyages of discovery
by others.
 CONTENTS

PAGE

FOREWORD Vll

AUTHOR’S PREFACE xi

CHAPTER I
The Path of Hastened
Victory—Life Spiritualized
—The Discovery of Truth . 1
CHAPTER II
Brain and Body—S 1 e e p—
Pure Food—Ordered Daily
Life—P u r i t y of Body
Necessary to Spiritual
Growth—M editation—The
Pineal and Pituitary
Glands . . .5
CHAPTER III
The Four Triads; their
Corresponde nces—The
Seven Notes ; their Ex¬
pressions—The Temple of
Nature . . .14
CHAPTER IV
Life and Form—The Upward
Road—Elder and Younger
Brethren . . .22
 XIV

PAGE
CHAPTER V
The Way of Freedom—
Masterhood 26
CHAPTER YI
The Master’s Will—His Love
—His Knowledge—His
Work 29
CHAPTER YII
The Nature of Adeptship 36
CHAPTER VIII
The Great White Brother-
hood—Its Sevenfold Work
—The Way to the Masters
—Their Daily Life and
Activity . . .40
CHAPTER IX
The Life of the Pupil—His
Acceptance and his Work
—Occultism for Western
Men, Business, Art, and
Education . . .51
CHAPTER X
Discipleship—The M ystical
and the Occult Life of the
Disciple—The Vision of the
Whole . . .60
CHAPTER XI
Imperfect Perfection—The
Work of the Disciple—The
 XV

PAGE
Necessity for Purity—Uni¬
versal Love 70
CHAPTER XII
The Value of Meditation—
The Path of Swift Unfold-
ment—Occult Education . 78
CHAPTER XIII
The Accepted Pupil—The
New Birth—Initiation—
The Stream of Life—The
Work of the Initiate 83
CHAPTER XIV
Extra-planetary Activities of
the Adept—The Consecrat¬
ed Life 93
CHAPTER XV
Macrocosm in Microcosm—
The Vision of the Whole . 99
CHAPTER XVI
*
The Fragment and the
Whole—The Wellspring of
Life—The Nature of
Beauty 104
CHAPTER XVII
The War in Heaven—The
War in Man—Victory 108

CHAPTER XVIII
God Geometrizes—Spiritual
Symbols in the Mineral,
 XVI

PAGE
Vegetable, Animal, and
Human Kingdoms . .114
CHAPTER XIX
From Man to Superman—
The Symbol of the Cone—
The All-pervading Mind . 118
CHAPTER XX
The Ministration of the
Angels—The Ministration
of the Adepts . .122
L’ENVOI
Peace—Beauty—The Triune
God . . ' . . 129
INDEX 138
 CHAPTER I

The Path of Hastened Victory.

Life Spiritualized.
The Discovery of Truth.

SINCE man is a self-conscious being, he possesses

the power of submitting himself to a process of
spiritual forcing, of self-quickening. He may hasten
the attainment of his goal by the deliberate appli¬
cation in intensified form of the principles which
govern normal growth.
The process consists of repeated, and eventually
continuous, accentuation of all that is spiritual in
himself in terms of thought, feeling, motive, and
conduct, and of a complementary elimination from
those four aspects of his personal life of all that is
in opposition to the spiritual ideal. This implies the
establishment of a system of continual mental and
emotional self-observation and self-correction.
Such systematic self-forcing at first causes an
intensification of conflict within the neophyte. All
that is material in his nature resists the spiritualiz¬
ing process, tries to escape from his mental control.
The key to success lies therefore in the control of
 2

his mind, and to this achievement the aspirant must

bend all his energies. He will do well to ignore as
far as possible the impulses and promptings of his
emotional nature and the demands of his body and
to concentrate upon the subjugation of his mind.
Man as a personality is primarily a thinker ; the
power of self-consciously directing thought is the
keynote of his material existence and differentiates
him from the animal. The mind therefore is his
most effective weapon, his most suitable watch-
tower or observation-point, and his most powerful
directive influence. The mind is the key-position
which must be occupied and held throughout the
conflict.
The mastery of mind demands the withdrawal of
the consciousness from emotion and action into the
intellect until the capacity for pure mental aware¬
ness is developed. The interest in life must become
increasingly intellectual and spiritual—the spiritual
state containing the sublimated and controlled
emotion. Work, study and recreation must be
intellectualized and spiritualized until the neophyte
learns to live in thought, to rule and direct his life
through intellect. His personal life as a result will
become refined and purified. Austerity and asceti¬
cism will mark the conduct of his life ; self-restraint
and dignity his speech and bearing. Yet he will
remain warm-hearted, friendly and ready to help his
fellows, especially in the direction of the path of
hastened victory.
 3

These general methods of self-spiritualization

must be accompanied by the systematic practice of
spiritual exercises, designed partly to establish the
focus of consciousness in the higher mind; partly
to strengthen and sustain the mental control of
conduct, and partly to develop the capacity for
abstract thought. Later, intuitional consciousness
must be developed in preparation for the attainment
of the highest self-realization, that of spiritual will.
The necessary exercises consist of the interior
study of eternal verities by means of meditation
and contemplation. Certain of such verities are
propounded in the later chapters of this work.
These and other truths appear as the basis of the
religions of the world, and to their study the neo¬
phyte is directed. Mind and intuition must be
applied in the study of inspired exoteric teachings
in order that their esoteric meaning may be per¬
ceived. From this exercise he will collect a growing
body of spiritual truths which methodically he must
proceed to convert into realities for himself. He
must develop himself as a “ knower ” of truth.
This is achieved by experiment, the technique of
which will vary with every individual. The method
of the distillation of wisdom from the scriptures of
the different religions is to take each statement of a
truth and dwell upon it mentally until it is reduced
to its essentials. The essentials are then considered
in deep meditation until their full meaning is grasped
and its application to life discovered.
 4

This demands mental effort, a forcing of the mind

to dwell with unwavering concentration upon the
chosen subject with intent to pierce to its core.
Success is possible because truth is represented
within the consciousness of every man, and the
neophyte is enabled by virtue of the presence in
himself of the truth he seeks, to perceive it in the
subject of his meditation. By study of the external
expressions of truth he is led to the discovery of
truth within himself.
 CHAPTER II

Brain and Body.

Sleep—Pure Food.
Ordered Daily Life.
Purity of Body necessary to
Spiritual Growth.
Meditation.
The Pineal and Pituitary Glands-

SINCE the brain plays an all-important part in the

perception of truth during waking consciousness,
the neophyte must understand both the mechanism
and the evolution of the brain. The meditations
mentioned in the preceding chapter, if carried out
with perseverance, gradually change the condi¬
tion of the brain. Both cell activity and the range
of vibratory response are increased ; there is a
quickening of the constituent atoms 1 as they are
compelled by concentrated thought-force to convey
the power, life, and intelligence from super-mental
levels of consciousness.
[ According to occult science, atoms evolve, their1 evolution
being hastened as a result of their use by man. Vide Owutt
Chemistry, by A. Besant and C. W. Leadbeater ; A Study lti
Consciousness, by A. Besant.
 The whole brain is subjected to a strain by medi¬
tation upon abstract and spiritual truths, and the
neophyte must exercise great care lest in his enthu¬
siasm he might injure it Slight pain or dullness is
a warning that the strain is approaching the danger
point whereat permanent injury might occur. At
such a sign meditation should cease or be changed
to another form. The form which produced the
pain should be examined and experimented with,
practising extreme care ; the absence of pain is an
indication that an exercise is safe.
The training of the brain of the spiritual neophyte
must become practically continuous during waking
consciousness. If the relaxation of control is too
great, if there is too deep a descent into gross and
material thinking, the process of brain quickening
is not only retarded and the efforts at meditation
rendered almost abortive, but an influence is
exerted in the opposite direction. The range of
vibratory responsiveness is decreased and the
atomic evolution is slowed down.
The brain must be regarded as a delicate and
extremely valuable instrument which, as a result of
its contact with the work of the world, continually
becomes dull and consequently requires continual
re-sharpening. This is achieved by meditation,
thought-control, the deliberate avoidance of the
type of thinking which would diminish spiritual
awareness, by ordered and quiet living, and by right
food. All flesh foods sully the blood stream and
 7

bedull the brain. They also increase the tendency

to coarse thoughts and feelings. Fresh fruits and
vegetables, particularly raw foods, purify the blood
streams and vitalize the body and brain.
Western aspirants who undertake the practice of
meditation with regularity and seriousness require
the full complement of sleep. During the hours of
.sleep the brain recuperates after the strain of the
daily activities and is thus rendered capable of
responding more fully to the results of meditation.
Therefore, during the quickening process, much
rest is needed especially in the earlier stages, and
early retirement to sleep is advisable. Stimulants,
used to enable a tired nervous system to continue
its work, are harmful. System and order in-daily
life render their use unnecessary.
Daily activities must become purposeful and be
.so ordered that they have a direct relation to the
aim of self-discovery and self-illumination. Actions
which do not lead to that end must be eliminated.
The environment of the beginner may at first
prevent him from complying with these conditions,
but as he progresses, his environment will either
change or become adapted to his spiritual needs.
The process may seem to be slow yet it will occur
and in exact proportion to the rate of change in the
student. The environment of an individual con¬
tains all that his evolutionary education demands.
The man who is spiritually awakening and is rapidly
entering into closer attunement with life will find
his environment changing quickly ; the conditions
of life will reflect with increasing fidelity the state
of and changes in his consciousness.
Instruction concerning the brain applies also to
the whole body. It too must be kept clean without
and within, its magnetism guarded and purified by
frequent and regular bathing, frequent changes of
clothing and pure and natural living even among
impure and unnatural surroundings. The hands
and feet are the parts of the body which are most
susceptible to external magnetic impurities. They
are, as it were, magnetic orifices, modes of entrance
into and egress from the magnetic system of the
body. An outflow of magnetism and blessing may
be directed by the will through the hands when
contact is made with another during hand-shaking.
The greetings given by an occultist must be sincere
and expressed with positive intent. Sincerity and
positivity are two of the greatest safeguards in the
occult life.
The brain may be looked upon as the macrocosm,
the body as the microcosm, for in every cell of the
body brain-life is represented, brain-consciousness
is manifested, and brain-energy is expressed.
Transversely all the functions, actions, and experi¬
ences of the body are reflected in the brain through
the medium of the senses. Impurity of the body
whether of conduct or of person has a retarding
influence in the quickening process of the brain, and
 9

specific organ of intelligence the brain is the seat of

egoic consciousness ; it is the physical logos of the
bodily solar system and between these two inter¬
action continually occurs. Hence the necessity
for scrupulous attention to bodily purity and
well-being,
Occult or other practices, which force the body
into abnormal functional conditions, which over¬
sensitize or de-sensitize specific organs or members,
produce adverse effects upon both body and brain.
Harmony, rhythm, ease, poise, and grace consti¬
tute the qualities in which the neophyte should train
his body.
The brain thus made sensitive, the body thus
trained, the way is prepared for the descent and
physical manifestation of egoic consciousness. The
light of the higher understanding begins to illumine
the darkness of the personal intellect; the mental
body will outgrow its characteristics of inelasticity,
analysis, criticism, and self-isolation. These will be
replaced by open-mindedness, constructive judg¬
ment, and unification.
This change in the mental body is also of
importance to the development of the brain ; for the
conditions of both are reflected in each. The brain
and the intellectual centre in the mental body may
be regarded as the twin foci of the ellipse of personal
consciousness, negative and positive respectively.
Changes in the one instantly appear in the other;
perfection of either being impossible without the
 10

perfection of both. In insanity, or at death, mental

life is largely subjective, lacking the negative pole.
The pathway to the highest intellectual illumina¬
tion passes from brain to mental body, thence into
egoic consciousness and onwards and inwards
through intuition into spiritual will. From thence, in
the Adept, it leads out of the individual sphere into
the universal, in which the same general direction is
followed into cosmic consciousness. The task
before the neophyte whose body, brain, and mind are
receiving the best attention which he can pay to
them, is to establish for himself a measure of
waking egoic consciousness which shall steadily
increase in range and permanence. He should lift
his mind continually into the realm of principles,
.acquire the habit of raising all intellectual activities
to the level of the higher mind, and resist all
tendency to the enslavement of the mind by
particulars.
Meditation upon the eternal verities will not of
itself lead to success ; it must be supplemented by
a steadfast and increasingly successful establish¬
ment of the mind in the higher consciousness
during the periods between meditation. The
attitude of the neophyte towards an action involving
his emotions will be decided entirely by their effect
upon this endeavour. Emotions which distract the
mind and excite the body must be consistently
•avoided. Those which provide a fuller and freer
mode of self-expression, such as pure love,
 11

sympathy, devotion, and response to beauty should

be developed to their highest expression until they
alone constitute the emotional life, their place
being granted them by the will working through
the intelligence.
In this attainment also, the brain, with its specific
parts and organs plays an all-important part. The
brain is the abiding place of the individual Self of
incarnated man. It is the inner shrine of the
temple of the body. All its cells are permeated
with the intelligence aspect of the individual Self,
every molecule is charged with Its energy, the key
vibration or frequency of which is that of thought.
To this thought-ensoulment * of the brain, the
presence of the two other aspects of the triple Self
are subordinate. Hence the whole human brain is
a vehicle for individual awakened self-conscious¬
ness, its divisions corresponding to the facets of the
jewel of man’s intelligence, to various qualities of
mind, concrete and abstract.
The pineal and pituitary glands within the brain
are the focal points through which the manifestation
of individual consciousness primarily occurs. From
them consciousness extends throughout the brain
as waves of energy, varying in frequency according
to the nature of the thought. In the normal man
the pineal activity consists of concrete thought with
occasional extensions into the abstract, whilst the
pituitary gland conveys emotion with occasional
extensions into intuition.
 12

In the developed man intuition passes through

and is interpreted by the intelligence, reaching the
brain by way of the pineal gland. As intuition
develops, concrete thought is gradually relegated
to the subconscious, there joining with emotion
and reaching the brain through the pituitary
gland.
Development of consciousness is accompanied by
a parallel organic development of brain, including
an increase in the range of vibratory responsiveness
of both glands. Their positive and negative
polarities become accentuated owing to their
increased activity as receivers and transmitters, so
that a direct interplay—in electrical terms a
magnetic field—is established between them. The
third ventricle of the brain is included in this field,,
completing the constitution of a tripartite mechanism
for the manifestation of the triple Self through
the brain.
An embryonic etheric opening at the anterior
fontanel, filled in the normal man with etheric
matter, is gradually cleared by the radiations from
this cranial “ machine This channel, when
opened, makes possible a new and direct relation
between the higher Self and the brain, a short cut
as it were, between consciousness and vehicle.
The normal passage is through the mental, emo¬
tional, and etheric vehicles, the pituitary and pineal
glands, each of which must serve as a relay station
receiving, transmitting, and modifying in varying
 13

degree the messages in the process. The ego of

developed man manifests directly in and through
the brain via fontanel and third ventricle.
 CHAPTER III

The Four Triads; their Correspondences.

The Seven Notes; their Expressions.
The Temple of Nature.

FROM the concluding portions of the previous

chapter it will be seen that the symbol of the
triangle is formed by centres in the brain, apex at
the anterior fontanel and basic angles at the pineal
and the pituitary glands. This triangle is a re¬
production in the physical matter of the head, of
three superphysical triads, all of which are reflec¬
tions of the triple nature of the Supreme. These
three triads are : one, the mental, the emotional,
and the vital principles : two, the intelligence, the
intuition, and the will: three, the Creator, the
Preserver, and the Transformer aspects of the
Supreme reflected in the human Monad. These
three, with the head centres, make four triangles in
all. Each angle of the four triangles symbolizes
and is a manifestation of the same aspect of the
Supreme; whilst between them all, by correspond¬
ence or by harmonies, there is an intimate relation¬
ship. Thus is the highest manifest in the lowest,
 15

thus the immortal in the mortal, life through form,,

consciousness through vehicle.
The brain is the gateway through which con¬
sciousness must pass from its lowest to its highest
expression. Each of the three superphysical
triangles is also a gateway. All must therefore be
studied; each principle of man must be understood,,
and their inter-relation become known.
These principles differ in the moral and in the'
developed man. In the normal man, only the
minimum of power necessary to the preservation of
health and efficiency of the physical body passes
between the four triadic manifestations of the One.
The measure of power increases with the evolu¬
tionary progress of the individual, as also of the
race, so that normality itself differs in each
succeeding era.
In the developed man the measure of power is far*
beyond the normal- and the inter-relation between
his principles is more intimate and, consequently,,
more manifest. In the normal man the highest
triad, the monadic, scarcely manifests; the next, the
egoic, is manifested slightly ; the man lives in the
lower and knows but little of the existence of the
higher Self. Developed man begins to include
abstract intelligence and intuition in his waking
consciousness and gradually develops spiritual will.
The new field of evolution which is now opened to
his consciousness extends and includes these three
functions, and eventually, his monadic powers—the
 16

powers which are the directly reflected Aspects of

the Supreme—begin to show themselves, as his
developed brain begins to answer to their force.
Expansion of consciousness and development of
brain are achieved by the practice of meditation
already referred to and by the art of contemplation,
or dwelling abstractedly on and in the highest truths
of Nature.
Contemplation consists first of fixing the mind
upon an aspect of eternal truth, an attribute of
divinity. Trained by exercises in meditation, the
mind of the developed man has become steady,
capable of being fixed upon a single idea to the
exclusion of all else. When the idea chosen is one
of the eternal truths which are inexhaustible powers,
the consciousness is automatically elevated and
expanded by contact with it. Mental effort then
ceases; the mind becomes still. The neophyte
enters in consciousness into a world of one idea, a
unimotived universe ; he strikes and hears one note
only in the chord of existence. He then listens to
that note, and listening becomes the note, its tone
and resonance.
The universe is sevenfold, the notes of its chord
seven in number, each note representing both a
mode of manifestation of the Supreme and an
eternal truth. As the student contemplates each
one of the seven he becomes identified with a
seventh part of the whole and merges his conscious¬
ness therein. He strikes in turn the seven notes,
 17

listens in meditation to each, and in each he

becomes absorbed. Finally through each he be¬
comes the whole, the sevenfold man consciously one
with the sevenfold universe. This is the goal of
contemplation.
The seven notes are variously described. The
first and the seventh are the Alpha and Omega of
manifested life ; they are the first and the last,
the centre and the circumference, containing the
whole. The first is the primordial source, the point,
the positive power of the universe. Within it is the
light of the cosmic sun focused through the lens of
the extra-universal mind. In the universe it is
power; in the Logos it is omnipotence ; in man it
is will.
By contemplation these three are known as one.
In contemplation even the point may be known ;
from and through the point the extra-universal mind
and the cosmic source ; for That which is within
and That which is beyond are one. Realization of
that oneness is the goal.
The seventh note is the first in its ultimate
expression. Power in action ; will in motion ; omni¬
potence made manifest. The relatively static centre
has become the active sphere, yet the two are one.
Within the universe the seventh is physical material,
the sun, the globes, and all things evolving upon
them. In the Logos it is the universe. In man it
is the physical body. In manifestation the Spiritual
One has become material multiplicity. Because
2
 18

knowledge of the many leads to knowledge of the-

One, man is placed amongst the manifold expres¬
sions of the One that through them he may find and
know the One alone. From the One he goes forth,,
unconscious of aught save the One, into the many.
From the many he returns selfconsciously to
the One.
The second and the sixth notes, representing
respectively Life and its expression, are also
paired. Life is all-pervading, omnipresent, the
unifying principle of the universe, the Spiritual Sun ;
its expression is localized as the vital principle in
matter, the vitalizing principle in Nature and the
physical sun. In the universe the second note is
Life ; in the Logos it is omnipresence; in man it is
love; in developed or spiritual man it is wisdom.
The sixth note is, in the universe, form, shape,
organized matter. In the Logos it is His “body”
of the universe with its heart of fire—the sun—
whose life-giving principle appears as roseate fire
and, on earth, as an atom glowing with rosy
light. In man it is one-pointedness ; in the devel¬
oped man it is inspired devotion.
The third and fifth notes also represent comple¬
mentary attributes. The third is the interplay
between spirit and matter, life and form ; the
principles governing the manifestation of spirit and
life through matter and forms ; the archetypes of
all the resultant forms; Truth and the keys of
knowledge ; these are connoted by the third.
 19

In the universe the third note is energy directed

by the universal mind, energy being its outer, and
universal mind its inner, expression. In the Logos
it is the passive female principle, the womb in which
all forms are conceived and from which all come
forth. In man it is conscience and idealism, moral-
ity and truth; in developed man it appears as
comprehension and abstract intelligence.
The fifth note is the time expression of that
which is everlasting, the progressively developing
form of a single archetype. In the universe it is
the evolving process, growth. In the Logos it is
Time. In man it is the brain and the analytical
intelligence; in developed man it becomes as a
crystal lens through which the principles of the
third note are projected as rays and are focused by
it into the brain as illumination, genius, and
inspiration.
The fourth note is the middle unit, the pivot, the
fulcrum, the stable point of rest, the lowest point in
the swing of the pendulum of life between the
primordial three pairs of opposites. It is the state
of perfect relation, of balance, of the highest art of
self-expression, of harmony between life and form,
vehicle and consciousness. It is the point of rest at
which the pendulum of manifested life makes an
apparent pause in its everlasting swing between
spirit and matter. In that “ momentary pause ” of
ultimate stability, perfect equipoise, the beauty of
the Supreme is revealed.
 20

In the universe it is the beauty of Nature. In the

Logos it is Beauty s Self. In man it becomes love
of the beautiful. In the developed man it is the
faculty of perceiving and portraying the beauty of
the Supreme.
The essential character of the fourth is darkness,
stillness, equipoise, as of creative night before crea¬
tive dawn. Physical, mental or spiritual germina¬
tion demands the covering of the mantle of
darkness. So also in the production of a work of
art, the artist withdraws his consciousness from the
light of day into the darkness of the creative night
within himself, into the balanced stillness in which
his creation is conceived. The artist creator in any
branch must have attained equilibrium. This is the
law of creation, whether of universe, solar system,
planet, man, or human work of art.
In this stillness is achieved the true vision or in¬
sight without which all art is lifeless. Only when
the artist has found and entered it will the fire of
genius descend upon him in its full pentecostal
power.
Wise indeed is he who by contemplation knows
and understands this sevenfold universe—the seven
great notes, severally and as- a chord. He knows
them as the seven keys of life .which open all doors
to Truth—Truth which is enshrined within the
temple of Nature.
Man stands midway between brute creation and
the creative will, is an ambassador from the Creator
 21

to the sub-human kingdoms of Nature. Man’s task

is to uplift the lower forms to his own level. That
which is hidden in the temple of Nature is revealed
in man; Her sevenfold attributes should, in him,
reach their highest development. He should show
forth Her majesty and power, Her unity, Her
hidden mind, Her beauty and stability, Her secret
lore, Her resistless urge towards self-perfection,
and Her response through form to the power of the
Self within. Her qualities must become his in ever-
increasing perfection for that is the evolutionary
road along which She is leading him.

6nS7
 CHAPTER IV

Life and Form.

The Upward Road.
Elder and Younger Brethren.

SINCE in Nature form is subordinate to life, so

should it become in man. He must live from within
himself seeking the fulfilment of life rather than the
perpetuation of form.
Form is the servant of life, yet in the world in
which the aspirant lives life is made subordinate to
form. Life nevertheless is all-conquering and form,
however strong, must ultimately be destroyed. De¬
struction brings sorrow to those who have put their
trust in form alone. But to him who has learned to
trust life sorrow is alien, for he has found the
secret of happiness. One with life and trusting it, he
shares its freedom, knows its;6ti,ss. Pain belongs to
form ; suffering is inevitable to’tffose who are under
its dominion—for form, being tr&risient, must inevit¬
ably pass away, being mortal|*|| must one day
perish. Life'everlasting, injn>*ortal ; those who
put their trus%/%i it will conquer death and win
eternal bliss. .
 23

Yet life and form are not in truth opponents, they

are twin aspects of the One from which both
proceed. By experience and understanding of both
man finds his way to the One. This achievement is
the goal of human life.
Life and form are the two pillars of the gateway
leading to the abode of the One Supreme. Between
and linking them is the Way which may be thought
of concretely as a road, along which all feet must
pass. Even the highest Gods have trodden this
road—Those Seven High Intelligences in whom the
seven notes or modes are perfectly made manifest.
Even the One Supreme knew its joys and hardships
long, long ago in universes now turned to dust.
Brute beasts, savages, civilized and cultured man,
geniuses, prophets, saints, and holy men throng the
road leading to eternal life, passing ever nearer to
the gateway of release from the pairs of opposites,
which is the goal. Beyond the gateway dwell the
just men made perfect”, the Adepts, the Spiritual
Kings, in the abode of the Supreme. These mighty
Ones may also be encountered on the road, having
voluntarily returned to the imprisonment of life in
form to help, to heal, to guide, and to inspire strug¬
gling humanity, Their younger brethren.
Although They move amongst the slowly climbing
throng rarely are They seen by men ; for men’s eyes
accustomed to the differences and divisions of the
modes of manifestation of the One are blind to the
light of Those who abide in unity. Nevertheless
 24

the Great Ones are perceived by those who have

begun to recognize unity amid diversity, life within
form, and to live according to their vision. The Per¬
fected Ones ever watch for those in whom this,
vision dawns, those who are endeavouring to tread
the Way and are therefore ready to receive
Their aid.
In the present age spiritually minded men abound
and, becoming servants of their race, draw nearer to
the Elder Brethren. In this age the veil between
the outer world of form and inner world of life is
growing thin. Enlightened men and women begin
to pierce that veil and to enter the world of life.
The Perfect Ones note these incursions, bless and
inspire their younger brethren as they approach the
inner realm in which They dwell.
The privilege of fellowship with Perfect Men has
always been attainable by those able to perceive the
unity of all that lives, the fact of Universal Brother¬
hood, and perceiving, live their lives in accordance
with that truth.
To all who seek Their companionship, yearn to
serve mankind under Them, in effect the Elder-
Brethren say: “ Arise! Awaken ! and become the
Gods which you are! Live as Gods, pure, selfless
and strong.
“ The God, which in the real world you are,
shines there with stainless purity, irradiates a self¬
less love, and begins to display that strength which
is the promise of omnipotence.
 25

“ Amidst the impurity of the world, be pure;

amidst the selfishness of humanity, serve; and
amidst the weakness of man, be strong.
“ Thus living, you shall find the gateway to
Eternal Life. Thus serving, you shall find Us who
live to serve. Thus strong, you shall receive Our
strength, who have become Pillars in the temple of
the omnipotent God.
“ Sleeping and waking Our power shall flow through
you for the service of the world. In Our Name and
by Our Power you shall become healers of the world,
consolers of its sorrows and inspirers of those who'
are able to respond to the ideal of the perfect life
and to the presence of the Perfect Men.
“ Your world is your harvest field, your kind its
sheaves. Yours to gather them in so that the
Divine Husbandman who sowed may reap into
Himself not men but Gods.
“ Live that all who see your life may aspire to
emulate your living. Serve that those who see your
service in their turn may serve. Be strong that all
who see your strength may change defeat to-
victory.
“ Such are Our rules of life. Obedience to them
will bring you near to Us. An Elder awaits each
one of you that He may make of you a Saviour of
the World.”
 CHAPTER V

The Way of Freedom.

Masterhood.

THE world is a prison, the heart of man a prison

cell within which his soul is confined. Through the
barred window of the senses, the soul looks into the
prison yard seeking escape. For many the hour of
freedom is not yet, for should the bars be broken,
the doors unlocked, there are still grim guardians
who obstruct the way. Desire, passion, sensuality,
cunning, greed, self-sufficiency, egotism, hate and
pride—these are the imprisoning powers. They are
indeed grim guardians, whose existence depends
upon the imprisonment of the soul. Therefore
strenuously they resist destruction. Fighting them
but increases their strength, for the attention given
to them by the imprisoned soul is the source of their
vitality.
The way of escape is not by conflict with these
guards. The Path to freedom does not lead outward
through the prison doors, formed and entered by
surrender to the faults and vices of the lower self.
The path leads away from outer conflict to inward
peace. The prisoner must escape from within. He
 27

must cease to gaze outwards through the barred

windows of the senses into the prison yard where
only the obstacles to his freedom exist, cease to
fight his vices by direct attack. Instead he must
withdraw all thought from them and concentrate
upon their opposite virtues and powers. Thus
he will find the way within himself, will pass into a
higher realm of consciousness, therein to become
miraculously free.
This way is found and trodden by the practice of
self-restraint, by purity of life, by aspiration, idealism
and self-sacrifice. In the presence of purity desire
dies. Pure love destroys passion, conquers every
evil and sets free those in whom it has come to
birth. Such is the way of escape from the prison of
the material world, the torture of temptation, the
slavery of sensuality, and the imprisonment of hate
and greed.
This way is open to all. Every freed soul has
trodden it. It is called the Razor-edged Path, the
Path of Holiness, the Straight and Narrow Way,
and u few there be that find it.” Well nigh two
thousand years have passed since those words were
uttered. During that period mankind has progress¬
ed. Many now perceive the way of escape, yet
willingly, or by force of habit, many continue in
imprisonment, submitting voluntarily to the domina¬
tion of desire. They are the blind who will not see,
erring far more than younger souls not yet awake to
freedom's call.
 28

Although divine discontent is now felt by many

souls, its meaning and significance are not yet
understood. Men mistake this inexpressible longing
of the inner man for a sensual appetite, a physical
yearning, and seek to heal its gnawing pain by
plunging more deeply into excess. They fail to
recognize it as the sign that they are out-growing
the pleasures which have hitherto enthralled them,
the toys of their soul’s infancy.
Spiritual adolescence has been reached, demand¬
ing changes, radical and positive. Self-indulgence
must give way to wise asceticism, sensuality to
austerity. Selfish motives must be replaced by
altruism, self-seeking by philanthropy. Thus spirit¬
ual adolescence is entered. Thus the way which
leads to spiritual maturity is found and trodden.
Along this way have passed Those Perfect Men
who are the spiritual Rulers of the world, the true
Teachers of the human race. Perfect are They in
will, in love, in knowledge, manifesting perfectly
these three attributes of the Supreme.
 CHAPTER VI

The Master’s Will :

His Love :
His Knowledge :
His Work.

THE resistless power of a Master’s will arises from

the innermost depths of His being, the very centre of
His existence. Therein He is one with the Supreme
Will, the all-pervading Power of the universe. That
immanent, fundamental power is energy at rest; it
is the soul of force ; not force itself, but that by
which all force exists, a basic principle within which
all out-flowing and manifested power is contained.
Its quality is stillness, darkness, silence. It is the
foundation upon which the material worlds are built,
the uttermost and final stabilizing agent in the
universe, the one inexhaustible source of power.
One with it, the Adept becomes incarnate will.
This self-same source exists in every man. By
meditation it may be found. He who would find and
tread the path to freedom, must meditate upon this
source of power and strength within himself. Con¬
templating that, he will discover power and strength,
 30

not as personal possessions but as products of the

universal Source of power. Then will be born in
him the one Will, the master-energy, the key-power
both of universe and man.
The radiance of a Master’s love is founded upon
the fact of the unity of life. It is independent of
time, unaffected by space, unlimited by form. It is
an expression of an eternal principle, a fundamental
attribute of the nature of existence. It is unity
perfectly expressed.
Such love is effortless, unvarying, save that it ever
deepens and ever grows. It is neither personally
given nor personally received ; it Is. It flows forth
continually from the Master’s innermost nature ‘as a
divine benediction upon all that lives. This love
seeks no return ; such is alien to its nature. Sun¬
light does not return to the sun ; the river does not
flow back to its source ; nor do the spring waters re¬
enter the fountain. The Master’s heart is as a sun,
a source, a fountain of eternal love. He Himself is.
as a river of love flowing from the inner source to
the ocean of manifested life.
His affection evokes within his devotee the same
eternal love. He links the human lover to the
source of life and love ; thereafter is released through
him an ever outward flow.
The Master is one with Life; not a giver of Life,
for such would indicate duality. He Is Life, His
every act the natural and perfect expression of that
identity. Almost it might be said that the Master
 31

has no existence of Himself, that as ego He has

ceased to be, save as nucleus of the universal cell,
proton of the cosmic atom. He is identical with
Life, essential to Life, a principle in manifestation
rather than an individual. Therefore He shows
forth the attributes of Life in perfect spontaneity.
Love is His nature, His instinct, His very essence.
He is, and manifests all love.
The statement that “ God is Love ” is literally
true, for love is unity in manifestation. Unity is an
eternal principle, a root and fundamental truth.
The principle of unity manifested through universal
intelligence becomes universal love. Unity mani¬
festing through the mind of man is the basis of true
human love. Unity is a spiritual not a material
truth, for in terms of matter unity has become
diversity, its opposite by reflection. Spiritual
love rests on spiritual unity not upon material
union.
The story of the evolution of man may be written
in terms of love. Man passes from the animal and
savage state of material union and desire, to the
relatively civilized, in which mind enters into the
experience of love. At this stage the necessity for
physical union still exists. Beyond it is that when
spiritual illumination first dawns upon the personal
consciousness and a higher, deeper love is perceived
but not fully expressed. The need for physical
union grows less but companionship remains a
necessity. Beyond this again is the state of pure
 32

spiritual love, based upon a recognition of unity, a

love of Life itself.
This final stage of perfect love is reached after
complete at-one-ment with life. The individual be¬
comes an embodiment of the principle of unity,
loves all things from within themselves, and experi¬
ences spiritual union with them continuously. This
produces spiritual ecstasy which whilst individual
is utterly impersonal and pure; it demands neither
contact nor companionship, but solitude for its full
experience.
Of such nature is the Master’s love : a condition,
not an action : a state of consciousness, not an act:
the continuous experience of unbroken ecstasy, in¬
creasing in intensity as the centuries pass and the
state of absolute unity beyond time and space is ap¬
proached. In that state the Logos of the System
dwells, for such is the love of God, the Second As¬
pect of the Supreme, Love Absolute.
The Master’s all-inclusive knowledge is in no
sense individually possessed. Individuality has be¬
come for Him the merest film, so tenuous as to
admit free communion with the One Individuality of
the universe, so elastic as to include the whole.
Neither knowledge nor the mental vehicle of thought
is owned by Him, for to Him there is but One
Knowledge, One Major Mind. In these He partici¬
pates; of each knows Himself as a part.
All knowledge is at His disposal because,of His
mental self-unification with all. The spiritual
 33

realizations and occult acquirements of all beings at

or below His level of achievement are completely
His by virtue of this oneness. The deeper, greater
knowledge of Those beyond Him in evolution is also
at His disposal in the measure in which He can
raise Himself into Their state of consciousness and
reproduce within Himself Their more subtle and
refined attunement with the Universal Mind.
This Major Intelligence may be said to contain
or to consist of layers of knowledge, deeper layers
being entered by individual minds as evolution pro¬
ceeds. The higher the stage of evolution of the
individual the more profound the comprehension.
The knowledge of the Adept includes those princi¬
ples upon which the universe with all its multifari¬
ous phenomena is founded; those basic truths
which provide the keys to all knowledge. The use of
the right key reveals at once the knowledge re¬
quired, and renders available almost instantaneous
comprehension of any aspect of universal life,
whether minute, as of atom, cell, and infusoria
or far-reaching and wide, as of planets and
of sun.
Thus the Adept holds the key to complete know¬
ledge of every branch of science and in this sense
is omniscient. Not that He possesses all knowledge,
all facts within His consciousness, but that these
are instantly available to Him, whether temporarily
contained in the mind of a man as a new discovery
of science, a new principle in statesmanship or
3
 34

art, or in the still greater Mind in which all know¬

ledge, past, present and future, is contained.
The keys of knowledge may be thought of as
fundamental mathematical equations, expressions
of natural law, abstract statements of the geometric
principles upon which the universe is established,
such as the relation of the diameter to the circum¬
ference of the circle. Yet they are not merely
mathematical, algebraical equations or formulas.
They are life equations which are true for every
stage of growth, applying equally to the seed and
the whole plant and fruit, the germ cell and the
completed organism. They are expressions of
eternal truth and are therefore beyond yet inclusive
of all change, reveal not only incipience, maturity,
and finality, but totality.
Added to the possession of the keys and the power
of using them, is the Adept’s achievement of omni¬
presence. This implies His ability to focus His
attention in different parts of the solar system at
will. He is thus able to make direct observations
concerning any subject on which detailed knowledge
is sought. Further, by his achievement of oneness,
He is literally one with the Source of existence and
the life in all things ; He is therefore able to supple¬
ment knowledge gained from external observation
by understanding revealed from within.
The Master’s knowledge therefore is complete ;
it includes comprehension of all external phenom¬
ena and perception of the hidden life processes,
 35

the springs of growth. He is the Master Scientist,

the exemplar of every seeker after truth. What He
has done the scientist of the future will do, for
although the progress of the leading scientists of
to-day is great, actually they but scratch the sur¬
face of physics and astronomy, of chemistry and
biology, of physiology and psychology, of truth as it
is known by the Adept.
With all living things on earth the Adept shares
His achievement, placing His power, His love, and
His knowledge at the disposal of all. His work is in
part to translate the universal into the particular, to
bring the Power, Wisdom and Knowledge of the
Supreme into increasingly intimate relation with the
kingdoms of Nature below Him in evolution.
In terms of energy each Adept is a transformer of
free power and its distributor to the world in a
conditioned state. This work is carried out on
levels of consciousness beyond the mind. Each of
the three types of divine energy, manifesting as
power, wisdom and knowledge, has its appropriate
level of consciousness at which it is contacted in its
pure state and thence relayed to the worlds below.
 CHAPTER VII

The Nature of Adeptship.

THE Adept lives self-consciously in a state of time¬

lessness. He is unconditioned and is, therefore,
free. If He chooses He may sink into the relative
oblivion of eternity leaving time and temporal things,
behind. By forsaking the universe in which His
freedom has been won, He may re-enter self¬
consciously the unconditioned whence unconsciously
He came forth.
Though the perfected man is free to choose such
a course, so great is His compassion for the world,
so close His unity with all that lives, that, standing
on the threshold of eternity with bliss beyond
conception within His reach, He refrains from
entering in. Renouncing the fruits of victory, He
who has learned to live in eternity voluntarily sub¬
mits Himself to the imprisonment of time. He
knows that by this renunciation, by sharing the
imprisonment of humanity, He, knowing the way of
escape, is able to bring all beings nearer to their
goal. At His spiritual birth He renounced all powers
and possessions ; now, on the eve of His birth into-
 37

•eternity, He renounces His immediate entry into

eternal life.
The Adept who thus voluntarily renounces, shares
and relieves the sorrows of the world. He remains
to shed light into the darkness of the worlds of
time: to awaken the sleeping souls of men : to
welcome the awakened spiritual neophytes and to
guide them on the pathway to eternal peace.
Now that He is beyond sorrow, He can relieve it;
beyond disease, He can heal it; beyond ignorance,
He can dispel it; beyond personal karma,1 He can
share in the karma of others thus lightening their
load. Beyond the need for action, He engages in
activity impersonally as a self-conscious agent of
the Will of the Supreme. He remains conditioned
by His own choice, renouncing the freedom of the
unconditioned state. He is a germ cell of eternal
life in the body of time-imprisoned humanity. He
thus takes His place amidst His emancipated
Brethren in the Order of the Guardians of the Globe.
Whether the Adept be incarnate or discarnate
depends upon the nature of His work. Should
frequent contact with the earth and its inhabitants
be necessary, He wilf maintain a perfect body,
hidden in retreat. Should His work be extra¬
planetary or concerned especially with the spiritual
Triads", the immortal Principles which underlie all

1 The results of the operation of the law of cause and effect.

- Vide The Monad by C. W. Leadbeater ; A Study in Con-
seiousness, by A. Besant.
 38

living things, then He will not use a physical body

but a specially created superphysical vehicle. Death
mastered, need for rebirth outgrown, perfect balance
attained, karma-less, He is free to live and work
with or without physical embodiment.
Should He use a physical body, its form expresses
His spiritual stature to perfection. In strength,
beauty, and efficiency it is perfect; nor does
incarnation in it reduce in any way His superphys¬
ical activity. The body has been voluntarily assumed ;
voluntarily it may be laid aside.
Space no longer limits Him, nor does time impri¬
son. In His subtler vehicles He is free to move at
will throughout the solar fields. Dwelling in that
duration by which time is linked to eternity, and
having transcended the operation of the law of
cause and effect, His daily life is free from strain
or care. His physical vehicle therefore is but little
marked by the passing centuries.
He needs to eat and sleep far less than normal
man. His knowledge of the laws and principles
which govern the manifestation of life in form :
His thorough understanding of life’s threefold ex¬
pression through form—absorption, assimilation,
and discharge, birth, maturity, and decay—enable
him to sustain for long periods a perfect bodily
maturity.
Though He may fulfil allotted daily tasks, per¬
sonal and belonging to the Adept Brotherhood of
which He is a Member, His consciousness is not
 39

limited thereby. He is aware simultaneously

throughout the fivefold Universe from the physical
to the Nirvanic 1 plane. Thus He abides continuously
in Nirvanic power, which is omnipotence, in
Buddhic2 bliss, which is omnipresence, and in mental
union with the One Mind, which is omniscience.
These attributes of the Supreme He manifests most
perfectly through physical conduct, feeling, and
thought respectively; for in Him the higher and
lower triads are one, as represented symbolically by
the interlaced triangles.
Such in part, is the living Adept; of such consists
the Inner Government of the World, which there¬
fore is All-powerful, All-wise, and All-knowing.

3 The spiritual. Vide Nirvana, by G. S. Arundale.

2 The plane of the Christ Consciousness, the source of
wisdom and intuition.
 CHAPTER VIII

The Great White Brotherhood.

Its Sevenfold Work.
The Way to the Masters.
Their Daily Life and Activity.

THE triune powers inherent in all ereation reach

a high degree of self-conscious expression in and
through the Adept. Still more perfect and more
powerful is their expression in and through the One
Selfhood of the Great White Brotherhood of which
the Adept is a part. In essence this group is a unit,
the spiritual germ cell of the whole body of
humanity. In this glorious company of the Adepts
the threefold attributes manifest through seven
permutations.
This Occult Hierarchy, like the universe and man,
is a septenate. Each of the seven aspects operates
directly upon its appropriate level of consciousness
from the highest spiritual plane to the physical.
Each also is expressed through a type of activity
corresponding to one of the seven streams of force
—the seven Rays—outflowing from the central
Source of Power and Life and Light. Yet the whole
 41

Brotherhood is one, an expression of One Will, One

Wisdom, and One Intelligence.
When the human Monad 1 descends towards phys¬
ical humanity, subhuman group consciousness pre¬
cedes human self-consciousness. The intelligence
incarnate in the mineral, plant, and animal kingdoms
is not individual, but collective. In the mineral world
groupings occur, each of whieh is a quasi-individual
consciousness in whieh many types of metals and
jewels are blended according to their ray. The
grouping has no reference to geographical location,
for physical incarnation of a group consciousness
may occur at widely separated parts of the globe.
In the vegetable kingdom divisions become more
clearly marked, and still more so in the animal, for
there the stage of true individuality is approached.
Through association with humanity, the domestic
animal outgrows the group system and attains to
human individuality or ego-hood.2 Each human ego
is a manifestation of an individualized “ portion ” of
the One Spiritual Major Consciousness of the
universe ; it is a self-existing microcosm.
In the human kingdom that self-existence is
slowly brought to perfection until the man becomes
the Adept. He then surrenders His separate self¬
hood, voluntarily returning to group consciousness.
Nevertheless this surrender entails no loss of

^The spiritual unit. The divine spark. The “ metaphys-

- Vide A Study in Consciousness, by A. Besant.

 42

individuality, for paradoxically, fusion with the-

whole intensifies the self-existence of the part.
The Adept is both One alone and the One Alone.
He is one with all life, one with all form, with the
river and the ocean, with the river banks and the
ocean bed ; one with the source, one with the goal ;
yet He Himself remains. He is the apotheosis of
both group and individual consciousness.
Similarly, although each Adept on a single planet
is individual, the Brotherhood of Adepts constitutes
one consciousness. The planetary Adept unit is a
manifestation of the major unit which is the Adept
Brotherhood of the solar system reflected in the
terrestrial Brotherhood mieroeosmically. The
Great White Brotherhood on earth is also lit by a
Sun, the greatest of all Its Adepts, Its Source of
Power, of Life, and Light, so far as Its group or
unit existence and activity are concerned. Within
the body of the Brotherhood there are Adepts of
varying grades, just as in the solar system there are
planets at various stages of evolution and distance
from the sun.
Each of the seven states of consciousness is
reflected in the Brotherhood, not only in and through
each individual Adept who enters and masters every
state, but#in the whole great Company through Its
seven divisions and departments of activity. Each
department is presided over by an Adept who is the
Lord of the type of consciousness and Director of
its manifestation.
 43

The Brotherhood thus includes Lords of Will or

Power, direct Agents of the Spiritual Will of the
universe, which manifests predominantly through
the Supreme Ruler of planetary life, the spiritual
KING. The Lords of Power awaken the spiritual
Will within every form and by blending and
modifying types in the four kingdoms assist Nature
to produce the perfect form.
The Lords of Intuition awaken the wisdom or
intuitive consciousness in all living things and
perfect its expression in man through spiritual
quickening and by the inculcation of ethical and
spiritual ideals. This function reaches its apotheosis
in the Great World Teacher, who in successive
epochs, appears amongst men as a World Saviour
and Founder of world faiths.
The Lords of Intellect awaken the synthetic
abstract mind in man, preparing it as a chalice 1 to
receive the Wine of the One Life of the Supreme.
As that precious draught is received, the power of
intuitive perception is awakened and developed.
The upward flowing lines which form the chalice
symbolize the aspiration of the soul and the
unification of all the aspects of the personal con¬
sciousness, whilst the eup itself represents the
product of their fusion. Meditation, adoration,
aspiration, these are the forces by which the chalice

1 Mystically, the causal body, vehicle of abstract intelligence,

is the Holy Grail. All Adepts and especially These Lords are
the Knights of the Grail. Montsalvat is the higher con¬
sciousness in which They dwell.
 44

is elevated, symbolizing human nature offered to

the Divine.
The response is unfailing, and gradually, even at
the present time, the chalice of the human intellect
is being filled with the Wine of the One Life, and
consequently, the new power of interior perception
known as intuition is developing. Externally the
Lords of Intellect assist in the development of the
•synthetic mind, inspire man to cultural development,
brotherhood, and peace.
The Lords of Beauty help to build between
-concrete and abstract intellect the bridge which
links the material, mortal man, individually and
racially with the immortal Spiritual Self. Fifth
Race 1 man must cross that bridge at will, in full
consciousness, and learn to function in the abstract,
.synthetic mind.
In this way the Lords of Beauty assist the
manifestation of the spiritual through the material,
blending the two. They nourish in the soul of man
every aspiration towards beauty, inspire artist and
.craftsman, that human life and civilization may
.become increasingly beautiful.
The Lords of the Concrete Mind awaken and
♦expand the mind of man, inspiring the research
worker to the discovery of new facts and principles
in science and the inventor in their application for
the advance of civilization. The scientist, inspired
.by the Lords of Knowledge, is the moulder of the
1 The Aryan with all its branches.
 45

thought of humanity in this age ; in co-operation'

with the artist, he will be the builder of civilizations,
in the age which is to come.
The Lords of Idealism light and tend the fires of
enthusiasm in the reformer’s heart. They keep
alive the mystic flame, the yearning of the devotee-
for union. Through vision and illumination, They
lead the saint to seership, the seer to union with God.
The Lords of Aetion preserve throughout the ages,
the power, the wisdom, the beauty, the knowledge
and the idealism of the Ancient Mysteries : prepare
one day to restore their rituals to the world as-
dramatic enactments, symbolical and allegorical
expressions of eternal truth. They link the highest
spiritual will with its densest vehicle, the physical
body, and inspire its expression in ordered activity,,
precision and grace. They lead humanity towards
the development of a perfect political and social
order.
Each of the Lords of the sevenfold manifestation
of the Supreme thus functions through an inner
and an outer activity. Each quickens life and also*
moulds form: awakens consciousness and assists
in its manifestation. The Great White Brother¬
hood therefore performs a dual task; It is one with
the consciousness in every form, helping its unfold-
ment by inspiration from within; also It moulds
and beautifies the form itself through ministration
from without. Since the childhood of humanity in
far off Lemurian days the Great White Brotherhood
 46

has thus ministered to the Divine in Nature and in

man. Thus it will continue to serve through a
thousand eenturies until, at the close of this world’s
day, its task is done.
Humanity is not denied the privilege of conscious
participation in eertain of the manifold activities of
the Adept Brotherhood. All true servants of the
race are co-servants with Them, unconscious though
they may be of such collaboration.
The way is open to-day as ever to eommunion
with them—a way which each man may find and
tread if he will. This way may best be found by
sharing in Their work; by serving as They serve,
by renouncing self and selfishness as They have
done, and by living for the fulfilment of the One
Will as perpetually They live.
Thus man may draw near to the Masters; thus
an individual may reach His Master’s feet*
In His Master’s Presence the neophyte finds the
ideation of all humanity, the Perfect Man. In the
Adept he perceives in their perfection the attributes
of the *seven Lords, whilst through them all will
•shine the special qualities of his own ray or tem¬
perament, the mutual possession of which draws
together Master and neophyte.
Thus, if the Master be a Lord of Love, divine
Love will be incarnate in Him ; divine Compassion
will dwell in Him and be revealed in every glance
and word and deed. Nevertheless, being a Perfect
Man, He is also a Lord of Will able to make manifest
 47

the divine omnipotence. He is too the master

philosopher, scientist, artist, and idealist. Yet,
since He is Lord of Love, these other powers will
be irradiated by that espeeial quality.
Similarly, a Lord of Will is strength personified,
•courage, kingship, majesty. At the same time, the
other attributes, Love, Understanding, Beauty,
Knowledge, Idealism, and Ordered Activity have
reached their highest expression in Him.
The Adept consciousness dwells in Nirvanie
realms, where time and space are not. From this
lofty realm, as from the summit of a lighthouse
tower, the Adept sheds His light upon the world
continuously, to guide His younger brethren over
the stormy sea of life. This light shines steadily,
its radiance increasing as the centuries pass.
The Adept is thus actively engaged on all the
seven planes of consciousness, shining and serving
in each, liberating His power where it is needed
most. He is visited physically in His retreat only
by the chosen few. They see Him as a cultured,
spiritual man with great beauty of face and of form,
a Christ-like demeanour, a kingly bearing, and the
greatest dignity.
Adepts either dwell in mountain fastnesses or
hide Their homes from human eyes by means of
occult power. Certain of Them live in the Hima¬
layan and trans-Himalayan ranges. Others are
sheltered by Mount Lebanon, the Transylvanian
peaks and the Nilgiri Hills. Although the members
 48

of the Great White Brotherhood are thus separated

physically, in consciousness They are One, acting
as a unit at all times with perfect co-ordination and
precision.
The neophyte approaching the home of an Adept
may find Him engaged in physical activity, His
correspondence, the management of His physical
affairs, reading in His library, addressing groups of
pupils, eating, sleeping, or perhaps playing upon
some musical instrument. Or, He may be found
abroad, on horseback perchance, visiting other
Adepts. He may be found apparently in a deep
sleep, seated in His room or in some secluded
corner of His garden, His consciousness withdrawn
and free in other parts of the earth, perhaps attend¬
ing conferences of the Brotherhood or carrying out
the superphysical duties of His office within the
Occult Hierarchy.
The Adept s activities are carried ou.t with
perfect grace and ease, with a minimum of effort
and a maximum of efficiency. All that he
does is perfectly accomplished. Attention to phys¬
ical life in no way diminishes or disturbs His super-
physical and spiritual consciousness, for His
physical body demands the minimum of attention
and direction, being trained to an automatic and
perfect obedience.
Such m part are the living Adepts; such in part
the nature of Their individual and co-ordinated
activities.
 49

The power to achieve this state of spiritual

perfection which is omnipotence, omnipresence and
omniscience, lies within every man, germinally
these faculties exist in all. They are the inherent
realities of the immortal Self.
During man’s spiritual infancy in savage and
.semi-civilized communities, he is normally unaware
of the existence within him of innate qualities. In
the spiritual childhood of the civilized man the
threefold powers begin to manifest in his daily life.
A moral sense develops, duty is acknowledged, at
least as an ideal if not yet as a practice, and the
voice of conscience begins to make itself heard.
During the period of spiritual adolescence the light of
beauty, unity and brotherhood dawn upon the human
consciousness. The man perceives and admires in
others the qualities of idealism and altruism, and
gradually adopts them as guiding principles of
his life.
At this stage the attention of the Teacher is
directed towards the spiritually awakening individual.
This Great One fructifies his1 latent spiritual
attributes and inspires him to their practice in life.
The neophyte, usually unaware of this assistance,
experiences a broadening of his sympathies, a
deepening of his culture. Universal love awakens
in him, and he becomes inspired to express it in
service to his fellowmen. Gradually, subtly, almost
unconsciously, personal and selfish motives give
1 The masculine is used only fop convenience.
4
 50

place to the ideal of the welfare of the world, until at

last service becomes the keynote of his life.
. Then he has found the “ Way,” is ready to be¬
come a pupil of the Master, and later a member of
the outer ranks of the Great White Brotherhood.
 The Life of the Pupil.
His Acceptance and his Work.
Occultism for Western Men;
Business, Art, and Education.

Entry into the presence of the Teacher generally

occurs during the sleep of the physical body. The
soul, thus free, is drawn by spiritual affinity into
the Teacher’s presence. He then stands face to
face with that Elder Brother who has watched and
waited for him until this moment, who has “ loved
the pilgrim soul in him ”. Responding to the
Master’s call to serve side by side with Him
kneeling humbly before Him, the pupil receives the
blessing of One who is not only perfect Teacher,
but also perfect Priest. He is then warned of trials
to come, advised in the moulding of his character
and instructed in the spiritual possibilities arising
from this first experience.
Awakening from sleep, though he may not remem¬
ber the occurrence, he is conscious of a new joy and
a new power in life. More experienced fellow
pupils will acknowledge him and, if necessary, a

A '3>jC
— Ai
 52

senior will infofei. him physically of the inner event

and its signfficlnle. Thereafter, whilst still living
an the outer WQjfld, he is no longer entirely of it.
^he* inner worlds and the inner life claim increas-
% *
iritly.ftis interest and attention.
His Master’s influence now plays continually
about him, spiritually vivifying many in the outer
world with whom he comes into contact. As it
plays through him, it arouses his own spiritua-
potentialities and creates wider channels for the
flow of spiritual power.
Many trials assail the neophyte, for he must be
tested in the fire of life. His highest and his lowest
attributes manifest themselves with increasing force ;
the highest, that he may more efficiently serve ;
the lowest, that, facing and conquering them, he
may be purified. Since the flow of the Master’s
power stimulates both good and bad qualities, it is
necessary that faults shall be reduced to a minimum
before the Master dares to submit a pupil to such
strain. Unless the soul be strong and pure the man
may fail and his progress be delayed for many lives.
Success in conquering the lower nature comes
sooner or later according to the strength of the soul,
and progress made in past lives. Then he is called
again into the presence of his Master who has
watched and guided him through the period of his
probation. If the lower self has lost all power to
ensnare and bind the higher, if self has given way to
service, selfishness to love, if sensuality has been
 53

replaced by purity, desire by will, then his Master

draws the soul thus purified into His own pure and
perfect heart, absorbing him temporarily into union
with His innermost Self.
In that deepest, highest unity those who were two
become one. The pupil emerges from such an
experience temporarily transfigured. The Adept
that he may soon become, shines forth in him
prophetically. His Master’s spiritual perfection
shines about him, whilst the disciple’s spiritual
qualities and characteristics are drawn into and
displayed by the Master.
Blessed union, closest intimacy, deepest love,
wondrous bliss, these “ the accepted ” knows in that
experience when for him time is not, nor space, nor
separateness, and he is one with Life Itself and
knows It as everlasting, all-pervading and indivisible.
Thereafter the accepted disciple strives to hold
continuously within his waking consciousness, the
experience of unity with His Master. He learns to
live more and more at the centre of his existence
than at its circumference. He discovers that
spiritual realization cannot be sustained if the
attention is focused continually upon worldly things.
The outer happenings of life, the ever-changing
restless activities of men, represent the very
opposite of the interior calm and equipoise of the
eternal to which he now aspires to attain. There¬
fore the pupil must continually withdraw himself
from the temporal, must form the habit of resistance
 54

to its attractions, and reduce his contact with it to

the minimum necessary for his service to the world.
Unless he does this he is constantly distracted ; his
mind acquires a habit of restless activity, and he is
unable steadily to hold his attention upon the
realities of the inner life. Although he must
abstract himself from the transient and affirm his
identity with the eternal, this must not interfere
with or reduce his efficiency in the outer world.
He must now learn to live from within outwards, to
perfect the technique of the art of being in the
world but not of it.
Modern western occultism differs in this respect
from ancient and eastern yoga. The possibility of
physical retirement is almost precluded in the West,
and the occult life must be lived amidst the distrac¬
tions and temptations of the outer world. This can
be done successfully only by the acquirement of the
habit of detachment from physical surroundings, by
forming an inherent mental attitude of increasing
self-identification with the realities of the inner
world. The neophyte, not able to retire to a cave or
cell, must look upon the world as his ashrama 1 and
learn to lead the hermit’s life mentally and
spiritually whilst dwelling and working amongst men.
The world greatly needs the presence and the
influence of spiritually minded men and women at
the present time. The tendency towards selfishness

1 Ashrama : in the East, the cell, cave or dwelling place of a

saint, hermit, or Adept.
 55

and materialism is still strong, and though, per¬

haps, the lowest level has been reached, there
are all too few among mankind who are consciously
treading the upward path. These few are needed
as a leavening influence and therefore they must
live among men.
The pupil should therefore regard himself as a
centre of spiritual force, a germ cell in the body of
humanity. He must show forth the spiritual
attitude throughout his whole life ; the spiritual and
therefore unselfish motive in his actions, and must
inculcate similar behaviour wherever possible
.among his associates. He must be an active and
positive agent, alert to perceive and take oppor¬
tunities as they arise. Further, he must seek those
who by personal contact can be led to the spiritual
life. Yet he must work impersonally and endeavour
to leave the hall-mark of spirituality upon all that
he does.
The occult life is not a dream, nor is it a matter
of a routine of meditation. It consists in the con¬
tinuous exertion of power and influence in the
direction of brotherhood, philanthropy, unselfish¬
ness, self-control and purity. It is, in fact, a life of
unceasing hard work. Even recreation must be put
to good purpose, as the pupil positively and con¬
tinually makes use of his spiritual powers. When
for example, he attends a concert, a theatre or a
.social gathering, outflowing spiritual power may
irradiate crowds of people, vivifying and awakening
 56

their higher selves. The lives of people may be.

changed by personal contact with a pupil; whilst he
himself will become an increasingly potent centre
of the spiritual power as he lives his life of
pupilhood.
The thoughts of the western pupil must be closely
guarded, daily and hourly, since they affect the
consciousness of his Master. Especially is this
important for those who engage in business, for their
occupation demands concentration on material
matters. Those who are not so occupied have
an even more difficult task, for, less concentration
being demanded from them in the daily round,
their minds are more susceptible to the thought
currents around them and tend to reflect into-
their consciousness the trivial, often unpleasant,
thought atmosphere of their environment. Hence
the necessity for the steady practice of thought-
control.
The pupil must have only a detached interest in
the smaller affairs of the world. Knowledge of
daily events is useful in enabling him to help where
needed, but he must not allow his interest to be
absorbed. The major part of his consciousness
must be fixed upon his Master, upon his work for
the world, his spiritual ideals, and upon his task of
character development. He must become capable
of unwavering concentration upon any of these,
continually guarding his consciousness against the-
intrusion of worldly and impure thoughts. His mind
 57

must become a sanctuary within the temple of his.

personality and he must maintain it as such.
Business activity, rightly used, is excellent train¬
ing for the occultist. The pupil who is engaged in
the business world should aim at the highest effici¬
ency and accuracy in all his work. The spiritual
life demands for its success both mental accuracy
and physical expertness. The warehouse and the
office are ideal training grounds wherein these
qualities may be developed.
The arts offer equally valuable opportunities. The
artist pupil must seek to establish regularity and
order in his life and work. The so-called “ tempera¬
ment ” of the artist, though often indulged by those
who have not definitely accepted the ideal of the
Path, must be severely curbed by the pupil. He
must rise superior to moods and seek to become a
perfect embodiment of the Great Artist of the
universe, who is continually at work. Mental and
moral control may be more difficult for the artist,,
but there is no excuse for laxity in these directions
for the pupil of the Master. Not only must his own
life be spotlessly pure, his mind ordered and practic¬
al, but he must stand out amidst his fellow artists
as an example of pure living and of utter devotion
to the highest ideals of his art.
Spirituality in art is one of the great needs of the
time. Spiritualized science is already appearing
and must be complemented by spiritualized art.
The real life in Nature, the spiritual verities,,
 58

abstract truths, experiences in consciousness, inner

vision and a continual appeal to all that is highest
in mankind, must find expression in the art of
to-day and to-morrow. The artist pupil of the
Master is magnificently equipped for this expression
.as he has an unlimited source of inspiration always
available. Contact with his Master’s consciousness,
strengthened continually by meditation and work
done in His name, awakens the fire of genius in the
pupil and opens the channels for its expression
through brain and body.
A pupil who is an educator has magnificent
■opportunities, for through his relation to his Master,
.all his charges are brought into direct contact with
Him. Continual self-recollectedness whilst sur¬
rounded by the details of work, is the most impor¬
tant factor in enabling the teacher to link his school
.and its scholars with the Great White Brotherhood.
This great Body has its educational department, the
Members of which seek to inspire all outer educa¬
tional institutions with spiritual idealism. In this
work the teacher-pupil can play an important and
■effective part. By forming the habit of withdrawing
mentally from the rout ine of scholastic life, andby
■opening his consciousness to that of his Master
.and of the Hierarchy, he is inspired to exert an
influence in particular directions. Through the
•open channels of his consciousness the life of the
Master and of the Brotherhood flows into the
.scholars and the school.
 59

In his daily life such a pupil must stand out

clearly as a model of the spiritually minded edu¬
cator, as a practical idealist amongst his fellow
teachers, and as a pattern of clean, healthy, and
virile living to the scholars. He should also seek
amongst his pupils those who have links with the
Brotherhood, form friendship with them, so that
later in life, they too may be inspired and helped to
tread the Path. Many such egos are taking incar¬
nation at the present time, .and it will become the
duty of the teacher-pupil to guide them in the
search for the Master, to which in later life their
past experiences will impel them.
All pupils of the Master, however employed,
should similarly watch for those who display promise
of joining their ranks. They should regard them¬
selves as harvesters of the Brotherhood.
 CHAPTER X

Discipleship.
The Mystical and the
Occult Life of the Disciple.
The Vision of the Whole.

DISCIPLESHIP concerns chiefly the evolution of

the ego. It marks the beginning of a new cycle
which reaches its nadir at the first great Initiation,
when spiritually a new birth occurs. The interval
between the entry on to the probationary Path and
the first Initiation corresponds to the gestatory
period which precedes physical birth. At probation
the Master vivifies the germinal buddhic “ cell ” in
the causal1 body, linking it to the buddhic 2 vehi¬
cle, which in its turn is awakened sufficiently to
respond to the influence of the universal Buddhi.
This influence flows into or, rather, wells up within
the buddhic vehicle, quickening its evolution. It
also vivifies the buddhic “ cell ” or star in the

^he shining Augoeides, the immortal body of the ego of

man at the level of the abstract mind ; the third aspect of the
mierocosmic logos.
^The body of the Christ Consciousness in man, the source
of intuition. The second aspect.
 61

causal body, thereby opening up the ego to buddhic

consciousness. The ego in its turn attempts to
express the results of these processes in the person¬
ality, through which it gains further enrichment
from the educative experiences of personal life now
lived with increasing intensity and vividness.
The development and expression in action of
buddhic consciousness should therefore be the
keynote of the life of the disciple. He should try
to attain an increasingly vivid realization of divine
Life within all forms, of the unity or oneness of that
Life, and of his own identity therewith. This
realization expresses itself through the mind as
intuition, through the emotions as an expansion of
the capacity for love and friendship, and physically
as impersonality. Since Life is one, personal
limitations and personal expressions of that Life
are of small importance. As almost all the difficul¬
ties of human life arise from the personal attitude,
impersonality is seen with increasing clearness as
the great means of overcoming them.
The ego of the disciple thus becomes a centre of
growth, a synthesis of the higher buddhic unfold-
ment and the lower personal development resulting
from experience. The causal body is as a womb in
which the embryonic buddhic being or Initiate
develops. The new birth depends in great measure
upon the existence of harmony between the higher
and the lower, between ideal and conduct, vision
and action. The disciple must endeavour to live
 62

his ideals for, if he fails, either the birth of the

buddhic “ child ” will be delayed, or its ex utero
development marred by imperfections.
He should endeavour to unify the aspects of his
consciousness and strive for wholeness from the
buddhic to the physical level. Action, feeling,
thought, realization and inspiration should be
blended harmoniously, forming a fivefold unit, a
synthetic whole capable of co-ordinated action.
The attainment of egoic consciousness in the brain
is important, and the disciple should work to gain
the faculty of thinking and acting more and more
as an ego and less and less as a personality. Only
after he has established himself firmly in egoic
consciousness may he hope to attain to buddhic
self-realization.
Beyond Buddhi is Atrna1 which in its turn must
be entered and the atmic vehicle be developed.
This is the work of the Initiate in the new cycle
which opens after the first Initiation.2 The buddhic
vehicle now becomes the womb in which the atmic
embryo is to develop and from which it will later
be “ born Beyond the Atma is Anupadaka3 and
still higher Adi; these become successively matrix,
embryo, and new-born being. With each birth the
abiding place of the consciousness is raised one
1The first aspect, the spiritual will, the apex of the
spiritual triangle which is a reproduction in man of the Three
Aspects of the Trinity of the Logos.
3 Vide The Masters and the Path, by C. W. Leadbeater.
3 The two highest planes of Nature.
 63

stage and the Adept learns to function consciously

in and from these levels as further Initiations’
are taken.
Such is the spiritual mountain to the lower slopes
of which the pupil has won his way. If he is suc¬
cessful, and that depends entirely upon himself, he
will gradually climb to the summit. His Elders
will inspire, guide, and strengthen him, but the
actual effort of climbing must be his alone. The
Master is as a fellow traveller who, having gone
before, offers the results of His experience to those
who follow after.
This offering of the products of experience is not
entirely an external process. The Master has
attained to full conscious unity with the Life within
every form ; therefore He knows Himself as one
with the Life in the pupil. Through the unity and
self-identification of His larger consciousness with
that of the pupil, He is able to help him from within.
He permits the pupil to share in and use His con¬
sciousness and attainments to the extent of his
capacity.
The relationship between Master and pupil is-
therefore a dual one ; it consists of an interior union
and communion, and an external inspiration, guid¬
ance and even moulding of the personality. Of
these the former is continuous from the moment
of probation, and the pupil should by meditation
bring the realization of it into his waking conscious¬
ness ; firstly that he may experience the upliftment
 64

•and inspiration of union with the consciousness

of the Master and, secondly, that he may more
effectively express its result in his daily life.
The Master’s external inspiration and use of the
pupil as a channel is also a dual process. A con¬
tinuous flow of the Master’s life in terms of buddhic
influence—compassion and love—is established in
the pupil in the degree in which he is conscious of
his unity with the Master and lives in His presence.
Also, upon occasion, the Master directs externally
applied power, inspiration and blessing through the
ego and personality of the pupil, to the outer world.
The perfect pupil is one who is capable of the
maximum of response to these influences and in
whom resistance to this dual process is reduced to
a minimum.
Later follows the pupil’s gradual self-establish¬
ment in the everlasting, all-pervading Atmic Power
which is Nirvana, a process only completed after
Adeptship. To aid in this, His Master shares with
him His own Nirvanic life in the measure in which
the pupil can enter it. By so doing He attunes
more closely the ego with the Monad, the eternal
divine spark. Thereafter the pupil meditates from
the egoic centre, reaching upwards continually to
the Monad, seeking union therewith.
During this phase of development, the Master’s
higher consciousness serves as matrix to that of
His accepted disciple. As in physical pre-natal life,
the protection of the mother’s womb and of her
 65

subtle bodies assists the ego to enter and gradually

become conscious in his growing vehicles, so also
the Master is as a spiritual parent, within whose
consciousness and influence the Monad enters and
becomes conscious in the developing buddhie and
causal bodies. Thus by including the pupil within
His consciousness at acceptance the Master fructi¬
fies the germ of all spiritual qualities, and makes
possible the experience of monadic consciousness.
The stage of acceptance is, therefore, of great
importance in the evolution of the individual. The
fact of the unity of all life and of all consciousness
renders it also of great importance to the race ; for
he who treads the Path moves not away from his
fellow men, but towards closer self-identification
with them. Every spiritual experience of those
upon the Path is reflected in every human being in
varying degrees according to the power of response
in each. At each expansion and illumination, a
light shines forth throughout the egoic world,
illuminating every ego, as morning sunshine lights
up the peaks of a mountain range.
The majority of human egos, though awake with¬
in, have not yet attained egoic self-consciousness.
Their response to such vivifying influence is slight
yet definite; their attainment of egoic self-con¬
sciousness is brought nearer in time.
At each step upon the Path the neophyte becomes
egoically more powerful, shines with greater lumi¬
nosity on the higher planes, and develops a greater
5
 66

quickening power. The Adept most potently

radiates power, light, and love upon all living things,
human, sub-human, and angelic. His service to
His pupils is an act in time. His service to Life is
everlasting, part of His continuous ministration to
all that lives.
When once the whole being of the pupil has been
consecrated to the service of the world and to His
Master, His consciousness becomes the base from
which all work is done. The pupil lives and works
within the omnipresence of the Master, who may
be likened to the Sun, with disciples as encircling
globes, held and sustained in their orbits by His
power. The Master, the Giver of Life, Light, and
Power ; they, the imperfect manifestations of the
same triplicity, developing rapidly under His influ¬
ence towards that perfection which He has attained.
He, as Solar Logos; they, as planetary logoi, the
whole foreshadowing the solar system over which
He with their collaboration will preside, when He
attains to the stature of a Solar God.
As under such conditions, the neophyte unfolds
his spiritual and occult powers, the necessity for
attendance upon the Master in His ashram de¬
creases. Yet the Master frequently invites His disci¬
ple into His bodily presence. The visitor thus
privileged experiences an intensification of all his
powers, particularly of his will to achieve. The
attunement between Master and disciple is, for the
time, perfect, for the disciple’s subtler bodies are
 67

within the Master’s aura. A spiritual fusion, a

union of the two individualities takes place, and the
pupil in so far as is possible to him may be said to
become temporarily Adept. His spiritual con¬
sciousness expands to its extreme limits, his aura
enlarges, flashes, and scintillates, shining for the
time being in a resemblance of that of the Master.
In this intimate communion and mutual attunement
the disciple feels his whole being expand ; he ex¬
periences intense happiness as if his soul were
singing with joy.
Deep within him a profound stillness reigns, an
utter silence as of the unmanifest. In his Master’s
Presence, the disciple discovers the immovable
stability, unshakable equipoise in which his highest
Self abides ; knows, if but for a moment, the micro-
cosmic transcendent God which “ remains ” after a
fragment of Itself—as Monad—has pervaded space—
ego and personality—to become the. Immanent God
therein.1
This expansion of consciousness, the deep happi¬
ness and the inner stillness that often persist for
many days after such an experience, are indeed sure
signs to the disciple of an event which may not be
remembered in detail on awakening. The memory
of the Master, brought into the consciousness on
waking, is frequently without form, being translated
as the vision of a glowing and radiant light as of a

1 Cf. Bhagavad Gita. “ Having pervaded this universe with

a fragment of Myself, I remain.”
 68

spiritual sun. True, behind this remembrance,

there is the knowledge of His appearance, His
personality, His perfect understanding of every
aspect of the disciple’s nature. The sense of
complete and perfect friendship is received together
with the profound reverence which the accepted pupil
feels. The outstanding experience however is of
light, happiness, inspiration, new ideas and concepts
of his work, of strength and capacity to solve all
problems, to master all weaknesses, and of renewed
determination to grow as swiftly as possible into
the likeness of the Master.
Part of the training of the disciple consists of
opening his brain consciousness to these experi¬
ences by means of meditation, of developing the
power accurately to remember the Master’s words,
truly to interpret His suggestions, of establishing
and setting in motion the machinery of inspiration
and genius so that he can draw them down into
his personality at will.
At this stage the golden light of Buddhi1 pervades
the disciple’s experiences in the higher worlds. A
sense of omnipresence and a power of self-projection
in thought to distant places begins to develop. The
Master Himself is seen as the apotheosis of the
buddhic consciousness, as a resplendent Being of'
golden light. Exalted by this vision the disciple

1 At the causal level, the colours of the spectrum are seen,

at the buddhic chiefly a white-gold, and at the atmic white
only, we are informed.
 69

expands his own consciousness in an attempt to

share in His Master’s achievement of unity with
Life, His omnipresence, to become merged as He
is merged in the whole Life of the solar system.
To him that Life resembles a golden liquid fire
everywhere present and flowing throughout all
worlds. Despite the universal diffusion of this Life,
it appears to flow along prescribed channels, which
resemble somewhat the arterial and venal circulatory
system in the human body. Arteries, veins and
minute capillaries convey the Life of God throughout
and beyond the whole material universe. This
living, glowing net or web of the One Life appears
to consist of miniature centres or suns moving so
rapidly as to produce the effect of continuous
streams. Each life particle is indeed a sun, a part
and yet the whole, a centre of the One Life and yet
that Life itself in all its completeness.
Somewhere amidst these myriad suns there is a
Major, higher-dimensional Sun, One which includes
them all, unseen yet known, the Heart of every
miniature sun. Because of this fact the chief
experience is of unity with an all-pervading essence,
unnamable and beyond the full grasp of the
disciple’s consciousness. Each attempt to compre¬
hend it in meditation brings him nearer to the
Master who is seen gloriously transfigured within
the golden Sea of Life, one with the Life in every
form, a perfect manifestation of omnipresent
Divinity.
 CHAPTER XI

Imperfect Perfection.
The Work of the Disciple.
The Necessity for Purity.
Universal Love.

THE essential facts concerning Adeptship refer less

to bodily or personal perfection than to the complete
unfoldment of consciousness. All perfection is
necessarily relative. The body and outward per¬
sonality of even the highest Adept, though perfect
from the human point of view, still contain
imperfections. These are inherent in the matter of
which the bodies are built, and in the general
consciousness of humanity at the mental and
emotional levels. The personality of the Adept is
still conditioned, therefore, by the evolutionary stage
of the globe on which He lives. Paradoxical as it
may seem, the quality of perfection is itself under¬
going evolution, so that, by reason of the general
evolution of the globe, the Adept of to-day is more
perfect ” than the Adept of a million years ago.
Adept consciousness, however, being extra¬
planetary, is less conditioned by the matter of the
globe than are His personal vehicles. The Adept is
 71

consciously one with the Major Intelligence of the

solar system and is therefore relatively free from
the limitations of any particular globe. As His
evolution proceeds He enters into union with the
Life of the solar system and, eventually, with its
Power. Thus united with the Solar Trinity, the
consciousness is practically free of individual limita¬
tions. At the same time, however, the expression
of such expanded consciousness, through a personal¬
ity on a planet, is limited and made imperfect by the
conditions on that planet, the degree of development
of planetary matter and consciousness.
The disciple should therefore more especially
direct his thoughts towards the consciousness of his
Master than His personality. Being one with that
consciousness, he shares in the fullest measure
possible to him the Master’s unity with the Major
Intelligence, Life and Power of the solar system.
He should meditate, therefore, more upon the One
Consciousness of the. Supreme, than upon any parti¬
cular Adept. He may reach up in love and veneration
towards His Master and so pass from personal to
egoic, and from egoie to universal consciousness.
When the pupil was on probation a link was
formed between him and his Master which ensures
the possibility of communion at will. At acceptance
the consciousness of both became blended, and at
the stage of Sonship 1 an exceedingly close interior
unity is attained. Though fully conscious of this as
1 Vide The Masters and the Path, by C. W. Leadbeater.
 72

an ego, the pupil is at first but dimly aware of it in

his brain. Part of his work as a pupil is to bring
into the brain consciousness the knowledge of this
relationship, to develop the power of entering the
Master’s consciousness at will.
This is achieved by daily meditation and by living
a special mode of life. The meditation consists in
directing the consciousness with the full power of
the will towards the Master, with the intent to
become one with Him and through Him with the
universal consciousness. The method will differ
according to the temperament or Ray of the pupil.
In some the “ will to succeed ” will predominate, in
others love and compassion, some will use thought
and reason, others again adoration and worship,
each pupil finding for himself his own way to the
consciousness of the Master.
The Master in His turn is instantly aware of the
directed meditation and answers the pupil’s thought,
inspires him, and guides his .efforts. The Master
rarely speaks to the pupil during meditation, but
floods the ego, and through it the personality, with
power and light and blessing.
Gradually the pupil breaks through the limitations
of his brain and temperament which prevent this
egoic intercourse from becoming physically
conscious on his part, and finds himself able to
contact his Master’s consciousness at will. There¬
after daily meditative communion with the Master
is established.
 73

Failing this daily practice or more regular

meditative exercises, the personality of the pupil
remains divorced from the ego so far as conscious¬
ness is concerned ; he feels no contact with the
Master and the relationship loses its reality. Under
such conditions the pupil’s usefulness to the Master
as a channel for His influence is greatly diminished.
In his daily life the pupil practises continual
reeollectedness, never permitting any external
circumstance wholly to absorb his attention. Ideally
the fact of his pupilhood occupies a permanent
position in his mind, so that it continually influences
his thought, feeling, speech, and conduct. By these
two habits, meditation and reeollectedness in daily
life, the pupil may bring his personal consciousness
into permanent contact with that of the Master and
live in the unbroken realization of their relationship.
When this is achieved he will have become the
perfect pupil and be ready to enter the next phase
of his occult life, in which he will be spiritually
reborn.
The Master’s consciousness includes that of all
His pupils, since for Him knowledge of the relation¬
ship is unbroken. He sees them all as parts of
Himself, shares in their failures as in their successes.
They are to Him as planets to a sun, He to them as
a sun to its planets.
The pupil’s life is a sacred one, for though living
in the world he is not of it. He learns to dwell in
the inviolable sanctuary of his own purified and
 74

consecrated heart. He is a temple wherein the

powers of his spiritual nature are enshrined, where
truth is revealed, and from whence these are given
to the world.
The preservation of the inviolability of that
sanctuary is of the utmost importance to the
pupil. If he permits the entry of worldly and
profane thoughts, feelings, and actions, he suffers
a loss of power, and his vision of truth is
clouded.
He does not draw those whom he would help into
his own spiritual dwelling place, but helps them to
find the sanctuary of power and truth within them¬
selves, directing them to its discovery, not to a
vicarious enjoyment of his attainment. Power and
truth lavished unduly upon them might prove a
hindrance in their growth, for each must discover
his own inherent spirituality and develop his own
power. The pupil is therefore inwardly detached
from men and things, knowing that each has within
himself his own all-sufficient Light.
His conduct before the world must mirror the
ideals to which he is self-dedicated. There must be
a minimum of conflict between his outer and inner
life, for conflict in the pupil leads to transgression
in any who look to him for light and truth. Seeing
the diversity between his ideals and his conduct,
such would assume a similar latitude. Thus
instead of being a light amidst the darkness, the
pupil would make the darkness still more deep.
 75

Constant watchfulness, the habit of retirement

into the inner sanctuary, a fearless espousal of the
cause of truth and of righteousness, are essential in
the pupil’s life. He must not heed the words of
others, however high their place, if they tend to
weaken his adherence to that cause. His own inner
Light is his sure illumination, his unfailing guide.
Towards that Light he journeys day by day, year by
year, until he becomes the Light itself. Daily, as the
years pass, he must let It shine through all his life
and work, rendering himself ever more translucent
to its rays. Light is truth and truth is light; the
pupil’s pathway is a path of light.
As his life is one with that of the Master, his
actions must worthily represent that association.
No thought, feeling, or activity must be allowed
which would sully the perfect purity of the Master’s
life and consciousness. The moment there is im¬
purity in the pupil’s life a barrier is formed ; in¬
stinctively the Master’s consciousness withdraws
from that with which H e has no vibrational sympathy.
The Master feels this shrinking almost as a shock,
for, by the closing of the channel, which is often
sudden, the stream of His outflowing life is dammed.
His force withdraws, seeking purer outlets until the
impurity is removed and the channel restored.
The pupil must aspire to perfect purity, which
may be won by the contemplation of inward truth.
His consciousness must be so firmly established in
truth that impurity, which is relative untruth, can
 76

find no abode therein. Impurity is not overcome

by conflict with its cause—an impure thought, feel¬
ing, or physical experience—but by withdrawing
into the realm of the utterly pure, into the white¬
ness of truth.
Impurity is the source of the continual warring of
the members of the body and only when it is over¬
come is strife abolished. It implies separateness,
for without division it could not exist. Therefore it
is a denial of truth, for division is the opposite of
unity, the final truth. Impurity destroys dear
thinking, sullies Jove, and profanes the body, the
•earthly temple of the indwelling God. It implies a
personal attitude towards life, exclusiveness in the
affections, and separateness in conduct, thereby be¬
ing the antithesis of truth, which is impersonal and
includes the whole. The life which is perfectly
pure appertains to the eternal.
The pupil, part of whose training is to live in the
outer world amongst impurity and separateness,
must guard with close watchfulness and will of steel
his mode of life in terms of conduct, feeling and
thought.
Purity becomes a shining garment with which the
pupil is invested, and a flaming jewel in the Initiate’s
crown. Allied to love it leads to liberation, Adeptship,
for purity and love are the twin pillars of the gateway
which leads to eternal peace and bliss ineffable.
Divested of all impurity the disciple’s love be¬
comes increasingly impersonal. By its continual
 77

expression his power of loving grows, until it

radiates from him as rays of the sun, shining upon
all without thought of return. Returned affection is
taken with his own love to the Master as the one
Beloved, the supreme Recipient of all love.
The pupil’s love is not directed to the Master as-
an individual alone, but also as the Exemplar of the
spiritual life, the model of the highest achievement
and the perfect manifestation of the Love of the
Supreme. Thus the pupil realizes and develops,
that universal love which is forever unstained by
selfishness or desire. He must not allow the trans¬
mission through him of this highest love to be
marred by imperfections ; rather must he strive to-
bring it in all its purity to a world in need. He must
awaken the hearts of men to the true nature of love,,
to self-sacrifice, to service and selflessness, by which
alone spiritual love is manifest.
Love is indeed a fire. Personal love awakens in
men the flame of passion and desire. Universal
love awakens the flame of genius, of heroism in
man; it springs from the vision of the One Self in
all, that vision which once achieved inspires to*
love for all that lives.
 CHAPTER XII

The Value of Meditation.

The Path of Swift Unfoldment.
Occult Education.

THE development of the will is of the utmost im¬

portance to all who would tread the Path ; it may be
achieved in part by means of the meditation of will
in which the Master, and later the pupil, is visual¬
ized as a Lord of Will, the embodiment of the
Divine Will, a God omnipotent. Through the bond
of unity existing between them, realization of the
Will aspect of the Master strengthens will-power in
the pupil. All things then seem possible to him :
his personal weaknesses easy of mastery, his phys¬
ical plane problems simple of solution—part of the
world problem and no longer particular to him. He
sees himself as a centre of will in the outer world,
helping mankind to master its weaknesses by virtue
of his own growing self-mastery.
When the Master thus helps His disciple, He
causes the required quality or power to manifest
strongly in Himself, and since the disciple possesses
at least the germ of the quality, he is able to
 79

respond. In the act of response the measure of the

quality manifested in him is increased. Awakening
achieved, the disciple by meditation expands and
develops his own innate powers.
No words appear to pass between Master and
pupil in this method of instruction, the success of
which depends entirely upon the responsiveness of
the latter. The Master stimulates, the disciple
responds and afterwards continues the process of
unfoldment for himself by his daily practice.
In the Master’s presence the disciple is in some
subtle way in contact with the Adept which he is to
become. Perhaps this is the great service which
the Master renders, that He places His devotee
within measurable reach of his own perfection.
The path of swift unfoldment for the neophyte
consists of thus drawing forth quality after quality,
power after power, from the spiritual depths of his
nature in which all qualities and powers are latent,
and forcing them to manifest themselves in his
daily life, of bringing the Adept of the future into
present manifestation.
This power of self-unfoldment, of interior enrich¬
ment and illumination, in which even time itself is
to some extent overcome, is made possible to the
disciple through the gracious offering of His per¬
fection by the Master. Since He has achieved this
great consummation He is able in some measure to
establish the process of achievement in another.
This does not mean that the Master imposes His
 80

powers upon the disciple, but that through the

affinity between them He enables or stimulates him
to call up in himself the self-same capacities. These
are present in embryo in every human being, and
will be awakened and developed normally during
the slow process of evolution.
As long as the disciple is able to maintain the
perfect attunement of his consciousness with that
of the Master, this quickening process is continuous
at the egoie level. When he is received by the Master
into His presence, his personal vehicles are illumined
and expanded, so that the results of egoic develop¬
ment more perfectly and more naturally find
expression in the personality.
During meditation, in utter stillness of mind and
brain, the fruits of these interior processes are
received by the waking consciousness. Strengthened
and illumined, the disciple makes them increasingly
manifest in his daily life. By so doing he links his
highest and his lowest activities, gradually achiev¬
ing co-ordination throughout his whole nature.
Self-realization in the brain is of immense value.
Not only does it render the disciple strong and firm
amidst the physical tests of occultism, particularly
that of doubt, but it prevents personal progress
from lagging behind egoic development. It main¬
tains constant the tone of the daily life in action,
feeling, and thought; widens and keeps open the
channels between the Master and the ego and
personality of the disciple.
 *81

The fact of discipleship permits free superphys-

ieal access to the presence of the Master, so that in
addition to the mystical union of consciousness,
there is also occult communion and collaboration
between them. The disciple is taught to use his
■subtler bodies and to master the forces of the
superphysical worlds. He receives guidance in the
physical work which he does in the service of the
world, as also in the superphysical tasks which
constitute the routine of his life during the sleep
of the body.1
These last include such services as ministration
to the newly deceased, assistance to the needy and
suffering in both the inner and the outer worlds,
attendance at the scene of great catastrophies, and
giving and receiving teaching to and from groups
of fellow students. When necessary and especially
when the channels are kept open by meditation,
the memory of this sleep activity is received into
the brain upon waking, or at some other time
during the day.
The disciple also occasionally receives during the
daytime instruction from his Master in the conduct
of his work. He is used as a channel for the
spiritual forces of the Master and of the Great
White Brotherhood, thereby becoming a bearer of
great blessing to the world. Through His disciples
the Master Himself receives an enlargement of
personal consciousness, for, being in conscious
1 Vide Invisible Helpers, by C. W. Leadbeater.
6
 82’

union with them, He has His part in all their

activities.
The bond of love between Master and pupil is the
closest and most beautiful of all relationships. The
Master understands the pupil perfectly, holds him
mystically in His heart, irradiates him with a deep
spiritual and therefore impersonal affection, shares
in his triumphs and assists in his recovery after
defeats. This develops between them a great love,
spiritually paternal on the one side, and deeply and
reverentially filial on the other, a tie even more
durable than time itself, for their love endures into
eternity.
The plan for the evolution of the human race
includes the formation of such intimate ties. The
Masters in a later age become spiritual Rulers,
Teachers, or Directors, with their quondam pupils,
now become Adepts, as Their lieutenants in the
same field of activity. Later still when World
Rulership is undertaken, the Lieutenants become
Lords of Will, Wisdom, and Intelligence, high Offi¬
cials in the Occult Hierarchy of the time.
When interplanetary and solar dominion is at¬
tained by the Master, the spiritual Lords become
His Planetary Rulers ; and so on and on through
lives of solar systems and Cosmoi the ties of such
love remaining unbroken throughout all time.
 CHAPTER XIII

The Accepted Pupil.

The New Birth.
Initiation.
The Stream of Life.
The Work of the Initiate.

IN the process of “ aceptance ” in which the pupil

is received into the very heart of the Master’s being
and consciousness, the Master performs for the
individual that service which He is rendering con¬
tinually to the whole of humanity.
Acceptance is an individual atonement; the mys¬
tery of vicarious atonement1 is enacted in its highest
degree by Master and disciple. The general and
continuous process of atonement, which the Master
carries out for the whole world, is necessarily less
effective, so far as any single human participant is
concerned, than is acceptance for the disciple.
Nevertheless, since the life essence of the disciple
is one with that of humanity, all mankind partici¬
pates in some degree in his achievement and ex¬
perience.
1 Vide Esoterie Christianity, by A. Besant.
 84

Should the disciple choose he can establish in

himself a similar process of atonement, general and
individual. If, for example, a fellow human being
draws forth his especial love, he may spiritually
draw him into the centre of his being and pass with
him consciously into the heart of the Master.
During such an experience the disciple shares such
measure of expansion of consciousness and of the
Master’s benediction as the friend is able to receive.
Such a one will, in his turn, come forth from the
Master’s heart glorified, as did the disciple when he
was first received there.
As his powers develop, he may extend this
activity to include groups of people, audiences,
congregations, and crowds, both living and deceased.
He may also draw into his heart members of the
fairy and angel kingdom, for henceforth there are
no barriers between himself and life in any form.
Thus gradually he learns to make manifest on earth
and to share with all that complete and perfect
realization of unity in which the Master dwells.
This help whether from Master or disciple is in
no sense external, for the true atonement occurs in
the buddhie consciousness in which nothing exists
outside of the One Self. At that level, the Master,
the disciple, and the world are one and indivisible.
In egoic consciousness, although subject and object
can be seen and distinguished, their essential unity
is known. Here, too, the assistance given by the
Master is received within the disciple far more than
 85

from outside. He, in turn, repeats the same process

for the world so far as his development permits. At
each step upon the Path his effectiveness as a
unifying agent increases, until at last he attains
Masterhood, becomes consciously one with the
“ Father,” one with all that lives.
The stage of acceptance therefore is an extremely
important one, both for the individual and the world,
for in the union of Master and disciple there is
foreshadowed the ultimate conscious union of all
men with God.
When the time is ripe the individuality of the
diseiple must die. All that has been striven for and
won during material and mental evolution must then
be renounced. All personal claims, even to
immortality, must be withdrawn, for only when the
old self is surrendered may the new Self be born.
This is the Christ birth in the human heart. The
newborn babe is the symbol of absolute surrender,
of complete renunciation.
In this “ newborn ” state, symbolically feeble and
innocent in a new world, the disciple becomes the
object of the Master’s tender care. He is the
Father Joseph of the Christian allegory, the
carpenter, the skilled craftsman who has helped to
form the newborn babe. The Eternal Mother of
the universe, Mary, symbol of spiritual maternity,
also tends him, whilst the Angelic Hosts draw near
embodying and sounding forth in the chord and
keynote of the “ newborn,” his creative Word of
 86

Power. The soul, reborn, has outgrown the animal

and the normal human state, symbolized by the
cattle and the shepherds, and there follows the
spiritual delivery in the presence of the Elders and
of the Angelic Hosts.
This is Initiation, 1 the birth of the spiritual soul
of man ; a veritable creation, for a new product has
resulted from the combination of divine and human
attributes which occurs when the Gateway is passed
through. Hitherto the man has lived spiritually in
utero ; now he stands forth a spiritual entity, Self-
conscious in regions relatively new to him.
The intuitional and higher spiritual realms now
lie open to him, and as he passes from spiritual
adolescence to maturity he penetrates gradually
deeper and deeper into these worlds. He is still
in utero so far as higher regions are concerned, for
all creation exists within the womb of the Mother
Aspect of the Supreme. Indeed, evolution consists
of a series of deliverances or births, at each of which
the individual is newborn into a new world.
At this first initiatory birth, man receives the
power of mastery over, and therefore freedom in,
the three worlds of thought, feeling, and physical
action in which he has hitherto been imprisoned.
This triple power is symbolized in the Christian
story in the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh
respectively, which are laid at the feet of the Christ-
child by the Three Wise Men. The Magi have their
1 Vide Initiation, by A. Besant.
 87

prototypes amongst the Elder Brethren in whose

presence the birth occurs. They are the Lords of
Knowledge, Love, and Will, who are present and
bestow Their blessing and especial power upon the
neophyte.
Henceforth for the first time in his earthly
existence he is a free man, free in the sense that
neither individual nor race has any claim on him.
His life is surrendered to the One Alone. Mary,
the Mother of Jesus, received evidence of this in
the reply given to her reproof for his absence in
the temple. “ Wist ye not that I must be about my
Father’s business ? ” 1 Such is the reply which all
Initiates must give to all who seek to bind them to
the past.
To the Initiate, the world, and not he, seems to
have changed, and to that seeming change he must
gradually adapt himself. Where, in the past, he
saw division, separateness, and sin, he now sees
unity, kinship, and experiment. He begins at last
to see life as a whole, to perceive and feel the all-
pervading Presence of the Supreme, to know his
unity and even identity with other men, with Nature
and with so-called inanimate things. He realizes
that forms are but caskets filled with life, that bodies
are temples sanctified by indwelling presences,
divine and holy beings. Suns, stars, and planets are
no longer remote ; he hears and understands the
music they give forth. He knows that he and they
1 St. Luke 2, 49.
 88

are related parts in the great composition which

the Divine Musician performs throughout all time.
Lives are but bars, recurring deaths but rests ;
evolution adds lines to the stave, notes to the scale,
the symphony of creation growing in richness and
in grandeur age by age.
As this knowledge comes to him he learns more
perfectly to sound his own chord, for now he knows
the unseen Composer and fiimself as one. He
begins henceforth to sing his way through life,
finding its trials and vicissitudes but temporary
discords later to be resolved, essential to the major
harmony. Self is lost; he becomes as a note
in a song.
The stream of the One Life flows on from
eternity to eternity, bearing on its bosom universes,
suns, planets, and men. It is the ever-flowing life
current, the pulsing, divine “ blood ” stream, which
vivifies all worlds. It is the life centre in every
atom and every cell, the essential principle without
which naught could exist.
Into this stream the Initiate has stepped self¬
consciously. His progress to the “ further shore ”
depends upon his increasingly conscious self-
identification with the stream. Hitherto though
continually bathed, born and reborn in the ever-
flowing life which is the stream, he knew not his
unity therewith. Although his deepest Self is one
with the essence of the life stream, all his vehicles
of consciousness founded upon it, his very body and
 89

soul being instinct with it, borne upon its bosom,

yet he was unconscious of its existence, thought
himself separate and alone.
Now at last the truth dawns upon his inner con¬
sciousness and he is said to have “ entered the
stream ” ; that stream of life which flows from the
eternity of the unconditioned, through the duration
of the conditioned back into eternity, from time¬
lessness to time and back to timelessness again.
That which is eternal in him, ever at one with
the eternal everywhere, begins to modify his con¬
sciousness, to change his relation to his existence
in duration. He approaches a knowledge of the
Eternal Now. Time, which has hitherto enslaved
him, he will conquer in his turn ; it brought him to
the margin of the stream, but is now left behind as
the shore recedes and his self-attunement with
timelessness proceeds.
He begins to know the stillness of the non¬
existent, the silence beyond being, the darkness
beyond light, and the equipoise which is energy at
rest. The full achievement, the final and per¬
manent self-attunement with eternity will come
when the “ further shore ” is reached and adeptship
is attained.
The ego, in whom at Initiation indwelling Life
and all-pervading Mind have reached awakened Self-
consciousness, thus attains the vision of the
Immanence of the Supreme. The task before the
Initiate is to awaken the personality to a similar
 90

realization. The divine Life and Consciousness in

the mind, in the emotions, and in the body, must
also awaken to self-consciousness. In each of those
realms the indwelling divinity must be realized and
and the vision of the all-pervading Life attained.
The interior achievement of the Initiate may
occupy many years or many lives, the rapidity of his
progress depending largely upon the degree of
spiritual vision achieved before he “ entered the
stream ”. There are many uninitiated who have
attained a measure of awakened spiritual self-con¬
sciousness, whilst others, advanced upon the Path,
have not yet developed personal spiritual percep¬
tion. In time this vision of the Supreme must be
attained by all, for it is the goal towards which
humanity is moving.
The outer work of the Initiate consists chiefly of
serving as a channel for the powers and influences
of the Great White Brotherhood. He is now Its
messenger and representative in the world, lives but
to. do Its will, which is the Will of the Supreme.
Unrecognized, save by the few, he moves amongst
men as a leavening and quickening influence, a
centre of spiritual power.
Whilst thus living and working in the outer world,
his spiritual consciousness expands continuously.
He penetrates deeper and deeper into the inner
spiritual realms, the splendour of which now begins
to play about him. His aura shines, his thoughts
acquire potency, his • feelings a depth and force
 91

which make him a man of power wherever he goes.

His voice becomes a vehicle for the forces of the
■spiritual will, his eyes are filled with light, his glance
often seems as a flash of fire, piercing as an eagle’s,
lordly as a lion’s, noble as a king’s, yet tender and
compassionate as a Christ’s, clear and limpid as a
little child’s.
Within his heart the qualities of compassion, all-
embracing love, and tenderness have been born. He
has voluntarily broken down all defences and his
heart is open to the sorrows of the world. He has
laid aside the armour of selfishness, withdrawn
the shield of separateness, has become supremely
vulnerable to wounds inflicted by the ignorance of
the world.
Yet no wounds are mortal, no sorrow endures,
for he has discovered his immortality and
approaches the threshold of eternal bliss. He has
become the embodiment of eternal love ; cruelty
therefore draws no harsh response from him. By
the philosopher’s stone which is love eternal, he,
within the crucible of his heart, transmutes pnto
their opposites, pain, sorrow, cruelty, and vice. He
becomes a spiritual alchemist transmuting the
baseness of the world into fine “ gold
Now indeed he must “ turn the other cheek,” love
his enemies, and to the robber of his purse give his
cloak also, for such is the Initiate life, to which
these teachings of the Christ refer. He grows in
the measure in which he lives them, and growing
 92

uplifts all mankind. He becomes an Atlas who

bears the burden of the world upon his shoulders.
Although whilst human he is bowed low by its
weight, yet he is not broken. As Adept he stands
upright under this yoke.
 CHAPTER XIV

Extra-planetary Activities of the Adept.

The Consecrated Life.

THE Adept lives beyond the realm of time. His

every action in time is fraught with significance
throughout eternity. His plans in time include the
concept of timelessness for their ultimate fulfilment.
He lives in the eternal yet projects His conscious¬
ness into time, both states being combined in Him.
He plans in eternity and acts in time, for He has
solved the mystery of the relation of those two
states, Himself a link between them, a bridge twixt
timelessness and time.
The life of the Adept is thus dual, the Adept a
dual being. His time manifestation may be contact¬
ed and comprehended in part, but His existence in
eternity is forever a mystery. In time He has
Individuality, is a Being; in timelessness He has
none, and is no Being; yet is He also all Being, for
He is One with the Whole. He has a planetary
existence which as has been shown is sevenfold,
constituting His time manifestation on earth, His
individuality. He has also an extra-planetary
 94

existence in which He is unified with the triple

interplanetary Ruler, who is manifest in and through
Him, for Their individualities are one.
Through this identification with extra-planetary
Power, Life, and Consciousness, He is one also with
cosmic threefold existence, His Power of manifesta¬
tion therein increasing as His development proceeds.
His earthly individuality is the smaller aspect of
His nature; the larger is His cosmic Self, with inter¬
planetary consciousness as the link between the two.
Yet the whole is not many, but one: one con¬
sciousness, capable of expression and awareness
throughout the whole field. The Adept is a cosmic
rather than an earthly Being, even though an earthly
individuality with physical body is maintained. The
maintenance of such a body is a matter of choice
largely decided by the mode of ascent through
humanity. Those whose choice does not include
continued physical existence, enter into Their extra¬
planetary and cosmic states, fulfilling Their Adept
destiny in those realms.
- The consciousness of such Adepts, while normal¬
ly limited to Their chosen extra-terrestrial fields,
can at any time be made manifest at any level upon
any planet by a process of self-projection into
temporary vehicles, materialized for that purpose,
or loaned to Them by an inhabitant of the globe on
which the manifestation is to occur. This may
take the form of a complete exchange of conscious¬
ness in the body loaned, the owner stepping out and
the visitor stepping in, or of an overshadowing, or
inspiration as of an Avatar.
The gatherings of the governing Hierarchy of
Adepts upon a globe are not infrequently attended
by extra-planetary Councillors and Ambassadors,
representatives of the governing Hierarchy of a
solar system or of a scheme of globes. As the
Adept has His extra-planetary life and conscious¬
ness, so has the Great White Brotherhood of each
man-bearing globe. These together form the
governing body of a group of globes, under the Solar
Logos. This system in its turn extends into larger
systemic groups and Cosmoi, the whole being com¬
prehended and made manifest as a unit in terms of
cosmic consciousness.
Thus there is a directive and protective external
contact continuously maintained, between the heart
of creation, the life centre of the Cosmos, and
the smallest individual life on a single globe. An
internal unity also exists between the highest
and the lowest, the centre and circumference
of manifestation, for the ensouling Life is One
throughout the whole. Thus the duality of the
mode of manifestation, of external, self-conscious
ministration, observed in the mineral, vegetable,,
animal, and human kingdoms on the globe, on the
one hand, and of upwelling and unfolding interior
life on the other, has its application throughout the
whole of the Cosmos.
 96

Since the principle of ministration by the more

evolved to the less evolved is of universal applica¬
tion and is fundamental to the fulfilment of the plan
whereby the universe progresses, it follows that
those who wish to co-operate intelligently with the
Supreme Will must participate in the operation of
that principle.
The first step towards self-conscious unity with
the Supreme is always the same—unselfish action
springing from love. If, at first, service is personal
and the motive individual and separate, the act is
none the less a ministration. Gradually the personal
motive gives way to the impersonal, individual
welfare to the welfare of the whole. In this way the
spirit of philanthropy is awakened and the secret of
happiness discovered. The spirit of philanthropy
includes not only helpful actions which bring no
immediate return, but also those which may cause
definite loss and self-sacrifice. Gradually the
knowledge is gained that temporal loss brings
eternal gain, that earthly sacrifice brings spiritual
enrichment. The promise that “He that hateth
his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal ” 1
is now recognized as a profound truth.
Such knowledge is the foundation upon which a
life of ministration is established, it is a complete
reversal of normal human existence, its motives are

1 The Bible. St. John, 12, 25. St. Matt., 10, 39 “He
that fmdeth his life shall lose it! and he that loseth his life
for my sake shall find it.’7
 97

the opposite of those which govern ordinary life.

Both the individual and the race must accomplish
this reversal before spiritual fulfilment becomes
possible; they must grow out of the personal into
the impersonal ; must accept philanthropy as the
only worthy motive and develop benevolence to
such a degree that sacrifice brings naught but joy.
These are the qualities necessary for those who
wish consciously to co-operate with the Hierachy
of Adepts in the fulfilment of the One Will.
Inspired by these ideals, the individual and the
race begin consciously to take their share in the
fulfilment of the Great Plan of the Supreme, to
work for instead of against evolution—albeit un¬
consciously against—and to regard themselves as
ministers of the Most High. A change of attitude
such as this introduces the element of true sanctity
into life and prepares the aspirant for the vision of
the inherent divinity of all things, the sacredness of
all acts, which is based upon the fact of the existence
within everything of the One Divine Life, and behind
all action of the One Divine Actor, the Supreme.
The splendid vision of the Supreme is won by
adherence to these rules of life. It is at first ex¬
perienced through flashes of inspiration, intuitive
perceptions, and the gradual sense of a larger des¬
tiny which is being fulfilled. Then comes know¬
ledge of the Guiding Intelligence behind the uni¬
verse, ordering all things great and small, the vision
of the One Mind.
7
 Dangers await both the individual and the race
at this juncture, for unless the attitude of imperson¬
ality and humility prevails, a personal interpreta¬
tion is placed upon the experience, and what is of
universal application is misinterpreted as individual.
This leads to a narrow, personal outlook and to-
pride—two great dangers against which the aspirant
must ever be on guard lest they cloud his vision
and mar his work.
Avoiding these pitfalls, the individual and the race
finally consecrate their beings and their lives to the
encouragement of growth, to the fulfilment of the
one Plan, to harmonious co-operation with the
One Will.
This is the pathway—there is no other—to indi¬
vidual and racial fulfilment, happiness and peace.
It is the Way of the Divine Life, the only way in
which that Life can become perfectly Self-expressed.
It is the pathway that every liberated son of
man has trod. The Adept having trodden it to the
end is established in everlasting happiness and in
peace which nothing can disturb.
 CHAPTER XV

Macrocosm in Microcosm.
The Vision of the Whole.

THE solar system is an individual unit amid the

many similar systemic units of which the sidereal
system is composed. It is an evolving entity, a
group consciousness, moving steadily onward to¬
wards self-consciousness, to “ individualization,”
or self-conscious entry into a higher order of being.
Life at any point, or in any part, of the solar
system, is an epitome of the whole. The life pro¬
cesses occurring in any one kingdom of Nature are
reflections of those occurring throughout all Nature.
The evolution of the group consciousness of mineral,
plant, animal, and nature-spirit towards individual¬
ity, is a planetary manifestation of the similar
evolution of the whole solar system towards a
higher state. The individualization of the nature-
spirit into angelhood 1 and of the animal into human¬
ity2 is a microcosmic reflection of a macroeosmic

1 Vide The Kingdom of Faerie, The Coming of the Angels,

and The Angelie Hosts, by the Author.
- Vide A Study in Consciousness, by A. Besant.
 100

achievement. Similarly the liberation attained by

the Adept is but part of a major liberation to be
attained by the solar system in its entirety. It
follows, therefore, that every microcosmie achieve¬
ment helps forward the progress of the whole
scheme.
Since this, too, is but a part of a still greater
whole, this greater is also helped, and so on ad
infinitum, for the totality of sidereal schemes is
immeasurable, limitless, and unknowable ; immeasur¬
able because ever moving, limitless because ever
increasing, unknowable because ever changing. Al¬
though it is all these three yet as a whole it is com¬
prehensible because, though composed of many, it is
One. Infinitely small though a planet may be when
compared to that whole, yet it fs infinitely valuable to
the whole, for In it the whole is made manifest in
miniature ; to it the whole is linked indissolubly;
through it the whole progresses. In the realms of
infinite life the whole and the part are one.
So, too, a man dwelling upon the earth, perfect at
his own stage, imperfect at a higher one, is an
epitome of the Heavenly Man, the Thinker, the
Logos, who dwells within the sun and all the wheel¬
ing globes. These twain, the earthly and the
Heavenly man, are also one, sharing the same life,
progressing in and by each other’s achievement,
inseparable companion pilgrims, differing only In
the degree of ability of self-expression. Thus
the whole scheme, of which this planet and its
 101

manifold inhabitants are a part, moves on as one,

progresses as a unit, the movement of the smallest
part affecting the whole.
Since with that whole a greater whole is likewise
ever moving onward into an infinite extension of
being, each action of the smallest part exerts an
influence throughout the infinite whole. Although
described as infinite it is in no sense distant in
time or space, for in infinity, time and space are
meaningless; all is here and now. The further¬
most star is no longer far when viewed from the
standpoint of the infinite, for in the infinite distance
does not exist.
In the confines of time and space, the thought
generated by a man sends out a rippling wave in the
matter of the mental plane. When this wave meets
the thought barriers enclosing solar mental life its
course is stopped. In higher realms, where such bar¬
riers are unknown, the life behind the thought, the
movement and the spiritual essence of the thinker
is instantly reflected and repeated throughout the
whole, because of the unity or Oneness which is its
fundamental nature. In It there is neither time,
space, nor barrier.
The vision which does not include the conception
of the whole is imperfect; knowledge which is not
founded on the conception of unity is incomplete.
Whilst the whole cannot be seen by mortal man,
nor unity be perceived, yet the principle of the
existence of the whole and of the fact of unity must
 102

be grasped by all who would be seers and knowers

of truth. In the reflection of the macrocosm into
the microcosm lies the key to all knowledge, for
through the part the whole may be perceived,
through the individual the universal may be
grasped.
In the study of the spiritual and the occult this
principle must be applied. Without it all knowledge
is as the shell which hides the kernel of the fruit of
the Tree of Life. Therefore the occult student should
meditate upon unity until a measure of experience
of the whole has been attained. From experience
of the interior essential fact, he may then proceed
to study with comprehension the external and
relatively unessential parts of the whole.
The mind both blinds and illumines according to
the evolutionary development of the thinker. In
mental infancy and adolescence, the mind divides,
in maturity it unites. In analysis truth is lost, in
synthesis it is rediscovered. Yet the infant and
adolescent mind needs must analyse if the synthesis
is to be self-consciously achieved. Danger arises
only when analysis alone is carried forward into
mental maturity, where synthesis should be the aim.
Mere collection of facts cannot illumine the mind;
the thinker must become the interpreter of the facts
before he can perceive truth. From facts he must
proceed to principles and from them to the under¬
lying truth. True interpretation demands synthetic
thought based upon the understanding of the whole.
 103

Humanity is passing now from mental adolescence

towards intellectual maturity. Leading scientists
are beginning to interpret spiritually collected
material facts and this is a sign of the times.
Religious leaders, statesmen, and sociologists must
follow suit, regarding not the individual sect or
faith, not the single nation or social structure, but
the whole.
No religion contains all truth exclusively ; no race
or social order exhibits every virtue; yet a know¬
ledge of the relation between individual religions
and religion itself, between a single race or social
order and humanity as a whole, will reveal the
principles upon which all religions are founded, and
all social orders based. In the light of this whole¬
ness of knowledge the perfect system of religious
belief and the perfect social order may be founded.
 CHAPTER XVI

The Fragment and the Whole.

The Well-Spring of Life.
The Nature of Beauty.

THE relation between the Absolute and the condi¬

tioned, the Infinite and the finite, is for the condi¬
tioned mind a mystery. The change from Being to
becoming, from Eternity to time, presents a problem
the solution of which eludes finite intelligence.
Non-manifestation does not imply non-existence ;
it is existence transmuted, static power, depolarized
energy, consciousness at rest, spirit rendered
motionless. Symbolically, manifestation is repre¬
sented by a pyramid. Non-manifestation might be
represented by the point which alone remains when
the sides of the pyramid have been withdrawn into-
the apex, and the base has disappeared.
Non-manifestation is the highest essence of
existence and is in no sense separate from the
manifest. Indeed these two states are contem¬
poraneous in that there is always an unmanifested
aspect of manifested life. This is true of every
expression of life—each kingdom of Nature is.
 105

represented in the unmanifested aspect of the all-

pervading Life.
Man—epitome of the whole—has an aspect of
himself which is unexpressed. The personality
represents but a fragment of the ego, the ego but a
fragment of the Monad, whilst the Monad is a time
manifestation, as positive and negative, of that
which is eternal and non-polarized. The Monad is
in motion, the unmanifest is motionless.
Evolution is a journey undertaken by that which
is evolutionless, timeless, motionless, and non-
dimensional—the Absolute—from the unmanifest,
into and through the manifest, back into the
unmanifest again.
At the dawn of manifestation That which was-
One becomes Two. These two are spirit and matter,
life and form. As evolution proceeds the relation
between these two becomes closer. Gradually life
finds an increasingly perfect mode of expression
through form, whilst form becomes more and more
adaptable as a vehicle for life. In terms of time
periods, the expression of a life impulse through a
form becomes more rapid, until at last it is instan¬
taneous, the resistance of the form to the life
having been reduced to a minimum. Life steadily
increases in fullness and in power of self-expression,
due partly to experience gained through form, and
partly to an actual increase in the measure of life
manifest in form. This is true both of the solar
system as a whole and of the individual.
 106

The increase in the measure of the life made

manifest is effected by the welling up, through an
interior dimension, of life from its source. At the
heart of existence, which is beyond yet within the
solar system, there is a well-spring of life, a fountain
through whieh extra-systemic life flows into the
solar system as it is able to receive it. The greater
the ease and perfection with which life is expressed
through form, the less is the life pressure in the
system. As the pressure diminishes, the solar valve
opens and new life flows in. This inflow continues
until the limit of the capacity of the form to provide
expression for the life has been reached. Since
this principle is universal, deep in the innermost
Self of man there is a well-spring of life, a valve,
through which life enters his Monad, ego, and
personality. Each of these receives from the
interior source a gradually increasing measure of
life as the form is able to receive and express it.
Modified from within by the presence and pressure
of the life and from without by experience, t.he
form gradually becomes a more perfect vehicle, a
freer channel through which life may express itself.
Thus a more and more perfect relation between life
and form is established.
The standard by which this relation may be
measured is that of Beauty. Beauty of form is the
outward sign of its harmonious expression of the
indwelling life. Without such inner harmony real
beauty cannot exist. The more perfect the relation,
 107

the greater the beauty. The resistance of form

to the manifestation of life is gradually reduced
as evolution proceeds. Eventually synchronization
is attained and the interior life impulses find
immediate and complete expression through form.
Under this condition both the form and the expres¬
sion are supremely beautiful. Beauty therefore is
the standard by which evolutionary attainments may
be measured, the hall-mark of spiritualized form in
any kingdom of Nature.
Spiritual man will be marked by beauty of feeling
and of thought, spontaneously expressed as beauty
in the conduct of life.
Deliberate ugliness is a denial of divinity, a
surrender to the rule of Chaos. To ignore beauty
is to ignore God. He who falls into these errors
denies, and therefore imprisons more deeply, the
God within himself. He is a deserter to the ranks
of Chaos, traitor to the rule of Law.
 CHAPTER XVIi

The War in Heaven.

The War in Man.
Victory.

CHAOS is the great opponent of Order, and during

manifestation there is ceaseless conflict between
them. They are the negative and positive poles of
manifestation, and yet in the One Root the two are
one. Manifestation is a ceaseless war between
these two great antagonists.
At the dawn of creation Chaos reigns, master of
the fields of space. At high noon the conflict is at
its height, for then the opposing forces are equal in
power. Follows the gradual defeat of Chaos, which
at solar nightfall is complete. Then Order reigns,
and into it Chaos—in no sense destroyed—has been
absorbed, its forces united to and harmoniously
working with those of Law.1
Disease is a temporary victory of Chaos. War,
famine, and pestilence are signs of its advancing
armies. Though their attack upon form is destruc¬
tive, through the wise generalship of Order it is
1 A graphic musical description of this is found in Wagner’s
Prelude to the Rhinegold.
 109

advantageous to life. The ceaseless battle between

Order and Chaos maintains the process of develop¬
ment, is the means of growth.
The story of the war in heaven between the Angels
of light and of darkness is an allegorical reference
to this fact. In it heaven refers to the stage
in the creation of the solar system at which
the One first becomes the Two; a stage which is
repeated in planetary, as also in individual existence.
The war in heaven is an everlasting war, waged
continually by the great opponents, spirit and matter,
life and form, universality and individuality.
In that battle there can be no final victory for
cither side, for the opposing forces are equal in
power; yet the nature and plane of the conflict
change as does that of the opposing armies. At
first the war is waged in purely spiritual realms as
in the allegory of the war in heaven. Gradually the
battlefield changes, moving “ downwards ” through
the planes of Nature until the physical is reached
and the conflict is at its height.
The Great Adjudicator watches the fight, and
when, as its result, that which He has planned has
come to be, He moves the battlefield “ upwards ”
through the seven planes of Nature to the highest
Spiritual, until the whole of the sevenfold universe
has been twice subjected to the war between Order
and Chaos.
This macrocosmic Armageddon is repeated
microcosmically in man. Successively the seven
 110

principles 1 of man become battlefields on which the

great conflict is waged. The growth of the micro¬
cosm—man—proceeds parallel with the growth
of the macrocosm; for man is both a unit in the
army of the Logos, and the Logos of the seven
principles or bodies which constitute his own uni¬
verse, itself also composed of many “ lives ”.
The human Armageddon is perpetual; in man a
constant war is being waged between his spiritual and
his material nature. He is also in conflict with the
matter of the world in which he lives, always
resistant to his will. All self-expression whether it
be through will, thought, feeling, speech, or action
produces conflict. Life determines, form resists;
consciousness seeks freedom, matter confines. The
artist, even at the moment of greatest inspiration,
is in conflict with the mediums of his art, for, as
ever, matter resists the impress of spirit. As a
result of the battle, will develops, wisdom increases,
consciousness expands.
Matter and spirit share the victory equally.
Matter may be said to conquer in the sense that no
permanent impress of spirit can be made upon it ;
though captured for a time eventually it escapes.'"

1 Physical, etheric, emotional, of concrete mind, constituting

the mortal personality, and of abstract mind, of intuition and
of will, constituting the immortal Self or ego. Vide Man
Visible and Invisible, by A. Besant and C. W. Leadbeater.

2 As the sculptor models first in clay—then, when he has

taken his cast from the model, breaks it and uses the clay
again in future work.
 Ill

Spirit appears to conquer in that, in gradually

increasing degree, matter becomes its servant; yet
spirit loses continually in that no final victory is
ever attained.
Only THAT, the One Alone, wins permanent
victory. That which is beyond the conflict, yet is
the conflict’s cause : That which is neither spirit
nor matter yet is of the essence of both : That from
which both life and form emerge : That to which
both return—That achieves completely Its predeter-
mined goal.
The everlasting conflict reaches its height in man,
for in him is the battlefield upon which the balance
of power begins to be attained. In the kingdoms of
Nature below the human, matter reigns and spirit is
imprisoned. In the superhuman kingdoms spirit
reigns and matter is dominated. Humanity is
therefore the front line of the battle at this period
in the evolution of the solar system. Since in man
the fiercest battle rages, so in man the greatest
achievement is won.
The spiritual, intuitional, and intellectual powers
of the threefold Logos, through their representation
in the human constitution, find self-conscious ex¬
pression as action, feeling, and thought respectively
in man. That expression as it is perfected brings
order into the three densest worlds. The forces of
Chaos are arrayed against that establishment of
law. Their mode of action is to tempt man to
live continually a personal instead of a universal life :
 112

to act separately with personal motives, instead

of co-operatively for the welfare of the whole.
Under this ceaseless temptation man falls con¬
tinually. But since every fall produces pain and
self-limitation, this mode of attack defeats its own
ends. Man reasons from the pain and limitation to
their cause ; and reasoning, he learns. As he learns,
the temptation to live unto himself instead of as part
fo the whole loses its power over him, and the
vision of life .universal dawns upon his con¬
sciousness.
Then a conflict is waged deeper within him
between the personal and the universal aspects of
his nature. The personal, in which matter pre¬
dominates, seeks self-preservation, self-aggrandize¬
ment, and self-illumination. The universal, in which
spirit predominates, seeks preservation, aggrandize¬
ment, and illumination for life as a whole. The
inner Self knows, though at first the outer does not
know, that in such a consummation alone may
perfect and unbroken happiness be attained.
The personal outer self of man, still held in the
thrall of matter, time, and space—the triune
attributes of Chaos, the reflected spiritual trinity-
seeks in the realms of action, feeling, and thought,
material, temporary, localized satisfaction grasped
for the unit, not shared with the whole. The uni¬
versal, inner Self of man seeks spiritual, eternal, and
universal fulfilment, shared by all that lives.
Between these ideals there can be no compromise,
 113

and again reason and experience, the teachers of

man, bring ultimate victory for the universal ideal.
Slowly man learns that the greatest physical,
emotional, and mental possessions gained for him¬
self alone inevitably disappear leaving discontent¬
ment behind. Gradually he learns to seek treasures
which are everlasting. When once that search has
begun, the victory of Order over Chaos is assured.
The new quest draws added power into the im¬
personal Self and opens channels for its flow into
the personal. Thus reinforcements arrive, the
influence of matter is diminished, and the tide of
battle turns in favour of spirit.
In his constitution, his goal, and the means by
which it is attained, man is an epitome of the uni¬
verse. Since the everlasting conflict is the means
of achievement, humanity may be regarded as the
battlefront, the testing place, of the universe ; hence
the difficulty of human life. Although man’s diffi¬
culties are great, great beyond human imagination
is his reward. The battle won, the conqueror
wields resistless power, passes into bliss ineffable,
and dwells in everlasting peace.
 CHAPTER XVIII

God Geometrizes.
Spiritual Symbols in the Mineral, Vegetable#
Animal and Human Kingdoms.

SYMMETRY is an expression of the unity of life and

of its equal distribution as an omnipresent essence
pervading all forms. Shape is an expression of the
interplay between life and matter. All natural
forms are shaped symmetrically.
The sphere is the most perfect dynamic expres¬
sion in shape of the relation of life to form. The
cube is its perfect static expression ; spinning on
one of its points it produces a sphere, symbol of life
and form united.
The pyramid expresses the evolution of the first
duality into perfect manifestation. The apex is the
primordial point, the valve through which eternal
life passes into the universe. As it passes through
it is submitted to the conditioning of matter. Its
outward flow is fourfold and is expressed symbol¬
ically by the expanding sides of the pyramid. The
base, a square, represents the physical world. The
apex, a point, represents the highest manifested
 115

region, the source of existence. The perfect

symmetry of the whole figure expresses the perfect
law by which life manifests in form. The infinitely
extensible sides indicate the limitless possibilities of
the evolution of life and form.
Viewed in this manner the pyramid symbolizes
the truth behind manifestation. It is a symbol of
the Third Aspect of the Supreme, the inrerplay
between life and form, the relation between spirit
and matter.
The perfect life in any kingdom of Nature
■expresses that relation as completely as does the
pyramid. The mineral is composed of crystals
formed and arranged with geometrical precision.
The plant grows according to geometric principles,
and its flower is modelled upon a fundamental
geometric form such as the cross and the star. In
its mode of growth it displays the spiral and
the cone.
By means of symbols plant life in its natural
•state portrays in perfection the principle of its own
existence, the law of its being, which is that govern¬
ing the relation between plant life and plant form.
In the animal kingdom, where there is group
consciousness but not yet complete individual
consciousness, individuality is to be attained.
Here, modifications and imperfections of form
appear, yet, in spite of the imperfections, a complete
symbolism is shown. The spinal column and the
legs form three sides of a square or parallelogram,
 116

the fourth side being completed by the surface of

the ground and the lines of force connecting the
fore and hind legs. The protruding neck and head
symbolize the outgrowth resulting from the effort
of the life within to find new modes of self-expression
through new types of form. That principle which
was the flower in the plant is expressed as the head
of the animal, that which was the roots, is now
symbolized by the feet—still attached to earth, but
mobile. The spinal column and ribs display a
multi-armed cross, whilst the outline and cross
sections of each bone indicate fundamental symbols.
The head of the animal thrust forth from the
body reflects in microcosmic form the existence of
extra-systemic consciousness and life. It corre¬
sponds to the apex of the pyramid, the valve through
which the life which is beyond is enabled to reach
the life already within. As the system reaches
towards the inflowing life, so the animal thrusts
forth its head, reaching out for individual experience,
sensation, thought, and life.
That matter reaches out towards life is a funda¬
mental truth ; in spite of its resistance it always
evokes life, for that is its response to the evolution¬
ary urge—the impulse of the creative will towards
perfection. In the mineral this impulse appears as
chemical affinity ; in the plant as growth upwards
and as elementary sex polarity and activity ; in the
animal as the thrusting forth of the head, as sex,
and as response to emotion and thought.
 117

The spinal cord in vertebrates is the physical

symbol of the One Will, direct in its action yet
flexible. In man the upright posture and the
extended arms form the cross which depicts life
made manifest in form. With feet apart, arms
outstretched, head and spine erect, man portrays
the pentagon, symbol of life liberated. This, as
already mentioned, is a ruling symbol in the plant
kingdom in which life has achieved freedom from
mineral inertia. Man, liberated from the instinctive
mass consciousness of the animal into self-conscious
individuality, also displays the sign of liberated life.
Not unconsciously, as in the plant, nor in his
normal carriage, but only when his arms are out¬
stretched to help his brethren, making thereby the
sign of the sacrificial cross. The kingly symbol
shines forth within the inner man as the sacrificial
sign appears in the outer.
 CHAPTER XIX

From Man to Superman.

The Symbol of the Cone.
The All-pervading Mind.

THE relation between life and form—unconscious

in Mineral, instinctive in Plant and Animal—is
manifest as self-conscious awareness in Man. This
completion of the triplicity is the factor which
differentiates man from the sub-human kingdoms
of Nature. Man is the first microcosmie logos and
must therefore learn that art which the Macrocosm
displays so perfectly, of blending life and form, of
manifesting spirit through matter. The task of the
human kingdom is to perfect the technique of
moulding matter to the will of spirit. Its fulfilment
depends upon the recognition by man of the
Supreme as the One Worker and upon his offering
the minimum of resistance and maximum of adapt¬
ability to His activity.
Perfect adaptability demands the absence of
inhibition to interior impulses arising in the con¬
sciousness as a result of the activity of the Supreme.
 119

There must be utter surrender to that activity, a

constant inner listening and watching that the pur¬
pose of the One Worker may be grasped and
fulfilled. The capacity for utter self-insulation
from the outer world and for entire disinterestedness
are essential factors in establishing an absolute
harmony between the One directing Intelligence
and the individual consciousness of man.
He who would raise himself from man to super¬
man must learn to answer freely and continually to
illumination and intuition and to give immediate
and unfettered expression to their promptings in
his conduct of life. He must practise the science
of self-illumination and the art of intuition, event¬
ually becoming expert in both. The source of all
his action, the motive for all his work, must come
exclusively from those inner realms of his con¬
sciousness whence illumination and intuition spring.
Achieving this, the superman displays the symbol
of the cone, which is the pyramid with all that it
implies, spinning with gyroscopic stability on a
central axis. As it spins, lines and angles dis¬
appear ; the square base merges into the circle, the
two becoming one. Therefore the cone is the
symbol of the perfected art of relating life and form.
The source, which was the apex, the flowing lines
of life which were the sides, and the material worlds
which were the base, have become one as the
whole pyramid spins in perfect response to the
descending life.
 120

The cone, in form and function, is first produced

by the impact of spirit upon matter. The atom is
in reality a cone-shaped body, a whirling vortex in
etheric matter, a funnel conveying energy. Atoms
are of two kinds. One is formed by out-flowing
energy and the other by its return. The atomic
funnel operates automatically; the superhuman
operates self-consciously, but with equal perfection.
The solar system itself may be conceived of
accurately as funnel-shaped. In the highest dimen¬
sions one vast spinning cone is perceived. Paradox¬
ically the opening faces in every direction. The
axis points always towards the seer. In the lower
dimensions many funnels appear, increasing in
number until at the physical level each atom is a
funnel, all together making up the one major funnel
which is the mode of manifestation of the energy
of the Supreme.
The solar system in its turn is part of a higher
group of funnels which together comprise a great
unit, one of many, forming a cosmos. Cosmoi
combine into that ultimate unit which is and
includes the whole.
The funnel form is a force manifestation of the
Intelligence Aspect of Being, which is all-pervading,
present in every atom of every world. It manifests
individuallv through embodied intelligences of vary¬
ing degrees of development. It is Itself a Being,
though of a nature which is incomprehensible to
 121

guiding Intellect behind and within all natural

processes.
This “ Being ” is the Great Designer of all forms,
the Pattern Maker, who constructs the archetypes
upon which all forms are modelled, by which also
all form is shaped more and more perfectly as a
vehicle for life. Systemic archetypes are in no
sense separate from their Creator, they are objective
manifestations of His Consciousness ; nor are they
separate from their material expressions, the
evolving forms. They are the links between the con¬
sciousness of the Designer and its objective expres¬
sion in varied forms : syntheses of the essence of
both: modified manifestations of creative intent
as expressed in the intermediate realm of abstract
thought.
The Great Designer, Architect, Artist, and
Modeller, omnipresent in every world, is also the
Master Mathematician. His archetypes are equa¬
tions, the formulae of creation. He is the Master
Chemist also, the chemical elements with their
affinities and repulsions being the product of His
labours in His solar laboratory.
He is the Omnipresent Mind; the All-pervading
Intellect; the Administrator of the law by which
the purpose of existence is fulfilled.
 CHAPTER XX

The Ministration of the Angels.

The Ministration of the Adepts.

In His asonic labours, the Supreme as Father, Son,,

and Holy Ghost: Creator, Preserver, and Form
Producer, is assisted by the angelic hosts, who'
perform the dual task of quiekeners of life and
builders of form. In all living things the three
Aspects of the Supreme are represented in varying'
degrees of awakened self-consciousness. In the
mineral kingdom They are asleep so far as external
activity is concerned ; in the plant kingdom They
dream ; in the animal They awaken, and in man
They attain to mental self-consciousness. In the
Adept They are fully developed and perfectly made
manifest.
In the mineral and plant kingdoms the angelic
hosts supply vicariously the hitherto unawakened
self-consciousness of the three Attributes. Those
in the higher ranks of the “ Shining Ones ” have
become the perfected embodiment of these Attri¬
butes, which they transfer through their graded
orders down to the nature-spirits who minister to*
 123

the sleeping consciousness and assist in building

the forms of the mineral kingdom of Nature. The
quickening power of the Supreme thus plays through
the angelic hosts upon the sleeping consciousness
in stone, in metal, and in jewel, causing it to dream
and helping its progress toward the birth of self-
consciousness. This service the angelic hierarchy
renders from age to age, from the very dawn of
solar life and planetary existence to its close, sup¬
plying vicariously the self-conscious link between
the universal triplicity of power in the higher
realms of consciousness, and the imprisoned Triune
God sleeping unconscious in the mineral kingdom.
In the plant kingdom the results of this service
are more immediately apparent than in the mineral.
Plant consciousness and plant form are more re¬
sponsive to stimuli than is the case in the kingdom
below. In the mineral the response is almost
entirely to the power aspect both of the Supreme
and of the angelic hosts. In the plant evolution
which produces sentiency, the wisdom aspect, both
indwelling and angelic, is involved. The influence
of the angels of the emotional realm is applied and
emotional awakening occurs.
In the animal kingdom, where the response to
stimuli is still greater, the influence of mind is
applied through the intelligence or consciousness
aspect, also both indwelling and angelic. This
higher influence plays—primarily from the causal
level—upon the animal kingdom through the group
 124

-consciousness, but from within the monadic life

stream and through the permanent atoms.1 It
includes angelic ministration at the birth of
individuality.
In these three kingdoms the nature-spirits are
especially active, though with widely differing
results. The gnomes of the earth element, together
with all the varied subdivisions, races, and tribes of
earth spirits, represent the power aspect of the
'Supreme and of the angelic hierarchy. This they
convey and apply instinctively, through their
building operations under the form-producing in¬
fluence of the Universal Mind. The One Intelligence
orders and directs their various activities, whilst the
One Will stimulates them to constant action.
Because of the creative power of the One Will,
of which in their kingdom this order of the angelic
hosts is an embodiment, their every act contains a
natural form-producing potency, liberates a quicken¬
ing force the influence of which is out of all pro¬
portion to their intelligence and place in evolution.
The basic molecular constructions and crystalline
formations of the mineral kingdom are the result
partly of the play upon free matter of creative
energy or Word-force and partly of the mass
“ thought power ” of groups or tribes of earth
nature-spirits. Their thought-force, an instinctual
"‘relay” from the Universal Mind and from the

1 Single atoms of the seven planes attached to every Monad.

Vide A Study in Consciousness, by A. Besant.
 125

higher members of their hierarchy, is highly for¬

mative, producing forms in the emotional and
etheric worlds. Such forms are the models of the
ultimate solid, minerals. They arise in the group-
consciousness of the nature-spirits from the Univer¬
sal Mind, in which these models exist as archetypes.
They are living powers, moulding forces, in
association with each of which is an order of angels,
the vibratory keynote or chord of whose nature is
that of the archetype.
The preparation and perfecting of these arche¬
types occupy a vast period of time at the opening
of each new scheme of evolution. During succes¬
sive epochs they are projected plane by plane
outwards to the material world. This projection
consists of the impingement of their emitted ener¬
gies on characteristic wave lengths upon the matter
of successively denser planes. The angel builders
absorb and transmit the Word-force or creative
sound, which striking the matter of the planes cause
it to assume typical or corresponding forms. This
transmission of the Word calls appropriate orders
of building angels and nature-spirits to the task of
assisting in the production, and later in the perfect¬
ing, of the forms. Ultimately the densest plane
is reached, the unresponsive matter of which slowly
assumes the desired form.
It is to be assumed that without this aid of the
angelic hosts and nature-spirits the process of
creation would be carried out under the slow,
 126

■automatic operation of the law of resonance ; but

the time employed would be greatly increased.
Schemes of evolution can be imagined in which this
aid is absent, and others in which it is performed
more effectively. Therefore it is true that, being
perfectly planned, the processes of Nature are
perfect in and of themselves. Yet, on this planet at
least, and doubtless in this solar system, the
ministration of angels occurs, hastening the fulfil¬
ment of the divine plan.
Upon the attainment of that individuality which
is the goal of animal evolution and marks the birth
of the human ego, angelic ministration to the human
kingdom is largely limited to the building and main¬
tenance of the bodies and to the construction and
adjustment of the mechanism of consciousness.
Man has the power to continue alone to the next
phase of his evolution ; no external non-human
agency can give interior assistance. The intrinsic
difference of vibration between individual human
and angel is normally too great to permit of their
interior synchronization.
At the birth of individuality the distinctively
human note is struck. Though angels minister at
the birth, assist in building and in tuning the
instrument, yet, when once the first note is struck
by the human Monad—positively human by choice—
then only can man vibrate synchronously with man.
Thus when the human ego has been formed,
■spiritual ministration becomes the responsibility of
 127

those who are more advanced along the path of

human evolution.
As throughout the seonic evolution of power, life,
and consciousness through the mineral, plant, and
animal kingdoms assistance is provided, so in the
human kingdom the child humanity is guided and
inspired by its Elder Brethren. During its infancy
on earth great Lords, high Adepts, with bands of
pupils, descended from the planet Venus 1 to under¬
take this task. The human stage had been attained
by animal life, the biped human form had been
evolved by angelic aid, but the link of awakened
intellect, essential to successful self-expression by
the newborn triune Self, was lacking.
The Lords of Venus were supermen in whom
mental evolution was complete. They therefore
could light in others the fire of the mind, fully
lighted in Themselves. The human mental instru¬
ment was built by angelic aid after the pattern of
the archetype ; yet no music issued from the four¬
stringed lyre of the mental vehicle, for the newborn
ego knew not how to strike the strings. The Lords
of Flame from Venus performed a dual ministry;
They tuned the lyre of the human mind on earth,
and, striking the first note, woke the human ego
to a knowledge of the instrument of mind. Thence¬
forward Adept Teachers guided the infant race and
guide it still. Their visible Presence, no longer

1 Vide Man : Whence, How and Whither, by A. Besant

and C. W. Leadbeater.
 128

needed, was long ago withdrawn, and since, save for

the rare visitations of the Lord of Love,1 They have
guided mankind invisibly.
Human progress pursues a spiral path, and when
the cycle of material development nears fulfilment,
man enters a new cycle of spiritual growth, in which
spiritually he is “ as a little child.” In his spiritual
childhood, as in ancient days in his racial, material
infancy, he receives external aid, again sees his
Teacher face to face. External guidance is renewed
in the cycle of spiritual unfoldment, and the
relationship of disciple and Teacher is established.
“ When the pupil is ready, the Teacher appears

1 As Founder of the great world faiths.

 L’ENVOI

Peace.
Beauty,
The Triune God.

PURITY, strength, stability—these form the three¬

fold foundation upon which alone peace unshakable
may be established in the soul. Peace, serenity,
equipoise—these are essential to the soul’s well¬
being. Without these life is vain, achievement
annulled, success but a dream. Only in stillness
may the soul be nourished, in silence union be
achieved. Quietness within provides safe retreat, a
sure harbour, an impregnable defence against noise
without. External noise must serve as a constant
stimulus to the achievement of interior peace.
In the darkness of universal night the solar worlds
are born. In the darkness of the earth the germina¬
tion of the seed occurs and, plants are born. In the
darkness of a mother’s womb the body of a child is
formed. From absolute darkness, suns, globes,
plants, and men emerge into the light. Thereafter
each gives forth its own light which was kindled in
the darkness of creative night. So also the silent
9
 130

enlightenment of the soul, for in their spiritual

significance darkness and silence are one.
In western lands the growth of the soul is marred
by noise. In the East the value of silence is under¬
stood, the power of peace is known, and there the
silent life may still be lived. In the West each soul
must create a silence for itself and learn to dwell
therein. Noise disturbs the harmony essential to
beauty of soul. It distorts the shape of all growing
forms, destroys their loveliness by marring the
“ affinity ” between the archetypal model in the
Universal Mind, and the form to be evolved in the
workshop of the world. The myriad forces which
the Supreme Artist employs, the attendant spirits
which direct their course—intelligences great and
small, self-conscious and instinctive, builders
cosmic and atomic—all these depend upon rhythm,
complete attunement, for the perfection of their
workmanship.
Discordance produces ugliness. Not the sweet
harmonies of human life lived peacefully, the sound
of human labour, the music of voices, nor the sound
of man-made implements peacefully employed and
directed by a quiet mind at peace with God, for
these form a sweet accompaniment to the joyous
music of the soul. But the artificial noises of an
artificial life, the discordant sounds of a fretful,
feverish, and unnatural activity, these breed ugliness
and destroy peace. Those who are forced to live
amidst these conditions must learn to offset them
 131

by developing an interior peace, firmly founded in

purity, strength, and stability.
There can be no spiritual illumination without
silence,Eself-recollectedness, and inner peace. There¬
fore the aspirant must be pure, be stable, for in
purity and stability peace abides.
Although the life eternal is the real and the daily
temporal life the unreal, those who would tread the
spiritual path are in no sense free from the obliga¬
tion of making daily life, and their immediate world,
supremely beautiful. They must regard life as a
work of art, and daily make it more beautiful.
Each human life is part of a great work of art
which the Supreme Artist continually creates. The
perfection of His work depends upon the perfection
of human life. When man mars life by ugliness,
the life of the Supreme Artist is also marred. When
man degrades himself, He, too, is degraded, for there
is but One Life, One Artist, and One Work of Art.
Conduct, therefore, cannot be ignored, or ethics
neglected. Ethics are of supreme importance, for
there cannot be perfect beauty without perfect
conduct, based upon the noblest ethical ideals. This
truth applies to all things in life, the greater and the
smaller, the life’s work as well as the daily routine,
the threescore years and ten which make up the
whole, and the individual days and hours of which
those years consist.
Beauty is essential to the free expression of life,
ugliness hinders its fulfilment. Beauty must be
 132

made manifest and become the keynote of the new

age. It is the key to happiness, and without it life
fails, civilizations crumble, races die, and individuals
wither away.
Beauty is the gospel of the coming day. To.the
artist this knowledge is not new; to the statesman,
the educator, the scientist, and the priest it is still
but a far-off ideal. These moulders of the nations’
lives must be brought to see the profound necessity
for the establishment of beauty at the centre and
at the circumference of every civilized community.
Thus may the nations be led from materialism to
spirituality. Beauty shall take them by the hand.
The Real is essentially beautiful, and the pursuit of
beauty shall be a stepping stone to the pursuit of
Reality.
Beauty is a universal manifestation of the life of
the Supreme, which is omnipresent, the Unity be¬
hind diversity, the original parent Truth.
 INDEX

Adept, Adepts 23, 33-42, Divine energy, three types

47, 48, 66, 70, 92-94, 127 of 35
(See also Master and Duality 95
Perfect Men)
Ancient mysteries 45 Ego, the 13,60,61, 65,
Angels 122-24, 126 67, 73, 80, 89, 105, 126
Archetypes 19, 121, 125 Ego-hood 41
“ Arise, awake, etc.” 24, 25 Egoic consciousness 9, 10,
Art, spirituality in 57 62, 65, 84
Aspiration xi ,, intercourse 72
Athletes, spiritual x Elder Brethren 24, 87, 127
Awareness 118 Emotions 10
Environment 7
Beauty 19, 20, 106, Ethics 131
107, 131, 132 Evolution a journey 105
Being, the 120, 121 ,, and love 82
Blavatsky, Madame H.P. ,, story of 31
viii, 19
Brain 5, 6, 8-16, 62, 72, 80 Foods 6
Brain and body 8-10, 11, 15 Freedom’s call 27

Chaos and order 108,111,113 Goal of life 23

Christian story, Initiation God geometrizes 114-17
symbolized in 86 God is love 31
■Conflict 1, 26, 74, 108-13 Golden Stairs, the viii
Contemplation 16, 17, 20 Great White Brotherhood,
Creation, law of 20 the 40, 42, 45, 48, 50, 58,
81, 90, 95
Daily activities 7 Group (soul) system 41, 99
,, events 56 Guardians of the globe 37
,, life 59, 73, 131
Dangers 98, 102 Heavenly Man 100
Devotee and Master 30 Higher self 12, 15
Diseipleship xi, 60 Humility 98
Disease 108
Disinterestedness 119 Impersonality 98
Divine discontent 28 I ndividualization 99
 134

PAGE PAGE
Individual self 11 Love 30,31,32,46,
Initiate, the, and eternal 49, 76, 77, 82, 91, 96, 128
now 89
,, and love 91 Magnetism 8
,, and stream Man epitome of the whole
of life 88, 89 105
,, and the ,, a prisoner 26*
Supreme 87 ,, sevenfold 17, 40, 110
,, a n d t h e ,, a thinker 2
world 87 ,, reward of 113
,, aura, thought Man’s task 21
and feeling Man to superman 119
of 90, 91 ,, truths within 4
,, vision of 89 ,, war in 108-13
,, voice, eyes Manifestation and non¬
and glance manifestation 104
of 91 Master, the, and pupil see
,, work of 62, Pupil
89, 90 ,, is life
Initiation xi, 60, 62, 86 ,, knowledge of
Inner Government of the 32, 33, 34, 38
world 39 ,, love of 30, 32
Inner realization xii, 3, 80 ,, scientist 35
Intuition 3, 12, 43, 119 ,, will of 29
,, intelligence and Meditation xi, 3, 5-7, 10,
14 16, 17, 29, 43, 55, 58, 63,
will
68, 69, 72, 73, 79-81, 102
Key-power of universe and Mental body 9, 10
man 30 Mind, mastery of 2
Keys to knowledge 33, 34 Monad 14, 41, 65, 67, 126
Monad, ego, personality 105
ix, x Mystery 104
Law, the
Life and form 22, 23
Nature, sevenfold 21
,, eternal 131
Nature-spirits 124, 125
,, processes 99
Nirvana 64
,, wellspring of 106
Nirvanic plane 39, 47
Live, serve, be strong 25
Logos 17-20, 100, 110, 111 Notes, the seven 16-20
Lord of love 46, 128
Occultism vii-x
Lords of Action 45
,, Beauty 44 ,, modern west¬
,, Concrete Mind 44 ern 54
,, Idealism 45 Occult life 55-
,, Intellect 43 Omnipotence, power, will 17
,, Intuition 43 Omnipresence, wisdom,
,, Power 43 love 18
 135

PAGE PAGE
Omniscience, omnipres¬ Pupil and inner light 75
ence, omnipotence 39 ,, and outer world 54, 55
One Actor 97 ,, and purity 75, 76
,, Alone 42, 111 ,, and reeollectedness
,, and many 18, 94 58, 73
,, Artist 131 ,, and superphysical
,, Consciousness 41 worlds 52, 81
,, Individuality 32 ,, and Teacher 49, 51-
,, Intelligence 33, 41, 124 53, 56, 58, 60, 63-69
,, Knowledge 32 71-73, 75, 78-85, 128
,, Life 43, 44, 69, 88, 97, 131 ,, and the arts 57
,, Mind 32, 97 ,, and vicarious atone¬
,, Plan 98 ment 83
,, Self 77, 84 ,, as channel 55, 64, 81
,, Supreme 23 ,, as educator 58
„ Will 30,41,97,98,124 ,, as harvester 59
,, Wisdom 41 ,, climbs gradually 63,65
,, Worker 118, 119 ,, conflict of . 74
,, Work of Art 131 ,, consciousness of 56,
61, 62, 67, 69, 72, 80
Path of Holiness 27 ,, during sleep 51
,, probationary 60 ,, helping others 74,84
,, razor-edged 27 ,, individuality of 85
,, spiral 128 ,, love of 76,77
,, spiritual 131 ,, mode of life of 72
,, to freedom 26, 29 ,, must work hard 55
Peace 129-31 ,, new joy and power of 51
Perfect Men 24, 25, ,, personality and ego
28, 36, 46 of 73, 80
Perfection, counsel of viii ,, sonship of 71
,, is relative 70 ,, subtler bodies of 61, 81
Pineal and pituitary glands ,, swift unfoldment of 79
11, 12, 14 thoughts of 56
Positivity 8 training of 68, 76
Principles, eternal 30, trials of 52
31, 37 vision of 68, 74
,, fundamental vii, will-power of 78
xi, 33, 34, 103
,, occult viii Realization, inner xii, 3, 80
,, of man 15, 110 Religions and truth 103
,, universal 96, Reversal 96, 97
101, 103 Rhythm ’l30
Pupil, accepted 53, 65, Rules of life 25
68, 71, 83, 85
,, and business 57 Science of living viii
,, and daily life 56, 59, 73 Self-correction 1
,, and inner life 52 Self-spiritualization 3
 136

PAGE PAGE.
Service the keynote 50 Supreme, the, wisdom of 35
Sevenfold man 17, 40 Symmetry 114
,, nature 21
,, Occult Hierar¬ Temperament or ray 46
chy 40 Temptation 112
,, universe 16, 40 Textbook on occultism vii, xi
Seven High Intelligences 23 That 111
,, notes 16-20 Thought, abstract and
,, Rays 40 concrete 11, 12
Silence, value of 130 Triads 14, 15
Sincerity 8 Truths, basic ix, 11&
Sleep 7 ,, within man 4
Solar system, evolution of Truth, unity, beauty 132
99, 100, 105, 120
Spiritual adolescence 28 Universal brotherhood 24
,, athletes x ,, love 49, 77
,, exercises 3 ,, m i n d 33, 124,
,, infancy 49 125, 130'
,, perfection 49 ,, night 129'
,, symbols 114-17, 119 Universe, fivefold 39'
Stimulants 7 ,, sevenfold 16, 20s
Sun and planets, simile of Unity a principle 30, 31,
66, 73 95, 101, 132
Supreme, the, activity of 118
Venus, Lords of 127
,, abode of 23
Vision of the whole 99-103
,, aspects of 14,
16, 32, 115,122
War in heaven 109'
,, attributes of 28 ,, in man 108-13
,, beauty of 19, 20,132 Way is found 50
* L. >> energy of 120 is hard ix
*0*0 ,, great plan of 97 of escape 26, 27
,, immanence of 89 the, 23, 24
2 “7 knowledge of 35 to eternal life 25*
° ,, one life of 43 to Master 46
,, power of 35,123 Will, development of the 78
,, sevenfold mani¬ ,, supreme 29, 96
festation of 16,45 Word-force 124
,, triple nature of 14
,, unity with 96 Yoga vii, ix, 54
vision of 97 Yogi ix

Subbarayudu, at the Vasanta Press,

Adyar, Madras.