(A.A. Bailey, The Rays and the Initiations, pp. 687-692, 1960 — SECTION TWO, THE ASPIRANT AND THE MAJOR INITIATIONS.)
Initiation III. THE TRASFIGURATION.
"There is no need for me to enter into the symbolic details anent this initiation. The whole theme is adequately dealt with in a book written by A.A.B. entitled From Bethlehem to Calvary—a book to which I gave my approval and endorsement as presenting the subject of the five initiations in a form suitable for the Christian West. I would like to recall to you the fact that this third initiation is in reality the first of the major initiations and is so regarded by the emanating Source of our planetary Logos, Sanat Kumara, and in the two great planetary centres, Shamballa and the Hierarchy. I refer to that stupendous Source of our entire planetary life, the sun Sirius, and to the Lodge of Divine Beings Who work from this heavenly Centre.
The first two initiations—regarded simply as initiations of the threshold—are experiences which have prepared the body of the initiate for the reception of the terrific voltage of this third initiation. This voltage is passed through the body of the initiate under the direction of the planetary Logos, before Whom the initiate stands for the first time. The Rod of Initiation is used as the transferring agent. The second initiation freed the initiate from the astral level of consciousness, the astral plane— the plane of glamour, of illusion and of distortion. This was an essential experience because the initiate (standing before the One Initiator for the first time at the third initiation) must be freed from any magnetic or attractive "pull" emanating from the personality.
The mechanism of the personality must be so purified and so insensitive to the material attractions of the three worlds that there is henceforth nothing in the initiate which could offset the divine initiatory activity. The physical appetites are subdued and relegated to their rightful place; the desire nature is controlled and purified; the mind is responsive primarily to ideas, intuitions and impulses coming from the soul, and begins its true task as an interpreter of divine truth and a transmitter of ashramic intention.
You will note, therefore, how this third initiation is a climaxing point and also inaugurates a new cycle of activity leading to the seventh Initiation of Resurrection. I would call your attention to the fact that the third, fifth and seventh initiations are under the control of the fifth, first and second rays. These, as you might expect, will constitute the emanating energies transmitted through the application of the Rod of Initiation.
Initiation III. The fifth Ray of Science. This inflowing energy produces its major effects upon the mind, or upon manas, the fifth principle; it enables the initiate to use the mind as its major instrument in the work to be done, prior to passing through the fourth and fifth initiations.
Initiation V. The first Ray of Will or Power. At this initiation the disciple appreciates for the first time the significance of the will and uses it to relate the head centre and the centre at the base of the spine, thus completing the integration started at the third initiation.
Initiation VII. The second Ray of Love-Wisdom is here active, as the major planetary ray. The application of the Rod of Initiation by the Initiator (working this time from the highest plane, the logoic plane) produces in a mysterious way an effect on the totality of humanity and—to a lesser extent—upon the allied kingdoms. The effect is similar to that produced in the individual at the fifth initiation, wherein the head centre and the centre at the base of the spine became closely en rapport— through the use of the will.
Aspirants and disciples should remember that after the third initiation, the effects of the initiation which they may be undergoing are not confined simply to the individual initiate, but that henceforth at all the later initiations he becomes the transmitter of the energy which will pour through him with increasing potency at each application of the Rod. He acts primarily as an agent for the transmission, for the stepping down and for the consequent safe distribution of energy to the masses. Each time a disciple achieves an initiation and stands before the Initiator, he becomes simply an instrument whereby the planetary Logos can reach humanity and bring to men fresh life and energy. The work done prior to and at the third initiation is purely preparatory to this type of service required from an "energy transmitter." That is why, at the seventh initiation, the dominating ray of our planet—the second Ray of Love-Wisdom—is employed. There is no energy upon our planet of equal potency, and no expression of it has so pure and constructive a quality as that to which the initiate is subjected at the seventh initiation. This seventh initiatory climax marks another culminating point in the career of the initiate, and indicates his entrance into an entirely different cycle of experience.
You will have noted, if you are comparing these instructions with the outline given by me on page 340, that in this third initiation it is the ajna centre (the centre between the eyebrows) which is stimulated. This is a fact of great interest, because it is at this initiation that the disciple begins consciously and creatively to direct the energies being made available to him, doing so via the ajna centre and directed towards humanity as a whole. These energies are:
1. The energy of his own soul. This has a purely group effect and though working through his personality, is consciously directed outward into the world—after the transforming process brought about as the energy received permeates his threefold mechanism.
2. The energy of the Ashram to which he belongs. Both this energy and the one above mentioned are necessarily the energy of his soul ray and of the Ashram which is representative of that ray. The effect produced—according to his capacity of absorption and direction—will further the working out of the divine Plan.
3. The energy of the Hierarchy Itself. The Hierarchy is primarily controlled by the energy of the second Ray of Love-Wisdom, though this dominant ray is modified and enriched through blending with the other six rays. His use of this energy will at first be largely an unconscious use and he will register at this point no definite intention. This is due to the magnitude of the great reservoir of energies; he is a recipient of the incoming energy largely because he is an initiated member of the Hierarchy and is also a pure channel for transmission.
4. The peculiar energy which is transmitted to him by Sanat Kumara at the time of his initiation. This is a totally different energy to that transmitted to him at the earlier initiations. It comes from Shamballa and is uniquely (in a sense undefinable and hence incomprehensible to you) the energy of the planetary Logos Himself. He directs extra-planetary energy (in the initiations which follow the third initiation) from the ajna centre of which He is possessed, to the head centre of the initiate and from thence immediately to the ajna centre of the initiate. Then this energy is directed outward into its destined field of service. This energy is of so high a quality that there is nothing of a registering mechanism in the initiate's equipment capable of registering its admission and circulation through his three head centres. Nevertheless, this energy does pour through him and out into the world, in spite of the fact that he remains unconscious of its presence.
The ajna centre is the "centre of direction"; it is placed symbolically between the two eyes, signifying the twofold direction of the life energy of the initiate—outward into the world of men and upward towards the divine Life and Source of all Being. Where the direction of the energy is consciously undertaken (and there are certain energies of which the initiate is constantly aware), the ajna centre is controlled and dominated by the indwelling spirit of man; this spiritual man bases all action in relation to these entering energies on the ancient premise that "energy follows thought." His thought life becomes, therefore, the field of his major effort, for he knows that the mind is the agent of direction; he endeavours to concentrate within himself so that eventually he may consciously control and direct all the incoming divine energies. This is, in reality, the major hierarchical endeavour and the work to which the Masters are pledged and for which They are in constant training. As the evolutionary process proceeds, new and higher energies become available. This is particularly the case now, as They prepare for the reappearance of the Christ.
There are three words which are directive words for the disciple as he handles his life, his environment and his circumstances. They are: Integration, Direction, Science. His task—as he faces it after the third initiation—is to produce a greater personal integration so that he becomes increasingly a soul-infused personality, and also to integrate himself with his environment for service purposes. To this must be added the subtler task of integrating himself into the Ashram so that he becomes an integral part of the Master's band of workers.
As the work of integration proceeds, he is striving all the time to learn the uses of the ajna centre and consciously and with right understanding to work with, absorb, transmute and distribute energy as his major ashramic service. His keynote is right direction as the result of right reaction to hierarchical intention and the injunctions of his own soul. Both integration and direction, he discovers, require understanding of occult, scientific knowledge. He works then as a scientist, and for this reason all the three keynotes of his life as an initiate—before and immediately after the third initiation—are conditioned by and directed by the mind; the mental plane becomes the field of his major endeavour as a server.
Again you see that I am presenting you with no glamorous picture of the initiatory process but only one of hard work, constant effort and strenuous mental and spiritual living. There is much here for you to consider, and what I have here given warrants sound reflection and much thought. It is my earnest hope and wish that you may realise that the teaching here given can be appropriated by you and that the initiatory process is one that eventually you will understand and in which you will participate."
