[cover: Command of the Master, painting by Nicholas Roerich.]

(A.A. Bailey, Letters on Occult Meditation, pp. 287-295, 1922 — LETTER VIII, ACCESS TO THE MASTERS VIA MEDITATION.)

"September 21st, 1920.

Today we are to take up the five effects in the three bodies in the lower worlds that the student of meditation will be conscious of if he has duly followed the course laid down.

These effects are not specifically effects in the life as apparent to the onlooking world, such as greater love or spirituality or capacity to serve. What I seek today to bring out are the indications in the physical brain consciousness of the student that he has done some of the necessary work and is attaining somewhat the desired object. Keep this very clearly in mind. I do not seek to make clear all the many and various results achieved by the successful following of the occult laws of meditation. I deal here only with one phase of the matter, and that is, the realisation, in the physical brain consciousness, of certain results along the line of our immediate topic,—access to the Masters.

This narrows down our subject to that of a conscious realisation of the Masters and of some one particular Master by the student in his physical brain. This realisation is very largely independent of his place upon the Path, of his nearness to or distance from initiation. Some very advanced egos may be working at this problem, and be close indeed to their Master, without being able to bring through to the physical brain specific facts proving to them this nearness. Some effect this knowledge at earlier stages than others. It is dependent upon the type of body in use and the work done in previous lives, resulting in a physical vehicle that is a fairly just exponent of the inner man. Oft the man is of far greater calibre and attainment on the inner planes than he is on the physical. So many of our most earnest workers in this particular half century are working out evil karma through the possession of inadequate bodies. Through diligence, application, high endeavour, and the long and patient following of the rules laid down, there comes a time when the student is suddenly conscious—right within the physical brain—of certain unexpected events, an illumination or a seeing that has before been unknown. It is something that is so real yet so momentarily surprising that no amount of subsequent apparent disproving can take away fron him the knowledge that he saw, he contacted, he felt.

As often I have told you, it is not possible in any way in this work to do more than widely generalise. Sixty thousand million souls in process of evolving, each following certain rounds of lives totally different from those of others, offer a wide field to choose from, and no one experience is exactly the same as another. But it might be generally laid down that there are five ways (out of the many possible) which are of such frequent occurrence, comparatively speaking, as to warrant our enumerating them. All have been hinted at, but I may somewhat enlarge the already imparted data.

Seeing the Master and the self within the cave of the heart. As you know, the student has often been told to visualise himself and the Master—about the size of a quarter inch—within the circumference of the etheric heart. He is told to picture, toward the close of his meditation the heart etheric, and therein build minute forms of the Master to Whom he is drawn and of himself. This he proceeds to do with due and elaborate care, with the aid of the imagination and loving effort, working daily on his figures till they become to him very real, and their building and forming becomes almost an automatic part of his meditation form. Then comes a day (usually when astrological conditions are fit and the moon approaches the full) when he becomes conscious within his brain that those figures are not the little puppets he thinks, but that he is within the figure representing himself, and that he stands literally and in all verity before the Master. This occurs at rare intervals at first, and the consciousness of the fact is held but for a few brief seconds; as progress is made, and every department of his nature and of his service develops, with greater frequency will come the experience, with longer periods will it be marked, until there comes a time when the pupil can link up as easily in this manner with his Master as earlier he formed his figures.

Just what did occur? The pupil had succeeded in doing three things:—

1. Identifying himself with the figure within the heart, and aspiring to the Master.

2. Making a definite channel between the heart centre (wherein he is endeavouring to focus his consciousness) and its corresponding head centre. Each of the seven centres in the body, as you know, has a counterpart within the head. It is in the linking up of the centre with its counterpart in the head that illumination comes. This,—in the case in point—has been accomplished by the student. He has connected the heart with its head centre.

3. Not only has he accomplished the two above things but he has so purified that part of the physical brain that corresponds with the particular head centre that it can respond to the higher vibration necessitated, and therefore accurately record what has transpired.

Recognition of vibration. In this instance the method is not quite the same. The student becomes conscious during his moments of intensest aspiration in meditation of a certain peculiar vibration or sensation in his head. It may be in one of three places:—

a. At the top of the spine.

b. In the forehead.

c. At the top of the head.

I speak not here of the sensation that comes when psychic faculty develops, though there is an alliance between the two, but I speak of a definite vibration that accompanies contact with one of the Great Ones. The student at first is only conscious of a feeling of momentary heightening, which takes the form of a ripple or movement in the head. At first it may be attended with some discomfort, if felt in the forehead it may cause tears and weeping, if at the top of the spine or base of the skull exhilaration and even dizziness, and if at the top of the head a sense of expansion with a feeling of fullness, as if the limiting skull were too confining. This wears off with greater use. It is all caused by a contact, momentary at first, with some one Master. In time the student comes to recognise this vibration and to associate it with some particular Great One, for each Master has His own vibration which impresses itself upon His pupils in a specific manner. This method of contact is frequently attended by perfume. In time the pupil learns how to raise his vibration to a certain pitch. Having done this he holds the vibration steady until he senses the Master's answering vibration or the perfume. Then he endeavours to merge his consciousness with the Master's as far as may be, to ascertain the Master's will, and to understand what it is that the Master has to communicate. As time progresses and the response of the pupil grows, the Master on His side will attract his attention or signal to him approval (for instance by arousing this vibration within his head)....

September 23rd, 1920.

......We have now our three remaining points to take up, having already dealt with the two that touched upon contact with the Master in the cave of the heart, and the recognition of His vibration. There are still three other ways (out of many, forget not) whereby the earnest student may be conscious in his physical brain of having contacted his Master.

Bringing through into the physical brain consciousness the memory of the Master's ashram and the lessons imparted there.

As the student perseveres in his meditation, as he increases his facility to throw himself into the right vibration, he builds up a pathway (if so we may term it) that leads him direct to his Master. This is a literal statement of fact. Good work earns for the man in time the right to be with the Master at stated periods. This entails good work in meditation coupled with active service for the race. These intervals are rare at first but come more frequently as progress is made. He will then become aware of this contact through remembrance on awakening. He will see the room of the Master, and remember his associates in the work of the class. He will remember certain sentences, as spoken by his Master, and will bring back a recollection of work suggested or of admonition. This is one of the methods which are indicative to the pupil that he is succeeding, through the ability built up in meditation, in gaining access to the Master.

The attainment of a certain amount of causal consciousness. This is indicative of the pupil's having developed (mayhap in small degree, yet definitely realised) the power to enter somewhat into Their world. The faculty of abstract thought and contemplation, the power to transcend the limitations of time and space, are powers of the body egoic, and as all egoic groups are—as aforesaid—controlled by some one Master, the development of egoic consciousness (when consciously recognised) is indicative of contact and access. Many souls unconsciously contact their Ego, and temporarily have flashes of egoic consciousness but when the pupil can consciously raise himself, when he with deliberation intensifies his vibration, and transfers his polarisation into the body egoic, even if for a brief moment, then he can know that he is for that brief moment vibrating to the key of the Master of his group. He has made contact. He may not remember in his physical brain, at first, the details of that contact, he may not realise the appearance of the Master or the words that passed His lips, but having consciously conformed to rule, and entered within the silence of the high places, the law ever works, and he has made his contact. Some disciples know their Master intimately on the inner planes and work under His direction, but many lives may elapse before they comprehend the law and with deliberation can make the channel of access, through power developed in meditation.

As time elapses this ability to contact increases until the point is reached when the pupil can at any time find out what is the will of the Master and have access to His heart.

This fifth method is not so usual but it is known to some natures. Through sound the aspirant is aware of success. He follows his usual form of meditation. He perseveres from day to day and works on all the three planes over the work to be done. He continuously raises his vibration and aspires in the needed endeavour, coupling all interior effort to the external life of loving service. At some one meditation he will suddenly become aware of a note of music, that seems to be sounded within his head or to emanate from his heart. It will not be evoked by the sounding of the Sacred Word, which Word when sounded by the man on a certain key may call forth a musical response from the Ego, but it will come as a result or culmination of the meditation, and the sound of the note will vibrate within the centre so distinctly as never to be forgotten. It is again an indication of success. The Master has been contacted, and has responded by sounding the tone of the man's own Ego. This is really the basis of the custom of the doorkeeper responding to the would-be aspirant to the mysteries of the group. When the work is properly done, the aspirant will sound the admission word in his own key or tone, endeavouring to strike the note that will evoke the Ego. The doorkeeper will respond and chant forth the reply in the same full sonorous tone, thereby, through the power of sound, linking the man up with the Master of the coming ceremonies. This puts each member of the group—through his own effort and through the third factor, the doorkeeper—en rapport with the Master. In time this will be more fully understood and effort will be made to keep the tone reverberating between those who enter and those who guard the Threshold. When perfectly accomplished (a thing impossible now) it forms a perfect protection. Groups will be formed according to egoic formation and the particular Master. The note of the group will be known to the one who guards the entrance, and no one can get in who sounds not the note in either the higher or lower octave. This applies to groups consecrated to inner spiritual development, and that are directly concerned with the work of a Master with His affiliated pupils or disciples or probationers. Other groups, formed of units diverse and under different rays and Masters, will guard their door by another method, later to be revealed.

When, in meditation, a student hears this inner musical note, he should endeavour to register it, and cultivate the faculty of both recognising it and utilising it. This is not easy at first, as the sounding is both unlooked for and too brief to catch. But as time progresses, and the pupil succeeds in again and yet again getting a similar response, then he can begin to find out the method and watch the causes that set the vibration in motion.

As I have said before, many are the methods whereby a pupil becomes aware of success in the path of access. Above are but five out of these many. Later, when the Schools are organised and watched over by a Master in physical plane consciousness, records will be kept of the times and modes of contact and in this manner much knowledge will accrue. I would in conclusion point out that always the calling forth of the response must be the work of the pupil, and that the hour of that response depends upon the earnestness of his work, the consecration of his service and his karmic liabilities. When he merits certain response it will be demonstrated in his stars, and naught can hinder or delay. Equally, naught can really hasten, so the pupil need not waste time in doleful ponderings upon the lack of response. His the part to obey the rules, to conform to the forms laid down, to ponder and wisely adhere to the prescribed instructions, and to definitely work and to ardently serve his fellowmen. When he has done all this, when he has built the necessary vibrating material into his three lower bodies, when he has aligned them with the body egoic (even if only for a brief minute) suddenly he may see, suddenly he may hear, suddenly he may sense a vibration, and then forever he may say that faith is merged in sight, and aspiration has become recognition." [295]

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