[cover: 24 Books of Esoteric Philosophy by Alice Bailey.]

[The content of this article was extracted from Alice Bailey's books after atomatically searching the texts: “Lipika", "Lords of Karma", "Karmic Lords", and "Maharajahs".]

RETURN

<41> (Discipleship in the New Age - Vol. II, pp. 314-315.)

"... PART VI

In my last instruction to you I dealt with some aspects of the new approach to discipleship and to initiation; it is essential that the old concepts—profoundly useful in their day—should be forgotten and the newer methods and techniques should be substituted. This is now necessary on account of the surprising unfoldment of the human consciousness during the past twenty-five years. The steps taken at the Conclave in Shamballa in 1925 (based on tentative conclusion at the previous centennial Conclave) and the pressures exerted by the Hierarchy have proved most successful, and out of the chaos of the world war (precipitated by humanity itself) there is developing a structure of truth and a paralleling responsiveness of the human mechanism which guarantees the perpetuation and the rapid unfoldment of the next stage of the teaching of the Ageless Wisdom.

I used a phrase in my last instruction to which I would like to call your attention. I spoke of the coming ability of mankind to "share in the great hierarchical task of illuminating, precipitating and lifting." These words signify far more than their obvious meaning, and I would like somewhat to elucidate.

Men are apt to think that the entire objective of the work of the Hierarchy is to find and admit men into hierarchical contact. It is that minor phase of hierarchical activity which appears paramount in your consciousness; is it not so? Your main hope is that as you unfold your latent possibilities, you will be able to help others to do the same. This is indeed a worthy thought, but is nevertheless based entirely on misapprehension. Let me, therefore, throw light upon the matter by quoting the Old Commentary:

"When light illuminates the minds of men and stirs the secret light within all other forms, then the One in Whom we live reveals His hidden, secret lighted Will.

"When the purpose of the Lords of Karma can find no more to do, and all the weaving and closerelated plans are all worked out, then the One in Whom we live can say: `Well done! Naught but the
beautiful remains.'

"When the lowest of the low, the densest of the dense, and the highest of the high have all been lifted through the little wills of men, then can the One in Whom we live raise into radiating light the vivid lighted ball of Earth, and then another greater Voice can say to Him: `Well done! Move on. Light shines.'" ..."

♦

<42> (Discipleship in the New Age - Vol. II, pp. 337-340.)

"... 5. Initiation concerns the future and involves prevision. Again I must repeat myself and say that this theme or motif of initiation is one most difficult to explain. Why should the fact of being initiated involve prevision? That is the immediate question which arises to your lips. I will counter this question with another one. What do you understand by vision? I refer, of course, to vision which is true, and which therefore presages events. In all mystical and occult writings the idea of vision, of seeing a vision or of materialising a vision, runs like a golden thread through the thinking of the aspirant. It is connected in his mind with spiritual achievement, with the attainment of his goal and with the recognition of that which lies at the heart of all high spiritual adventure. The mystical writings refer to visions and always in terms of that which lies ahead, of that which is deeply desired; the concept is often prostituted to an excessive emotionalism or to a sublimated sex expression. The occult writings frequently refer to vision as a moving point, advancing towards a progressive revelation of divinity. The whole concept is, however, relatively very simple.

Every initiation, and every stage preparatory to initiation, involves the seeing of the remote yet the attainable; all vision leads up to the momentous event of the sixth initiation, when the Master faces what is for Him the final vision within this planetary ring-pass-not. He makes His great decision on the basis of the seen opportunity, and through His response to the seven phases of that cosmic vision, He treads one or other of the seven Paths. For this great "crisis of vision" all the lesser visions have prepared the Master; after His decision is made there is no longer any vision as we comprehend the term. There is a factual perception of such a nature that the element of time—as evidenced by remoteness, by the distance between this and that, between here and there—forever disappears. This is, necessarily, a somewhat meaningless statement to the majority of people.

For the aspirant, whether his goal is the Path of Discipleship or one of the seven Paths leading away from known planetary experience, there is persistently that which conveys to consciousness two factors:

a. A dualistic perception of that which has been attained and of that which lies ahead to be attained.

b. A recognition of the events which will, if experienced, merge the two into one major happening; time, therefore, enters in. However, it is not time as it is conditioned by the receptivity of the human brain, but time as it represents evolutionary movements, resulting in an achieved though constantly relative perfection.

Oft I have said to you that time is the sequence of the states of consciousness, as registered by the human brain. It is therefore a physical event. Behind this definition, however, lies a real or true time of which the initiate becomes increasingly aware. The great Law of Karma has received little attention from the standpoint of time; yet it is that which determines the sequence of evolution, of evolutionary progress, the period of karmic recognitions, and the conclusion of a karmic cycle.

The ordinary teaching on Karma (particularly as to the time element) has been terribly prostituted by the purely selfish rendering given to it by those early theosophical teachers who misunderstood and misinterpreted what H.P.B. said. They had little chance to do much else than relate it to individual affairs, if they were going to familiarise the public with the concept, but they nevertheless did much harm with their puerile setting of times and seasons, and their attempt to take to themselves the mysterious functions of a Lord of Karma. It is always difficult to convey any true concept of Karma, because it predominantly concerns cycles and the sequence of world events. There is much to be done in relating time and conscious recognition together.

In this connection, initiation might be defined as embodying three recognitions:

a. A recognition of the end of a cycle of happenings, i.e., retrospection.

b. The recognition of the appearance of an eventual yet imminent cycle, i.e., prevision.

c. An acceptance of initiation or a recognition of its occurrence, i.e., the present attitude. Here you have, in relation to the initiate, a situation which includes past, present and future, and—in this presentation of the Eternal Now to the attentive eyes and heart of the initiate—you have what is, for him, at his particular point of initiatory unfoldment, the consummation of all vision or visions. This tends to definite progress; it obliterates what is usually understood by Karma; it initiates new and spiritual causes which—in their turn—magnetically project the initiate onward until (at the sixth initiation) he "no longer needs incentive, for vision is incentive and the pull of the spiritual magnetism upon our planetary life." Thus it may be occultly expressed.

For the initiate (at this great stage of experience), Karma ends. By this I mean that Karma—as the ordinary student understands it—is no longer effective. Neither good Karma, resulting in a sense of bliss, nor bad Karma, resulting in a sense of penalty and related to a conviction of sin, as the Christian theology so dreadfully miscalls it), has any longer the slightest hold upon him. Manifestation and the Law of Cause and Effect are related; where manifestation exists, there this great Law—governing substance and innate in matter—must control and must condition form. The Master, however, stands free, endowed with the Christ-consciousness. He then wields this Law, but is not wielded by it. Such is the reward of following the vision: first of all, the mystical vision; then later, the vision of predetermined choice, of Plan and of cosmic opportunity.

This latter threefold vision is a very different thing to the self-centred and dualistic vision of the mystic. That vision is a part of the evolutionary spiritual development of all of us and lies behind most occult aspirants. More about this higher vision I may not say; the theme is too abstruse. It involves experiment and experience. Through both of these phases the initiate passes and learns the smallness and the inaccuracy of his past opinion and interpretation of experience. ..."

♦

<43> (Discipleship in the New Age - Vol. II, pp. 349-350.)

"... A consideration of the three points of revelation already given may show you how deep may be the present mystery where each of these points is concerned. The mystery of the eye and its relation to light (esoterically understood) is very great, and as yet no student, no matter how diligent, knows anything about it. For instance, brother of mine, when the third eye, the inner eye, and the Monad are brought into direct alignment with "the Eye of God Himself," so that what the planetary Logos sees can be partially (at least) revealed to the initiate, who can tell what that revelation will bring of results and enlightenment? When the true nature of the will is comprehended and the self-will of the personality (of a very high order, necessarily), the will of the soul (as demonstrated by the activity of the highest tier or circle of the egoic petals), atma, expressing itself as the spiritual will, and Sanat Kumara are also brought, through initiation, into direct alignment, who, again, can predict what the revelation will be? When, again (as hinted on page 313), the myriad thoughtforms of the concrete or lower mind are seen as illusion, and the lower mind, the knowledge petals of the egoic lotus, the abstract mind and buddhi or pure reason are all brought into alignment with the Lords of Karma in a direct relationship and as signifying the ending of karma in the three worlds, who can foretell the nature of the ensuing revelation? It is alignment that holds the clue or the key to all these deeply spiritual events. ..."

♦

<44> (Discipleship in the New Age - Vol. II, p. 578.)

"... September 1943

BROTHER OF MINE:

It seems to me that so oft I have to say this year to hard-pressed chelas: The way has been difficult. But so it is, and your way in life has been no exception. Great waves of karmic impact have beaten upon our Earth—that little ship adrift in time and space and sailing the great ocean of the cosmos. The Lords of Karma have looked towards our planet. Energy follows thought and that, my brother, is all that karma is—the impact of directed energy upon the Earth, upon the kingdoms in nature, upon man and upon the individual disciple. Much of this karma, especially now, is not individual in purpose, nor is it generated in any way by the individuals affected by it, be it an individual disciple, or an ordinary human being. It is largely incident at this time to the karma of the One in Whom we live and move and have our being. It is primarily also in the sphere of Shamballa, and has small relation in the first instance to humanity at all. This means but little to you, I realise. This karma working out in Shamballa has, however, led to the vitalising of the activities of certain "will-full" men; they have loosed great evil upon the Earth. But this karma will also produce the stimulation of goodwill, and thus lasting good will offset temporary evil. This must not be forgotten. ..."

♦

<45> (The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, pp. 116-117.)

"... Such a dying is ever a painful process. Pain has always been the purifying agent, employed by the Lords of Destiny, to bring about liberation. The accumulated pain of the present war and the inherited pain of the earlier stage (begun in 1914) is bringing about a salutary and changing world consciousness. The Lord of Pain has descended from His throne and is treading the ways of earth today, bringing distress, agony and terror to those who cannot interpret His ends, but bringing also a re-stimulation of the instinct to self-preservation which—in its higher aspect—is the instinct to immortality; it tends to focus humanity's attention upon the life aspect and not upon the form. The names of the Lords of Karma signify, symbolically and from the angle of their inner meaning, Relationship, Enlightenment, Pain and Return. Ponder on this. They are all peculiarly active at this time, and in their activity lies the hope of humanity. ..."

♦

<46> (The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, pp. 424-425.)

"... I have stated also that we are reaching a climaxing period in human history; in this period the Lords of Karma are unusually active; the Law of Cause and Effect is bringing the results of past activities, the subjective thinking and the secret impulses to the surface, and exacting penalty and the planned cleaning of the slate of human history. When He Whom all disciples serve was on Earth two thousand years ago, He said that secret things would be made plain; by this emergence of the good and of the bad into prominence, men will arrive at knowledge, at understanding, and will be forced to take those steps which will be needed to build a new and better world, based on the Law of Love and not on the Law of Separateness and hate. This is what is happening today. ...

♦

<47> (Rays and The Initiations, pp. 91-93.)

"... This has become possible because of the point in the evolutionary process which the Hierarchy has attained. The attitude and position of the members of the Hierarchy are not static. All are moving forward. The Christ Who came two thousand years ago embodied in Himself not only the principle of love in the planetary sense (a thing which Shri Krishna had achieved), but a cosmic principle of love also, and this for the first time in human history. His achievement was made possible by the fact that the human family had reached a point at which it could produce the perfect Man, Christ, the "eldest in a great family of brothers," a Son of God, the Word made flesh. The future progress of humanity is also aided and hastened because of the attainment and activity of the Christ, and because He remains with us as God the Preserver.

His task today is threefold, and the Rule states in very simple language these three aspects of His divine activity or phases of His work. These are:

1. He "tends the evocation of the fire." His major task as Head of the Hierarchy is to evoke the electric fire of Shamballa, the energy of the divine Will, and this in such a form that the Hierarchy can be drawn nearer to the source of Life, and Humanity can consequently profit by this hierarchical Approach and know eventually the meaning of the words "life more abundantly." Christ's evocation of the fire of the will was initiated symbolically in the Garden of Gethsemane. He has twice symbolically shown His individual response to the Shamballa energy: Once in the Temple of Jerusalem as a child, and again in the Garden as a full grown man at the close of His earthly career. His third and final response (which climaxes His work from our human angle) covers nine years, from the Full Moon of June, 1936, to the Full Moon of June, 1945. This period, in reality, constitutes one event to Him Who lives now free in His Own world and free from the limitations of time and space. Having related Humanity to the Hierarchy (which in the case of individual man means relating the personality to the soul), He now seeks to relate more closely, with the aid of the Buddha, the Hierarchy to Shamballa, love to will, electric fire to solar fire.

2. He "nourishes the lesser lives." This refers to the task of the Christ which proceeds day by day, in His capacity of God the Preserver. He "tends the little ones." The work here referred to concerns His activity as Initiator and His responsibility as Head of the Hierarchy. The nourishing of the little lives refers primarily to His task as World Teacher and to His responsibility to lead humanity on into the light, with the aid of all the Masters, working, each of Them through His Own Ashram.

3. He "keeps the wheel revolving." This has a specific relation to His work as the Word of God, which manifests as the Word made flesh. This refers specifically to the great Wheel of Rebirth whereby, upon that turning wheel, souls are carried down into incarnation and then up and out of the soul's prison; through the turning of the wheel, human beings learn their needed lessons, create cyclically their vehicles of expression (the response apparatus of the soul in the three worlds) and in this way, under soul guidance, and aided by the Hierarchy and its schools of instruction, they arrive at perfection. This entire process is under the control of the Christ, assisted by the Manu and the Lord of Civilisation. These three Great Lords thus represent the three divine Aspects in the Hierarchy; They, with the four Lords of Karma, form the seven Who control the whole process of incarnation. The subject is too vast and intricate to be adequately considered here. The above truth does, however, give us a clue as to why the Christ made no specific reference to the work of incarnation in His spoken utterances whilst on Earth. He was then occupied with His task of World Saviour. ..."

♦

<48> (Rays and The Initiations, p. 118.)

"... The moment the initiate or the disciple sees, even dimly, the light of the Spiritual Triad which veils and hides the Central Spiritual Sun, he realises that all other lights—that of the atom of matter, that of the form and that of the soul itself—must inevitably fade out in the stupendous glory and brilliance which emanate from God Himself and which he senses as in process of revelation. He becomes absorbed—intellectually, intuitively, spiritually and finally factually—in that Light. Here I would remind you that just as the light of the soul revealed to the struggling aspirant a new vision, set for him new goals, enhanced all qualities present in his equipment, and revealed the past, the present and the future of the individual, so this still greater light reveals to the initiate a horizon so vast that it has hitherto escaped his capacity and is yet but possible to vision by an initiate of the third degree, endows him with an occult perception hitherto not realised as existing—a perception which permits him to penetrate increasingly and to cooperate understandingly in the purpose of the Lord of the World. It enables him later to develop the equipment—qualities and gifts of a divine nature—which will eventually enable him to take his place in the Council Chamber at Shamballa and work in full unanimity with the Lords of Karma. ..."

♦

<49> (Rays and The Initiations, p. 429.)

"... In the hands of the United States, Great Britain and Russia, and also in the hands of France, lies the destiny of the world disciple, Humanity. Humanity has been passing through the tests which are preparatory to the first initiation; they have been hard and cruel and are not yet entirely over. The Lords of Karma (four in number) are today working through these four Great Powers; it is, however, a karma which seeks to liberate, as does all karma. I..."n the coming crisis, true vision and a new freedom, plus a wider spiritual horizon may be attained. The crisis, if rightly handled, need not again reach the ultimate horror. ..."

♦

<50> (Rays and The Initiations, pp. 724-725.)

"... Initiation has been defined as "a progressive sequence of directed energy impacts." These impacts are characterised by points of tension, and these lead inevitably to points of crisis; the whole process is governed by the Law of Cause and Effect. It is this latter point which I seek now to emphasise, because it has a definite and mysterious relation to this sixth initiation. The Master, as He makes His decision and chooses one of the seven Paths which unitedly form the planetary antahkarana, is forced thereto by the accumulation of past karma. All evil karma has necessarily been worked off, but His accumulated good karma makes His final decision inevitable; from that instant of decision He stands entirely free and liberated from all aspects and all forms of planetary karma, which is greater and more vast than his little individual karma, be it good or bad. He is then—in Himself—the summation of all past experience. Unless He deliberately chooses the Path of Earth Service and decides to remain within the field, scope or influence of the planetary Life, He faces a solar or a cosmic future of which He knows relatively little, but for which the Path of Evolution, the Path of Discipleship and the Path of Initiation have fitted Him. Even He does not know the conditions into which His "decision" commits Him, or those into which He will have to penetrate; He does know, however, and "appropriates the fact and the faculties" (as one Master has expressed it) of complete revelation and future opportunity.

You have oft been told that there are four Lords of Karma associated with the Council Chamber at Shamballa. They represent—in Their totality—the three Rays of Aspect, and one of Them represents the four minor Rays of Attribute. It is the Lord of Karma Who implements the destinies of Those Who are conditioned by the third Ray of Active Intelligence (and this is ever the case with Those Who are taking the sixth initiation) and Who—symbolically speaking—"wipes clean the slate" of this particular group of initiates at this particular time. Karma no longer holds Them.

The revelation accorded to the Initiate in the first stage of the initiation gives Him a complete picture "in a flash of endless time" of the processes which have brought Him to this creative moment of decision. Immediately He achieves a point of tension which He will continue to hold until the final or ninth initiation, the Initiation of Refusal, wherein He rejects, refuses or repudiates His entire past and enters upon His chosen path entirely "free of recollected concepts, but exhibiting to Those Great Lives Who welcome Him upon the new and untried path all that He is and the essence of His Being." ..."

♦

<51> (Rays and The Initiations, p. 118.)

"... THE CUP OF KARMA

There is a cup held to the lips of those who drink, by four great Lords of Karma. The draught within that cup must all be drained, down to the nethermost drop, e'er it is possible to fill the cup with a purer, sweeter one. The seven Lords of cosmic Love await the hour of filling.

The cup is naught. The draught within distils forth drop by drop. It will not all be drained until the final hour wherein the Pilgrim takes the cup. He lifts it from the hand of those Who, bending, hold it to his lips. Until that day the cup is held, and in inner blind dismay the Pilgrim drinks. After that hour he lifts his head he sees the light beyond; he takes the cup and, with a radiant joy, drains to the very dregs.

The contents of the cup are changed; the bitter now becomes the sweet; the fiery essence then is lost in cool, life-giving streams. The fire absorbed within has burned and scarred and seared. The draught now taken soothes the burns; it heals the scars and permeates the whole.

The Four bend down and see the work. They release the cup of Karma. The tender Lords of Cosmic Love then mix another draught, and—when the cup is empty seen (emptied by conscious will)—they pour within that which is needed now for broader, larger living. Until the cup has once been used, filled, drained, and seen as naught, it cannot safely hold within that which is later given.

But when to utter emptiness the Pilgrim drains the cup then to the world in torment now he turns. With cup in hand (drained once, filled again, and refused to selfish need) he tends the need of struggling men who tread the way with him. The draught of love, of sacred fire, of cool, health-giving stream he lifts not towards himself but holds it forth to others. Upon the road of weary man he becomes a Lord of Power—power gained through work accomplished, power reached through conscious will. Through the cup of Karma drained he gains the right to serve.

Look on, O Pilgrim, to the goal. See shining far ahead the glory that envelops and the light that naught can dim. Seize on the cup and swiftly drain, delay not for the pain. The empty cup, the steady hand, the firm and strong endeavour lead to a moment's agony and thence to radiant life. ..."