On the New Group of World Servers - Hellas

Discipleship in the New Age

PART XI

In our last series of instructions I summed up or summarised all the meditations (seven in number) which I have given to the group. I tried to show you the sequence of critical points in the life of the man in training for initiation. The last of these meditations was called The Cross as the Expression of the Vertical and the Horizontal Life. This was portrayed by the two crosses:

To these two symbols of the life of the disciple I seek at this time to add another one, which is a symbol of the attitude you should hold during the cycle into which you are now entering.
You will see that I have combined the two crosses of the vertical and horizontal life with the cross of Humanity [Page 192] and have also added a circle at the summit of all three. What, my brother, does this mean? It signifies the following:
1. That the vertical life of spiritual contact with the Ashram is constantly preserved by meditation, prayer and concentration.

2. That the horizontal life of service is preserved with equal care and that there is a constant stream of planned energy going out to all those who need help.

3. The long limb of the triple cross symbolises to the disciple that he must go down into the very depths of human life in order to prepare the masses for the reappearance of the Christ and for the externalisation of the Hierarchy.

4. The sphere at the summit of the cross portrays the "place of the disciple's consciousness." His life of reflection, of constant awareness, and the steady focus of his attention is higher than the vertical life of the aspirant, than his horizontal life of service, and indicates the measure of his conscious activity in the Ashram. Forget not that an Ashram in the Hierarchy is on a higher plane than that of the soul.

He is therefore alive and active on three levels of activity simultaneously, and is in the process of demonstrating—as far as in him lies and his degree of discipleship permits—the three divine aspects: the Will aspect, governing his work within the Hierarchy in relation to the coming great movement; the Love aspect, governing his vertical life and producing [Page 193] spiritual steadfastness in form; the Intelligence aspect, governing his horizontal life and making him a wise server of his fellowmen. Finally, the long line from the point of radiant spiritual focus symbolises the Path from the highest point attained by the disciple to the lowest point of service.

You will notice also, in this symbol, that the secondary point of focus appears where all the lines meet and cross each other. This point represents the disciple's personality, into which the higher radiance must pour and from which spiritual energy reaches out on all sides. Also, if you will study and think for a while, it will be apparent to you that this cross is only correctly appropriated by (or is symbolic of) the man who has built (or is in process of building) the antahkarana. Where that bridge is not created the consciousness of the aspirant cannot focus in the Ashram or upon the intuitional levels of consciousness.

You can see, therefore, why I have given out the teaching upon the Antahkarana. It was done in order that the completion of the antahkarana could be systematically and scientifically carried out by you. I shall not, therefore, repeat the instructions here; you have them and should follow them carefully, bearing in mind that you have at least bridged the gap between the personality and the Spiritual Triad to a certain extent, and that for you the need is to complete and strengthen the Rainbow Bridge and then to use it with facility.

The symbology of the antahkarana tends badly to complicate the grasp of its real nature. May I remind you that, just as the soul is not a twelve-petalled lotus floating around in mental substance, but is in reality a vortex of force or twelve energies held together by the will of the spiritual entity (the Monad on its own plane), so the antahkarana is not a series of energy threads, slowly woven by the soul-infused personality, and met by corresponding threads projected by the Spiritual Triad, but is in reality a state of awareness. These symbols are true and living forms, created through the power of thought by the disciple, but—in time and space—they have no true existence. The only true existence [Page 194] is the Monad on its own plane, active, expressive Will in emergence, and in turn, active Love in establishing relationships and equally active Intelligence in the use of the two higher energies. It must not be forgotten that the energy of intelligence, focussed in the mind, is the instrument or implementing agency of the other two monadic energies.