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Discipleship in the New Age II - Personal Instructions to Disciples - R.A.J.
November 1944 As I give you this personal instruction (one which can suffice you for this life) I ask myself: What is the thing of greatest moment that I can say which will indicate the point of future emphasis, which will convey strength and positive assurance, and which will enable you to prepare for the next great step which immediately confronts you? Disciples seldom realize the responsibility that a Master shoulders as he seeks to prepare a group of people for world service; seldom do they understand the problem with which he is faced, even when dealing with the least advanced or dynamic among his neophytes. What are the factors which he has to consider and which are potent enough to negate much of his effort (as has been the case in this group), and which frequently condition a disciple to such an extent that he takes no definite steps to meet ashramic requirements, even when, technically and theoretically, he admits responsibility? Let me tell you one or two of these for your guidance and the guidance of the group: The karma of the disciple. Of this, the disciple knows little and the Master much; with that karma he may not interfere, because growth and development eventuate as the disciple meets the inevitability of events, [481] accepts his karma and works to offset it, actuated by right motive. Let me illustrate. The Master knows that it is the destiny of, and within the capacity of, a disciple to carry out a certain piece of work and thus to serve humanity in a particular manner. He knows also that it is his duty to bring the disciple to the point of comprehension and to aid him in the accurate performance of this duty. But as he considers the disciple's karma, he finds that mortal disease will, in a few years' time, lay the mechanism of accomplishment low and prevent both effort and accomplishment. He therefore refrains from an educational process which would otherwise be obligatory upon him. Faulty equipment. Oft a disciple, in a particular incarnation, lacks some needed characteristic, or some desirable quality, either in his emotional nature or in one or other of the bodies. He may, for instance, have a fine physical vehicle, great devotion and a brilliant intellect, but along with these, the quality of persistence is not present; the Master knows, therefore, that a steady cooperation and continous effort is not yet possible. He dare not, consequently, incorporate the disciple (along with other members of his Ashram) in some designated piece of work and of service, because he knows that he will imperil the success of the joint endeavor. The group has therefore to proceed without the help which the disciple is otherwise competent to give. A blind spot. This is one of the most frequent deterrents which confront a Master as he seeks to lead his disciples along the Way of Service. The disciple has some one great outstanding weakness of which he is entirely oblivious and completely unaware. If told of its existence, he flatly, conscientiously and sincerely denies its presence. He violently affirms the opposite virtue or strength. Yet all the time, this affirmation simply indicates the effort of his soul to build in a quality which, when adequately strong, will result in the expulsion of the deterring fault. As long as this [482] condition exists, it is not possible for the disciple to be fully integrated into the Ashram, nor is it possible to convince him that - in this specific connection - he is totally blind. Vision will eventually and inevitably come, but it will come as a result of the disciple's own effort and his self-initiated awakening; once awakened, never again will blindness be possible. An over-enthusiastic nature. This induces the disciple to rush wildly forward in an effort to accomplish the indicated task, to prove to the Master his staunch determination, and to his fellow members in the Ashram his great usefulness. This enthusiasm can wreck designated projects, shorten the life of the disciple, and thus interfere with his karma and make him a source of amusement and concern to his group. All these factors, and several others still more subtle, have to be taken into account by a Master, as well as the age, the background and the time cycles of the disciple. I would point out to you, therefore, that it lies entirely in your own hands to increase your usefulness in the Ashram. If I were asked by you today what phase of your development should receive your attention, I would reply: Seek consciously and strenuously to overcome negativity. For you, a cultivated and conscious negativity has been an escape mechanism from the executive and administrative nature of your life. Your soul has forced you for decades into the position of an executive, superintending and administering agent. Basically, this ran counter to your natural inclination. Yet it was supremely necessary and educational. Once however you had fulfiled the duties and obligations entailed, and had successfully and adequately carried out your task (which you always did), your personality - shrinking and sensitive - took refuge in a negative attitude to people as a whole; you developed an insulation which made it difficult for you to set up any major relation with other people. Yet, my brother, little as you may realize it, those relationships with others, and a positive interplay with those you contacted, were ever desired by the people you met; people [483] have always wanted to get closer to you; they have longed to know you better and to be of service and of moment to you. As an executive, you were ever available; as a soul, within a personality, you have lived your own life apart from others; you have not been easy to contact or to know; you were never responsive to approach, and your reactions to those who desired contact have been negative, and this at times when you yourself wanted closer rapport. Herein lies your task and your problem for the remaining years of your life. Learn, please, my brother, to be individually outgoing towards the people you meet and with whom life and circumstance bring you into association. Break loose - hard though it may be - from the thought-forms which so powerfully condition you, based frequently upon an inferiority complex; refuse to permit the factors which so powerfully condition the trained, cultured person and the man who is the product of tradition, of good heritage and generations of civilized forbears to control you. Your work with children has also tended to set you apart and make you the victim of an enforced loneliness: You could ever be free and magnetic with them but they intruded not upon the entrenched and enforced fortress of your being. You must now fit yourself to teach adults in your next incarnation, and this will necessitate a different approach and one which will invoke and involve every aspect of your being. The disciple teaches principally by what he is and by giving all of himself to all whom he meets. He moves outward spontaneously when someone comes within range of his possibility of contact. This is almost unknown to you. The lesson, therefore, which the trained disciple has to master is one of discernment. He needs to learn discrimination in contact if he is to avoid a useless, if well intentioned, promiscuity. The stage of the world is so set at this time that there is full opportunity for you to find a wide sphere of contact, to work in full cooperation with other people and with co-disciples, and thus to force yourself to release the magnetic power of your soul-infused personality. Your inner development is greater by far than your outer expression; you need not, consequently, work with perseverance at interior unfoldment; [484] you need to strain after outer ability to contact, to influence and to evoke response from all and sundry with whom your lot may be cast. Rebuffs, misunderstandings and lack of response will be natural at first until your "technique of contact" is discovered by you and established in action. Each disciple develops his own technique. You have yet to discover yours. As with some others, I give you three words upon which I would ask you to reflect as time elapses, and from which you can expect definite results if there is any truth in the aphorism that "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." The first word which I would suggest is Contact. Much soul contact and contact also with your group brothers on interior levels is easy for you and presents no difficulties, even if you believe it not. You have a well established contact along these lines, but your physical brain does not yet register it adequately. That is due entirely to conditions of insensitivity, inherent in your brain cells, and is of no great moment. From the standpoint of your daily meditation, I would ask you to go forth to each day's work with the intention of magnetically attracting (in order to help and serve) at least three people - either known to you or unknown. You might find it useful (at least for a time) to keep a diary of contacts; you should enter into it a conversation by means of which you got close to someone, a contact with some stranger which seemed fruitful and interesting, or a joint piece of work which you carried out in full comprehension with someone else. This will develop in you an outgoing spirit and an interest in the whole process of contact. It is through contacts and the development of a resultant mechanism, plus a habit of magnetic rapport, which is the secret of all expansions of relationships, and this is preliminary to initiation. Think on this, for it has its major importance to you. The second word which I want to give you is Impression. This word gives you much scope for reflection, invoking as it does the entire problem of sensitive response to inner contacts and outer relations. It is the key to the development of a trained psychologist and is a branch of that aspect of the universal mind which we call truth. The power of correctly [485] registered impression, the ability rightly to interpret it and then to draw from it correct deduction, is the secret of all diagnosis where psychology is concerned. When this is taken into consideration by a disciple in relation to people contacted, it is of enormous usefulness; impression - when analyzed and the results of analysis are employed - presents a most useful study, particularly to people like you. Finally, I would ask you to reflect upon the word Relationship. I would have you do this with the specialized objective of understanding how you, as a disciple in training, can set up those relationships which will bring aid and strength to others and thus sustain the work of the Ashram. I do not intend to enlarge upon this as I want you to arrive at your own conclusions and knowledges. What I am really doing, my brother, is indicating to you the field of your future training - a training which will engross the remainder of your life. This training must be self-initiated and it must ever be undertaken in order to fit you to work in the Ashram, as a branch of the great Ashram of the Hierarchy. You are peculiarly fitted for this work; you need only to release the magnetic quality of your already developed nature and thus break down the barriers which may exist; thus you will find your field of service tremendously extended and your potency brought into the field of a realized inclusiveness.
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