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Discipleship in the New Age II - Personal Instructions to Disciples - F.C.D.
November 1948 MY BROTHER AND MY FRIEND: It is two years since I last communicated with you, via A.A.B., and they have been years of great stress and strain for you. Every disciple in these troubled times carries three kinds of stress; no, my brother, I would say the major stresses are of four kinds: There are the stresses and the strains incident to the disciple's family life or his immediate daily relationships, and of these you have had your full share. There are stresses and strains due to the deep interior life of soul relation; these bring with them their own unique difficulties which can be shared with no one (except the Master, when the disciple has reached the point of unfoldment which you have now reached), and yet which bring about a life of inner tension which can lead inevitably to the next point of revelation. There are the problems and circumstances which arise out of the period in which our modern humanity lives; these today are unique and of disturbing importance; they involve the balancing of values which is going on in every department of human living and which evokes in the disciple an almost unendurable pain and anxiety. There are also peculiar complications and tests which have their origin in ashramic relationships which the disciple realizes through his contact with the Ashram. [472] These are the result of his attempt to lift the burden of humanity and the measure of his understanding of the Plan, in unison with the entire Hierarchy. This produces an inevitable crisis and constitutes a load which - when added to the other three spheres of difficulty - often make the disciple feel that his cross (his vertical and his horizontal life) is more than he can bear. The Fixed Cross becomes a reality, and he begins to learn its true meaning. All these four types of difficulties are further enhanced when you consider the fact that they are felt in all three aspects of the disciple's personality simultaneously. There is a reaction in his etheric body, in his emotional vehicle and in his mind. This makes what is sometimes called the "seven divine sorrows"; these are symbolically and most inaccurately depicted in the Christian discipline as the seven stations of the Cross. As I told you elsewhere (A Treatise on the Seven Rays [Esoteric Astrology], Vol. III, Page 476.) "from the standpoint of Christian symbolism (even though the interpretation is as yet inadequate) these seven crises correspond to the seven stations of the Cross which mark the way of an advancing world Savior." Here again you have the four and the three brought together in a synthesis of service, of discipline and of unfoldment. All these factors have been active in your life, my brother and co-disciple. I would like to commend you on one point. You have proceeded with your Ashram work, your thinking and your service in spite of all that has been going on. This has been noted by us and it is for this quality of spiritual stability that we watch. The field of your work remains the same; it is part of your karmic obligation which may not be avoided, but the mode of work and the nature of the work which should be done will have to be altered for reasons which I am confident you will understand... I have, as you will have noted, said little to you about yourself and your own spiritual development. The war taught many disciples that it is in serving and in thinking through that true wisdom comes; they came to realize that in [473] enlightening others the radiance of the glory of God can be revealed. This you have learned and from henceforth you enter in a new stage of discipleship and can be regarded as one who can teach himself. The work outlined for you will require only one discipline for you and that is a hard one. It is the drastic organizing of your time, irrespective of personality claims, or the hindrances of an etheric body which is too loosely knit, and a sensitivity which makes life very hard for you. The great need of the service which you can render and the desperate task involved in the reorganization of your time and plans will do much to offset the above difficulties and - in time - to cure them. You do not, my brother, belong to your family any more. You belong to humanity - a lesson which A.A.B. had much difficulty in learning. I give you no meditation to follow. You may feel it necessary to make certain changes in the one you are now doing; feel free to change where you deem it desirable and seek constantly and daily a closer contact with your Master and with mine - the Master K.H. Daily I look towards you, brother of mine, and that is no idle statement on my part. Rest back on my understanding and call on me at need. Develop telepathic sensitivity to my voice - as I have developed it to yours.
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