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Discipleship in the New Age II - Teachings on Meditation - Part VI
Part VI The meditation given you in your last instruction had several objectives in view. It was a preliminary meditation to a wide scheme for a particular kind of developing meditation, greatly needed by disciples, prior to unfolding a unique kind of ashramic sensitivity. It was intended, first of all, to give you (if you worked with faithfulness) a growing sense of planetary relationship, from the subjective angle, and above all, from the angle of "intelligent supervision" - a phrase which will mean more to you later. A true grasp of the implications and intentions behind this meditation would develop in the disciple's consciousness a realization of a living world of Intelligences, linked together from Sanat Kumara downwards until the chain of Hierarchy reaches the individual disciple, leading him to a later realization that he too is but a link, and that there are those whom he also must reach and relate to the world of realities and awaken to their responsibilities. In the training of all disciples, one of the goals is to make the world of phenomena recede into the background of consciousness whilst the world of meaning becomes more vital and real. This world, in its turn, is the antechamber to the world of causes, where conscious relationship can be established with the Initiator. [142] The second purpose of the meditation was to bring to light the fact that the disciple (as an outpost of the Ashram as a functioning soul) must be oriented to humanity in a more definite manner; the purpose of such orientation is that the "life of the triangles may penetrate the area of the square and produce the inevitable consequence, the germinating of ideas and the flowering of the new civilization and culture." So has one of the Masters expressed the purpose of certain phases of the ashramic work, particularly that connected with meditation. Another Master has explained the purpose of the hierarchical intent as the "merging of the higher with the lower triangle and their fusion in the square." The Masters view the work of their disciples from this symbolic angle. The disciple who reaps the benefit of this last suggested meditation becomes - through an enlargement of his consciousness and the greater scope of his vision - "a sower of the seed within the world of men"; he distributes ideas, living and potential, in the held of the world, and these he receives from two sources: His own soul, as his intuition awakens. The Ashram, as he grasps more of its purposes and becomes accustomed to assimilating its teachings. This takes time. Still another objective of this meditation was to bring the disciple to the point where his interest (evoked through the stages of recognition and consideration) would lead him to a realization of the need for the evocation of the Will, the first faint indications of which I called that of "fixed determination." In the above statements you have the goals which I had in mind when assigning the meditation last year. It is hard, I know, for the neophyte at any stage along the Path to grasp the necessity for engendering (to use an unusual word in this connection) a magnetized area of thought upon which the higher impressions can play, yet persistence in the daily recognition and consideration, accompanied by a fixed determination to bring the life and service into conformity with the revealing relations will [143] (almost unexpectedly) produce great and transforming results. The Masters waste not their time or yours in assigning needless exercises; the disciple who faithfully and with a definitely unbroken rhythm follows his instructions, can expect to see effects of a surprising and lasting nature within himself, and consequently within his environment. It is not upon the results, however, that you are asked to focus, but simply upon the themes presented for your use and consideration. In the earlier stages of your training the emphasis was laid upon the form side, upon the achieving of alignment (still most necessary), upon the sounding of the 0M, with its power to clarify the aura and the atmosphere, and upon the processes to be followed. In the meditation which you should now be doing, alignment should be instantaneous and easy and the following of a set form unnecessary, because you start as a center of focused thought, as the ready recipient of awaited impression, as the trained analyzer of ideas, and finally as a transmitter of that which has been received from the higher sources of inspiration. This involves also the power to distinguish the sources from which the impression comes. It is these aspects of yourself in action which will form the basis of the suggested meditation to be followed by all of you during the coming twelve months. The basic intention of the meditation is to train you to be intelligently aware of what Patanjali calls "the raincloud of knowable things," of the intentions, purposes and ideas which, at any given period, motivate the hierarchical work and condition the quality of the inspiration which can be received from the Ashram to which you may be attached. By "attached" I mean the sense of relationship and not devotion or affection. Attachment, in reality, is an expression of the free will of the subject, choosing and recognizing its relationships and adhering thereto. In the spiritual sense, the motivation will be loving responsibility; in the personality sense, it will be sentient emotion. As an aid to your concentration and receptivity, I will give you twelve words which will be the theme for twelve months' work, and which could - as you gain the power to [144] meditate, relate, receive and transmit - provide the seed thoughts for twelve years' work instead of twelve months. Words are living things, possessing form, soul and spirit or life; this you should ever bear in mind as you use them to open the door to a month's realization and inspiration, plus the consequent service. Here are twelve words. Use one each month in your daily meditation. Recipient Impression Recognition Relationship Source Ashram Transmitter Expression Determination Seed Idea Attachment
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