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Discipleship in the New Age II - Teachings on Meditation - Part VIII
Part VIII Before we proceed further with this subject of meditation, I would like to call your attention to the fact that the type of work I am now giving you is formless in comparison with the earlier meditations outlined. I have already given you five meditations which, as a group, you have been asked to follow. I would like to summarize their objectives for you so that (again) you may intelligently go forward. The first meditation was concerned with the transfer of energy from the solar plexus center to the heart center, so [152] that the great dividing barrier (of which the diaphragm is the exoteric symbol) could be bridged and the emotional personality be controlled by the heart. By this means, the selfish individuality of the average man could be transmuted into the group awareness of the dedicated disciple. I sought to help you set up a facility of transference which would be of primary importance to you in your daily lives. The second meditation was concerned with the impartation of a major concept. I wonder if it was so registered by you? The idea behind that meditation was the free flow of directed energy. You need ever to bear in mind that the initiate is eternally occupied with energies and forces which he directs and manipulates in accordance with hierarchical intent. Before, however, he can do this, he must be in control to some extent of the seven types of energy to which the human mechanism responds. He must be able to direct the flow of energy to any particular center, to focus certain types of force in certain centers - at will and with understanding - and to institute a free flow and interchange throughout his own little microcosm. The meditation given was not intended to bring this about; it had only one objective: the impartation of an idea and the presentation of a possibility. The third meditation was closely allied to these two, even if this is not immediately apparent to you. It concerned alignment. You have been apt to think of alignment in terms of the process whereby the personality is brought into relation with the soul. This is entirely accurate, yet alignment is a term which in reality covers four processes: The alignment of soul and personality, resulting in a conscious relation to the Kingdom of God. The alignment of soul and personality with the Ashram, resulting in a conscious relation with the Master of the Ashram. The alignment of the initiate of higher degree with the Spiritual Triad and the consequent result of a recognition of monadic energy. The alignment of all the centers in the etheric body [153] of the disciple. This results in the ability of these centers to register and transfer energies which enter into the lower mechanism as a consequence of the three higher alignments - listed above. I would ask you to study the above tabulation with care. The fourth meditation was definitely directed towards bringing about a closer relation to the Hierarchy, via the Ashram and its life of pledged service. This statement is of importance to you at this time. This meditation was divided into three stages: Recognition, Consideration, Determination. Disciples need to build into their brain consciousness recognitions of relation and of attitude. These must eventually and automatically condition the personality, and this, not through a forced effort, but through a positive receptivity. This receptivity is brought about by a stabilized orientation. Disciples need constantly to reflect upon the life of the Ashram as it makes its impact upon their consciousness. What impact, my brother, are you individually aware of? Upon this reflection must succeed a planned determination to form a constructive part of the ashramic life to which their thinking and their service have admitted them. The first faint efforts of the emergence of the spiritual will can be seen in the working out of this determination. This was followed by the fifth meditation, which has been the subject of your attention during this past year. You will have noted how the meditations have become increasingly abstract until - in this last one - you have been occupied with the consideration of ideas and with what those ideas can reveal when they are regarded as seed ideas, shielding or containing a flowering - as yet unseen and recorded. I have been working, as you can now realize, upon a definite plan and (if you have done your work regularly and conscientiously) you are now ready for the next phase in this abstract work. I would like at this point to refer to two concepts which I have already presented to you; they are related to the fact that the initiate has two things to do: [154] Become sensitive to impressions coming to him from various levels of the divine consciousness and awareness. Become aware of the "raincloud of knowable things" to which Patanjali refers. (The Light of the Soul, Pages 38, 424-426.) Both of these will become clearer to you as we proceed with our consideration of our third point in these instructions - the point which deals with telepathy. (Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle.) Each of these possible registrations involves a certain and specific phase of alignment, a conscious use of the mind as a contact agent, and a receptive activity of the brain. Putting the objective of all this into its highest possible terms, the disciple and the initiate are learning the technique (through meditation) whereby the Mind of God, the Universal Mind, or the thinking process of the planetary Logos, can be recorded and registered. For the majority, at present, the knowledge of the divine thought (as registered by disciples, as it works out in the emerging Plan, and as it gives livingness to life purpose) is reached through the Ashram. The Master imparts the nature of the Plan or the Purpose - according to the status of the initiate - and that is accepted by him under the Law of Free Occult Obedience. But the disciple or the initiate must not remain forever dependent upon the transmission of the divine thought to him by those more advanced than he. He must learn to make his own contacts and to tap the "raincloud" for himself. He must - unaided - penetrate into the thinking processes (by permitted spiritual telepathy or impressibility) of Sanat Kumara. I have the responsibility at this time to give you those meditations which will enable you to take the first steps towards this knowledge; it is for me to give to you the A B C of the later greatly simplified, yet exceedingly abstruse, techniques. Have these thoughts in mind as you study this résumé of the meditations already given, and then go forward with that to be suggested in this series of instructions. [155] On the basis of what I have here said, I would ask you also to write a clear statement: Of your understanding of the progressive synthesis of the six meditations which you will have received and of their purpose in connection with your moving forward towards initiation. What have these meditations done to you? What were they supposed to do? A clear definition of the phrases: The Science of Impression, referring here to the mechanism of impression and stating what you know about the technique of impression. The "raincloud of knowable things." What is the nature of these things? Why the symbol of the raincloud?
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