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Initiation, Human and Solar - Chapter VIII - Discipleship
Group Relationships The path of the disciple is a thorny one; briars beset his every step, and difficulties meet him at every turn. Yet in the treading of the path, in the overcoming of the difficulties, and in a single-hearted adherence to the good of the group, with a proportionate attention to the individuals and their evolutionary development, comes at length fruition, and the attainment of the goal. A SERVER of the race stands forth. He is a server because he has no ends of his own to serve, and from his lower sheaths goes out no vibration which can beguile him from his chosen path. He serves, because he knows what is in man, and because for many lives he has worked with individuals and with groups, gradually expanding the range of his endeavor until he has gathered around him those units of consciousness whom he can energize, and use, and through whom he can work out the plans of his superiors. Such is the goal, but the intermediate stages are fraught with difficulty for all who stand on the verge of self-discovery, and of becoming the Path itself. Some practical advice might be of value here: Study with care the first three books of the Bhagavad Gita. The problem of Arjuna is the problem of all disciples, and the solution is eternally the same. [76] Stand ready and watch the heart. In the transferring of the fire from the solar plexus to the heart center comes much pain. It is not easy to love as do the Great Ones, with a pure love which requires nothing back; with an impersonal love that rejoices where there is response, but looks not for it, and loves steadily, quietly, and deeply through all apparent divergences, knowing that when each has found his own way home, he will find that home to be the place of at-one-ment. Be prepared for loneliness. It is the law. As a man dissociates himself from all that concerns his physical, astral and mental bodies, and centers himself in the Ego, it produces a temporary separation. This must be endured and passed, leading to a closer link at a later period with all associated with the disciple through the karma of past lives, through group work, and through the activity of the disciple (carried on almost unconsciously at first) in gathering together those through whom later he will work. Cultivate happiness, knowing that depression, an over-morbid investigation of motive, and undue sensitiveness to the criticism of others leads to a condition wherein a disciple is almost useless. Happiness is based on confidence in the God within, a just appreciation of time, and a forgetfulness of self. Take all the glad things which may come as trusts to be used to spread joy, and rebel not at happiness and pleasure in service, thinking it an indication that all is not well. Suffering comes as the lower self rebels. Control that lower self, eliminate desire, and all is joy. Have patience. Endurance is one of the characteristics of the Ego. The Ego persists, knowing itself immortal. The personality becomes discouraged, knowing that time is short. [77] To the disciple naught occurs but what is in the plan, and where the motive and sole aspiration of the heart are towards the carrying out of the Master's will and the serving of the race, that which eventuates has in it the seeds of the next enterprise, and embodies the environment of the next step forward. Herein lies much of clarification, and herein may be found that on which the disciple may rest when the vision is clouded, the vibration lower than perhaps it should be, and the judgment fogged by the miasmas arising from circumstances on the physical plane. With many, much arises in the astral body that is based on old vibration and has no foundation in fact, and the battle ground is so to control the astral situation that out of present anxieties and worries may grow confidence and peace, and out of violent action and interaction there may be elaborated tranquility. It is possible to reach a point where naught that occurs can ruffle the inner calm; where the peace that passeth understanding is known and experienced, because the consciousness is centered in the Ego, who is peace itself, being the circle of the buddhic life; where poise itself is known and felt, and equilibrium reigns because the center of the life is in the Ego, who is - in essence - balance; where calm rules unruffled and unshaken, because the divine Knower holds the reins of government, and permits no disturbance from the lower self; where bliss itself is reached that is based, not on circumstances in the three worlds, but on that inner realization of existence apart from the not-self, an existence that persists when time and space and all that is contained therein, are not; that is known when all the illusions of the lower planes are experienced, passed through, transmuted and transcended; that endures when the little world of human endeavor has dissipated and gone, being [78] seen as naught; and that is based on the knowledge that I AM THAT. Such an attitude and experience is for all those who persist in their high endeavor, who count all things but naught if they may but achieve the goal, and who steer a steady course through circumstances, keeping the eyes fixed upon the vision ahead, the ears attentive to the Voice of the God within, that sounds in the silence of the heart; the feet firmly placed on the path that leads to the Portal of Initiation; the hands held out in assistance to the world, and the whole life subordinated to the call of service. Then all that comes is for the best - sickness, opportunity, success, and disappointment, the gibes and machinations of enemies, the lack of comprehension on the part of those we love - all is but to be used, and all exists but to be transmuted. Continuity of vision, of aspiration, and of the inner touch, is seen to be of more importance than them all. That continuity is the thing to be aimed at, in spite of, and not because of circumstances.
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