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The Rays and the Initiations - Part Two - Section Two - The Aspirant and the Major Initiations
The Seven and the Nine Initiations of our Planetary Life Now let us look at these initiations from the angle of the planetary Life, as far as in us lies. We have for long looked at them from the angle of humanity, the world disciple, as well as from the angle of the individual initiate, but it must not be forgotten that these initiations have also a planetary significance. From the standpoint of the Hierarchy and of Shamballa, they constitute the major factors which make possible the initiatory process on Earth among men. This naturally means in relation to our planetary Logos. It must never be forgotten that it is the progress forward upon His chosen cosmic Path which makes the entire evolutionary process possible. Just as a Master Who has taken the fifth initiation has to project His own specific undertaking, through the medium of His Ashram, thus [657] proving His response to the will aspect of the planetary Logos and making Himself responsible for a phase of the planetary Plan, so a planetary Logos has likewise - under the Law of Synthesis - to carry forward a specific project in line with the will of the Solar Logos. This our planetary Logos, Sanat Kumara, is in process of doing, providing a definite culture wherein the germ of the solar will can be fostered in one of its aspects. Then - in conjunction with a similar project going on in two other planets, thus fostering two other aspects - the nucleus of the third solar system will be brought eventually into expression. It is hard for the human mind to appreciate this basic synthesis and this relationship which exists throughout the entire solar system, with the planetary Logoi implementing divine purpose; men cannot yet grasp the relations within the personality aspect of our planetary Logos - the Earth and all that is therein. But that synthesis exists and is the relating factor between our Earth and the Sun, between the various planetary Logoi and the Solar Logos. All that we can do is to get a general picture of the planetary initiations, the seven initiations and the nine. The only manner in which we can grasp even a small measure of planetary intention is through a study of the great civilizations which have been developed by humanity under impression from the highest spiritual sources on our planet; these have hitherto reached us via the Hierarchy. To these civilizations must be added the cultures which have evolved out of them. This obviously we cannot do, for it would require research into all the known and the unknown historical periods and cycles, plus a consideration of all the evidence - anthropological, architectural and sociological. To this approach to the intent and the purpose of the planetary Logos must be added a consideration of certain crises in the life of mankind which are in the nature of minor initiations to which the planetary Logos has subjected Himself, in the sense that He is the Initiator. Humanity, being the most highly developed evolutionary product upon our planet, reacts to these initiations; they [658] produce world events, and those stupendous points of crisis which (up to date) have worked destructively where the form aspect is concerned, but which have developed into those stages of sensitive unfoldment and progression when the work of the Builders (the second divine aspect) is added to and takes advantage of the liberty or release brought about by the Destroyer (the first aspect). There are always these two phases. Through the past civilizations and their eventual catastrophic destruction, the planetary Logos has gradually prepared the ground or planetary field for the "planting of the germ of Will" - the nurturing of which is a future part of human destiny. The seven major phases of the unfoldment of the human race (of which our modern Aryan race is the fifth) are in the nature of seven planetary initiations or unfoldments; the word "initiation" is not to be understood in the exact sense in which human initiations are understood and interpreted. Men are initiated into phases of the divine consciousness through applied stimulation, whereby their vehicles evidence readiness; in connection with the planetary Logos, it is He Who initiated a new process in seven phases, preparatory to the expected divine planting. It must be borne in mind that the use of the word "planting" is purely symbolic. Each phase brings the original divine purpose or spiritual project nearer to fruition, and it is for this that Sanat Kumara came into manifestation or incarnation. Each of these phases affects all the four kingdoms in nature, producing a higher stage of sensitivity in each successive one, but it is only in the fourth kingdom, the human, that there exists the possibility of a conscious registering and recognition of divine intent and a faint vibrating response to the will aspect of divinity. It has taken a millennia of years to bring this about. When you remember that it has only been in the present world crisis that the planetary Logos dared subject the forms in all the four kingdoms to the direct stimulation of His impelling will, you will realize the long, long patience which is perhaps [659] His most distinctive characteristic. Patience is a quality of will; it is of the nature of a strict adherence to a fixed intention. At each transition from one civilization to another (each being built upon the cultural seed of the preceding one, after a due flowering of the civilization) we could say of Sanat Kumara what has been said of the Christ, that "He sees of the travail of His soul and is satisfied." So blind are men that when a civilization comes to an end, when the familiar mode of cultural expression is brought (as is usual) under the hand of the destroyer, humanity regards it as a major disaster and dreads and fears the ruin which usually surrounds such an event. But from the standpoint of the world of significances, progress is seen and the day of fulfilment draws much nearer.
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