In “The Secret Doctrine,” “The Key to Theosophy” and elsewhere, H. P. Blavatsky teaches that we as Egos – i.e. immortal spiritual Individualities, the Soul which reincarnates – are Manasaputras, Kumaras, Agnishvattas, etc. But what are the Manasaputras?

In their origin – dating back long before this Earth – they are each a portion of the Master who stands at the head of one or another of the Seven Rays. Thus the Manasaputras exist in seven main groups and each belongs to one or another of seven great Masters of Wisdom. One’s Master is truly and literally one’s Spiritual Father, one’s innate Guru, one’s primeval Teacher, Lord, and most profoundly devoted Friend. We are each a manifestation of the divine Essence of that Master who is at the head of our particular Ray, “bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh.” We owe our entire existence to our Master, for it is due to him that we “live and move and have our being.” We are the Master and the Master is us. And yet there is still a distinction, for our Master also has an independent existence outside of us and his other children.

In this deepest of connections, there is also an esoteric correspondence – that is, an actual metaphysical connection and link – with one or another of seven sacred planets, the seven prismatic colours, seven tones or notes, the seven principles of the human constitution, and more. The precise identifying details of these have not been spelt out for us by the Masters or their Agents and Messengers. No descriptive names of the different Rays have been revealed by any legitimate or authentic esoteric source. This is perhaps because great Teachers know our strong tendency to become fixated on intellectual, theoretical, technical details, doctrines, tabulations, diagrams, lists, and so forth, causing the real spirit of this or any other spiritual truth to be dampened and lose its vital and mystical efficacy.

The thing to be cultivated in this regard is an incessant aspiration towards the Great Lodge or Brotherhood, an ever-burning ardour of heart, and a constant, loving devotion for, and yearning for direct inner communion with, our own Master, even though many of us will not yet know for sure which Master that may be.

This is not some vague advice. It is repeatedly emphasised that the Master and one’s Higher Self are one. They cannot be separated, for the latter reaches us through the former. There is thus benefit in meditative and contemplative prayer to our own Master, even if his identity be as yet unknown to us. Not prayer that asks for rewards or blessings, nor prayer that seeks to induce special experiences or bring about “messages” or mediumistic passivity, least of all prayer that in any way strengthens our egoism, for true prayer should do just the opposite. Prayer to one’s Master is the prayer of love, of gratitude, of reverence, of adoration, of humility, of willingness to serve so as to benefit the world; the prayer of “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in “Heaven” (the GREAT LODGE), not my will but thine be done.”

It is the Prayer of the Heart and not of the head. The exact form it takes must inevitably vary with each person, as will such specifics as whether one actually vocalises such thoughts or keeps them purely internal. The key thing is that it is a definite and actual practice and process – not simply a hazy, half-hearted thought in the back of the mind – and that it be as spontaneous and non-formalised, non-ritualistic as possible. It has been suggested that this is an example of the “prayer to your Father in heaven, who sees in secret” which the Master Christ spoke of in the Sermon on the Mount and of which H. P. Blavatsky speaks positively in “The Key to Theosophy.”

“The Star whose ray thou art” is even more keen to come into conscious communion with you than you are with him; how could he not be, when you are an essential part of himself and have been such for many long ages? In reality, your Higher Ego is already in conscious communion with its Parent-Source; what remains is for “you” – i.e. your personal self, your everyday consciousness, your brain-mind, your lower ego or Lower Manas – to draw closer and still closer to that.

—

FROM THE WRITINGS OF H. P. BLAVATSKY

“Every spiritual EGO is a ray of a “Planetary Spirit” according to esoteric teaching.” (Explanatory comment, “The Voice of The Silence” p. 84, original edition)

“You have come to the conviction that the “Masters” are “planetary spirits” – that’s good; remain in that conviction.” (“Letters of H.P.B. to Dr. Hartmann,” “The Path” February 1896)

“Planetary Spirits. Primarily the rulers or governors of the planets. . . . In Occultism, however, the term “Planetary Spirit” is generally applied only to the seven highest hierarchies corresponding to the Christian archangels. These have all passed through a stage of evolution corresponding to the humanity of earth on other worlds, in long past cycles. . . . The highest planetary spirit ruling over any globe is in reality the “Personal God” of that planet.” (“The Theosophical Glossary” p. 255)

“Dhyan Chohans (Sk.). Lit., “The Lords of Light”. The highest gods, answering to the Roman Catholic Archangels. The divine Intelligences charged with the supervision of Kosmos.” (“The Theosophical Glossary” p. 101)

“. . . The logoi, the seven emanations or rays of the logos. . . . the five, or rather seven, Dhyani Buddhas, [are] also called “Elements” of Mankind . . . Both, as primordial, intelligent “Elements,” become the creators or the emanators of the monads destined to become human in that cycle; after which they evolve themselves, or, so to say, expand into their own selves as Bodhisattvas or Brahmanas, in heaven and earth, to become at last simple men – “the creators of the world are born here, on earth again and again” – truly.” (“The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 572)

“There are seven chief groups of such Dhyan Chohans, which groups will be found and recognised in every religion, for they are the primeval SEVEN Rays. Humanity, occultism teaches us, is divided into seven distinct groups and their sub-divisions, mental, spiritual, and physical.” (“The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 573)

“The star under which a human Entity is born, says the Occult teaching, will remain for ever its star, throughout the whole cycle of its incarnations in one Manvantara. But this is not his astrological star. The latter is concerned and connected with the personality, the former with the INDIVIDUALITY. The “Angel” of that Star, or the Dhyani-Buddha will be either the guiding or simply the presiding “Angel,” so to say, in every new rebirth of the monad, which is part of his own essence, though his vehicle, man, may remain for ever ignorant of this fact.” (“The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 572)

“Each people and nation . . . has its direct Watcher, Guardian and Father in Heaven.” (“The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 576) 

““Like each of the seven regions of the Earth, each of the seven First-born (the primordial human groups) receives its light and life from its own especial Dhyani — spiritually, and from the palace (house, the planet) of that Dhyani physically; so with the seven great Races to be born on it.” (An Esoteric Commentary translated by HPB, “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 2, p. 29) 

“The seven sublime lords [i.e. as referred to in the Stanzas from the Secret Book of Dzyan] are the Seven Creative Spirits, the Dhyan-Chohans, who correspond to the Hebrew Elohim. It is the same hierarchy of Archangels to which St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and others belong, in the Christian theogony. . . . the Dhyanis watch successively over one of the [seven] Rounds and the [seven] great Root-races of our planetary chain.” (“The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 42)

“The logos is seven-fold, i.e., throughout Kosmos it appears as seven logoi under seven different forms, or, as taught by learned Brahmins, “each of these is the central figure of one of the seven main branches of the ancient wisdom religion;” . . .” (“The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 2, p. 29) 

“Spiritual communion . . . such communion is only possible between persons whose souls derive their life and sustenance from the same divine RAY, . . . as seven distinct rays radiate from the ‘Central Spiritual Sun,’ all adepts and Dhyan Chohans are divisible into seven classes, each of which is guided, controlled, and overshadowed by one of the seven forms or manifestations of the divine Wisdom.” (The Indian Brahmin Theosophist T. Subba Row, quoted by HPB in “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 574)

“The “triads” . . . the radiations of one and the same Planetary Spirit (Dhyani Buddha) are, in all their after lives and rebirths, sister, or “twin-souls,” on this Earth. This was known to every high Initiate in every age and in every country: “I and my Father are one,” said Jesus (John x. 30). When He is made to say, elsewhere (xx. 17): “I ascend to my Father and your Father,” it meant that which has just been stated. It was simply to show that the group of his disciples and followers attracted to Him belonged to the same Dhyani Buddha, “Star,” or “Father,” again of the same planetary realm and division as He did. . . . genealogies and prophecies notwithstanding, Jesus the initiate (or Jehoshua) – the type from whom the “historical” Jesus was copied – was not of pure Jewish blood, and thus recognised no Jehovah; nor did he worship any planetary god beside his own “Father,” whom he knew, and with whom he communed as every high initiate does, “Spirit to Spirit and Soul to Soul.”” (“The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1, p. 574, 577-578)

“FROM THE FIRST-BORN (primitive, or the first man) THE THREAD BETWEEN THE SILENT WATCHER AND HIS SHADOW BECOMES MORE STRONG AND RADIANT WITH EVERY CHANGE (re-incarnation). THE MORNING SUN-LIGHT HAS CHANGED INTO NOON-DAY GLORY. . . .

“THIS IS THY PRESENT WHEEL, SAID THE FLAME TO THE SPARK. THOU ART MYSELF, MY IMAGE, AND MY SHADOW. I HAVE CLOTHED MYSELF IN THEE, AND THOU ART MY VAHAN (vehicle) TO THE DAY, “BE WITH US,” WHEN THOU SHALT RE-BECOME MYSELF AND OTHERS, THYSELF AND ME. THEN THE BUILDERS [changed on p. 266-267 of Vol. 1 to “the Watchers”], HAVING DONNED THEIR FIRST CLOTHING, DESCEND ON RADIANT EARTH [i.e. as the Divine Dynasties of Adept-Kings and great Teachers of the early Root Races or Epochs] AND REIGN OVER MEN — WHO ARE THEMSELVES.” (Stanza VII:6-7 from the Book of Dzyan, translated and annotated in “The Secret Doctrine” Vol. 1 by HPB)

“Silence thy thoughts and fix thy whole attention on thy Master whom yet thou dost not see, but whom thou feelest.” (“The Voice of The Silence” p. 16, original edition, translated by H. P. Blavatsky from the Book of the Golden Precepts)

FROM THE LITERATURE OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, HEADQUARTERED IN NEW YORK

(See The Forgotten Theosophical Society for historical background and details.)

“”There is but one thing in this wide universe which really matters . . . namely, a man’s relation with his Master, with his spiritual Father, — with the Master at the head of his Ray.”

“Eagerly one of our visitors, silent till now, interrupted with this question:

““Just what do you mean by a ‘Master’?”

“”The stereotyped answer to that is: one who, by his own efforts, has attained to union with the Supreme. My objection to that answer is that it may suggest a successful effort to achieve ‘greatness.’ The modern mind cannot conceive of anything superior to personal success; yet the first step toward spiritual attainment is to kill out personal ambition, while working as those work who are ambitious. Attainment means the complete abandonment of personal considerations. I should prefer to say, therefore, in reply to your question, that a Master is one whose love, and the wisdom which flows from perfected love, have not only obliterated self-love, but have raised him to oneness with the Oversoul or Logos.”

““But what do you mean by the Master at the head of my Ray?”

““‘Ray’ is a term used to suggest an idea which is also a fact. The universe is not an accident; it is constructed on the spiritual archetype of mathematical and architectural principles. In other words, it is a hierarchy of souls, extending from the infinitely great to the infinitely little, the greater transmitting the Divine Light and Life to those of lesser grade in the evolutionary scale. You receive from the grade above you in the hierarchy, or, as a Hindu might express it, along the line of the Guruparampara chain, leading back, or ‘up,’ to a Master who, for you, focusses and transmits the Universal Light, — who, in truth, is the source of your own ‘inner light,’ and who, in the case of a full chela, has made that light an extension, as it were, of himself. Your ‘Ray,’ then, is the ray of Divine Light which reaches you in that way.”

““But how am I to know on which Ray I am? How am I to know who, out of many Masters, my Master is?”

““In the first place, as you were born in that part of the world which is presided over by the Master Christ, it may be that he is the head of your Ray (though that by no means necessarily follows), no matter how much ‘further back’ or ‘higher up’ that Ray may extend. Did not he speak of his ‘Father in Heaven’? And is it not logical to suppose that even that greater ‘Father’ looks up to another Father still greater?

““In the second place, if you are conscious of receiving spiritual help from anyone who, though far from being a Master, at least knows who his Master is, you may find in this some indication of the direction in which to look. For the rest, ‘Seek and ye shall find’.”

““But why is it of such supreme importance ‘to find’? Surely, if you live an upright and good life, if you work unselfishly for those you love, the future will take care of itself?”

““My friend,” replied the Ancient, “I am not suggesting that you should worry about your future. Further, if you are satisfied with yourself as you now are, and with your life as it now is, — I can only wish you a speedy awakening. Until then, Theosophy is not for you. I am thinking of those who feel that life is a heavy burden, and who long for more Light; of those who find the rewards of life empty, and the best even of their love, a beginning rather than an end; of those who love justice and hate injustice, and who, seeing what looks like injustice everywhere, realize their impotence to prevent it. Above all, I am thinking of those who, in their heart of hearts, feel that there must be a meaning to things, if only they could find it, and a purpose in life which escapes them, but which perhaps they might share in, if only they could look beyond the surface to —they know not what. It is to these that Theosophy comes as a gift from heaven, with explanation, and a marvellous promise; for it points to experience as proving that man can know, can trust the highest and best in himself to lead him to the source of wisdom and understanding,— to the Master whose child he is, and whom to know and love and serve is, as I began by saying, the one thing in this wide universe that really matters, seeing that all else, in comparison, is trivial and lifeless. Apart from that Master, we may seek wisdom, but shall never find it, may seek peace of soul, or moral strength, or the ability to help our fellows, — only to learn at last that we have built on sand, and that ‘dust to dust, ashes to ashes,’ is the end of all earthly or man-made things. ‘Soul of my soul’: until that cry is wrung from a man as a result of his innermost realization, he has not seen the way to himself, to his centre; has not, in the true sense, begun to live. That, as I see it, is the lesson, not only of our talk this afternoon, but of every hour of our existence. It is the teaching of every religion, and it is the beginning and end of Theosophy.” (“On The Screen of Time,” “Theosophical Quarterly” Vol. 33, p. 322-323)

“We have within us a glimmer of the radiance of our own Master’s being, and where the least of him is, he is entirely. Our desire to find him and to love him, is the striving of his own life within us. If we yield ourselves to that; if we place our hearts beside him, as he dwells there, waiting, — presently we shall see with his eyes, and hear with his ears, — shall see him and hear him, no longer hidden within us, but revealed in all the splendour of his transfigured manhood, in all the beauty of his peace and tenderness and power: the Warrior of God.” (“On The Screen of Time,” “Theosophical Quarterly” Vol. 32, p. 40)

“The goal of the soul is a passionate, selfless, adoration of its Master, the great one at the head of its “Ray.” That attained, all else becomes easy. Pending the development of such love, the transfer must be effected slowly, a little at a time, by conscious act of will, in obedience to the highest ideal we can see. This obedience will itself uncover, in time, the love that is the essential nature of the soul. Spiritual growth consists in this transfer of interest to, and progressive self-identification with, the soul. All disinterested love, all sympathy with others, in fact, all broadening of interest to include what does not affect oneself — the study, for instance, of history, science, or art — tends to weaken self-absorption, and to that extent is a first step in preparation for this transfer. The one great obstacle is self-love.“ (John F. Bedinger Mitchell, “Richness of Life: Right Self-Identification,” “Theosophical Quarterly” Vol. 31, p. 235)

“As spirit descended into matter, we are told that it first struck, as it were, what became the mineral kingdom, represented by the base line of the lower triangle; and that then spirit was widely diffused. Next it reacted through the vegetable and through the animal kingdoms, until the elementary human kingdom was reached; then began the process of the development of the personality as a preliminary to the ultimate development of true self-consciousness and individuality. In that hour-glass symbol, the point at which the upper triangle touches the lower is the point corresponding to the place at which personality is developed — a critical point, because consciousness, at first diffused so widely and without centre in the mineral kingdom, and then gradually attaining centralized or personal consciousness in the human kingdom, at that stage ought to turn upward, and reach back to its source. Personality must be surrendered if individuality is to be attained. Spirit is reflected in matter, — diffusely reflected at first; then the focus becomes smaller and smaller, more and more concentrated, until almost in a pinhead the whole potentiality is reflected — upside down. There is the critical point: the narrowing down into the personality; and then what ought to happen, the reverse process, — the broadening out toward individuality, back to its source plus the attainment of self-consciousness. Unfortunately, it often takes a long time for the personality to respond to that pull upwards, to respond to the attraction of the Master at the head of the individual’s ray. Too often, the personality sticks, falls in love with itself, sees itself as more attractive than the attraction of the Master at the head of its ray, becomes more and more concentrated on self.” (Ernest Hargrove, Address at the 1933 Convention of The Theosophical Society, “Theosophical Quarterly” Vol. 31, p. 62)

“Our efforts, formerly of a general character, become more specific, more focussed. At this juncture it may be that we come more directly under the attention of the Master who stands at the head of our ray, or to the attention of one of that Master’s chelas, — as those who in time of war compose a mobile unit for special work may be known to the General, or to one of his staff. Our literature makes clear, however, that there is no Theosophical escalator or funicular which will carry us from where we are to the peak of chelaship. We have to do the climbing. Yet we find that we do not have to make the entire journey alone and unaided, for as we climb there is a lift, as we push from below there is a draw from above. Divine force co-operates with those who honestly are attempting to serve spiritual purposes.” (G.M.W.K., “A Response to The Theosophical Appeal,” “Theosophical Quarterly” Vol. 30, p. 353)

“Real prayer is the longing for union, for likeness, the yearning of the soul for its home. We should use our intuition, the intuition of the heart. If one does not know the name of his Master, it is of no great consequence. A Master’s love for his children is not changed by their knowledge or ignorance of his name.” (John F. Bedinger Mitchell, “Questions and Answers,” “Theosophical Quarterly” Vol. 30, p. 95)

“The answer is to be sought through the Sacred Science, the science of consciousness. All forms in Nature, all bodies and personalities pass away, for what are these but expressions and instruments of an evolutionary process which is always moving, as Bergson has suggested, into new zones of experience? That part of our consciousness which is identified with any particular form, must be dissipated when the form perishes. But if the doctrine of correspondences be, indeed, the basic plan of Nature, every being is inseparably linked through its hierarchy with one of the radiant centres which “in reality form only one centre” within the Eternal. In accord with this view of the Universe, the individual man is said to attain personal immortality in proportion as he gains mystical knowledge of his identity with the Being who stands at the head of his ray.” (Stanley V. La Dow, “The Sacred Science,” “Theosophical Quarterly” Vol. 28, p. 335)

“The ray of the incarnating Word, which now touches us and works to mould us, has touched, has moulded, has incarnated in every stage of the descent by which it has come to us. For all of evolution is incarnation; above us, even as it must be in us. The “Master Artist” is, therefore, no mere figment of speech for the Creative Logos; he is its incarnation, its living embodiment and personification — a living Master. In him, as we have said, has been wrought the work that now must be wrought in us. He has achieved, as we must achieve. He has become that which we are in the process of becoming; and therefore, as we give ourselves to that becoming, we give ourselves to the Master who stands at the head of our ray, whosoever that Master may be,— that he may dwell in us, and we in him. In literal fact, therefore, each man’s Master, be he known or unknown, is for him the way, the truth and the life; and to enter consciously and purposefully upon that way, by identifying ourselves with the working of the spirit in us, is of necessity to enter into chelaship. We cannot become ourself — the Self that is the incarnating Word, the artist’s vision in the statue, our only hold on immortality — save as we become the child of one infinitely greater than ourself; as we speak of a son of Mars, or of Apollo, a daughter of Martha or of Mary. No man enters as an orphan into the kingdom of the heavens and immortal life. . . .

“In every man is the creative, incarnating breath of the Supreme Spirit, the spirit of the Great Lodge and of his own Master, as yet, perhaps, unknown. In the long progress of time, before the Manvantara closes, all clay will be uplifted and transformed; fight against it how we may, it will be kneaded and rekneaded until at last it becomes obedient to the sculptor’s hand. We can wait upon these slow cycles and suffer their compulsion if we will, knowing that, in death, all which we have built in life will be wiped out. Or we can turn ourselves about, and (like Dante in the depth of hell, placing his head where his feet had been) identify ourselves no longer with the flesh, but with the working of the Spirit, claiming it as our true Self, and consciously and purposefully co-operating with it, enter upon the Way of Life, which is the Path of Chelaship. Then, though we stand but at the beginning of the ascent, the light from the summit shines clear before our eyes. At each step we find those who have preceded us, waiting now to hold out welcoming, aiding hands to help us onward toward the Master who has called us from our dust. We know that in him our life began, and that in him it is to meet its consummation. In the fulness of Incarnation which is his, our long series of re-incarnations finds its goal.” (Henry Bedinger Mitchell, “Incarnation,” “Theosophical Quarterly” Vol. 27, p. 327-328)

“All that we have or are comes to us from the Divine, through that descending hierarchy of divine life which some of us call the Lodge and others the heavenly host. From the one who stands at the head of our own ray we draw our life. Our consciousness, our love, our power of enjoyment, or of service, are his gift to us, part of himself, — as the life of the branch is the life of the vine. And because he is in heaven, in the world of the real and not of shadows, this life and consciousness and love of ours, born from him and descending from heaven, can again ascend there, and, in reality, always is in heaven though with us it is far from it. This is our surety that our love will live. It will live, not because it is ours, but because it is the Master’s; not as it has been cramped, misunderstood, and distorted in our own hearts, but in the fullness of symmetry that it possesses in his; and we shall recognize it as our own in the measure of the likeness that now exists between its life in us and its life in him. When we come to die there will be no question of such moment to our love as that of how close this likeness has been made. Does it not behoove us, therefore, for our love’s sake if for no other, to learn to turn our eyes to the Master, that we may see the reality and the perfection of our love as it lies in his heart and in his will for us, and be no more confused and misled by the cross lights and passing shadows of appearances and of our own self-will? (Henry Bedinger Mitchell, “Letters to Friends,” “Theosophical Quarterly” Vol. 12, p. 218)

“The point of this is that discipleship cannot be found in the world of reflections, though you may have seen and desired its image there. Discipleship consists in fronting the real; in facing the light which all images reflect and from which all colours radiate. This light is the Masters’ light. The disciple’s desire is the synthesis of all desires. His love for his Master contains his love for all others — for wife, or brother, or friend. So long as your desire for discipleship and love of your own Master have not this all inclusive quality, so long, in other words, as they are but one love and desire among many, they are not the disciple’s desire, and you have not experienced that complete reversal of your attitude toward life which constitutes discipleship. This is what I tried to make clear in my last letter. I told you that you had not the disciple’s desire, and that no one else could give it to you; but that you could gain it if you would. You ask me how. The answer is by turning from appearances to reality, by reversing the polarity of your life. Again you will ask me how to do this. There is but one way I know. Turn to your own Master. Seek him day by day and hour by hour, in meditation, in prayer, in service, in your duties and your pleasures, in all things great or small. Seek him and love him, and commune with him. Draw your inspiration from him, and the strength to fulfil that inspiration. Love with his love. Desire with his desire. Live with his life.” (Henry Bedinger Mitchell, “Letters to Friends,” “Theosophical Quarterly” Vol. 12, p. 216-217)

“The point is, however, that those who think they can reach the Higher Self, which is the Atma or Logos, directly, are mistaken. The Master who stands at the head of the hierarchy of souls to which they belong, focusses for them the light of the Logos; so that it is only through Him that they receive that light; only in Him that they can find their real and immortal self. They have to partake of His life and consciousness; have to make His will their own, as the only means they have of unifying themselves. It is foolish of them, therefore, to shut themselves off from the real for fear of the unreal.” (“On The Screen of Time,” “Theosophical Quarterly” Vol. 10, p. 180)

“Shutting oneself off from the real for fear of the unreal” can refer to the almost perpetual wariness and distrust, tantamount in some cases to a phobia, unfortunately harboured by many students of the original Theosophical teachings towards anything that could possibly be a psychic experience/encounter/communication, as opposed to spiritual. Of course, one needs to employ discernment and discrimination but many – perhaps especially in the United Lodge of Theosophists – have, in the words of the Master K.H., “believed not wisely, but too well,” and would turn away from, reject, and dismiss as a psychic delusion or even a deception by the Black Lodge, an actual Master who might actually appear in their room. For many students of Theosophy, both within and outside the ULT, this is partly due to feeling convinced that one has effectively no chance at all of conscious communion with one’s Master for lifetimes to come, regardless of the self-transformation one may have wrought in this present life. With such an attitude, one is probably correct, for this belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, erecting powerful mental barriers.

“He must see his Master literally in everything; in the situation, circumstances and events of his own personal life, without any exception whatever; in the situation, circumstances and events of the whole world. It is hardly necessary to say that this does not mean that his own Master actually decides and directs all mundane and cosmic events, in any arbitrary and personal sense. But his Master’s consciousness is the expression of the consciousness of the Lodge, of the Logos; his Master’s will is the will of the Lodge, of the Logos. And therefore that which is the essence of his Master’s will and consciousness does in fact decide and direct all mundane and cosmic events. Further, the disciple has his approach to the will and consciousness of the Lodge, of the Logos, through his own Master. His task is, to endeavour to perceive and to affect all events with the vision and will of his own Master; to become, through sacrifice and devotion, one with the consciousness and will of that Master.” (Charles Johnston, “By The Master,” “Theosophical Quarterly” Vol. 17, p. 220)

“Just as the tree has no manifested existence except in its stem and branches, so the Logos, the Oversoul, has no existence as manifested spiritual life except in the Hierarchy of Masters; and just as the branches have no life except in the tree, so individual Masters exist solely in virtue of the life of the Logos, the Oversoul, manifested in them. . . . The Oversoul is manifested to the disciple through the Masters, and in particular through his own Master, the Master on whose ray he is; he has access to the Oversoul through the life and consciousness of that Master; and, for him, that Master represents the Oversoul. We should keep in mind the perfect harmony between the Oversoul, the Hierarchy, and all individual Masters; no difference of plan or purpose is thinkable. The purpose of the Oversoul is the purpose of the Hierarchy, and of each individual Master. All parts in the divine symphony are perfectly adjusted and harmonized. The “Master of Life” is the Oversoul, or the Hierarchy, or the individual Master. The plan and purpose of the three are one.” (Charles Johnston, “Questions and Answers,” “Theosophical Quarterly” Vol. 17, p. 300-301)

“Assuming that he is striving to become a chela, a disciple, or even a worthy member of The Theosophical Society, it follows that the prayer of his heart must be, ‘Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done,’ no matter what those words mean to him. A Master longs to win all hearts which belong to him, which are on his ‘ray,’ so that he can lead them to his own Master, that thus their joy may be full and the will and love of his Father be accomplished. The would-be disciple, in his turn, longs passionately that his Master’s kingdom may come, and that the will of that Master, his spiritual Father, may be done on earth as it is done in heaven.” (“On The Screen of Time,” “Theosophical Quarterly” Vol. 19, p. 58)

“It is not until you realize that there is no essential difference between your own higher self, or your real inner self, and the Master who stands at the head of your Ray, that you can surrender yourself to him and be perfectly obedient to him.” (Clement A. Griscom, Jr., “Letters to Students,” “Theosophical Quarterly” Vol. 20, p. 63)

“You will then ask me – What shall I obey? I answer: All your duties are obediences. Your duties, small and great, are the Master’s biddings. Consider them so, and they will be so. Believe me, until you learn to obey these biddings of His, you will have no others. . . . Some one calls to see you, whom you do not care for, interrupting your work or your leisure; say to yourself: The Master may have sent this one to me; I will act as if He had. Perhaps there is something I am to say to him, or something I can do. Trials, vexations, anxieties, arise in your business, in your household; say to yourself: The Master stands watching, to see if I have gained in patience, in courage, in sympathy, since yesterday. . . . Do you perceive, further, that at first you are obedient to your own ideal of the Master, and your own highest conceptions of duty and selflessness? In other words, you are obedient to yourself? . . . When the student first presents himself to the Master, which he does through his mind, in his desire to approach Him, the Master lays this first command of obedience on him, saying: “Obey thyself and thy highest ideal of duty.” . . . Through this obedience, the student grows into the disciple, and the disciple knows his Master, at least in part. The man becomes a disciple through obedience to the laws of his own being. When he has learned these, he finds himself where he can see and speak with the Masters, who, through perfect obedience, have become the embodiment of Universal Law. Thus he finds that, having obeyed his Higher Self, he has obeyed the Master: they are one.” (Cavé [Genevieve Griscom], “Fragments” Vol. 1, p. 77-80)

“Pray especially to the great Spiritual Being who stands at the head of your Ray — to your Master — for strength to keep up the struggle. He will help you.” (Clement A. Griscom, Jr., “Letters to Students,” “Theosophical Quarterly” Vol. 24, p. 363)

~*~

1. Stand aside in the coming battle, and though thou fightest be not thou the warrior.

2. Look for the warrior and let him fight in thee.

3. Take his orders for battle and obey them.

4. Obey him not as though he were a general, but as though he were thyself, and his spoken words were the utterance of thy secret desires for he is thyself, yet infinitely wiser and stronger than thyself. Look for him, else in the fever and hurry of the fight thou mayest pass him; and he will not know thee unless thou knowest him. If thy cry reach his listening ear then will he fight in thee and fill the dull void within. And if this is so, then canst thou go through the fight cool and unwearied, standing aside and letting him battle for thee. Then it will be impossible for thee to strike one blow amiss. But if thou look not for him, if thou pass him by, then there is no safeguard for thee. Thy brain will reel, thy heart grow uncertain, and in the dust of the battle-field thy sight and senses will fail, and thou wilt not know thy friends from thy enemies.

He is thyself, yet thou art but finite and liable to error. He is eternal and is sure. He is eternal truth. When once he has entered thee and become thy warrior, he will never utterly desert thee, and at the day of the great peace he will become one with thee.

5. Listen to the song of life.

6. Store in your memory the melody you hear.

7. Learn from it the lesson of harmony.

8. You can stand upright now, firm as a rock amid the turmoil, obeying the warrior who is thyself and thy king. Unconcerned in the battle save to do his bidding, having no longer any care as to the result of the battle, for one thing only is important, that the warrior shall win, and you know he is incapable of defeat — standing thus, cool and awakened, use the hearing you have acquired by pain and by the destruction of pain.

(“Light on The Path” p. 9-11, transcribed by Mabel Collins from the Master Hilarion LINK)

• this LOP quote to be centred & in a different colour & slightly smaller size at VERY END of article

~ BlavatskyTheosophy.com ~