It would be of benefit to you also to consider the Masters'
Ashrams as expressions of the highest type of constructively functioning groups. There
exists amongst its personnel a complete unity of purpose and an utter dedication (without
any reservations, as far as the disciple involved is concerned) to the furthering of the
immediate ashramic enterprise. The [104] position of the Master at the center of the group
has no relation to that of a teacher at the center of a group of learners and devotees,
such as we have learned to recognize in this Piscean Age. He is the center simply because
through the quality of his vibration, through karmic ancient relationship and through the
invocative demand of disciples, initiates and some aspirants, he has gathered them
together in order to further the ends of his ashramic enterprise; he has not gathered
them together in order to teach them or to prepare them for initiation as has hitherto
been taught. Aspirants and disciples prepare themselves for the processes of
initiation by becoming initiated into the mysteries of divinity through discipline,
meditation and service. You need to bear in mind that a Master of an Ashram
may, for instance, attract to him other Masters of equal rank as his Own. I have five
Masters working with me in my Ashram. It would be of value to you if you considered the
factors which hold an Ashram together and which establish its unity. The major ones, and
those which you can understand, are as follows:
- The most
important capacity of a Master of an Ashram is that he has earned the right to communicate
directly with the Council at Shamballa and thus to ascertain at first hand the immediate
evolutionary task which the Hierarchy is undertaking. He is not called Master by the
initiates in his Ashram; he is regarded as the Custodian of the Plan, and this is based on
his ability to "face the greater Light which shines in Shamballa." It is the
Plan which gives the keynote to the activities of any Ashram at any particular time,
during any particular cycle.
- This
unanimity of purpose produces a very close subjective relationship, and each member of the
Ashram is occupied with making his fullest possible contribution to the task in hand.
Personalities do not enter in. You will remember how some years ago I told you that the
personality vehicles are ever left outside the Ashram - speaking symbolically. This means
that the subtler bodies of the personality have perforce to follow the same rules as the
physical body - they are left outside. Remember also that [105] the Ashrams exist upon the
plane of buddhi or of the intuition. The joint undertaking and the united adhering to the
desired and arranged cyclic technique binds all members of the Ashram into one synthetic
whole; there is therefore no possible controversy or any emphasis upon individual ideas,
because no personality vibratory quality can penetrate in the periphery or the aura of an
Ashram.
- The planning
and the assignment of tasks connected with the enterprise in hand is carried forward
through the medium of an ashramic, reflective meditation, initiated by the Custodian of
the Plan. The Master of an Ashram does not say: "Do this" or "Do
that." Together, in unison and in deep reflection the plans unfold, and each disciple
and initiate sees occultly where he is needed and where - at any given moment - he
must place his cooperative energy. Note my wording here. The members of an Ashram,
however, do not sit down for a joint meditation. One of the qualities, developed through
ashramic contact, is the ability to live always within the field of intuitive perception -
a field which has been created, or a sphere of energy which has been generated, by the
united purpose, the combined planning and the concentrated energy of the Hierarchy. An
analogy (but only an analogy, however) would be to regard this field of reflecting,
reflective and reflected energies as resembling the brain of a human being; this brain
reflects the impacts of telepathic activity, the sensory perceptions and the knowledges
gained in the three worlds; reflection then sets in relation to the mental processes which
are synchronized with the brain, and then follows the impartation of these reflections to
the outside world. The ashramic reflective meditation is an integral part of the
constantly developing perception of the disciple-initiate, and it (in its turn) is a part
of the whole hierarchical reflective meditation. This latter is based upon inspiration (in
the occult sense) from Shamballa. The moment a disciple can share in this constant
unremitting meditation or reflection without its interfering with his service and his
other lines of thought, he becomes what is called "a disciple who shall no more go
out."[106]
- Another
factor productive of group unity and synchronous precision in working is the complete
freedom of the Ashram from any spirit of criticism. There is no tendency among its
personnel to be critical and no interest whatsoever in the outer, personal lives of the
members, should they be amongst those functioning in the three worlds. Criticism, as seen
among men, simply is a mode of emphasizing the lower self and deflects the attitude to the
material aspects of a person's life. There is necessarily clear vision among the members
of an Ashram; they know each other's capacities and limitations and they know, therefore,
where they can complement each other and together create and present a perfect team in
world service.
- One other
factor I will mention among the many possible: The members of an Ashram are all in the
process of demonstrating love and pure reason, and they are - at the same time - focusing
themselves in the Will aspect of divinity. This statement may mean little to you at
present but it is fundamentally the factor which creates the higher antahkarana, uniting
the Hierarchy and Shamballa. This makes the planetary purpose of so much importance.
These are
the major factors which produce group unity; they have, as results, telepathic rapport and
intuitive perception; but these are effects and not causes and are the product of the
measure of the attained group unity.
You can
see, therefore, the scientific reason I had when I urged you in past years to have a group
enterprise, for it is a major unifying factor, and the inner Ashram with which you are
affiliated stands to you (at your particular point of development) as Shamballa stands to
the Hierarchy - from the angle of dynamic inspiration. Had you done this (which you did
not) the group would not have fallen apart - as it has done. Had you eliminated criticism,
the essential unity would have been strengthened. One of the reasons I had for the
complete frankness and so-called exposure of your individual weakness and limitations to
the group as a whole was to train you in the light of pure perception which knows the
reason [107] why and sees with clarity the ends in view. Where true perception exists,
criticism is automatically eliminated.
Modern
groups (and groups form a large part of every field of thought and activity) are usually
composed of people possessing some basic idea upon which they are all agreed and which
they are trying to express through the medium of their clashing personalities and,
frequently, in obedience to some leader or person of more powerful mentality than that of
the majority, and in order to exploit and use the methods which they regard as essential
to success. There is therefore little true unity, and often what there is based on
expediency or good manners. |