MY CO-DISCIPLE:

My relation to you is slightly different to that which I face when approaching the bulk of the members of my Ashram; you belong, as does F.B., to the Ashram of the Master Morya. You have been assigned to my Ashram on account of the nature of the vibratory activity of your astral body, and because - owing, to your own definite soul choice - you are shifting on to the second ray of love-wisdom. You might well ask, therefore, how it happens that your orientation has been towards the Master M. and that you have been affiliated with his Ashram. The reason is to be found in the fact that your personality, your mental nature and your physical body are all upon the first ray, and that consequently the power of your intelligent and focused mind has driven you into the aura of the leading first ray Ashram, and has held you there. Closer participation was not possible, owing to your sixth ray soul, whose natural and predetermined destiny was to fuse its secondary energy with the energy of the second ray, thus opening the door for you into a second ray Ashram. It was felt, therefore, that I (through the medium of my Ashram) could provide those conditions which would facilitate this transition and at the same time prepare you for the next great spiritual expansion of consciousness - the initiation of which you know. This will mark the consummation of this major life cycle.

It was for this reason that I have urged you for some years to concentrate upon the book "The Way into Shamballa," knowing that an intelligent and loving consideration of the problem would do much to bring your first ray personality nature into line with the purposes of your second ray soul, and thus facilitate the transfer of your egoic consciousness off the sixth ray of devotion on to the second ray of love-wisdom. The first and the second rays work closely together; love and will are closely identified on the higher levels of consciousness and service; the two basic energies in reality constitute one great expression of divine planning and purpose.

As I study you, my brother and my friend, and as I look ahead at your life of service and of right intention, one word stands out in my consciousness for you. To it, I referred in the six statements which I earlier gave you. That word is: simplicity. I stated in that earlier writing that the simplicity of the soul opens the way into Shamballa. That was and is an essential key statement for you. Those upon the second ray fall (as you know) into two groups, generally speaking; there are, naturally, numerous exceptions. Souls on the wisdom aspect of the second ray go to Shamballa and join the Great Council in some capacity or another. Such a one was the Buddha. Those on the love aspect of the second ray tread one or other of the various paths, primarily that of the World Saviors; they become the divine Psychologists and World Teachers. The Christ combined in himself all these three great traits.

Those in this second group of souls upon the second ray likewise fall into two groups: They follow the way of specialized detail and of a comprehensive inclusiveness, and are the outstanding occultists; the other group is distinguished by pure love. Of the group which finds its way into Shamballa a developed simplicity will be found to govern all relations.

Simplicity and unity are related; simplicity is one-pointedness of outlook, free from glamor and the intricacies of the thought-form-making mind; simplicity is clarity of purpose and steadfastness in intention and in effort, untrammeled by questioning and devious introspection; simplicity leads to simple loving, asking nothing in return; simplicity leads to silence - not silence as an escape mechanism, but as an "occult retention of speech."

You see, my brother, it is a book which will take much intuition and spiritual perception to write, and it can only be written by someone who has been trained in an Ashram. The theme of Shamballa is new, and little is yet known about it, its way of life and its governing laws. Only initiate - disciples can get a glimpse of some of the more exoteric significances, whilst the inner meaning must be drawn forth by you in deep and concentrated meditation and by the determined use of the will. There is no one who can aid you in preparing this book except some group brother or someone working consciously in an Ashram. You will look in vain for cooperation and help among those you seek to aid and among the orthodox and theological esotericist. Some key thoughts I can here give to you, and if you use them as the theme of your meditation, light upon the subject may break forth:

1. Shamballa is the place of purpose. It is a purpose which cannot be understood until the Plan is followed. Herein lies a clue.
2. Shamballa is not a Way, but a major center of related states and a relatively static energy - energy held ready for creative purposes by the focused intention of the Great Council, acting under the directing eye of the Lord of the World. [520]
3. Shamballa is the major point of tension upon the planet. It is a tension that expresses loving intelligent Will, free from all self-will or mental bias.
4. Shamballa is the major receptive agent upon the planet, from the angle of solar inflow, but at the same time it is the main distributing point of energy, from the angle of the kingdoms in nature, including - the fifth kingdom. From the point of tension the life pattern of the planetary Logos and his Will become embodied and finally matured through the processes of evolution.
5. Shamballa receives energy from various solar and extra-solar Entities or centers of emphatic and energetic life; i.e., from Venus, from the Central Spiritual Sun, from the current conditioning constellation through which our sun may be passing, from the Great Bear and other cosmic centers. Sirius, so important a factor in the spiritual life of the planet, brings its energies to bear direct upon the Hierarchy, and energy from Sirius does not normally enter our planetary life via Shamballa.
6. Shamballa is the head center, speaking symbolically, of our planetary Life, focusing will, love and intelligence in one great and fundamental Intention and holding that focused point throughout the entire life cycle of a planet. This great Intention embodies current purpose and expresses itself through the medium of the Plan.