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Open House
22 February 1988 On this page, excerpts from the audio recording of the Open House evening have been divided into tracks. TRACK 1 To listen, click on the arrow in the audio bar. Good evening, and welcome to our new Paramartha Yoga Centre. We have, tonight, an Open House activity which we shall have once a month, from March.
Thursday night is Jupiter night, and it is the right night for philosophical teachings and tuition. On these Open House nights, the idea is that you give me questions in writing and I will strive to answer them according to what comes from upstairs. Some questions cannot be answered in a very complex manner, seeing that we lack time. I have been given questions that needed a whole lecture to be answered properly. Still, much is being talked about, and discussed within and without. TRACK 2 To listen, click on the arrow in the audio bar. |
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QUESTION
I will commence answering your questions by taking the first question. ‘Are there any events in life which are accidents – that is, dying before your time – or are all events predetermined by karma?’ ANSWER 1. There are, so to speak, no accidents. But the paradox is, there might be some. In such a case, where a human being, through accident, passes away too soon – it happens very rarely – they can get another chance in another body. Very soon after death, they can enter another body – it is seen on Earth – or they start incarnating immediately. But I would say that there are no accidents on the path of spiritual evolution. All events are predetermined by the Board of Karma before incarnating on this Earth. TRACK 3 To listen, click on the arrow in the audio bar. QUESTION
‘In Alice Bailey books, it always mentions our solar system as having seven planets when there are actually nine. Can you explain this discrepancy?’ ANSWER 1. I am not much into her planetary system, or I would rather say the Lord D.K.’s planetary systems and books concerning planets. What I believe this means is that some planets are not having physical life, and it’s not termed an ordinary planet. But I will look into it. I will ask Master and see what He comes down with. I do not know how many planets there are supposed to be in this solar system, but I know that some have physical life, some are corpses, some are becoming stars. I am sure there are many more planets than nine in the system. But we have some sacred and some non-sacred planets, and the difficulty is that Earth is becoming a sacred planet; not a difficulty for the Hierarchy, but for the human beings living here. For living on a planet that is becoming a sacred planet means an enormous jump in evolution, and it means suffering and pain, in one way or the other, for the human beings living here. 2. We have suffered enormous pain over the last two thousand years, much physical pain. And, as I have explained, the Hierarchy has given a healing system, which transmutes karma energy-wise, and helps the person that is receiving these energies to neutralise certain energies that cause physical pain; meaning that, where you have suffered pain and often premature death (meaning dying young), you can live to a ripe old age and work for the Hierarchy, because your pain will not be physical and cause death. It will not be a disease that causes death. It will instead be inner torment. They term it ‘the inner crucifixion’ of a disciple, crucified – his personality crucified by his own soul to get him to evolve quickly. That pain is long working, has far-reaching effects and is more unbearable than a physical, short crucifixion. That is the new pain of the New Age, especially amongst those who dedicate themselves totally to the work of the Hierarchy. The others who do not, and it is not their karma either, will not suffer that pain from within to the same extent. TRACK 4 To listen, click on the arrow in the audio bar. QUESTION
‘Different people pronounce "Aum" differently. Does each of the variations produce a change in effects and, if so, which is best for which purposes?’ ANSWER 1. We have different pronunciations of ‘Aum’ on purpose for, if we had the same pronunciations, it might be the wrong one and have no effect at all. But people, who are not disciples and are not initiates, will not be able to pronounce ‘Aum’ the right way, on purpose. It would create too great a havoc within. 2. Whether you sing ‘Om’ or ‘Aum’ is all good, but don’t expect to use the right pronunciation. You would not be able to handle the effects. It is on purpose that you are not able to sing that sound correctly until you can handle the vibration that follows singing the ‘Aum’ sound. But you will feel the difference when singing ‘Om’ and ‘Aum’ - there is a difference to it, and you can use them as you like. TRACK 5 To listen, click on the arrow in the audio bar. QUESTION
‘If one is meditating on the Basic Exercise* flames, does either their vibration, or the quantity of energy given, increase over time as one meditates regularly?’ ANSWER 1. Yes – because you are invoking the I Am Presence, part soul, part Spirit. You therefore release more and more energy the longer you meditate, because you are able to take more and more energy. TRACK 6 To listen, click on the arrow in the audio bar. QUESTION
‘Is it possible for an ascended astral disciple to go to another planet, and leave the physical body permanently?’ ANSWER 1. It is highly possible and it is desired. That is why so many people are astrally ascending over the next two hundred years, for them to be able to leave the Earth and incarnate elsewhere. TRACK 7 To listen, click on the arrow in the audio bar. QUESTION
‘Can the ascended astral disciple consciously leave the physical body during meditation, or does it happen only from the sleeping state?’ ANSWER 1. An ascended astral disciple may not be able to have out-of-body experiences, except when he is sleeping. An ascended astral disciple may not have much knowledge at all. You can still ascend, even if you are not a higher disciple and therefore would not be able to leave mentally, which is a higher state called out-of-body experiences. But such a disciple would be able to mentally transfer him or herself to whatever place he or she wanted to be in. 2. Some people, not even disciples but ordinary people on Earth, lower aspirants, are having out- of-body experiences on purpose. It is a way that soul and the Hierarchy teach man that there is nothing to be afraid of in death and dying. It is also a way for these people to gain some knowledge and experience from the astral levels. You must always remember that in an out-of- body experience in an astral body, you cannot go to the mental plane or level; you can only stay on the seven astral levels. So, you can have had astral out-of-body experiences in many lifetimes and suddenly not be able to do them, because the soul is training you to have mental out-of-body experiences, which give you admittance into much higher levels of consciousness. TRACK 8 To listen, click on the arrow in the audio bar. QUESTION
We have more – we have good, interesting questions: ‘What are the tasks, if any, of the old traditional branches of human knowledge, such as Kabbalah, tarot, astrology and alchemy in our time?’ ANSWER 1. There is nothing called ‘old, traditional’ branches of human knowledge. One could perhaps call them ‘old, traditional’, but they will remain old forever, and still new, because more and more knowledge concerning these philosophies will be given to Earth. An interesting thing is that many people who delve into tarot readings, and Kabbalah, astrology, alchemy, they have, many of them, had much more knowledge in the past. When I come across a tarot reader or an astrologer, or some person who works in this branch, I have often seen that they have had a thousand times more knowledge in a past life than they have in this life. I have been wondering about this, and I have come to the conclusion that the knowledge is closed for certain reasons: that these very intellectual people from the past have to learn to work through the right side of their brain as well, and use more intuition and soul contact in order to bring forth new parts – even if they are all old – new parts of these branches. They are intellectually building up the mental body, some of these branches. 2. Astrology is a very, very excellent part of the Divine Wisdom, and alchemy, which one does not know much about that these days. The Count of St. Germain, through another disciple, who will incarnate after the year 2,000, will be an avatar of the 7th Ray and will bring forth much more knowledge concerning the subject. 3. Tarot readings are for people who are trying to learn to use imagery to contact the subconscious. While you are a higher disciple, you don’t use any means to contact any subconscious levels except the soul. You will stop using any instrument to reach the soul knowledge and the subconscious levels. In fact, they are disturbing. You can’t even do much through tarot readings, or whatever you use, because they disturb you. You have to completely skip that side of affairs and just tune in with your souls. 4. Concerning Kabbalah, there are many, many, good, excellent disciples who have written those books, and who are actually incarnating again, bringing an even higher understanding to these topics now, in the New Age. 5. There are many different tasks within these old or new books on different kinds of knowledge. It all differs from person to person, but the idea is to develop inner contact and to utilise the knowledge of the inner levels. TRACK 9 To listen, click on the arrow in the audio bar. QUESTION
I think it’s ‘etheric body’ that it says here: ‘Is there any significance with the etheric body of Australia, and is there a special task for this country?’ ANSWER 1. It was always called ‘Land of the Holy Spirit’. Well – there is a mighty task for this country, because this country is to be an enormous spiritual focus for the Hierarchy. However, such a focus cannot be created overnight, it takes the time it takes. 2. The idea is that more and more people get contact with the Hierarchy – personal contact – and, through this personal contact, will work much more for the evolutionary plan of Earth than before. 3. As the Lord D.K. writes in Alice Bailey’s books, every disciple, even a probationary and aspirant, should each day link up with the Hierarchy and the plan of Earth, and become a conscious part of that plan. You may not get immediate results, or hear anything specially or see anything. But, if you do link up to the plan of the Hierarchy, the evolutionary plan, each day in your meditation, you will see that something happens in your life that is most important. You will then discover that you have a duty to this country; that you have immigrated to this country, or you have been born here, and that you work here for a specific reason. And that is, as a band of spiritually enlightened people, to work for the Hierarchy, creating a land of grace, of Holy Spirit, which will attract people from all over the world to be trained in this country. 4. The Theosophical Society started working in Sydney many, many years ago. Leadbeater established the Liberal Catholic Church here. Olcott was travelling in Australia and, already in those days, brought the energy of the Hierarchy to this country. TRACK 10 To listen, click on the arrow in the audio bar. QUESTION
‘Is it known who are the twin rays of Lord Sanat Kumara, Lord Morya and Lord Maitreya?’ ANSWER 1. Lord Sanat Kumara has a twin ray not living here on Earth, who had been here for some time but who is not living here any longer. Lord Morya has a twin ray who recently became a Master in an Indian body 18 years old, some years ago. The Lord Maitreya’s twin ray is not known. 2. There is something you have to understand: a disciple never asks stupid questions. By this, I do not mean these are stupid questions. I am stupid, if I poke into something which I am not allowed to know. It is a fact that a disciple will be told what a disciple needs to be told, not by asking – but Master will disclose when time comes. That is how I get my information. 3. I have never in this life put any question to the Master – just very few things – because the Master tells you what you have to know. There is an unwritten law: people, who ask too much, get nothing. I am not your Master in that respect. You can put me questions. But, I am not being told information that has no relevance to my work. And so, who the Lord Maitreya’s twin ray is, I do not know. I have never asked. I am sure if the Lord Maitreya wants me to know, I will be told. I knew about Lord Sanat Kumara’s twin ray and Lord Morya’s because I had been given that information a long time ago. This is how it goes. You get the information needed for your work. 4. We are living in another day and age, of course. People can ask questions, but always see to it that, before you ask a question, you think carefully before you do it. Perhaps you only have a certain number of questions allotted to you, after that there is nothing. It was on purpose, when in the temples, that disciples and new beginners were never allowed to ask questions. They had to listen, meditate, open their auras and take in the light. It is also something we have to understand. It is still valuable in our day and age, because some questions are just put to question, nothing else, and those questions are not considered so good, upstairs. That is why I would really like it if, at home before you come here each month, you could think carefully, and then write down the question before you come here. There is much more energy to it, and you might get some very good answers. TRACK 11 To listen, click on the arrow in the audio bar. QUESTION
‘Are Christ and Buddha regarded by you as avatars?’ ANSWER 1. Yes – Christ and Buddha are regarded as the great avatars. A great avatar is a conscious Bodhisattva or Buddha incarnating, with that initiation in the physical body, the seventh or the eighth. And They embody, for the whole Earth, for millions of years, one or more virtues. Buddha, Lord Gautama, embodied Light and Wisdom; and the Lord Christ, Love, Light and Wisdom. 2. An avatar can be a first initiate, a second initiate, a third, a fourth, but the great avatars are Bodhisattvas and Buddhas in the flesh. There is a mighty difference. 3. If you want to know more about this topic, I advise you to read Alice Bailey’s book, ‘Externalisation of the Hierarchy’. In that book, everything is explained. Everything is explained there – like you have avatars in politics, in music, in teaching, education, and in religion. You have great avatars and lesser avatars, and many of the lesser avatars – like the Protestant Luther, never recognised as a lesser avatar, but he was a lesser avatar. Blavatsky was a lesser avatar because she brought forth new teachings for Earth. 4. But the great avatars are enormous Bodhisattvas and Buddhas incarnating, and They can do all the things that you usually see Them do: materialise, dematerialise, heal, disappear in lightning and thunder; disappear before eyes of man; become invisible, become visible; transfer Themselves from one city to another. Such siddhis, gifts, usually belong to either Masters of Wisdom or greater avatars. [Tea break] TRACK 12 To listen, click on the arrow in the audio bar. The Master told me, when I sat down in this chair today meditating, that philosophy is teaching people one thing: to think, if nothing else. And that is what the whole thing is all about. Think, reason. Don’t fall for any nonsense that you hear, not even my nonsense – think. And when you hear things that you think are quite strange, take them or leave them, whatever you want.
TRACK 13 To listen, click on the arrow in the audio bar. QUESTION
‘What is your belief or understanding of the purpose of human beings on this Earth?’ ANSWER 1. The Earth as a planet, has been chosen as a valuable school of suffering, pain and misery for a certain number of souls who need to undergo Earth lives to become compassionate Masters of Wisdom – if not reaching completely that state of illumination, at least becoming what we term ‘disciples in soul’. When I refer to disciples here tonight, it has nothing to do with disciples of gurus. I have forgotten to explain, because there are newcomers here, that I am not talking about devotees or disciples of gurus and spiritual teachers. I am referring to disciples, as a term used by the Hierarchy, concerning initiated souls of a certain level of divine understanding. And we have human beings on this Earth, living here to learn through pain, and in between, spurts of joy. 2. Many people who reach discipleship think that pain is over and done with. They think, ‘Now we have been initiated by Christ, He will help us. He will relieve our burdens. He will pay a salary, so we can live in a nice house and do nothing else but serve Him’, or what they term ‘serve Him’: sit in a chair and read books, whatever, watch telly. No – a disciple is a human being with an [initiated] soul, who works much harder than other human beings, not always physically, but with mind. 3. See, the evolution is long on Earth. To begin with, the lives are primitive, with much physical labour and hardship, and not much mind, not much education. Then a human being advances, one step after the other, and halfway, he becomes an aspirant. An aspirant is a more highly developed human being who has spurts of life from soul descending into him or over him, and mind is starting to be developed. Such human beings are working, when they come a little bit further onto the path of evolution, very often unselfishly for a good cause; really hard working, good people, but still without any understanding of God’s Laws and the Divine Wisdom; not even thinking about any other life than the physical life; no doors open to inner life. 4. And so, when you have become an aspirant, sometimes you can get clairvoyant abilities, but they don’t necessarily teach you anything, except that there is life after death, because the great teachers do not manifest on the astral levels. They manifest on mental levels and soul levels. You cannot reach the Hierarchy on the astral levels, except that you have a well-developed mental body, and then Master can appear before you in-between the astral and mental level, in order to speak to you and contact you more easily. 5. A human being then walks on this path of evolution for many, many lives, thousands of lives; has been, perhaps, an aspirant for 500 incarnations before approaching the path called the Probationary Path, where the Master has observed his progress for several incarnations, working hard for a charitable cause, a good cause. Whether it’s in politics or anything else, it does not matter. 6. We have many, many, very good people who are very unselfish on this Earth. They are usually higher aspirants, people who want more than just an ordinary life, living for themselves only. They are working to help others, relieve others of misery and burdens. They can go into causes like protecting animals; creating music, better education and so forth. When you have then walked on this Earth for a very long time, you are being chosen by the Karmic Board and the Christ to become a disciple of soul, that is, the soul is chosen. When that happens, you can actually leave the Earth. TRACK 14 To listen, click on the arrow in the audio bar. ANSWER continued
7. It is not often seen – it will be seen in the New Age – that people with the first initiation can astrally ascend, and will leave the planet Earth and be transferred to other planets. But it hasn’t been like that on this Earth until now. You had to reach the third initiation to leave this Earth, for, at the third initiation, your soul had learned compassion and love to a certain degree, and also would be influencing the personality, have a good grip on the personality, which would be linked permanently to soul. But you are not saved, if that is what you understand by initiation, until you reach the fourth. Until you reach the fourth, and a little bit into the fourth – there are three to four stages of the fourth – you are not what we term ‘a wholly positive human being’. You can still suffer from bouts of depression and moods, and be temperamental and irritable and so on. 8. Between the fourth and the fifth initiations, you lose human characteristics. Your soul is descending more and more, and influencing the personality to such an extent that your personality’s characteristics disappear one by one, illuminated by the soul. When you are a fourth initiate, you become total light. Yogananda was a fourth initiate, if you remember Yogananda Paramahansa – excellent, wonderful guru – one of the real ones. He was a fourth initiate. He was pure light, and he exhibited this light in his life and his teaching. He had a very great understanding of Christianity and Buddhism, and could merge the light of the east and west. You can’t do that unless you are such a high initiate. 9. But there is a very long way between a fourth and a fifth initiate. There can be one life, there can be seven, but it is between the fourth and the fifth that you start to exhibit the powers of a Master of Wisdom. You can get the powers to materialise, dematerialise, levitate (other than the saints’ levitations); different siddhis, but these siddhis have also been given to initiates and disciples of lower degrees. These siddhis are no proof of high initiations. If the light is not there, the great light, you can be a first initiated disciple exhibiting the same gifts. 10. A fourth initiate is a little sun. A Buddha is a great sun, radiant sun. A third initiate can exhibit this sun at times, but it is not permanent. In a fourth initiate, the sun is permanently there, unless it is disguised on purpose by the Hierarchy. It has been disguised on purpose by the Hierarchy, when the Hierarchy wanted to protect an initiate. When an initiate has to work in silence, behind the surface, you will not know that that initiate is a fourth or fifth initiate. The sun has been disguised. But in normal cases, a fourth initiate is a little sun. A Master of Wisdom has had thousands of incarnations; has had thousands of incarnations on other planets as well. The Masters of Wisdom that we have visiting and working on this Earth, were already initiates before They came down here, millions of years ago. 11. It may sound easy, when I am talking about the evolutionary path, but it is not easy at all. And you cannot jump, except that you are on a certain soul level, and then, by utilising certain formulae and techniques, you can jump, but not before. You cannot jump from primitive man stage to aspirant stage, from aspirant to discipleship – impossible. When you are an initiate disciple, you can jump, if the Master allows it. 12. They train aspirants and probationaries to be disciples, because They need true and conscious disciples – conscious of the Hierarchy; of the existence of the Hierarchy; how to cooperate with the plan; how to neutralise karma; how to open the chakras harmlessly by removing dross, and so forth. TRACK 15 To listen, click on the arrow in the audio bar. ANSWER continued
13. I will advise you, If you are interested to read and learn more, to read Alice Bailey’s book, ‘Initiation Human and Solar’. We utilise that book rather a lot. But, reading those books, and not having the understanding, and not having the heart developed to understand the knowledge, will not lead you much further than you are now. 14. You see, many people think that it is enough to read books and they gain the knowledge. It is far from it. If you don’t read with your heart, if you don’t understand the Divine Wisdom, you will certainly not understand Alice Bailey’s books nor the theosophical books. They are written for a very high level of understanding. Also Steiner’s books have to be read with a very well- developed mental body – he was a great initiate. 15. You must understand that there are books on this Earth that are written for all levels of soul development. We do not advise any new beginner to start with Alice Bailey, for that reason, but to start with other books written by disciples who are trying to explain Alice Bailey’s books and the theosophical books. 16. The purpose of human beings on this Earth is, therefore, to perfect the souls; for these souls to leave the Earth; a sojourn for a certain period of time, and go to other planets and continue. For this Earth is a very, very difficult planet to live on, and on this Earth you will not remain unless the Board of Karma wants you to stay. I have said this several times. You will not be asked to remain if you are not very tough material because, if you think that misery has ended here, whether we walk into a golden era or not, we shall have misery again after that. We have not ended misery. Because we enter a golden era for one thousand years or 500 years, does not mean that you have saved this planet. This planet will see more misery. 17. We have had several golden eras here. We have lived in peace and harmony, and the miserable times continued, and we shall still have miserable times on Earth. The people who are remaining here will be strong and will be trained to take what is expected on this planet. 18. So, I just want to make you understand that some souls will leave this Earth and continue on other planets. But some will remain here and continue in this school, and become Masters here, become Christs and Buddhas here, and then leave. These Christs and these Buddhas are outstanding. They have been through human evolution to reach Bodhisattvaship and Buddhahood. There are not many who have done it up to now; that is how difficult it is. There is a long way between Master of Wisdom and Buddha, even if things are speeded up. I will just remind you that the path of evolution is very long. 19. Many people could get the impression that initiation is easy to get. But it is very difficult, not to mention all the times you fall in between and lose it in your personality. 20. There is a very long, long way from you to your souls. Perhaps you think that your soul is sitting just above your head. Level-wise, plane-wise, your soul is very far away from most of you. There is the barest thread of light that connects you, the barest, minimal thread of light. But, in an initiate of the third degree, the soul is very close and the link is very broad. At the fourth initiation, the soul and the personality merge, the light is total all over, but that is also very difficult. TRACK 16 To listen, click on the arrow in the audio bar. QUESTION
I’ll have a last question, my dears, because I can see we’re running out of time: ‘What prehistoric knowledge is available to the present?’ ANSWER 1. The Vedic scriptures and Theosophy tell of time on Earth far away and in the past, very far past. Alice Bailey does not talk much about the past on Earth, but the theosophical books do and, of course, the old Indian scriptures – difficult to get hold of, however. TRACK 17 To listen, click on the arrow in the audio bar. QUESTION
‘And how is this knowledge reverberated from pre-history to the present?’ ANSWER 1. … through the teachings given out by the Hierarchy now. 2. In every century, in the last twenty-five years, a new impulse is given. Last century [1875], the Theosophical Impulse was given. 3. That’s how it goes. I will end again by emphasising – every last 25 years of a century, the Hierarchy sends an impulse onto Earth. It was that impulse that has created all the spiritual life on this Earth up to now, to 1975. Everything – the I Am Movement, Summit Lighthouse; all the groups of which we have no names; Steiner – everyone is under that impulse. 4. In 1975, the impulse again. There would not be one group that starts on this planet Earth, if it wasn’t for this impulse. But it coincided with an even greater impulse, the Christ Impulse itself. And the Christ, the Lord Maitreya, talked about this light, the Rising Light, through Alice Bailey, thirty years ago. But it did not physically manifest until December, that New Year’s night [31 December 1986], and become physically focused on Earth, before 1987. It is that impulse that will take us into the Aquarian Age and create the Music of the Heart, and the New World Religion which is part of the great religion of Earth. It is that impulse. And even if you do not understand anything of this, that is what you will learn. In a couple of hundred years from now, you will learn this. Of course, it is always easier to believe when a hundred, two hundred years have passed; very easy to believe. The light in the world will be strengthened, and you will find healing centres and healing groups, and groups working positively all over the planet, just growing up like mushrooms. It does not matter whether you understand or not, it is just a fact, and you are in it. 5. You will get this impulse that the Hierarchy has sent to Earth through your teacher, to some extent, to some vibration, the vibration you need to develop. Thank you my dears. *The ‘Basic Exercise’ is the original name of the practice now called the ‘Flame Meditation’. |
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Heart Flow Worldwide and Heart Flow are registered trademarks of The Theosophical Fellowship ABN 96 057 459 604
Copyright Statement: All rights reserved. This website and all content on it are protected by Australian and international copyright laws.