How to Approach the Door of Inner
Learning
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
It may be worthwhile to study
the process of discipleship. There are also
reasons to investigate the subtle magnetic relationships and non-verbal
communications between the Adept Teachers of the Himalayas, or some Western
Adepts, and their lay disciples and Truth-aspirants all over the world.
The theosophical movement was
conceived and created during the 1870s and 1880s by H.P. Blavatsky and several Masters,
with the assistance of many disciples and aspirants in different continents.
Since the first moment, the
inner structure of the movement was
designed in such a way that it must have
a central nucleus of sincere aspirants to a higher learning, in order for it to
be able to live at the spiritual level. Otherwise, it can only experience the
outer, mechanical life of a “shell”.
Indeed, history has proven
once and again that in the absence of an inner group with people committed to
the process of discipleship, the movement is scarcely more than a corpse. But
what exactly do we mean, when we use the word “discipleship”?
If we see the idea of being a
disciple as a status-symbol or a mark of personal achievement, then there is no need whatsoever for any sincere students to
ever think about such a dangerous topic. In that case, we must just say, with
so many others:
“It is enough to study the
literature of authentic theosophy and to try to live up to its general
principles.”
Yet Truth is frequently hidden
beneath surface and appearances, and the seed of discipleship - with all its tests - is at the heart of the
apparently simple fact of trying to live theosophical principles.
On the other hand, in its
primary and original meaning, the word discipleship
just indicates a learning-process - and there are no feelings of
self-importance or self-achievement attached to it. In much the same way the
word “disciple” means only “a learner”. As to the term “discipline”, it
originally means but the set of practical conditions necessary for the disciple
or learner to develop new abilities.
As disciples in general need
teachers, another interesting question deals with our attitude towards the
Adept-Teachers and Initiates. Is it correct for us to exert our curiosity and collect
the scattered, scarce information available from reliable sources about their
existence, their work for mankind and their disciples?
A reasonable amount of
evidence indicates that Adept-Teachers - variously called Raja-Yogis, Mahatmas,
Masters, Adepts, Immortals or Rishis - are not supposed to be beyond our field
of conscious investigation. It is clear that everyone can aspire to learn from
them - directly or indirectly. According
to Robert Crosbie, for instance, “HPB showed herself a true Teacher when she
said, ‘Do not follow me nor my path; follow the path I show, the Masters who
are behind’.” [1]
However, the actual process of
spiritual learning is rather complex. The probation path does not begin with a Master generously
appearing to every aspirant in order to make a formal announcement. As a rule,
probations and tests must be unannounced.
Otherwise, they will not be effective. Besides, probation is a natural, unavoidable
fact, and not something artificially created in order to test this or that
disciple. Probation results from the law of karma. Every bit of knowledge, in any department of
life, always brings with it a corresponding amount of responsibility. And being
responsible means facing tests. Probation, then, comes with the first step of one’s search for wisdom,
and its intensity will be in direct proportion to the seriousness of that step -
and of the following ones.
Along the way to Wisdom, the
student of esoteric philosophy has to avoid not only the emotional mechanisms
of self-delusion, fear and ambition in general. He will be challenged or
tempted by many different forms of error, most of which will present themselves
as perfectly spiritual attitudes or at least as humanly acceptable. The deeper the knowledge he has access to, the
bigger will be the occult and “undeclared” tests he will face.
He may feel entirely alone in certain occasions - even desperately so, if
he happens to have enough courage to follow his own heart. But at the hardest of times, he - as every
sincere aspirant to Truth eternal - will be more included than ever in the vast magnetic field which is always kept
under the general observation of the Adepts and their direct disciples.
One of the Masters wrote to a “lay
chela” (a lay disciple), in 1882:
“Nature has linked all parts of her Empire
together by subtle threads of magnetic sympathy, and, there is a mutual
correlation even between a star and a man; thought runs swifter than the
electric fluid, and your thought will
find me if projected by a pure impulse (...). Like the light in the sombre
valley seen by the mountaineer from his peaks, every bright thought in your
mind, my Brother, will sparkle and attract the attention of your distant friend
and correspondent. If thus we discover our natural Allies in the Shadow-world - your world and ours
outside the precincts - and it is our law to approach every such an one if even
there be but the feeblest glimmer of the true ‘Tathagata’ light within him -
then how far easier for you to attract us.” [2]
So, it is Their Law to approach every such an one - i.e.,
every possible natural Ally - if even there be but the feeblest glimmer of the
true Buddhic light within him. But Masters and their direct disciples make this
approach and observation in silence. They are in touch with the Self present within
the Heart and Mind of the aspirant - not with his outer personality shell.
How, then, do the Adept look
at the Aspirant? Robert Crosbie wrote: “The Masters do not look at our defects,
but at our motives and efforts.” [3]
In one of the Letters, after
mentioning the existence of an “outer” as well as an “inner” man, an
Adept-Teacher wrote:
“With the ‘visible’ one we
have nothing to do. He is to us only a veil that hides from profane eyes that
other ego with whose evolution we are
concerned. In the external rupa do
what you like, think what you like: only when the effects of that voluntary
action are seen on the body of our correspondent - is it incumbent to us to notice it.” [4]
It is at an inner dimension
that the Masters observe the general collective field of aspirants and, with a
few exceptions, their observation cannot be felt nor “sensed” by the observed
students. It usually takes a long time for the Truth-seeker to get to that special
moment thus described in “The Voice of the Silence”:
“Silence thy thoughts and fix
thy whole attention on thy Master, whom yet thou dost not see, but whom thou
feelest.”
And more:
“Merge into one sense thy
senses, if thou would’st be secure against the foe. ’Tis by that sense alone which lies concealed
within the hollow of thy brain, that the steep path which leadeth to thy Master
may be disclosed before thy Soul’s dim eyes.” [5]
The Mahatma Letters and other classical
texts suggest that in most cases the Masters will observe and help the Aspirant
for a very long time before he can sense the subtle presence of a teacher.
Chronological time is not important, but this unperceived observation may go on
for a few lifetimes, while the true foundation of discipleship - a stronger
relationship between the student’s successive mortal souls and his one Monad -
is being built. After that, the Aspirant usually develops the ability to sense
the non-verbal, subtle influence of the Master in his life - and he may even
consciously interact with it in an abstract way, with no images or words.
But this happens often a long time before he will be able to hear or to see his
Teacher.
Referring to the Masters and
to the silent help they grant to aspirants worldwide, William Q. Judge wrote:
“They have also stated that
they do not make themselves objectively known to believers in them except in
those cases where those believers are
ready in all parts of their nature, are definitely pledged to them, with the
full understanding of the meaning of the pledge. But they have also stated that
they help all earnest seekers after truth, and that it is not necessary for
those seekers to know from where the help comes so long as it is received.
(...) Personally I know that the Masters do help powerfully, though unseen, all
those who earnestly work and sincerely trust in their higher nature, while they
follow the voice of conscience without doubt or cavil.” [6]
What is it that determines the
actual distance between each aspirant and the Adepts? It must be said that it
is but a vibratory distance. It is a lack
of affinity in vibration rates, since geographical distances do not exist
for the consciousness of the Masters and their direct disciples. Such a distance
is created by our own ignorance - not by the Masters. One of the Mahatmas wrote
to a lay disciple:
“I can come nearer to you, but
you must draw me by a purified heart and a gradually developing will. Like the
needle the adept follows his attractions.” [7]
Each aspirant must find in
himself a way to shorten the inner distance between he and the Dharma or
Teaching. In the silent heart of the
Teaching, as in meditation, he can find, in part, the vibration rate of the
Teachers. But this is not enough. How else, then, can he get nearer to the
Source?
One Mahatma wrote something especially
significant to the aspirants living in the 21st century:
“Look around you, my friend:
see the ‘three poisons’ raging within the heart of man - anger, greed, delusion,
and the five obscurities - envy,
passion, vacillation, sloth, and unbelief - ever preventing them seeing truth.
They will never get rid of the pollution of their vain, wicked hearts, nor
perceive the spiritual portion of themselves. Will you not try - for the sake
of shortening the distance between us - to disentangle yourself from the net of
life and death in which they are all caught (...)?” [8]
It is up to each student to say
whether he accepts this invitation - and takes the steps necessary to liberate
himself from short-term goals and commitments. There is no hurry, though: the work of the Masters is a long-term process.
Although general conditions
have changed since HPB times, there still is a common, permanent magnetic link
between the Teaching, its Students and the Masters, as we can see in the “Mahatma
Letters”.
One of the letters from the Mahatmas
consists of a memorandum, and item number III of the document says:
“We can direct and guide their
efforts and the movement, in general. Tho’ separated from your world of action
we are not yet entirely severed from it so long as the Theosophical Society
exists.” [9]
The above expression “Theosophical
Society” can be reasonably equated to “Theosophical Movement”, nowadays.
The same idea of a long-term
work appears at another Letter:
“... We cannot consent to over
flood the world at the risk of drowning them, with a doctrine that has to be
cautiously given out, and bit by bit like a too powerful tonic which can kill
as well as cure (....). The Society will never perish as an institution,
although branches and individuals in it may.” [10] (Here, again, the term “Society” should be understood as
“Movement”.)
With regard to the fact that
the Mahatmas keep under their observation the general magnetic field - or the
buddhic lights - of sincere aspirants to Truth and discipleship, it is
interesting to take notice of these words by Robert Crosbie:
“... Those Great Ones who I
know exist see every pure-hearted earnest disciple, and are ready to give a
turn to the key of knowledge when the time in the disciple’s progress is ripe.
No one who strives to tread the path is left unhelped; the Great Ones see his ‘light’,
and he is given what is needed for his better development. That light is not
mere poetical imagery, but is actual, and its character denotes one’s spiritual
condition; there are no veils on that plane of seeing. The help must be of that
nature which leaves perfect freedom of thought and action; otherwise, the
lessons would not be learned.”[11]
According to HPB, “paradox
would seem to be the natural language of occultism” [12], and the help given by the Masters is an example of that. No one is left unhelped: but in order to actually
deserve help, everyone must - hence the paradox - take full responsibility for
his own walk along the path. An
independent action is then of fundamental importance to deserve and to receive assistance.
Once this basic principle is
accepted, another question emerges: how
far can the aspirant go in his inner progress? What are the limits of his
growth? There is no easy answer to this. Occult learning is a multidimensional
process. It depends on many interacting, dynamic elements. However, some of these factors can be named
and examined.
1) One
of them is the ever changing “tide” of collective karma.
Conditions of collective karma
are always helping or hindering in several ways the learning-process. We should remember, though, that in difficult
moments greater efforts use to be more rewarding. The aspirant should be able
to see an opportunity in each new obstacle. There is a law of symmetry, by
which external obstacles create inner opportunities, and external improvements
provoke dangers. “The Voice of the
Silence” says about the “Hall of Probationary Learning”: “In it thy Soul will
find the blossoms of life, but under every flower a serpent coiled.” [13]
As to difficult moments, an
Adept-Teacher wrote, in a letter to Francesca Arundale: “Ah! If your eyes were
opened, you might see such a vista of potential blessings to yourselves and mankind lying in the germ
of the present hour’s effort, as would fire with joy and zeal your souls!
Strive, towards the Light, all of you brave warriors for the Truth ...” [14]
2) Another
factor is the karmic background of the student, and also his present karmic
situation, with its obstacles and opportunities.
The more long-term karmic
resources the soul has previously accumulated, the better and stronger means it
will have to face present challenges, and more strength to develop a decisive action in the right
direction. This background includes the amount of development already achieved
in the paramitas of perfection. They are: Dana, or charity and immortal love; Shila, harmony in words and deeds; Kshanti, an unshakeable patience; Viraga or indifference to pleasure and pain; Virya, a dauntless energy in the way to Truth;
Dhyana
or ceaseless inner contemplation; and finally Prajna, the integrating
key that makes a man become a Bodhisattva. [15]
3) A
third element leading to a better learning is the intensity of the efforts made
by the aspirant.
In December 1880, H.P. Blavatsky
published in her magazine The Theosophist these words from Thomas
Taylor, the platonic thinker:
“A little learning is a
dangerous thing,
Drink deep, or taste not the
PLATONIC spring;
There shallow draughts
intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us
again.” [16]
Accordingly, in the New
Testament’s Revelation we find: “...
because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am going to spit you out of
my mouth” (Chapter 3: 14-16). This idea also relates to Matthew, 6:24: “No one
can be a slave to two masters; he will hate one and love the other; he will be
loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and the money.”
4) Then
we have the sustainability of the efforts made by the student.
Long-term sustainability and
endurance to tests seems to be even more important than a great intensity in
the search for truth. The best results are long-term, and they need long-term
efforts to ripen. It is better to have a slow process of sustainable
acceleration in our efforts than a sudden enthusiasm born out of self-delusion.
Passing enthusiasms are not only misleading: they are strong signs of superficiality
in our commitments.
5) A
key factor is the purity of the student’s motives.
Robert Crosbie wrote:
“Very often the ostensible
motive is not the real one, and in this we frequently deceive ourselves.
Ambition also comes in; the desire for the approbation of our fellows may cloud
our vision in our effort to maintain it. There are many temptations, some of
which may come disguised as angels of light.” [17]
Our thoughts and intentions are
established and live in several
different levels of consciousness. There
are intentions which are openly declared. Other intentions are conscious but not declared. There
are also subconscious and unconscious motives, emerging from old habits and
from the instincts of the “animal soul”, kama-manas. And there are higher,
nobler, “supraconscious” intentions which come from the higher self. We must
become gradually conscious of all these kinds and levels of motives in our
lives. As we learn to listen in our heart to the voice of the silence, all
smaller intentions are brought together before our mind’s eye and gradually
understood, then purified and controlled. Self-observation, made from the
viewpoint of our higher potentialities, submits our personal desires to the
active will of the true self.
6) It
is important to examine on which levels of consciousness the greater part of
the effort is being made.
Studying HPB’s works only on the
mental plane tends to create pride, a feeling of self-importance and other
symptoms of a learning limited to words. But if students go beyond that,
listening to the silence and taking courage to challenge everyday routines from
the viewpoints suggested by the wisdom they learn, then intuition will assist
them and the process of learning will become ever wider and deeper.
7) Finally,
the degree of expansion in his perception of space and time.
This is the ability of the
aspirant to identify himself with time eternal and infinite space. At first it
can come as an intellectual/philosophical process, through the calm study of “The
Secret Doctrine” and other works. But gradually the student will develop an
inner, contemplative relationship with the greater cycles of time/space, so
that he will recognize himself as he is: just a passing “individualized” and
“personalized” microcosmic fragment of that unlimited space-time. Thus he will
attain a widening perspective of the Adepts’ and Initiates’ work for mankind.
He will learn more about their influence on human evolution along many
centuries and through different religions, philosophies and sciences.
As to human history, an
Adept-Teacher wrote to Allan O. Hume in 1880:
“Of your several questions we
will first discuss, if you please, the one relating to the presumed failure of
the ‘Fraternity’ to ‘leave any mark upon the history of the world’. (...) How
do you know they have made no such mark? (...) The prime condition of their
success was, that they should never be supervised or obstructed. What they have
done they know; all those outside their circle could perceive was the results,
the causes of which were masked from view. (...)”
And the Master goes on:
“There never was a time within
or before the so-called historical period when our predecessors were not
moulding events and ‘making history’, the facts of which were subsequently and
invariably distorted by ‘historians’ to suit contemporary prejudices. Are you
quite sure that the visible heroic figures in the successive dramas were not
often but their puppets? We never pretended to be able to draw nations in the
mass to this or that crisis in spite of the general drift of the world’s cosmic
relations. The cycles must run their rounds. Periods of mental and moral light
and darkness succeed each other, as day does night. The major and minor yugas
must be accomplished according to the established order of things. And we,
borne along on the mighty tide, can only modify and direct some of its minor
effects. If we had the powers of the
imaginary Personal God, and the universal and immutable laws were but toys to
play with, then indeed might we have created conditions that would have turned
this earth into an Arcadia for lofty souls. But having to deal with an immutable
Law, being ourselves its creatures, we have had to do what we could and rest
thankful. There have been times when ‘a considerable portion of enlightened
minds’ were taught in our schools. Such times there were in India, Persia,
Egypt, Greece and Rome. (...)” [18]
As the student gradually
learns to understand the sacred long-term work done by the Mahatmas for the
good of mankind, he can’t help giving up his personal worries and short-term
goals. They all lose their meaning and importance as he sees the longer,
unlimited time-line of human evolution.
Then he will be able to offer
his efforts to his own reincarnating Monad, in the inner temple of his higher
consciousness. Or to his Master. And
within the small circle of his possibilities, he will accept the fact that he
is co-responsible for the future of the theosophical movement - a collective
instrument for human evolution - and he will try to ACT ACCORDINGLY.
NOTES:
[1] “The Friendly
Philosopher”, Robert Crosbie, The Theosophy Company, L.A. and N.Y.C., 1945,
see p. 373.
[2] “The Mahatma
Letters to A. P. Sinnett”, transcribed by A. T. Barker, facsimile edition,
Theosophical University Press, Pasadena, CA, 1992, 493 pp., see Letter XLV, pp.
267-268.
[3] “The Friendly
Philosopher”, Robert Crosbie, The Theosophy Company, L.A. and N.Y.C., USA, 1945,
415 pp., see p. 39.
[4] “The Mahatma
Letters to A. P. Sinnett”, Letter XLIII, pp. 259-260.
[5] “The Voice of the
Silence”, H.P. Blavatsky, Theosophy Co., Fragment I, pp. 17-18.
[6] “Forum Answers” by William Q. Judge,
reprinted from The Theosophical Forum (1889-1896), The Theosophy Co., Los Angeles,
1982, 141 pp., see pp. 75-76.
[7] “The Mahatma
Letters to A. P. Sinnett”, Letter XLV, page 266.
[8] “The Mahatma
Letters to A. P. Sinnett”, Letter XLV, pp. 264-265.
[9] “The Mahatma
Letters to A. P. Sinnett”, Letter LXXVIII, page 378.
[10] “The Mahatma
Letters to A. P. Sinnett”, Letter XXXIV, p. 245.
[11] “The Friendly
Philosopher”, Robert Crosbie, see p. 07, lower half.
[12] See the first
paragraph of the text “The Great Paradox”, “Collected Writings”, Helena P. B.,
volume VIII, TPH, 1990, p. 125. “The Great Paradox” is available at our
associated websites.
[13] “The Voice of the
Silence”, H. P. Blavatsky, Theosophy Co., Fragment I, pp. 6-7.
[14] “Letters From the
Masters of the Wisdom”, transcribed by
C. Jinarajadasa, first series,
TPH-Adyar, India, sixth printing, 1973, Letter 20, p. 52.
[15] “The Voice of the
Silence”, H. P. Blavatsky, Theosophy Co., Fragment III, pp. 52-53.
[16] “The Theosophist”,
Bombay, volume II, 1880-1881, edited by H. P. Blavatsky, facsimile reproduction
and re-edition by Eastern School Press, 1983 (Wizards Bookshelf), see page
52.
[17] “The Friendly
Philosopher”, Robert Crosbie, see p. 07, upper half.
[18] “Combined Chronology,
for use with ‘The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett’ & ‘The Letters of H. P.
Blavatsky to A. P. Sinnett’ ”, by Margareth Conger. Published by Theosophical
University Press, Pasadena, California, 1973, 47 pp., see pp. 34-35.
000
An initial version of the above
article was published in “The Aquarian Theosophist”, July 2005, pp. 1-7.
000
In September 2016, after
a careful analysis of the state of the esoteric movement worldwide, a group of students
decided to form the Independent Lodge of
Theosophists, whose priorities include the building of a better future in
the different dimensions of life.
000
