IN THE BEGINNING
We all know by now we have to build the Antahkarana [the
bridge between personality soul and spirit], but why and how did it all start?
Why do we have to work so hard at something that is supposed to happen
naturally? I came across the following information that will explain parts of
the questions that come up in our minds:
Let us look again at humanity’s place in the scheme of
things, in order to clearly ascertain his Purpose and the violation of that Purpose. Humanity, as we have said many times, is
the Planetary throat centre, the centre through which the Logoic Word sounds
forth. That word (the Soul and later the Monad on its own plane) is creative.
It creates the forms within which our God shall appear.
Looking at it from another perspective, we see humanity as
the brain of the Logos. Each human being is, then, a brain cell within the One
Life. The Logos, or directing will, transfers His Purpose and Plan, via the
heart of His Being, the Hierarchy, into this brain for condensation into form.
Humanity then takes into itself that Purpose and Plan, recreates it into form,
and gives it appearance in the Light of Day.
During the Atlantean period when all human beings were
conscious magicians according to Plan, humanity, for an inexplicable reason
(except that it be karmic), denied the Logoic Plan for one of its own. That is,
men conceived and created according to their own separative purposes. In so
doing, the economy of the Planetary Life was misused, the relationship of
Spirit, matter, and consciousness altered, and the antahkarana between man and
his own Soul broken. As the word sounded in time and space, it took on a
destructive tone because it was sounded in violation of the One Life.
The breaking of the
antahkarana resulted in an upheaval within the consciousness of the
Planetary Life, and man set himself adrift from the Logoic Purpose which had
brought him into being, i.e., he broke off his own relationship with God.
It was not a vengeful God who denied man his Divine
heritage. It was man himself who destroyed his own awareness of himself as
Soul, and consequently shut the door upon his creative genius.
The outer results of this act came in the form of a
cataclysm which wiped out the Atlantean civilization. The violent changing of
the earth’s surfaces, the inundation of heavily populated areas with water, and
the gradual decline of man’s knowledge of the creative process, were but outer
reflections of the terrible upheaval taking place within the consciousness of
the Planet itself.
Since that time, humanity has gradually brought itself back
to the reappearing cycle of opportunity. The
antahkarana, not only between man and his Soul, but between the Hierarchy and
humanity, is being reconstructed by those disciples in the world who
consciously serve the Plan. That Plan, which has to do with man as a
creator, is once again being focussed downward, and the redemption of both
consciousness and substance for Logoic Purpose becomes possible.
Thus, the unveiling of the mysteries proceeds according to
law, but with this specific warning: Let your creative genius be directed to
the working out of God’s Plan on earth.
It is suggested that the sincere student take The Great
Invocation into meditation for further clarification in the light of the above.
‘‘From the point of Light within the mind of
God
Let Light stream forth into the minds of
men.
Let Light descend on earth.
From the point of Love within the Heart of
God
Let Love stream forth into the hearts of men
May Christ return to earth.
From the centre where the Will of God is
known
Let Purpose guide the little wills of men,
The Purpose which the Master Knows and serves.’’
‘‘From the centre which we call the race of
men
Let the Plan of Love and Light work out
And may it seal the door where evil dwells.
on earth.’’
These last are self-explanatory in the consciousness of one
who has intuited the Truth from the above text. [Lucille Cedercrans, Master R.
[R./Lucille] ]
So, now we know! It also ties together our theme, the
relationship between the Soul-infused Personality, Discipleship and the project
of building the Antahkarana. It is also clear that the greatest tool that the
Disciple has in his aid is the Sword of God, THE GREAT INVOCATION. Every time
he uses it he is not only helping to build and repair the World Antahkarana but
also his own, the link between his Soul-infused Personality, the Soul Itself
and the Spiritual Triad. We broke it, now as Disciples, we have to repair it as
part of our evolutionary development.
Master DK made the following comment about the antahkarana:
The Science of the Antahkarana deals with the threefold
thread which connects:
a. The monad, the soul and the personality, linking all
three periodical vehicles and unifying all seven principles.
b. The triple personality and its environment in the three
worlds of human enterprise, and later in the other two worlds (making five) of
superhuman expression.
c. The consciously creative man and the world of ideas. These he must contact and express through
creative work, thus bridging with the light:
1.
Between the world of souls and the world of
phenomena.
2.
Between the realm of subjective beauty and
reality and the outer tangible world of nature.
3.
Between himself and others.
4.
Between group and group.
5.
Later, when the divine Plan has become a reality
to him, between the fourth kingdom (the human) and the fifth kingdom (the
Kingdom of God).
6.
Finally, between humanity and the Hierarchy.
We can see from the above that it involves all the aspects
of our live and spiritual unfoldment. He goes on and said the following:
The Science of the Antahkarana is the science of the triple
thread which exists from the very beginning of time and links individual man
with his monadic source. The recognition
of this thread and its use, consciously, as the Path and the means of ever
expanding contacts, comes relatively late in the evolutionary process. The goal of all aspirants and disciples is to
become aware of this stream of energy in its various diversifications and
consciously to employ these energies in two ways: interiorly in
self-unfoldment, and in the service of the plan for humanity.
I have tried to summarise the whole proses in the following
poem:
The antahkarana is the true science of the mind
Where you leaf all your previous achievements behind
And utilise mental substance for the bridging between the
personality triad
And soul, and then between soul-infused personality, and
the spiritual triad
First, the life thread comes directly from the Monad or
the One
To be anchored in the heart, during incarnation, for
everyone
It is the seat of life
During the time you are alive
Then, directly from the soul, comes the consciousness thread
Which, during incarnation, is anchored in the head
It is the seat of consciousness
That brings about your responsiveness
Thirdly, and initiated and constructed by the personality
And anchored in the throat, is the thread of creative
activity
It is the seat of creativity, created through our
conceptions
That now gives life and expression to our creations
The antahkarana [OM] is a fusion and combination to
perfection
Of these three threads [the sutratma - AUM ] and their
projection
Into the higher mental plane, until the abstract mind
Is related by a triple cable to the concrete mind
On the first great union on the path to reality
A rhythm [OM] is set up between Soul and Personality
This first step to liberation
Is completed at the third initiation
Thus the energies that animate the soul and the
personality
Are blended and fused into one, soul-infused personality
The three aspects of the soul in the spiritual world
And the three worlds of the personality become one world
After the bridging of the personality and the soul
Comes the bridging of the spiritual triad and the
soul
This personality, soul and spirit combination
Is completed at the fourth initiation
Before a man can tread the path himself
He has to become that path itself
By using these forces for self-unfoldment and unity
And in the service of the Plan for humanity
By acting as if this stages have already been achieved
A shortcut to creating the antahkarana can be
perceived
A meditation to build the Antahkarana
A simple way to build the Antahkarana for beginners is this
meditation: Sit relaxed or lie down, become still and quiet. Close your ears
with one finger of each hand. The sound you will hear [sing like a radio off the
station] is the vibration of the Antahkarana [OM]. Concentrate on your heart
and send that love feeling across the sound vibration to your soul [or God]. If
you cannot do it in the beginning, just concentrate on the sound, your heart
and your soul [or God] alternately. You can do that as long as you like every
day. Even at night when going to bed, good way to fall asleep.
Without the heart it will be impossible to build the
Antahkarana [a hint]. This is just my simple method but we have to know what it
is all about and why we are doing the necessary steps. We need to know the
science behind it [another hint] to make the imagination work. To help us, the
Tibetan Master had the following information for us.
Let us now consider, step by step this science which is
already proving a useful source of experiment and testing.
The human soul (in contradistinction to the soul as it
functions in its own kingdom, free from the limitations of human life) is
imprisoned and subject to the control of the lower three energies for the major
part of its experience. Then, upon the
Path of Probation, the dual energy of soul begins to be increasingly active,
and the man seeks to use his mind consciously, and to express love-wisdom on
the physical plane. This is a simple
statement of the objective of all aspirants.
When the five energies are beginning to be used, consciously and wisely
in service, a rhythm is then set up between the Personality and the Soul. It is as if a magnetic field were then established
and these two vibrating and magnetic units, or grouped energies, swung into
each other's field of influence. This
happens only occasionally and rarely in the early stages; later it occurs more
constantly, and thus a path of contact is established which eventually becomes
the line of least resistance, "the way of familiar approach," as it
is sometimes called. Thus is the first
half of the "bridge," the antahkarana, constructed. By the time the third initiation is
completed, this Way is completed, and the initiate can "pass to higher
worlds at will, leaving the lower worlds far behind; or he can come again and
pass upon the way that leads from dark to light, from light to dark, and from
the under lower worlds into the realms of light."
Thus the two are one, and the first great union upon the
Path of Return is completed. A second
stage of the Way has then to be trodden, leading to a second union of still
further importance in that it leads to complete liberation from the three
worlds. It must be remembered that the
soul, in its turn, is a union of three energies of which the lower three are
the reflection. It is a synthesis of the
energy of Life itself (which demonstrates as the life-principle within the
world of forms), of the energy of the intuition or spiritual love-wisdom or
understanding (this demonstrates as sensitivity and feeling in the astral
body), and spiritual mind, whose reflection in the lower nature is the mind or
the principle of intelligence in the form world. In these three we have the atma-buddhi-manas
of the theosophical literature—that higher triplicity which is reflected in the
lower three, and which focusses through the soul body on the higher levels of
the mental plane before being precipitated into incarnation—as it is esoterically
called.
Modernising the concept, we might say that the energies
which animate the physical body and the intelligent life of the atom, the
sensitive emotional states, and the intelligent mind, have eventually to be
blended with and transmuted into the energies which animate the soul. These are the spiritual mind, conveying
illumination; the intuitive nature, conferring spiritual perception; and divine
livingness.
After the third initiation the "Way" is carried
forward with great rapidity, and the "bridge" is finished which links
perfectly the higher spiritual Triad and the lower material reflection. The three worlds of the Soul and the three
worlds of the Personality become one world wherein the initiate works and
functions, seeing no distinction, regarding one world as the world of
inspiration and the other world as constituting the field of service, yet
regarding both together as forming one world of activity. Of these two worlds, the subjective etheric
body (or the body of vital inspiration) and the dense physical body are symbols
on the external plane.
How is this bridging antahkarana to be built?
It is with the work of the "bridge-builders" that
we are concerned. First, let me assure
you that the real building of the antahkarana takes place only when the
disciple is beginning to be definitely focussed upon mental levels, and when
therefore his mind is intelligently and consciously functioning. He must begin at this stage to have some more
exact idea than has hitherto been the case as to the distinctions existing
between the thinker, the apparatus of thought, and thought itself, beginning
with its dual esoteric function which is:
1.
The recognition and receptivity to IDEAS.
2.
The creative faculty of conscious thoughtform
building.
This necessarily involves a strong mental attitude and
reorientation of the mind to reality. As
the disciple begins to focus himself on the mental plane (and this is the prime
intent of the meditation work), he starts working in mental matter and trains
himself in the powers and uses of thought.
He achieves a measure of mind control; he can turn the searchlight of
the mind in two directions, into the world of human endeavour and into the
world of soul activity. Just as the soul
makes a way for itself by projecting itself in a thread or stream of energy
into the three worlds, so the disciple begins consciously to project himself
into the higher worlds. His energy goes
forth, through the medium of the controlled and directed mind, into the world
of the higher spiritual mind and into the realm of the intuition. A reciprocal activity is thus set up. This response between the higher and the
lower mind is symbolically spoken of in terms of light, and the "lighted
way" comes into being between the personality and the spiritual Triad, via
the soul body, just as the soul came into definite contact with the brain via
the mind. This "lighted way" is the illumined bridge. It is built through meditation; it is
constructed through the constant effort to draw forth the intuition, through
subservience and obedience to the Plan (which begins to be recognised as soon
as the intuition and the mind are en rapport), and through a conscious
incorporation into the group in service and for purposes of assimilation into
the whole. All these qualities and
activities are based upon the foundation of good character and the qualities
developed upon the Probationary Path.
The effort to draw forth the intuition requires directed
occult (but not aspirational) meditation.
It requires a trained intelligence, so that the line of demarcation
between intuitive realisation and the forms of the higher psychism may be
clearly seen. It requires a constant
disciplining of the mind, so that it can "hold itself steady in the
light," and the development of a cultured right interpretation, so that
the intuitive knowledge achieved may then clothe itself in the right
thoughtforms.
It might also be stated here that the construction of the
bridge whereby the consciousness can function with facility, both in the higher
worlds and in the lower, is primarily
brought about by a definitely directed life-tendency, which steadily sends
the man in the direction of the world of spiritual realities, plus certain
movements of planned and carefully timed and directed reorientation or
focussing. In this last process the gain
of the past months or years is closely assessed; the effect of that gain upon
the daily life and in the bodily mechanism is as carefully studied; and the will-to-live
as a spiritual being is brought into the consciousness with a definiteness and
a determination that makes for immediate progress.
This building of the antahkarana is most assuredly
proceeding in the case of every earnest student. When the work is carried on intelligently and
with full awareness of the desired purpose, and when the aspirant is not only
aware of the process but alert and active in its fulfilment, then the work
proceeds apace and the bridge is built.
Students should train themselves to distinguish between the
sutratma and the antahkarana, between the life thread and the thread of
consciousness. The one thread is the
basis of immortality and the other the basis of continuity. Herein lies a fine distinction for the
investigator. One thread (the sutratma)
links and vivifies all forms into one functioning whole, and embodies in itself
the will and the purpose of the expressing entity, be it man, God or a
crystal. The other thread (the
antahkarana) embodies the response of the consciousness within the form to a
steadily expanding range of contacts within the environing whole. One is the direct stream of life, unbroken
and immutable, which can be regarded symbolically as a direct stream of living
energy flowing from the centre to the periphery, and from the source to the
outer expression, or the phenomenal appearance.
It is the life. It produces the
individual process and the evolutionary unfoldment of all forms.
It is, therefore, the path of life, which reaches from the
Monad to the personality, via the soul.
This is the thread soul and it is one and indivisible. It conveys the energy of life and finds its
final anchor in the centre of the human heart and at some central focal point
in all forms of divine expression.
Naught is and naught remains but life.
The consciousness thread (antahkarana) is the result of the union of
life and substance or of the basic energies which constitute the first
differentiation in time and space; this produces something different, which
only emerges as a third divine manifestation after the union of the basic
dualities has taken place.
The life thread, the silver cord or the sutratma is, as far
as man is concerned, dual in nature. The
life thread proper, which is one of the two threads which constitute the
sutratma, is anchored in the heart, whilst the other thread, which embodies the
principle of consciousness, is anchored in the head. This you already know, but this I feel the
need to constantly reiterate. In the
work of the evolutionary cycle, however, man has to repeat what God has already
done. He must himself create, both in
the world of consciousness and of life.
Like a spider, man spins connecting threads, and thus bridges and makes
contact with his environment, thereby gaining experience and sustenance. The spider symbol is often used in the
ancient occult books and the scriptures of India in connection with this
activity of the human being. These
threads, which man creates, are triple in number, and with the two basic
threads which have been created by the soul, constitute the five types of
energy which make man a conscious human being.
The triple threads created by man are anchored in the solar
plexus, the head and the heart. When the
astral body and the mind nature are beginning to function as a unit, and the
soul also is consciously connected (do not forget that it is always
unconsciously linked), an extension of this five-fold thread—the basic two and
the human three—is carried to the throat centre, and when that occurs man can
become a conscious creator on the physical plane. From these major lines of energy lesser lines
can radiate at will. It is upon this
knowledge that all future intelligent psychic unfoldment must be based.
In the above paragraph and its implications you have a brief
and inadequate statement as to the Science of the Antahkarana. I have endeavoured to express this in terms,
symbolic if you will, which will convey a general idea to your minds. We can learn much through the use of the
pictorial and visual imagination. This
bridging must take place:
1.
From the physical to the vital or etheric
body. This is really an extension of the
life thread between the heart and the spleen.
2.
From the physical and the vital, regarding them
as a unity, to the astral or emotional vehicle.
This thread emanates from, or is anchored in, the solar plexus, and is
carried upwards, by means of the aspiration, till it anchors itself in the love
petals of the egoic Lotus.
3.
From the physical and astral vehicles to the
mental body. One terminus is anchored in
the head, and the other in the knowledge petals of the egoic Lotus, being
carried forward by an act of the will.
Advanced humanity is in process of linking the three lower
aspects, which we call the personality, with the soul itself, through
meditation, discipline, service and directed attention. When this has been accomplished, a definite
relation is established between the sacrifice or will petals of the egoic Lotus
and the head and heart centres, thus producing a synthesis between consciousness,
the soul and the life principle. The
process of establishing this inter-linking and inter-relation, and the
strengthening of the bridge thus constructed, goes on until the Third
Initiation. The lines of force are then
so inter-related that the soul and its mechanism of expression are a
unity. A higher blending and fusing can
then go on.
I can perhaps indicate the nature of this process in the
following manner: I have stated here and
elsewhere that the soul anchors itself in the body at two points:
1.
There is a thread of energy, which we call the
life or spirit aspect, anchored in the heart.
It uses the blood stream, as is well known, as its distributing agency,
and through the medium of the blood, life energy is carried to every part of
the mechanism. This life energy carries
the re-generating power and coordinating energy to all the physical organisms
and keeps the body "whole."
2.
There is a thread of energy, which we call the
consciousness aspect or the faculty of soul knowledge, anchored in the centre
of the head. It controls that response
mechanism which we call the brain, and through its medium it directs activity
and induces awareness throughout the body by means of the nervous system.
These two energy factors, which are recognised by the human
being as knowledge and life, or as intelligence and living energy, are the two
poles of his being. The task ahead of
him now is to develop consciously the middle or balancing aspect, which is love
or group relationship. (See Education in
the New Age, pages 26-27, 32-33, 92.) [THE RAYS AND THE INITIATIONS, P434/52-adapted]
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