To date, we have looked at what the term discipleship means and the basic concepts surrounding the process of initiation. Central to this whole process is the relationship between the teacher and the pupil. It is not possible for a human monad, centred in the 4th Kingdom of Nature, to ascend to the 2nd Triad without help from a monad already centred in that higher kingdom. So, this relationship is crucial and worthy of further investigation.
There is an old saying, “when the pupil is ready, the teacher will appear”. Laurency tells us that this is not the case. Apparently, it is the disciple that chooses the teacher, who is best able to support their further development. Why? Because of the Law of Freedom. We are free to choose our path, others must not foist this on us. How is this done? I don’t exactly know. Ask your guardian angel. Who is this teacher? It is usually a 45-self. A monad at this level of consciousness development is called a master, especially when they take on the role of teacher. This master has a profound effect on at least three centres of a disciple’s etheric envelope. Just getting in contact with your master stimulates your heart chakra. The teacher’s mental consciousness goes on to affect your crown and possibly your brow chakra as well.
The disciple should not ask the master for anything. This would be a sign of a lack of trust. Remember, the master knows all your thoughts, not just now but back all the way to when you were a rock. Scary stuff. It should be remembered that the needs of the disciple are provided for by their guardian angel, who is omnipotent in the 4th Kingdom of Nature. The master is responsible for the disciple’s consciousness development.
It is important for the disciple to understand the utterances of the master. If they don’t, either the wrong master has been chosen or the disciple is not ready to proceed. The importance of just getting the message stems from the fact that the master is not allowed to force his opinion on the disciple. So if you are lost, then you have a problem, not the master. The truth must be self-evident to the disciple. It is not uncommon for the disciple to be bamboozled by what the master is telling them. It may fly in the face of everything the disciple thought was the truth. The disciple’s cherished beliefs, when they are presented as being dilutions, are sometimes hard for them to swallow. This often results in a violent emotional reaction in the disciple, taking them several lifetimes to get over the shock. In the best-case scenario, the disciple gets with the beat, as advised by Baloo the Bear. However, Laurency notes that many are unable to jettison their outmoded paradigms. Worse still, when it comes to the hyper-intelligent, they feel they have the capacity to comprehend and judge everything. If they seek a teacher, it is not long before they think they know and understand better than their master. If the teacher does not appreciate their brilliance, it is due to a lack of ability in the teacher. Laurency quotes a dramatic example of this. In the relationship between Rudolf Steiner and Annie Besant, Steiner thought he had acquired all she had to teach and he subsequently knew better. The rest is called Anthroposophy. The reality was that Besant was centred in her 47:1 permanent atom and Steiner was centred in his 47:4 permanent molecule. When a master advises about when to do something and when not to, it is inadvisable to flout this advice, only sorrow ensues.
It is a sad fact that many esoteric teachers find that some of their pupils want to gain power and superiority over other people. When they see this is not in the gift of the teacher, they feel they have been deceived and the teacher is fraudulent. Laurency points out that proud people tend to find it irritating that they have to make an effort to learn and worse still be grateful for the knowledge. They end up rubbishing everything they have received and the teacher as well. The great thinkers of Humanity have often been disciples. Their lot, often, has been to be ridiculed and sometimes martyred, in their efforts to further Humanity’s development. Their lives are often poured over by academics, who seek to reduce the enormous efforts of such enlightened souls. Little do these detractors know that they are thousands of incarnations behind those who they disparage.
There is a misconception that is worth highlighting. Some esotericians say that 45-selves, must economise on their energies and this limits what they can transmit. This is not the case. The limiting factor is time, not energy. The master will therefore focus on the most important tasks at hand, first. The master’s disciples could assist in the work, but often they just become extra burdens. For this reason, it may not come as a surprise to find out that this small pool of masters is not over-enthusiastic to acquiring an abundance of pupils. In fact, they are selective in who they choose. There are many who may qualify for discipleship, but only the best of the best are chosen.
Now here is an interesting story that Laurency relates. Charles Leadbetter and Alice Bailey were both disciples of Master K.H. However, they never met in the presence of their teacher. Why? Laurency suggests that this may have resulted from the fact that they were accepted as disciples in different time periods when Master K.H. was a 45-self. According to the old, and now superseded training schedule, disciples received individual training. Leadbetter was an extrovert, being focused on the 1-3-5-7 rays and Bailey was an introvert, 2-4-6, for this reason, they would not have understood one another’s training methods easily. In their last incarnations, when both were alive at the same time, the master, now a Chohan, a 44-self, was not functioning as a teacher anymore, so they never had the opportunity to meet. Bailey only realised she was a disciple in 1919 when she assumed the role of secretary to Master D.K., who himself was the secretary to the Hierarchy.
There are a few realisations that any potential aspirant must grasp, lest they be disappointed with what happens next. It is worth remembering that the “self” cannot enter into the 5th Kingdom of Nature as the “self”. It has to become an “everybody”. The monad has not lost its self-identity, but the isolated self, contained in a causal envelope, has gone. It is now me and you and we. The aspirant must not have, as their goal, power, glory or a desire to advance. They must just want to serve. An electric motor does not crave power. It accepts what it is given and performs its task within its capacity. The disciple learns through experience and experiment. If you serve unity you will gain unity automatically.
Here is something to consider. It is not the disciple who needs the teacher, but the teacher who needs a tool to execute the work they have planned. If you are well-rounded, have the stage of the saint (48:2) behind you and are focused in your 47:4 permanent molecule, with a universal understanding of life, there is a high likelihood that someone in the Hierarchy will have a job for you to do. The disciple must believe in their abilities, not go seeking for a teacher to show them. Remember the Law of Self-realisation. Everything a seeker needs is given automatically, in right law and order. You do not need conscious contact with higher beings to receive these gifts. You must seek the work and then plan how to achieve the desired result. Surprisingly, things will just fall into place. No one has been directing you or have they. Something to ponder.
Discipleship is a never-ending training of all the envelopes active in the 4th Kingdom. A disciple starts with their organism and the etheric envelope that surrounds it. Organs must be vitalised along with chakras. Unsuitable foods and drinks must be excluded from their diet. As the disciple develops, the Laws of Life become obvious and easy to follow. When the disciple serves, their problems recede into the background. In this process of liberation, the disciple becomes receptive to causal energies, which they have worked up and are a fund of experiences to draw on whenever they need them. According to Laurency, a 45-self said that “sacrifice” means to give up egoism in the service of evolution and Humanity.
There is more to say on the realisations necessary for discipleship but will wait till the next presentation.