The Spirit of Brotherhood

 

"There are many ways and many points of view, and many experiments and many efforts - abortive or successful, and all of them come and go. But humanity remains. All of them are in evidence of the multiplicity of minds, and of experiences, but the goal remains. Difference is ever of the personality. When this Law of Sacrifice governs the mind, it will inevitably lead all disciples to relinquish the personal in favour of the universal and of the soul, that knows no separation, no difference. Then no pride, nor a short and myopic perspective, nor love of interference (so dear to many people), nor misunderstanding of motive will hinder their cooperation with each other as disciples nor their service to the world."

Thus spoke the Master.

There is only one humanity; there is only one united group that refers to the LOGOS - Who is the "FATHER". That group, Humanity, therefore constitutes the children of GOD!

Shall we, the Children of God, consider ourselves not united as brethren? And as His Creation? Or are we guilty of spurning other children of the One Father?

As servers of the race of men, as disciples, we are honour bound to recognize the fealty and the fraternity in which we are eternally interdependent.

This is The Spirit of Brotherhood.

Understand the soul of thy brother;
Display action, show understanding, behold the power of My shield.
        (Leaves of Morya's Garden 1924)

Regard not Brotherhood as a need to associate with fellow men on a personality basis. Such is not expected of the disciple: he meditates upon humanity as a whole, on inner planes. He radiates his love to his fellow men from his heart. He draws upon the love of his Master and releases it with detachment but with deep and abiding love for all men.

Let thy Soul lend its ear to every cry of pain like as the lotus bares its heart to drink the morning sun. Let not the fierce Sun dry one tear of pain before thyself has wiped it from the sufferer's eye. But let each burning human tear drop on thy heart and there remain, nor even brush it off, until the pain that caused it is removed.
        ("The Voice of the Silence" H.P.Blavatsky)

Above all, on outer planes the disciple lives with detachment and joy: he expresses this with patience and understanding to all those with whom he comes into contact. He perceives them with embracing, identifying compassion. Hence, he has no inclination or reason to disparage: that is the greatest sin of all for it impinges on his own consciousness, on the consciousness of the one he disparages or criticises and it spreads out in circles of darkness to damage and destroy. Of such are the forces of darkness.

Beware, my brothers: identify not with those who have no heart.

It should here be remembered that criticism is a virulent poison. It damages in every case eventually the one who criticises - owing to the fact of voiced direction - it hurts still more the one who is criticised...

What can a leader or a group of leaders do in these unfortunate circumstances?

Nothing, but continue in the work; retreat within themselves; speak the truth with love when occasion occurs; refuse to become bitter over the pain...

Groups in the New Age will be held together by a subjective link and not so much by the emotional reaction induced by outer contact. I would ask you to ponder carefully upon this last paragraph for it holds the clue to successful working of the new groups...
        (Psychology, Vol.II, A.A. Bailey)

Brotherhood lies not only in recognition of humanity as one, but in the glory of oneness with all kingdoms of nature and with all that exists: God breathed life into every living thing; He created all kingdoms of nature and every atom that subsists in all that is in heaven and on earth. He it is Who exists in every immortal being, in every mortal life, and in every inanimate object. Thus it is that each and every son of God participates in His Life with every fish in the sea, with each grain of sand, with all the myriad stars and the first sun of the morning; with the fragrant daisies of the field, and the legumes and fruit upon your table; the lizard sunning itself on the rock and with the rock upon which it rests; with the cow and its milk and the devoted dog at your side and the horse that draws the dray and the wain itself; with the deer that leaps in the forest and the lion camouflaged in the grass; with the birds of the air - the lark that sings by day and the nightingale at night; e'en the cloth woven for the coat upon your shoulders, the chair upon which you sit, the roof over your head and the walls of your home protection; with the devas that guard the heart of man, the angels of the forests and of the mountains, and with the great Celestial Beings that brood over humanity: there is naught, no creature nor thing that is not caught and protected in the Web of Life. And so it is, that each and every one of us participates in this Cosmic Unity, and all that exists, exists in each one of us....

Every bloom that summer brings
Every song the robin sings
Every bell and Bird on wing -
'Tis I that bloom and sing and ring.

Every cloud that folds the sky,
Every unknown passer-by,
Each and every creature small
I am one with one and all.

All the stars that daylight shields
All the lilies of the fields
Every song and dawn of daylight
Are part of me - my joyous insight!
        (C de S)

It is in this essential oneness that the secret of power is inherent: we have the capacity to contact and enter the vibration of any living or inanimate thing on earth. Hence, the power ultimately to withdraw from physical manifestation into divine expression. That secret is jöana, held within the power of the mind which, when unleashed, is power of healing, of beauty and truth - gnosis, intuitional knowledge of buddhi - and, ultimately, power of power. This ultimate stage is the stage of Masterhood. And it is thence that the Guiding Spirit ever holds His objective for each and every son of God and each and every created living creature and atom. And every stage, every hope and dream and purpose and every initiation attained, succeeds on the wings of the spirit of Brotherhood! Does Discipleship not intimate Brotherhood? Indeed, no server of God, no disciple of Christ, no follower of Buddha, no lover of Allah can proceed on the Path of Righteousness if he denies his fellowmen his love and service. Yet he remains detached from the emotions: no pity, no sorrow, no mourning identify the server of humanity. Only joy accompanies his thoughts, his compassion and his love in recognition of the Law of Karma.

The Books say well, my brothers! Each one's life
The outcome of his former living is;
The bygone wrongs bring forth sorrows and woes,
The bygone right breeds bliss.
That which ye sow ye reap. See yonder fields!
The sesamum was sesamum, the corn
Was corn. The Silence and the Darkness knew!
So is a man's fate born.
          ("The Life and Teaching of Gautama" Sir Edwin Arnold)

The secret of all discipleship lies in Detachment: This cannot be emphasised strongly enough. Personal reactions and predilections, desires and opinions are the worst culprits of destruction to service, to group work and to the disciple's evolution. Let the chela release himself from these dangerous reactions and responses to conditions and circumstances, and discover the peace and beauty of the psyche underlying the nature of the personality.

This detachment is not a negative quality but a relinquishing of separativeness - that enemy of the Soul. Beware of relating to that which is illusory and self-gratifying and which concerns entirely the planes of idolisation. Remember the Law of Repulse which is the principle operating on the Course of Evolution. This Law negates all that is involutionary, self oriented, self satisfied and separative. The Eternal Pilgrim passes through the desert where his "Idols" bewitch him; he traverses the waters of the valleys where his "Ideals" enchant him; and he climbs the mount of "Ideas" that beckon him with joy to its peak where he gains his vision of the world beneath him. He sees all that has immersed him in maya and glamour, he perceives his self-convictions and his judgment and criticism of those in the past who have walked the Path as has he. And he stands free, his heart radiating love and his mind illumined by the consciousness of his Soul as he stands steady in the light of Dhammapada, the Way of Virtue.

Follow the Teacher, applying His guidance and postulates, for He knows who is ready and who is not; but if the disciple takes on a passenger he can harm the Work and the harmony of the group pattern. The disciple keeps his aspiration deep in his heart and scatters not his pearls of wisdom. He knows, and he knows that he knows, and he knows who knows not. Visions of adulation and followers are not perceived by him, but humility of service that reigns within his aspiration.

Friend, the heart knows! Therefore examine your friends lest you admit to your heart a passer-by. The Teacher is your closest friend. Do not multiply His burden.
        (Agni Yoga, 1929)

The disciple needs above all patience and perseverance! He needs to support these with wisdom. He gains his guidance from his Master Who will find a way to confront His pupil with the next stage upon the Way of Service of Hierarchy. Has it not been said that when the pupil is ready the Master will appear? Indeed - if the pupil will recognise his true Master with trust and recognition, and not spurn Him as an imposter! With trust, with patience, with readiness to go forward with courage, the disciple is ceaselessly vigilant.

'Lord of the Seven Gates, lead us onwards who have passed through the midnight.
Thine are our arrows, O Lord.
Without Thy Command we shall not enter the city of rest.
Neither an hour, nor a day, nor a year will arrest our way;
Because Thou, the most speedy, holdest the reins of our horses.
Because Thou also passed this way and gave Thy patience as guarantee.
Tell us, Keeper, whence flows the stream of patience?
"Out of the mine of trust."
        (Agni Yoga, 1929)

From The Master M comes this remark:

"By whatever Paths ye come to Me, I shall meet ye."
        (AUM 1936)

And so it is that each one, each disciple who pursues the Path with integrity, selflessness, concern for the good of the whole and with application of mind and heart, will soon be approached by his Master - by whatever means, whatever path, whatever book or friend: for - be reminded - when the pupil is ready the Master will appear.

Then will He speak to thee: and shalt thou listen and abide by His words? Then will He say that which pertains to the need of your evolutionary progress. His will be words of guidance for effectiveness in His service and in service of humanity... "Discipleship is the stage wherein the aspirant is no longer concerned with striving for ‘good character’, for it is taken for granted that that constitutes his basic discipline: he is intent on serving and on expanding his knowledge and wisdom of occult principles. He is, to word it simply, effective in service, both on inner and outer planes. Clarified in other words, he manifests that which constitutes his meditation service...

"The inducement of glamour is subtle indeed. All disciples need to be constantly alert to the forces of the personality nature which guard the acquisitions and status of the personality. Forget not, brother of mine, that the personality is the Dweller guarding its kingdom, and the Soul is the Angel of the Presence which, hence, is ever present, guarding its divine Domain. The answer is detachment: ever detachment and discipline. The disciple has his eye - the central eye of the soul - ever on relinquishing personality enticements. Beware.

"Discipleship is not a path of pleasure but a Way of Wisdom. It is the way of sacrifice...

"These are basic laws and axioms and I bid you consider them with detachment and with earnestness in your commitment to service on inner planes. In saying this I refer not only to meditation but to that work which serves the psyche of humanity. It is here, for the aspiration of men, that disciples operate..."

Thus, has spoken the Master to a disciple. Hence, these principles enunciated by Him clarify the service that is expected from disciples. Is a disciple not such because of his discipline? We beg you to give this your intelligent contemplation. There is no glamour here: there is no self-satisfying precept and no call to happy, selfish living. Those are the natural expressions of the neophyte who is unready for the true quality of discipleship. Quality connotes the consciousness endowed by the Soul, as Spirit is the Life Principal of the Monad and, accordingly, the appearance of intelligence demonstrates in the personality. Therefore, the aspirant is yet on the Search for Intelligent Awareness; the disciple is on the Way of Conscious Recognition; and the Initiate, nearing the Last Door of Life, prepares to enter the Spirit of God. Let there be no glamoured concepts regarding discipleship. Those who operate in the astral field have no possibility of working with or grasping these concepts: they belong to disciples, initiates and Masters. If the aspirant is confused, let him read and study the books that reveal these truths to take him beyond the astral plane to the plane of detachment and that impersonality which endows him with recognition of true values. Herein, my brothers, lie true values: if you seek knowledge, gain it from those who serve humanity with the spirit of brotherhood.

Ye, who seek to stand within the Light of the soul, remember:

The proximate origin of the Creation is HE, the Shânta Ätman, the One Consciousness, whose eye controls this world in highest heaven, all the forms being drawn forth and sustained by and in that Consciousness. The root is, however, even beyond that Ätman.
        (The Yoga of the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna Prem)

Live ye therefore by the Principles that pertain to the Spirit of Brotherhood, for there is no other Way, no other Light, no other Life - for it is the Ultimate Path of Humanity.

Go in Peace, Brothers...