Skip to main content

Rays of an Individual - Part I

 Let us continue our brief study of the rays today, gradually making it more practical so that one can find his rays and his full potentiality rising above the matrix of chaos and confusion. Every individual man is curiously and subjectively a synthesis, producing a fusion of life and power, of harmonious intent and of mental activity. His rays are influenced by the following factors, for these make him what he truly is and his evolution:


1. The ray of the solar system itself. (Ray 2)

2. The ray of the planetary Logos (Sanat Kumara) of our planet. (Ray 3)

3. The ray of the human kingdom itself. (Ray 5)

4. Our particular racial ray, the ray that determines the Aryan race. (Ray 3)

5. The rays that govern any particular cycle. 

6. The national ray, or that ray influence which is peculiarly influencing a particular nation. (Rays of a few nations are revealed by DK)

7. The Ray of the Monad (Ray 1,2 or 3)

8. The ray of the soul, or ego. (found on one or other of the seven rays, therefore in one or other of the seven major ray

groups along with subsidiary 49 ashrams not all of which are yet formed or functioning.All egos found upon the fourth, the fifth, the sixth and the seventh rays must eventually, after the third initiation, blend with the three major rays, or monadic rays.)

9. The ray of the personality. (again found on one or other of the seven rays) 

10. The rays governing:

a. The mental body. (Rays 1, 4 and 5)

b. The emotional or astral body.(Rays 2 and 6)

c. The physical body.(Rays 3 and 7) 


Each individual aspirant must make effort to arrive gradually (through progressive revelations) at an understanding of:

a. His egoic ray.

b. His personality ray.

c. The ray governing his mind.

d. That governing his astral body.

e. The ray influencing his physical body.


When he has achieved this fivefold knowledge, he will "Know thyself." and will help him to get out of the chaos and confusion and determine his capacities and where he can contribute in the One Work (or the Divine plan of the hierarchy) through the part played by his ashram. Contemplating on those phrases related to rays will give him some clue. He can also take the PIP3 test to get a rough estimation. This should be combined with Astrological information to come to a fairly accurate estimation. This I will try to cover in depth through future posts.


As a quick example, one of my friends, a few months ago had a question about the rays of Sri Aurobindo and his Ashramic affiliation. So I explain briefly how I arrived at these (also taking clues from his spiritual affiliate "The Mother")- 


Physical Body: Ray 3 or Ray 7 ? If we contemplate on the ray table (of Disciples and Truth), then we can make out that he seems to be more of an organizer (he could organize an ashram) rather than displaying intelligent activity (else he would not have been caught cunningly on false charges). So Ray 7 likely.


Astral Body: Ray 2 or Ray 6 ? If we read his initial works and letters he seems more inclined towards perfect devotion to Mother India and it also explains his nationalist impulses in his early days (when he was young and not had discovered what DK calls his line of least resistance fully). So ray 6 seems more likely.


Mental Body: Ray 1 or Ray 4 or Ray 5 ? Certainly not a scientist (this I can assure you since my own mental body is on Ray 5). Ray 1 vs Ray 4 is a tough call. Since he was both politically involved as well as a harmonizer through conflict with British Government. But Ray 4 seems more likely since he was artist more than an occultist and always talked about rising beyond the criticism and the Fire of mind into the harmony of overmind and supermind ultimately exhibiting less of Ray 1 mental statesmanship and diplomacy and politics (which he left correctly following his higher call).


Personality ray and Egoic ray : Here there we have strong Rays 2 and 4. His opus magnum "Savitri" is an epic artistic mantram while his love for his teacher Krishna/Maitreya is par excellence. He doesnot seem to be in the Ashram of Serapis Bey and nowhere in his works we see any connection to Egypt and that Master. So ray 2 ego is estimated, leaving Ray 4 as his personality ray. Also his spiritual co-worker was a true psychic and she had dreams of Krishna in her childhood which all point to Ray 2 as being his egoic ray since they were ashramic affiliates. Now certainly not the ashrams of DK and KH and the following hint points him to be in one of the remaining 3 (out of 5) ashrams on Ray 2 -  


"As the centuries have slipped away and the potency of the rays has increased on Earth, humanity has become more and more invocative; this has necessitated the expansion of the Hierarchy itself, and each Ashram has become the creator of six other Ashrams (few of them as yet complete, and some entirely embryonic), so that, in fact, all the forty-nine Ashrams are in the making. The second ray, for instance, has five affiliated Ashrams and one of which only the nucleus exists, and all these are working under its inspiration and through the effect of the second ray central fire. All have at their centre a second ray disciple. The third ray has already two subsidiary Ashrams; the sixth has four, and so on. The first ray is the only one at this time with no subsidiary fully functioning Ashram, and this because the will aspect is as yet very little understood and few initiates can meet the requirements of the first ray initiation." - Rays and Initiations (Volume 5 of A Treatise on the Seven Rays), Djwal Khul and Alice Bailey.


Pondering on Tables attached (along with earlier ones and more to follow later) could help an individual to evoke his intuition and his affinity to particular rays !


Tables - Rays and Disciples and Truth expressions, Rays and Initiate reactions summarized.









Comments

Popular posts from this blog

More on Synthesis

 Again we shall contemplate on a few more words on the wisdom of synthesis (navigating the "narrow razor-edged Path" between duality or the "noble middle path" of Buddha) from our beloved DK. However I wish to emphasize that Djwal Khul and Alice Bailey demonstrated practical (not just theoretically) synthesis. For instance Alice Bailey being born in the west was open enough to acknowledge and bring forth teachings from a far wiser eastern/oriental master Djwal Khul. She could both surrender herself (a difficult quality to develop for the western concrete mind with its overemphasis on freedom) and at the same time was careful enough to guard herself against foolish blind devotion (a vice of oriental masses). Another disciple who demonstrated practical synthesis was Blavatsky (synthesis of religions). She established Theosophical society headquarters in the west and soon shifted it to the east although she worked and died for the cause of theosophy in the west. One mo...

Third Initiation : Disciple and Mental Body

 We studied initiations until the second in our ealier posts. Today let us look at the third especially from the perspective of a disciple (rather than the ray as well as the external ceremonial aspect conferred during the wesak full moon which we will cover later). The third initiation marks the culmination of complete mastery of the mental (in the same way that the earlier two initiations resulted into the control of physical and astral planes). It is a distinct initiation, which marks a definite transition out of the form consciousness (lower personality of mental, emotional(astral) and physical planes), and the initiate can function at will on the plane of the intuition though soul (ego). Between the second and third initiation work is struggling with and mastering the energies of the mental world. What kind of work ? DK sums that for us (details found in TWM book) as -  "A. Work on the mental plane produces realisation of duality. The disciple seeks to blend and merge the...

Aphorisms as seed-thoughts

 Subsequent to our discussion on seed-thoughts, another great example of seed-thouht I think is an aphorism. The complete agni-yoga series of books by Roerichs are aphorisms of Ethical living (and give Ray 1 flavour of fiery will to the yoga of synthesis). Similarly the temple aphorisms of Francia A. La Due give a Ray 5 flavour of occult science to the works of H.P. Blavatsky and William Q. Judge. We quote those aphorims (as seed-thoughts) from temple teachings of Master H. (with his image):  "Days come and days go, but if thou watchest thou shalt see: THE LOAD thou hast laid on the heart of a friend will God transfer to thine own heart; heavy as it presses on the heart of thy friend, heavier will it press on thine own heart in the days to come. THE STONE thou hast cast from the path of the blind will smite the adder lying in wait for thee. THE WEIGHT thou hast clamped on the feet of another will drag thine own feet into Hadean desolation. THE SHELTER thou hast given the wayfa...