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According to Theosophy, initiation is an esoteric process to create forced evolution.[1]
The process of becoming a unique individual capable of sustaining states of heightened awareness is painstakingly slow because most people mechanically pursue their own likes and dislikes, and in the process, consciously or unconsciously, impose their will on others.[2] In the Greek New Testament this is referred to as metanoia, or "sin" (i.e., mistaken thoughts, feelings or behaviour). Asserting one's power over others results in trauma of all kinds and thus bad karma, which slows down one's spiritual development (as all harmful acts demand redress).[3] But because karmic events further one's understanding about one's self and the world (as individuals are obliged to experience at some point or other the pain they have inflicted upon others), they ultimately offer a corrective for negative acts and thereby foster awakening. As such, the Law of Cause and Effect must ultimately be deemed a beneficent, if not divine, law.[4]
Initiation, according to Bailey, "entails the realisation of an increasing unity with all that lives."[5]
At-one-ment on all levels — emotional, intuitional, spiritual and Divine — consists in conscious, continuous functioning. In all cases it is preceded by a burning, through the medium of inner fire, and by the destruction, through sacrifice, of all that separates.[6]
This is understood as a scientific process, with each initiation ushering in points of crisis as well as more and more expansive states of consciousness; with this one becomes increasingly united with the Plan and beings guiding the energies and evolution of this planet.[7] Only when one has grown exquisitely aware throughout time and space (i.e., both absolutely free of the lower aspects of one's self, yet restrained and enlightened) can one arrive at the fifth level of initiation; at that point, one becomes a Master of Wisdom. Having mastered one's body, feelings, and mind, one has grown to be harmless, intuitive, brilliant, telepathic, and wise. At this stage, the individual is said to be impersonal and objective, beyond the reach of death, and is awarded the opportunity to serve as part of the Spiritual Hierarchy, the planetary governing body that oversees the plan of the Logos (i.e., the evolution of the planet as a whole).[8][9]
Death: The grand illusion
According to the Ancient Wisdom Teachings, death is merely a transition from one state of consciousness to another. While scientific materialists may deny the legitimacy of this view, physicists have long recognized that energy cannot be destroyed, even if it changes form.[10]
Because there is a deep, instinctual love of life shared by all living beings, however, death has generally long: been abhorred and denied; experienced as terrifying and painful; evoked self-pity as it has been equated with losses of all kinds (i.e., of roles, goals, relationships, possessions, and most importantly, perhaps, experience itself). In exceptional cases it has promoted a certain kind of courage or, conversely, resignation. (Yet even sudden, violent death is experienced as no more than an electric shock). Despite the fact that death is inevitable and offers diverse kinds of experience, all of these reactions can be understood as an identification with the form aspect of life itself, rather than the essence or substance underlying life, which Theosophists consider to be eternal. In general, humanity has dreaded the unknown, in part because it has proven one's sense of personal limitation, if not powerlessness, rather than the grand mystery of existence itself.[10] Rather than experiencing death as an escape, much of humanity dreads it as a punishment, so Alice Bailey offers this corrective from the Master Djwal Kuhl, for whom she served as the amanuensis via telepathy:
There is...no angry God, no hell, and no vicarious atonement. There is only a great principle of love animating the entire universe; there is the Presence of the Christ, indicating to humanity the fact of the soul and that we are saved by the livingness of that soul, and the only hell is the earth itself, where we learn to work out our own salvation, actuated by the principle of love and light, and incited thereto by the example of the Christ and the inner urge of our own souls.[11]
Moreover, whether one believes or not in the accounts of millions of individuals who have testified about Near Death Experiences, physical science is in the process of develop the capacity of photographing the etheric realm, and will thereby prove the existence of something that survives the death of the human body, even if it should not be called "the soul". Moreover, increasingly as more and more people adopt a more open, curious attitude towards their own death (most importantly, as it is taking place), humanity will relinquish its age-old fears and come to understand death as a cyclical event to be planned for — one to experience, if at all possible, as a conscious witness.[10]
At present, the vast majority of humanity remains on the "probationary path", because it has yet to take the first initiation.
Once committing to one's spiritual development, however, an individual stands seemingly alone, faced with all kinds of new possibilities and challenges. (These should not be confused with negative karma).
When people near the gate of initiation, at whatever level, a profound change takes place in their life patterns and associations. All that was familiar and comforting loses its flavor and becomes stale. All that tended to support and comfort falls away. A new openness and vulnerability takes the place of assured habits of thought, and an unfamiliar humility descends upon the seeker. The old certainties disappear, the world changes shape and nothing is as it was.
When this happens, the individual experiences a profound sense of unease, impending loss, often of despair. All seems black and bereft of hope. The old loses its appeal, the future beckons menacingly.
Thus it is for the individual disciple. Thus, too, is it for humanity as a whole. As it stands, now, at the very door of initiation into a new state of consciousness, humanity steels itself for the experience of the new, the infinite tasks ahead, the creation of a new world. Bereft of guidance, it would founder quickly and suffer painfully. Without higher help, its progress would be slow and fitful, its future uncertain and bleak.[12]
Thus one has begun to eschew carelessness, in all of its forms.[13][14]
First initiation ("birth" to the spiritual life)
In the Buddhist tradition, the First Initiation is referred to as Sotāpanna (संस्कृताः - स्रोताअर्पणा, One who offers one's self to the stream [of spirituality]). Within ancient Indian texts, the first initiate is described as "the wanderer" (i.e., "one who no longer feels that any place in the three lower worlds is his abiding place or refuge").[15] In the Ascended Master Teachings, a soul that reaches this level is described as having attained their Individualized "I AM" Presence.
According to Alice A. Bailey, at the First Initiation one masters the physical body (e.g., by exercising, choosing the right diet, and adopting restraint as regards to all of one's appetites). Accordingly, one is not unduly concerned by one's appearance, pain, or illness.[16]
Benjamin Creme elucidates this process further by describing the necessity of acquiring control over not merely the human appetites and body, but over that which comprises the human organism on the invisible plane — that which includes tiny devic beings or elemental lives.
Our bodies (physical, astral and mental) are made up of the life forms of tiny devas on each of these three planes. Our bodies are literally made up of theirs, and in this way the devas gain the life-experience which will eventually equip them for human consciousness. They are infinitesimally small, myriads being required to create the substance of our vehicles."[17]
Benjamin Creme asserted that he had a moment-to-moment relationship with a Master of Wisdom (i.e., a member of the Earth's Hierarchy) from whom emerged his teachings about the Return of the Christ and the role of humanity on Earth. Although in 1984 Benjamin Creme advanced a belief that there were merely 800,000 First Degree Initiates alive (when the human population was at 4.767 billion), he insisted that many more people would be taking the First Initiation in the future. This would take place during a turbulent period when humanity would undergo a period of heightened spiritual tension and, thus, accelerated spiritual growth.[18]
We are entering the "crisis of love". This is the experience which the human race faces as it enters the period in its evolutionary journey when it will, as a whole, demonstrate the quality of Love and take its place in the Kingdom of Souls, the Esoteric Hierarchy. During the Aquarian Age, the aim of the Christ, Maitreya, the Hierophant at the first two initiations, will be to initiate millions of people, in group formation, into the Hierarchy, at some stage or other. Vast numbers will take the first and some will take the second initiation. This is an extraordinary Plan as it is envisaged by the Lord of the World, Sanat Kumara, on Shamballa, carried out by His agents, the planetary Hierarchy.
As does everything in Cosmos, evolution proceeds according to definite laws. The result of evolutionary experience and progress is to come into deeper awareness of these laws and of the mechanism by which they govern the energies at the basis of all creation. God, it might be said, is the sum total of the energies in the whole of the manifested and unmanifested universe and at the same time the laws governing these energies, and their interrelationship. God, as it says in the Bible, is a consuming fire. God is energy, fire; not one fire but many fires. Their interrelation and interaction create the visible and the invisible universe. As we understand their working, we become manipulators of these laws. The Logos of the various planets and great beings like the Christ and the Buddha have evolved into awareness of these laws, have understood their workings and how to manipulate them correctly, scientifically, in accordance with the Plan of the Solar Logos.[19]
In the Buddhist tradition, the Second Initiation is referred to as Sakadagami (संस्कृताः - शक्यतोअगामी, perhaps will not go/continue [will return]). C.W. Leadbeater alerts spiritual seekers that to achieve such spiritual stature, one must: relinquish the ordinary, undue focus on one's personality; recognize the import of the Law of Rebirth and the Law of Karma (i.e., the Law of Action and Reaction); and take it upon one's self to verify everything (in contrast to having either doubt or blind faith). While acknowledging that different religious practices (e.g., prayer, fasting and pilgrimages) can be quite helpful, Leadbeater underscores that they are insufficient, stating, the initiate "realizes clearly that within himself deliverance must be sought and that however valuable these aids may be in developing his will, his wisdom and his love, they can never take the place of that personal effort by which alone he can achieve."[22]
Alice A. Bailey states that at the Second Initiation, one has already acquired full control over one's emotions or astral body.[23] In the New Testament, this controlling of the emotions is symbolized by Jesus's baptism in water and his walking on turbulent water. These Christian stories also reveal the necessity of detachment, and the importance of being able to separate one's self from identifying with all outer events.[24] (During the baptism, a dove is depicted descending upon Jesus which signifies that at that time Christ entered Jesus's body. Benjamin Creme asserts that the Christ was Maitreya, and that during Jesus' last 3 years, Maitreya was teaching through Jesus, while Jesus observed.)[25]
Through greater alertness and gradual self-mastery, one refrains from all expressions of negativity, acquires greater humility, and thus a larger view of Reality. Utter restraint is needed before one might approach the Logos, "God the Father", Sanat Kumara. Maitreya is said to act as the Hierophant at the time when each individual attains the first and second initiation.[26] (This is what is signified when the Christ, through Jesus, said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" [John 14:6]). More recently, Maitreya is quoted as saying,
My plan is to take you on a journey into a New Country, a new approach to living in which all men can share.
Let me lead you, let Me show you the way, let Me lift you upwards into the light of a New Truth.
Let Me show you, My friends, the Way to God, for only through the manifestation of God's Will can God be known.
I am here to administer that Will.
Take this opportunity to serve and grow in Service, My friends, for none greater has been offered to any man.
Take this opportunity to serve, and see the face of Him we call God.[27]
According to Benjamin Creme, there were 240,000 people at this level of initiation in 1984, when the world population was 4.767 billion.[18]
In the Buddhist tradition, the Third Initiation is referred to as Anagami (संस्कृताः - अनआगामी, cannot come back/return).
The chief task of the initiate approaching this portal is acquiring the ability to observe the workings and content of the mind on a moment-to-moment basis. One method of acquiring such a heightened state of awareness and self-control is through meditation. Meditation is important also because it deepens the disciple's relationship with his own soul.[28] When performed in a disciplined manner over time, meditation helps rupture the ordinary addiction one has to life and to experience itself, subduing the personality, and thereby helping the mind grow receptive to higher influence. Alice Bailey, provides precise tutelage about the nature and method of meditating.
The one who meditates is the soul, the ego, and his work is positive activity, not a negative state or condition. Much of the work done under the name of meditation is dangerous and useless, because that which seeks to control is the man on the physical plane, and his endeavour is concentrated on the attainment of brain stillness. He seeks to quiet the brain cells, and render them negative, quiescent, and receptive. True meditation, however, concerns the soul and the mind; the receptivity of the brain is an automatic reaction to the higher condition. In Raja Yoga, therefore, contact with the true man, the ego, and the power to "still the modifications of the thinking principle" must precede all brain activity and responsiveness. The Lord of the Mind is ever awake, ever aware of the tendency of the mind to respond to force currents, produced by thought or desire; he therefore watches every emanation of force issuing from him, and controls every thought and impulse so that only those streams of energy and those impulses originate with him which are in line with the purpose held constantly in view, and in pursuance of the group plan.[29]
To help clarify the process of evolution, the story of the Gospel in the Christian Bible was given to Humanity, both as a historical and symbolic event. It is also a retelling of other ancient stories about the first 4 initiations, with the various, major events in Jesus' life symbolizing different initiations. For example, when in the Garden of Gethsemene while his closest disciples slept (i.e., were unaware), Jesus was in darkness. In order to be in right relationship to himself, his own fate, and God, he needed to rupture his identification with not merely his fears and desires, but also his ideas about how things should be. His inner struggle led him to grasp that he actually could not accomplish his task without relinquishing his self-will. Yet through this sacrifice, he experienced at-one-ment with the Will of God.[30]
It is believed that at the Third Initiation one has acquired the spiritual stature to come into contact with Sanat Kumara. Sanat Kumara is identified in Buddhist, Hindu and Theosophical texts with the Logos or the Being that ensouls this planet. He acts as Hierophant at the third initiation and is also identified with the Will aspect of God.[31]
In the Buddhist tradition, the Fourth Initiation is referred to as Arhat (संस्कृताः - अरिहंता (अरि Enemy/Vices), हंता (Killed/Conquered). This can be translated as the one who has conquered, the one who has killed all inner enemies. Such an individual is known as "the perfected one", or an Arhat (in Pali) or a Paramahamsa (in Sanskrit). Buddhists believe that fourth degree initiates can remember all of their past lives. Nonetheless, "to be conscious on a plane and to have control on that plane are two very different conditions."[34]
Symbolically the fourth initiation is equated with the crucifixion, the relinquishing of all identification with what one takes as one's self. (While undergoing the crucifixion, Jesus is said to have become a Fourth Degree Initiate). According to Benjamin Creme, in 1984 there were merely 450 people at this level of initiation, on a planet of 4.767 billion.[18] Individual examples of those who took the fourth initiation during their life-time include: Helena Blavatsky; Helena Roerich; Sri Chinmoy; Lao-tse; Hermes; Zoroaster; Marpa; Kabir; Bhagawan Nityananda; Muktananda (of Berkeley); Sivananda (of Rishikesh); Krishnamurti; Jesus; and Vyasa.[20]
"The seven choices before the perfect [hu]man"
Having reached the threshold of the fifth initiation, a soul does not necessarily have to enter Earth's spiritual hierarchy proper as one of the "Masters of the Ancient Wisdom". One can proceed along one of seven paths.[35] In Theosophical literature "the seven choices before the perfect [hu]man" are that the Initiate:
1. "Remains with Humanity as an official of the Hierarchy (Form.)" This signifies that the Fifth Degree Initiate decides to become a Master of Wisdom, remaining to serve the plan on Earth.
4. "Joins the 'Staff Corps of the Solar Logos'." Such beings join the Masters living in etheric cities inside the Sun. They are said to supervise the activities of the Solar Angels that direct the process of evolution of the life waves (i.e., the process of reincarnation) of the beings, both seen and unseen, on the diverse planets of our Solar System. (Only those living on Earth are visible, while the others abide on the etheric planes of their planets. All the planets are said to be inhabited, but Humanity has yet to acquire etheric sight.)
5. "Prepares the work of the next Chain." Those who are most evolved help develop the plans for the future development of planetary civilizations throughout this solar system.
The fifth initiation, which is also referred to as the resurrection, marks a turning point in the evolutionary journey of disciples, enabling them to join the Fifth Kingdom, the Kingdom of Souls, and serve as part of the Spiritual Hierarchy furthering the Plan for Earth: As Fifth Degree Initiates, they become "Masters of Wisdom". In this sense, the fifth initiation is considered a rebirth as those few people who have achieved such spiritual prowess now become full members of the Kingdom of Souls, or the Spiritual Hierarchy working towards the upliftment of the world.[38]
Siddhis at this level include the ability to teleport and bilocate moderate distances and levitate within a localized area.
Leadbeater named a Master called the Master Jupiter whom he asserted is helping further the development of the people, government, and the nation of India.[39]
Bailey identified the Master P., whom she contended was aiding St. Germain to usher into the Americas the values of inclusivity or unity in diversity (characteristics typifying the Age of Aquarius). Furthermore, she claimed there existed two different British Masters, one of whom she said had inspired the birth of the labor movement.[40] In addition to these three, she also wrote about the three Lords of Liberation, whom she attested promoted the thought-form of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. (A part from these six Masters, Bailey also asserted that three Lords of Karma are working on this planet. These Lords are said to reside on Shambhala, helping the Lord of the World, Sanat Kumara, to determine where and when souls are going to incarnate in their next lifetime).[41]
Before his death in 2016, Benjamin Creme had stated that six additional Masters had already returned to the everyday world in order to better help humanity; they were residing in New York, Moscow, London, Geneva, Darjeeling, and Tokyo.[42]
Apart from the works of these traditional Theosophists, there were dictations from 200 additional Ascended Masters in which Guy Ballard and Elizabeth Clare Prophet claimed to be able to identify Masters at this level or beyond (including Confucius,Lord Ling,Lady Master Magda, Pallas Athena, Kwan Yin, Padre Pio, andGuy Ballard).[43] These individuals (with the exception of Confucius who was already a fifth degree initiate in 479 B.C.), however, are not recognized as Masters of Wisdom by traditional Theosophists. (While admiring the writings of Baird Spaulding as they were a result of direct communication both on the physical and etheric plane between the author and the Masters, Benjamin Creme commented that channeled information, in general, was unreliable due to its having originated from the astral realm, a realm clouded with human thought-forms, and glamour or delusion).[44][33]
Examples given of those who achieved the fifth initiation during their life-time include: Apollonius of Tyana (who is said to have been the re-incarnation of Jesus); Krishna.[20]
Sixth initiation ("the ascension" or "masterhood")
The Chohans (Lords) of the Seven Rays – Morya (1st Ray), Master Koot Hoomi (2nd Ray), Paul the Venetian (3rd Ray), Serapis Bey (4th Ray), Master Hilarion (5th Ray), Master Jesus (6th Ray), and the Master Rakoczi (7th Ray), coordinated by Djwal Khul – are all said to be at the level of the sixth initiation.[45] Siddhis at this level include the ability to teleport, bilocate, or levitate to any place on Earth.
Seventh initiation ("bodhisattva" , "avatar", or "christhood")
The seventh initiation is known as the initiation of the Bodhisattava in Buddhism or that of the Avatar in Hinduism. At this level also is said to be associated with the Chakshusha Manu, the Vaivasvatu Manu and the Maha Chohan.[45][46]
The notion of the Christ is said to refer to a role, the role of the World Teacher, not an actual being. The Theosophists identified the being fulfilling the role of the World Teacher as Maitreya, although Maitreya is known under different names by diverse religious faiths (i.e., as the Kalki Avatar to Hindus, the Christ to Christians, Maitreya to Buddhists, the Messiah to Jews, the Imam Mahdi to Muslims, and the Peshotan to the Zoroastrians). Thus, according to Theosophists, Maitreya is said to be actually one and the same being, having impacted all the great world religions over thousands of years.[47][48][49]
At this level also, according to C.W. Leadbeater, are The Three Pratyeka Buddhas, whose task is to focus the Seven Rays from Sanat Kumara through Djwal Khul to the chohans of the Seven Rays; they do not interact directly with the human race.[45]
Level nine is the "Lord of the World": Sanat Kumara – "The Eternal Youth" and "The Ancient of Days", that is believed by Theosophists to be the "Lord of the World", i.e., the governing deity of Earth.[45]
C.W. Leadbeater stated that Sanat Kumara's "consciousness is of so extended a nature that it comprehends at once all the life on our globe. In his hands are the powers of cyclic destruction, for he wields Fohat (i.e. beams composed of "bubbles in space" used by Theosophical deities to materialize or dematerialize material objects)[51] in its higher forms and can deal directly with cosmic forces outside our chain (i.e., outside our solar system)."[52] Beings at this level demonstrate: 1) omniscience regarding events occurring on any singular planet; 2) the capacity to materialize objects; and 3) the ability to affect at a distance happenings in other nearby planetary systems.
Tenth initiation ("silent watcher")
The tenth initiation is considered to symbolize perfection and is used to describe the Silent watcher. It also denotes the Planetary Logos of Earth.[53]In order to reach the status of a Planetary Logos, this being would have had to have been a high level Planetary Deva in some other solar system before it incarnated inside our planet at the time of the creation of the world. According to C. W. Leadbeater, the "Planetary Logos" is functioning at the tenth level of initiation and Sanat Kumara, is in continuous telepathic rapport with the Planetary Logos, functioning as its spokes-deity. Since the formulation in the early 1970s by James Lovelock of the Gaia hypothesis, the idea of the Earth Mother has been popularized. As such, the Theosophists conception of the "Planetary Logos of Earth", although renamed in the New Age, is widely accepted.
Levels of initiation beyond the tenth level
In the Theosophical teachings of Alice Bailey, there is a powerful being living inside the Sun serving the Solar Logos called the Avatar of Synthesis.[54] Its work is to transmit the seven rays from the heart of the Sun through the seven spirits before the [solar] throne to all the life waves of the Solar System.
C.W. Leadbeater stated, "The ladder of being [i.e., of initiation] extends upward into clouds of light, into which few of us can yet penetrate, and when we ask those who stand higher than we and know infinitely more than we do, all they can say is that it extends beyond their sight also. They know very many more steps of it than we do, but it goes still further, onwards and upward to unimaginable heights of glory, and no one knows its end."[55] If the concept of the Multiverse is true, then, as Theosophists long maintained, other Spiritual Hierarchies exist in other Universes and there are many other cosmoses besides our own.[37]
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Alice Ann Bailey was a writer of more than twenty-four books on theosophical subjects, and was one of the first writers to use the term New Age. Bailey was born as Alice La Trobe-Bateman, in Manchester, England. She moved to the United States in 1907, where she spent most of her life as a writer and teacher.
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References
↑ Creme, Benjamin (1993). Maitreya's Mission Vol. 1 (3rded.). London: Share International Foundation. p.171.
↑ Ouspensky, Peter (1950). In Search of the Miraculous: Fragments of an Unknown Teaching. London: Routledge, Kegan & Paul Ltd.
↑ Yet according to Alice A. Bailey, it is exactly "human free will and evil — pure materialism and selfishness" that frustrate not only humanity's living in right relationship with one another but also the Plan of God for Earth (as the human species was intended not merely to enhance its own consciousness but also to be stewards of the lower kingdoms). A change of heart or consciousness is essential now, for it would signify not merely an evolutionary leap for humankind, but the understanding of the planet as a sacred being, requiring a new kind of attentiveness or love. Bailey continues "the divine purpose will [only] then, through the changed hearts and goals of humanity, be achieved." Bailey, A. (1948/1976). The Reappearance of the Christ. New York: Lucis Trust. p. 35.
↑ Creme, Benjamin (2013). Maitreya's Mission Vol. 1 (2nded.). London: Share International Foundation. p.441.
↑ Bailey, Alice A. (1922). Initiation, Human and Solar. New York: Lucis Trust. p.13.
↑ Bailey, Alice A. (1922). Initiation, Human and Solar. New York: Lucis Trust. p.18.
↑ Creme, Benjamin (1980). The Reappearance of the Christ and the Masters of Wisdom. Los Angeles: Tara Press. p.29.
1 2 Creme, Benjamin (2010). The Gathering of the Forces of Light: UFOs and their Spiritual Mission. London: Share International Foundation.
↑ Creme, Benjamin (2021). Ageless Wisdom Teachings (2nded.). London: Share International Foundation.
↑ Leadbeater, C. W. The Masters and the Path Adyar, Madras, India: 1925 – Theosophical Publishing House, page 33
↑ Bailey, Alice A. The Externalisation of the Hierarchy New York:1957—Lucis Press (Compilation of earlier revelations by Alice A. Bailey) Master P. Page 682; See numerous references to "English Master" in Index
↑ Bailey, Alice A. The Externalisation of the Hierarchy New York:1957—Lucis Press (Compilation of earlier revelations by Alice A. Bailey) "Lords of Liberation"
↑ Creme, Benjamin Creme (2001). The Great Approach New Light and Life for Humanity. London: Share International Foundation. pp.177–179.
↑ Prophet, Elizabeth Clare and Prophet, Mark (as compiled by Annice Booth) The Masters and Their Retreats Corwin Springs, Montana:2003 Summit University Press "Profiles of the Ascended Masters" – pages 13–394 More than 200 "Ascended Masters" are listed
↑ Creme, Benjamin (2013). Maitreya's Mission Vol. 2 (2nded.). Share International Foundation. pp.569, 583–586.
1 2 3 4 5 Leadbeater, C.W. The Masters and the Path. Adyar, India: Theosophical Publishing House 1925 "Diagram 5 – The Spiritual Hierarchy" – facing page 248
↑ Bailey, Alice A. Initiation, Human and Solar New York: 1922, Lucis Publishing Chart, page 49
↑ Creme, Benjamin (1997). Maitreya's Mission Vol. 3. London: Share International Foundation. p.3.
↑ Bailey, Alice A. (1947). The Return of the Christ. New York: Lucis Trust.
↑ Creme, Benjamin (1980). The Reappearance of Christ and the Return of the Masters of Wisdom. London: Share International Foundation.
↑ Powell, A.E. The Solar System: A Complete Outline of the Theosophical Scheme of Evolution London:1930 The Theosophical Publishing House Page 19
↑ Leadbeater, C.W. The Masters and the Path. Adyar, India: Theosophical Publishing House 1925 Page 296
↑ Powell, A.E. The Solar System: A Complete Outline of the Theosophical Scheme of Evolution London:1930 The Theosophical Publishing House Chapter XXVI – "The Building of the Earth" The Planetary Logos, pages 162–163
↑ Bailey, Alice A. The Externalisation of the Hierarchy New York:1957 Lucis Publishing Co. See "Avatar of Synthesis" in the Index
↑ Leadbeater, C.W. The Masters and the Path. Adyar, India: Theosophical Publishing House 1925 Page 207
Further reading
Bailey, Alice A.Initiation, Human and Solar, The Lucis Publishing Company (1922)
Leadbeater, C.W.The Masters and the Path Adyar, Madras, India: 1925—Theosophical Publishing House—Chart on page 249 (diagram 5), provides details about the Great Ones functioning on initiation levels five through nine.
Creme, BenjaminMaitreya's Mission Amsterdam: 1986—Share International Foundation—Chart on pages 373–393 gives the Level of Initiation of famous people of history (all the indicated levels are between one and five).
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