From DK through Bruce Lyon
Of course from the angle of humanity Third Degree initiates are viewed somewhat differently. They are recognised as people who have achieved mastery in some significant area of their lives. They are further recognised as being somehow liberated from the fear-based thinking and behaviour which forms the heart of our modern culture. They can be trusted to go their own way in spite of outer consequences, and to make a significant contribution to human society. (Agni)
A Third Degree initiate is called ‘the conqueror of death’ because he is able to maintain consciously a transition out of the three worlds. Conscious dying is about practicing disinvestment—the gradual withdrawal of the inner identity from attachments in the vehicles. Physical attachments may be quite obvious, emotional ones less so but often more potent, and mental attachments even more subtle. What concepts, world views or ideas are we attached to? How have we reinvested ourselves as souls since our last ‘death’? Are our affairs in order—could we abstract if we were called? Would we if we could? Could we leave without leaving? There are many forms of this type of ‘disinvestment contemplation’. (Agni)
Teaching on The Third Degree
1. Initiate a) Spirit
The spirit aspect of the initiate has to do with his or her sense of self as it is experienced phenomenologically or internally through self-reflection or meditation.
Every spirit aspect or self on every level of prakritic immersion is capable of opening directly into the one Self of the universe or Brahman, however it is much easier for selves polarised on higher planes to do this. At the Third Degree the initiate definitely has a taste of this experience, which is why it is deemed the First Initiation from the perspective of Hierarchy. The initiate knows himself as Atman, the universal Self, and simultaneously as an emissary of that Self in incarnation. The purpose for which he individualised as a soul is registered in his normal waking consciousness and integrated with the particular expression of that purpose in the current incarnation.
That purpose is, essentially, his identity. At the Third Degree the initiate may say “Lost am I in light supernal, and on that light I turn my back”.1 He or she knows they are the one essential Life and yet they also know that they have not completed their mission on behalf of that Life. The river returns to the ocean yet it does not dissolve into it but streams back to a thirsty world. The initiate turns his back on the light supernal but now becomes a source for it to stream into the mental, astral and etheric planes. He or she is able to create and sustain creation in alignment with the Plan because they have become in their essential nature an extension of that Plan.
b) Soul
The consciousness of the initiate is expanded in a number of important ways. He or she now naturally operates upon all five of the lower planes and balances the inner and outer demands on his attention. After a period of some isolation in consciousness he is now able to clearly identify other initiates of his own or other degrees. Standing upon her own mountaintop it becomes obvious who else has reached that summit. Group work is not expressed in some mutually undertaken outer project but a recognition that their individually initiated projects are each expressions of a unified field of identification. Standing on the summit of the three worlds also brings full awareness in consciousness of their novitiate status in Hierarchy. The Third Degree initiate realises she is the tip of a descending or externalising mountain of spirit and seeks to strengthen her alignment with other souls whose purpose or developed qualities she wishes to engage or co-operate with. Consciousness is expanded to include awareness and responsibility for all the lesser lives that make up the vehicles of expression for the soul. It is also expanded to become aware of the solar evolution as it expresses through forms throughout the system.
c) Form
The sheath that forms the anchor point for the identity and consciousness of the Third Degree initiate is the causal body, which has now become a radiant field of fire extending its rays throughout the five planes of substance that make up the ring-pass-not of the soul. Through the means of this solar fire, energetic substance is exchanged between the planes and also between souls. There are flows that have resulted in the burning through of the etheric webs and the liberation of lesser lives onto higher planes. Substance from the triadal planes is similarly brought down and built into the structure of the lower planes. The initiate becomes a natural healer as triadal energy transmits through one or all of the personality vehicles. On causal levels there is a constant stream of energy flowing between egos and egoic groups according to ray and other affiliations. The energetic impact of a Third Degree initiate on those of lesser degree could be summed up in the words ‘vocational arousal’. The energies radiating from their causal fields stimulate the causal bodies of others in such a way that the indwelling consciousness feels a call to awaken to soul purpose. (Occult Cosmology)
From DK through Alice Bailey
A later relationship, which in no way concerns us, is set up after the third initiation between the soul and the monad, and throughout the course of cosmic evolution these relationships will emerge. The race as a whole is, however, only concerned with the setting up of a relation between soul and body and beyond this there is no need to go. (TWM)
The soul is to be known as light, as the revealer, whilst the Spirit aspect will later be recognized as sound. Complete light and illumination is the right of the disciple who attains to the third initiation, whilst the true comprehension of the sound, of the triple AUM, the synthesizing factor in manifestation appears only to the one who stands master of the three worlds. (TWM)
Cosmic evil, cosmic progression, or cosmic problems can well be left to that distant time when aspirants have taken the third initiation, have lost all sense of separateness, and—being identified with the Life Aspect and not with the form side— can therefore enter somewhat into the state of consciousness of our planetary Logos, sense His destiny, and vision fleetingly the wonder of the consummation. (TWM)
Until after the third initiation, however, it is the iilumined mind which is the dominant factor, and not the pure intuitive perception, or pure reason. After this great initiation, which marks a definite transition out of the form consciousness, the initiate can function at will on the plane of the intuition, and the mind is steadily relegated into the background till it becomes a part of the instinctual apparatus—as much a part of the subconscious instinctual nature as is the instinctual nature which the materialistic psychologist so much stresses. Intuitive perception, pure vision, direct knowledge, and an ability to utilise the undifferentiated energies of the Universal Mind are the main characteristics of the Aryan adepts. I use the word 'undifferentiated' in the sense of freedom from multiplicity; certain main distinctions will still be found to exist. The will of the soul, regarding that soul as having its place on one of the seven Rays, is superseded by the will of the Whole. (TWM)
One point might here be noted. The extremity of the disciple in service finally draws out the interest of the soul. After the third initiation, the extremity of the soul (speaking symbolically and conveying no true meaning to the aspirant) evokes the cooperation of the Monad. Thus service is the scientific mode, par excellence, to evoke spiritual integration and to call forth the resources of a divine son of God. (DNA1)
At the third Initiation of Transfiguration, the control of the personality in the three worlds is broken in order that the Son of Mind, the soul, may be substituted finally for the concrete and hitherto directing lower mind. Again, through the Law of Sacrifice, the personality is liberated and becomes simply an agent of the soul. (DNA2)
…monadic realisation. This is a phrase that means absolutely nothing to us, for it concerns the consciousness of the planetary Logos. This begins to be realised at the third initiation, dominating the soul and working out through the personality. (EP1)
When the ray of the soul focusses itself fully through him, and all his centres are controlled by that focussed soul ray, then he becomes the transfigured Initiate, and takes the third initiation. The ray of the personality is occultly "extinguished" or absorbed by the ray of the soul, and all the potencies and attributes of the lower rays become subsidiary to and colored by the soul ray. The disciple becomes a "man of God",—a person whose powers are controlled by the dominant vibration of the soul ray and whose inner, sensitive mechanism is vibrating to the measure of that soul ray which—in its turn—is being itself reoriented to, and controlled by, the monadic ray. (EP1)
The initiate registers the fact that he has been accepted by Shamballa and has made his first contact with the Planetary Logos, the Hierophant, the Initiator at the third initiation, just as the Christ, the Master of all the Masters, is the Initiator and the Hierophant at the first two initiations. (RI)
At the third initiation he stands before the One Initiator, the Lord of the World, and "sees His star shine forth" and hears the sound which—to quote the Old Commentary:
"...pours forth from that central point of power where substance and the outer life have met together, where spirit utters loud the cry which drew the form to meet the highest need; where energy comes forth and blends with force and (in the blending) music had its start within the sphere of blending and of being thus created.
"Man only hears the distant sound and knows it not for what it is. The disciple hears the sound and sees its form. The one who stands for the third time upon the mountain top hears a clear note and knows it as his own, as ours, as yours, and yet the note which none have sounded forth." (RI)
…at the third initiation the initiate grasps what is meant when the One in Whom we live and move and have our being (note that expression) is referred to as Fire. (RI)
This spiritual will is something of which humanity knows nothing; it is hidden and veiled by the self- will of the individual and the group will of the soul. Through both of these experiences the human being moves until his individual will is developed and grounded, focussed and reoriented, and his group will is unfolded so that it includes and swallows up the dedicated, conscious, individual will. When this fusion has taken place (at the third initiation) a great revelation unfolds itself, and for the first time the initiate senses and then contacts the universal will; from that moment the initiate says, "Father, not my will but Thine be done." (RI)
There is an ashramic activity of which disciples know nothing in their brain consciousness until such time as the third initiation has been taken and the results of it are then dimly but increasingly sensed. It is related to the interplay between Shamballa and the Hierarchy, but not between the Hierarchy and Humanity. (RI)
When the third initiation is taken the initiate becomes aware, not only of the significance of the command to Know and of his innate ability to Express the will nature of the monad in carrying out the Purpose of Shamballa, but that (through his fused personality-soul) he is now in a position to "make revelation" to the Hierarchy that he is en rapport with the monadic source from which he originally came. He can now obey the command to Reveal, because the Transfiguration is consummated. He is not now revealing the soul only, but all the three aspects now meet in him and he can reveal the life aspect as will and not only the soul aspect as love or the matter aspect as intelligence. This is, as you know the first major initiation from the angle of the greater Lodge on Sirius, because it is the first initiation in which all the three aspects meet in the initiate. The first two initiations—oft regarded by humanity as major initiations—are in reality minor initiations from the Sirian point of view, because the relation of the man "under discipline and in training" is only a tendency; there is only a developing recognition of the Father and a slowly growing response to the monad, plus an unfolding sensitivity to the impact of the will aspect. But in the third initiation these developments are sufficiently present to merit the phrase, "revelation of the glory," and the Transfiguration initiation takes place. (RI)
This antahkarana is the product of the united effort of soul and personality, working together consciously to produce this bridge. When it is completed, there is a perfect rapport between the monad and its physical plane expression, the initiate in the outer world. The third initiation marks the consummation of the process, and there is then a straight line of relationship between the monad and the lower personal self. (RI)
The initiation of the Transfiguration is not yet for the mass of men. We can, however, study the effects of these rays where the individual disciple is concerned, because the later initiations—from the third initiation onward—are administered by the Lord of the World from His high place in Shamballa… (RI)
The first two initiations—regarded simply as initiations of the threshold—are experiences which have prepared the body of the initiate for the reception of the terrific voltage of this third initiation. This voltage is passed through the body of the initiate under the direction of the planetary Logos, before Whom the initiate stands for the first time. The Rod of Initiation is used as the transferring agent. The second initiation freed the initiate from the astral level of consciousness, the astral plane—the plane of glamour, of illusion and of distortion. This was an essential experience because the initiate (standing before the One Initiator for the first time at the third initiation) must be freed from any magnetic or attractive "pull" emanating from the personality.
The mechanism of the personality must be so purified and so insensitive to the material attractions of the three worlds that there is henceforth nothing in the initiate which could offset the divine initiatory activity. The physical appetites are subdued and relegated to their rightful place; the desire nature is controlled and purified; the mind is responsive primarily to ideas, intuitions and impulses coming from the soul, and begins its true task as an interpreter of divine truth and a transmitter of ashramic intention.
You will note, therefore, how this third initiation is a climaxing point and also inaugurates a new cycle of activity leading to the seventh Initiation of Resurrection. (RI)
Today, through human effort and hierarchical endeavour, a great alignment and linking up is taking place, and Monad-Soul-Personality are being more directly related than has hitherto been possible. One reason for this is that there are present in incarnation upon the planet many more initiates of the third degree than ever before; there are many more disciples being prepared for the third initiation… (RI)
He thereby becomes a Master, and the process, as it goes forward from initiation to initiation, becomes (after the third initiation, the Transfiguration) less hard and distressing; the reason for this is that he is increasingly master of his own individual situation. He is, however, occultly involved in the difficulties and the problems of the group and of that totality of groups which we call humanity.
The initiatory process between the first and the second initiations is for many the worst time of distress, difficulty, realisation of problems and the constant effort to "clear himself" (as it is occultly called), to which the disciple is at any time subjected. The phrase stating that the objective of the initiate is "to clear himself" is perhaps the most arresting and illuminating of all possible definitions of the task to be undertaken. The storm aroused by his emotional nature, the dark clouds and mists in which he constantly walks and which he has created throughout the entire cycle of incarnated living, have all to be cleared away in order that the initiate can say that—for him—the astral plane no longer exists, and that all that remains of that ancient and potent aspect of his being is aspiration, a sensitive response to all forms of divine life and a form through which the lowest aspect of divine love, goodwill, can flow without impediment.
The clue to the initiation of the Transfiguration can be of importance, as it involves the personality, and many of you in the not so distant future (from the angle of the aeonial life cycle of the soul) will face that. The secret of the third initiation is the demonstration of complete freedom from the claims and demands of the personality. It does not involve the achievement of a completely perfect expression of the spiritual life, but it does indicate that the service of the initiate and his life demonstration—regarded in a broad and general way, from the angle of the life-tendency and of entire dedication to humanity—remains untouched by the limitations, still existent, of the personal lower self. (RI)
The greatest problem facing aspirants and disciples prior to the third initiation is that of comprehending the nature of identification. This concerns (in the first instance) the relation of the self to the Self and of all selves to the all-inclusive SELF. It involves the mystery of duality with which they are occupied, and the very moment that theory as to essential unity becomes definite realisation, then the realm of synthesis is entered. For that type of realisation, language as we now have it has no words, and it is therefore impossible to formulate concepts to interpret the consequent and resultant state of being. "Identification with" is the phrase which approaches the closest to the initial idea, and until man has grasped his identical at-one-ness with even one human being, it is not possible for him even to think about it in any truly constructive manner. The complete fusion of the negative and the positive aspects in marriage, at the moment that life is transmitted and transferred, is the only tangible though unsatisfactory symbol of this life-sharing process which takes place when an individual or a group knows actually and not simply theoretically that "there are no other selves." (RI)
There is naturally a close connection between the first Ray of Will or Power, the energies concentrated at Shamballa and the Law of Karma, particularly in its planetary potency and in relation to advanced humanity. It will be apparent, therefore, that the more rapidly the individual aspirant approaches the third initiation, the more rapidly and directly will the individual's karma be worked out. Monadic relation, as it becomes established, lets loose the destructive aspect of the basic energy, and all hindrances are destroyed with expedition. (RI)
The third initiation, therefore, releases the initiate from the planes of unprincipled substance (the lower subplanes of the cosmic physical plane), whilst the next two initiations make it possible for him to work with intelligence and love on the two lower levels of the cosmic etheric plane—the buddhic and the atmic, the planes of spiritual love and intelligent will. (RI)
There are three words which are directive words for the disciple as he handles his life, his environment and his circumstances. They are: Integration, Direction, Science. His task—as he faces it after the third initiation—is to produce a greater personal integration so that he becomes increasingly a soul- infused personality, and also to integrate himself with his environment for service purposes. To this must be added the subtler task of integrating himself into the Ashram so that he becomes an integral part of the Master's band of workers. (RI)
From the Master R through Lucille Cedercrans
Eventually, in some one incarnation or another, the probationer initiates his service activity on a full-time basis and completes the third initiation. In order to do this he must bring Divine Adjustment to the Divine Plan in his life and affairs, resolving all karma of a personal nature that stands between himself and his service.
This brings him to another and most difficult choice. When and where that is in time and space, and in what degree shall he precipitate the remainder of his out- standing personal karma so it can be adjusted?
This brings us to a place in the initiatory process which is almost heartbreaking and often terrifying to the probationer in its connotations.
What man at this point upon the path knows the karma he has engendered in the past which yet must be resolved or balanced before he can give himself to the Plan? He knows not whether it will bring apparent pleasure or pain, whether it will take a relatively short or long time to resolve. He only knows that it is there and must be consciously precipitated to be resolved.
This, again, is one of the sacrifices and the tests of initiation. At the third initiation the man deliberately, and in full waking consciousness, precipitates the remainder of that personal karma which stands between himself and his chosen field of service. (Nature of the Soul)