Click image to enlarge.

The Second Ray Word of Power: Sxprulxs

"I see the greatest Light."

by John Darrall-Rew

Foundations

The Words of Power given out by the Master DK in the fifth volume of the Treatise on the Seven Rays are, as is most explicitly the case with the First Ray Word of Power, assertions of Spirit, designed to evoke the beginnings of a fusing process of the three aspects of our Being. This has its planetary correspondence in the bringing of the three major planetary chakras, Humanity, Hierarchy and Shamballa, into right energetic relationship.

The Second Ray Word of Power

In terms of my experiential penetration into the meaning and significance of this Word of Power, it has not been a completely smooth journey. In fact, over the period of some years, I wrestled with it and its meaning, unable to experientially pierce its heart with understanding. This was not owing to any lack of conceptual knowledge of the Teachings. DK speaks clearly and with sufficient frequency on the significance of LIGHT (first aspect, as well as according to other expressions) in the esoteric literature, and though I had no difficulty in understanding that which is written on an intellectual level (as much as one can), this most certainly did not open the door to an experiential understanding, one based in the heart-mind, and straight-knowledge. In this respect I find myself reminded of the story of Naropa, the great Indian Mahasiddha whose path was forever changed when, having become one of the foremost scholars of the ancient Buddhist world at Nalanda monastic university, he encountered an old haggard lady (said to actually have been a dakini, or enlightened female being, in disguise) who pointed out to him that it is one thing to be able to simply recite the words of the teachings, but quite another to deeply and experientially understand their essence. This encounter shook Naropa, and he decided to leave Nalanda, and to seek out the esoteric teachings of Tilopa, who taught him what are now known as the Six Yogas of the Mahamudra Teachings.

This story is surely reminiscent of that Second Ray formula that decrees that the Second Ray scholar must put down their books and their notes, held so dear by them, and open their being to deep-understanding, the experiential wisdom of the Heart. In my journey with this Word of Power, like Naropa, I eventually found my own mental formulations anent the truth lying behind the teachings on this LIGHT, to actually embody my greatest barriers to deep understanding. These had to be dropped, and as they were, some powerful recognitions were able to arise.

Click image to enlarge.

"Bright Space, Son of Dark Space"
(SD, Stanza III.7)

Fundamental to the current point of understanding I have come to with this Word of Power is the occult relation between Light and Darkness. In the esoteric literature, just as there is a darkness that is associated with the world of matter, there is also another darkness associated with the reality of Spirit. In The Secret Doctrine we read that,

"According to the tenets of Eastern Occultism, DARKNESS is the one true actuality, the basis and root of light, without which the latter could never manifest itself, nor even exist. Light is matter, and DARKNESS pure Spirit. Darkness, in its radical metaphysical basis, is subjective and absolute light; while the latter in all its seeming effulgence and glory, is merely a mass of shadows, as it can never be eternal, and is simply an illusion, or Maya." (SD1:99)

This Darkness is associated with the deepest Be-ness of first aspect entity-structures on a plurality of scales, from the monad, to Shamballa, and as some have suggested, the emerging symbol for this dark reality is the supermassive black hole found at the centre of our, and indeed all, galaxies. As the event horizon is passed into such black DARKNESS, all time, space, consciousness and even any trace of identity collapse under Shiva's awesome power into the mystery of what the Vedantic sages have called turyiatita. In a cosmological sense, it is from this unknowable and boundless Darkness that the Stanzas of Dzyan, extrapolated most extensively in The Secret Doctrine, teach that the Ray of Primordial White LIGHT, "the unparalleled refulgent Glory" (SD1:100) shone forth into the golden Egg, from which (a)rose the Son/Sun, The Logos.

Now, despite our natural tendencies to which to assign such an 'event' to some temporal and spatial 'location', such as aeons long ago, or perhaps maybe 13.7 billion years, such tendencies are themselves expressions of that intellectual approach which will only erect barriers to deep-understanding here. According to my experience, the black hole does indeed serve as a good symbol for the first aspect centre, with its event horizon being the point of total collapse of all that might venture to cross it into the deepest mystery of SAT, and its deep singularity, in the Heart of Darkness, as the central electric dynamo from which BEING is breaking forth eternally, as the SOUND. This necessarily has relation to the release of "Life more Abundant", the 1st Ray energy of Uranus, and to the Mystery of Fire (CF:876).

It is furthermore my experience, that this breaking forth of BEING as dark light from the singularity should be understood as constantly occurring, literally everywhere, throughout, within, in the very midst of, and actually composing, absolutely everything. In the ancient Egyptian Books of Hermes it is written, "God is an infinite sphere, the center of which is everywhere, the circumference nowhere", and in The Secret Doctrine,

"The One is an unbroken Circle [Ring] with no circumference, for it is nowhere and everywhere; the One is the boundless Plane of the Circle, manifesting a diameter only during the manvantaric periods; the One is the indivisible Point found nowhere, perceived everywhere during those periods; it is the Vertical and the Horizontal, the Father and the Mother, reaching in reality nowhere, for the One is the Ring as also the Rings that are within that Ring. Light in Darkness and Darkness in Light: the 'Breath which is Eternal'". (SD1:40)

It is precisely this non-spatially, and perhaps simultaneously omni-spatially located dimension to the 'God-Centre', present as the Theosophical teaching tells us, even at the heart of every atom, that allows the ONE to be literally blazing forth, as ELECTRIC-FIRE-BEING, from the singularity that is everywhere, throughout everything, constantly. This is the roar of the Lion in the Desert spoken of in the Agni Yoga literature (Infinity I, Stanza 17), and it is true to say, as DK does, that in this (dark) LIGHT, "all other lights — that of the atom of matter, that of the form and that of the soul itself — must inevitably fade out in the stupendous glory and brilliance which emanate from God Himself..." and that one "becomes absorbed—intellectually, intuitively, spiritually and finally factually—in that Light" (R&I:118).

In this realisation, there truly is no 'me' that is left, for all is consumed in BEING, and as the Teachings say, "the Whole will stand revealed and then the soul — loaded with riches and the fruits of labour long — will vanish as the mist and only God, the living One, be left" (R&I:117).

Initiation, or the expansion of consciousness, is able to occur through construction of the antahkarana. Identification however, occurs via the sutratma, or life-thread. When these two threads can be used simultaneously, then the son, or consciousness principle, is able to journey into its own deepest core that lies on the other 'side' of the event horizon. This event horizon, or point of total collapse for the consciousness principle, and indeed for identity itself also, is found on the higher reaches of the atmic plane, where the Master Morya's Ashram "adds darkness unto light so that the stars appear" (R&I:170). In making approach to the event horizon, one must drop all beliefs, imaginings, schemas, predictions, and concepts concerning the nature of self, the world, and the first aspect reality. According to my present understanding, it is only the wayfarer who is able to restrain every impulse of the mind to label the landmarks of the road ahead, and who willing to commit to the fire their entire being as they have come to know and understand it, who may pass beyond the event horizon into the Reality of SPIRIT.

This takes courage, the courage of the soul. It is a brave thing to deliberately move into the position of 'not-knowing', and of not making any attempt to assert Reality to be this or that way. It takes even greater courage to hold this stance, trusting that the Reality will authentically emerge as is right, and yet holding absolutely no attachment to that eventuality whatsoever.

In relation to THAT which lies beyond the atmic event horizon, words necessarily fail here, for one cannot write of 'my experience', for there is, in it, no 'I' to have any 'experience'. There is identification with the Reality, however, the Reality of Fire perpetually burning in and as the Singularity in Darkness, the snap of the dragon's tail in the night, the lion of the desert, that is BEING, roaring eternally. In considering this, I am reminded of Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous quote,

"Standing on the bare ground, — my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, — all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God". (Emerson, 1836/2003)

Emerson, R. W. (2003). Nature and Other Writings. Boston, MA: Shambhala.

Always-Already

When arising in this identification and moving out into the world, the Darkness of Spirit takes the form of a near blinding LIGHT (I shall use this entirely capitalised form to indicate that it is first aspect light that is being discussed), and the major quality of this living and greatest first aspect LIGHT is its total unconditionality. In my own path, it is fair to say this proved to be a powerful experience; in fact, it was one that initially, shook me deeply. In it's experiential realisation, one clearly perceives, with the inner eye, it shining forth in Self-effulgent Glory from literally everything, in the personality, soul and triadic realms (though in this, there is no such differentiation). It was of this LIGHT that Adi Da wrote when he so insightfully noted,

"The Light of God and the Light of the soul are One. It is Perfect Radiance, or White Brightness. All manifest forms are parts of a universe or total spectrum of modifications or solidification's of the range of possibility inherent in Original Light, or Radiance".

and,

"Just as the spectral colors that surround the soul in its associative play are actually a display of the parts of its own or native White Light, the Divine Soul is Original White Light. All phenomena are thus a Play of the Original Light, or Unqualified Bliss, of God. And all souls, or all living beings (human or otherwise), are points or atoms of the Original Light or Radiant Bright Consciousness of God".
(Adi Da Samraj, 1978)

Adi Da Samraj. (1978). The Enlightenment of the Whole Body. Middletown, CA: Dawn Horse Press.

Retrieved July 10, 2010, from Beezone:
http://www.beezone.com/AdiDa/EWB/EWB_pp475-494.html#originalbrightness

This is the "the light of the divine countenance" (R&I:516), that DK describes; the LIGHT of pure Divinity, shining forth from everything, constantly, in a manner that is completely unconditional, and non-contingent. As Adi Da says, it is "unqualified", and this is a profoundly important aspect of the Reality embodied by this Word of Power also. As has been the central teaching of all the great adepts of the non-dual, the Divine Reality is no-where else to be 'found' but right here, right now, as that which is, as Adi Da taught, "Always-Already the case". Indeed, as Chogyam Trungpa would repeatedly say when asked the true meaning of Vajrayana, "There is only Ati", i.e. there is only SPIRIT, the Godhead, surrounding, pervading and lying at the core of all. Indeed this has been a core feature of my own experience with this Word of Power, with the recognition dawning that it was precisely my 'seeking' to find the Divine in something apart from the here and now, in some great vision or experience that was in some 'divine beyond', that served as another great barrier to my deep-understanding.

The Tibetan describes the experience evoked from the use of this Word of Power as "one of the most potent…to which the disciple can be subjected" (R&I:516) and the perception of the sheer non-contingency of this White Brightness, as I say, definitely shook me. For so long I had perceived the world in terms of the innate divinity of all lives, but specifically in terms of the degree of unfoldment of that divinity. I understood the divine to be at the centre of all, but as latent, or as largely unexpressed in the majority. The capacity to unfold this divinity that is our centre I saw to be contingent upon spiritual practise, or, in a more long-term sense, the general trend of aeons of evolution. At the very least, I believed that an individual's capacity to begin to express their own latent spirituality was contingent upon their basic right and moral conduct, as the necessary fertile soil in which the flower of the soul may grow. In a relative sense, I still understand this to be the case, somewhat. In a greater sense, however, I recognised at this time that the LIGHT of God, as unconditioned and unqualified "Perfect Radiance" and "White Brightness" shines forth as the signature of absolute non-contingent Divinity from, and as, everything, constantly. In this experience, the mundane and the divine are reconciled and Samsara and Nirvana are truly one; as one looks out upon the world(s), there are only buddhafields, in which ONE dwells as the Supernal Energy itself.

Appropriately, it was during a Wesak festival, the Festival of Light, that I came to this recognition. As Wesak so often is, it was a time of great testing, and it would not be unfair to say that my emotional body did not remain untouched by these struggles. This in itself proved to be an profound teacher though, for in the midst of these struggles I recognised that this LIGHT was in no was diminished, and was still radiant, perfect, brilliant, and divine, regardless. As I say, I found this shocking (this first aspect LIGHT is, after all, "the Light which shocks"; EP2:354), even somewhat frightening, and I wondered what the consequences might be for the world if all people understood this ultimate Brightness to be completely present, here, now and always, regardless of their conduct, and the apparent morality of it. I remembered that great non-dual Dzogchen Semde text, the Kunjed Gyalpo, where in a manner that reflects the writing style of the Bhagavad Gita, the ONE says,

"For me, the Source, there is no commitment to keep. As I am beyond causes and conditions, there is no need to try to attain me through effort. As I am self-perfected, there is no need to adopt a conduct. As I am Primordial Wisdom, there is no need to try to know me. As I am self-arising, there is no need of causes and conditions. As I am beyond good and bad, there is no need to accept me or reject me." (Norbu & Clemente, 1999, p. 188)

Norbu, C. N., & Clemente, A. (1999). The Supreme Source: the Fundamental Tantra of the Dzogchen Semde – the Kunjed Gyalpo. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications.

When first perceiving this reality, I must say, I felt somewhat bereft, abandoned by the balances of 'right' and 'wrong' and a god of 'the good', even wondering whether this experience might be some small, lower turn of the spiral reflection, of that which the Master Jesus experienced as the intermediate factor of the soul became no more and he cried out upon the cross, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"

In connection with my flight from this vision, there are two aspects of note. The first relates to my concern about the ease with which it might be misinterpreted (though this is not to assert that I have not made errors in my own interpretation!). It struck me that some persons might be able, and indeed obviously have been able at times, to exploit this non-contingent nature of the Divine to glorify their own selfish, and perhaps even abusive and exploitative behavior. The experiences described in this paper are ultimately sutratmic ones, facilitated and mediated by the antahkarana. While the antahkarana is established on the planes of consciousness, the sutratma is anchored in the deepest physical/etheric heart, and it's path of ultimate Identity is not necessarily contingent upon an already, or at least partially constructed antahkarana. What is contingent upon such construction is the manner, and degree of selflessness with which such a sutratmic experience is interpreted, as has been proposed by Integral theory. The energy of Shamballa and the first aspect relates to identity, and it will empower or shatter that identity regardless of the plane on which it is found. In the case of the one whose antahkarana is at least partially constructed, owing to a higher and deeper, more soul-centred understanding of the experience, the sense of identity will be transfigured and consumed in the ONE IDENTITY. In the case of the individual who has not engaged the process of antahkarana construction, however, it is the personal ego that may be empowered and deified. Another possibility is that said ego could be shattered before the individual has developed any strong and healthy sense of self, potentially resulting in profound confusion and even mental health problems. As we progress further into the age of the Shamballa Impacts and this non-dual LIVINGNESS pours ever more into the human centre, it can be expected that more and more persons, wonderfully, will awaken to the reality of Spirit. This will necessarily present its own challenges though, and the discipleship group across all traditions will be called increasingly to enunciate the demand for an authentic, mature and selfless approach to understanding these first aspect issues.

The second reason relates to my own emotional reaction to this realisation in terms of it as an ontological reality. From it I railed, and even now, as I walk through the economically, socially and educationally deprived city in which I live, and that I love, and among the life-time drug-addicts, the homeless and the alcoholic parents of young children that are not hard to find, I still rail from it at times. I think this latter point is important to include, just to make clear the fact that these realisations are not an easy experience for the innately loving and caring Second Ray soul.

Click image to enlarge.

Conclusion

The thread running through this paper relates to penetration into the reality of Spirit. Contact and identification with the monadic reality will humble you to your knees, and it will send a lightning strike of pure fire to the very core of that which you had come to understand as 'truth', 'self', and 'reality'. As noted previously, it takes great courage to open oneself to this fire, and to know that when its flames have done their work, nothing save LIFE will remain — not even these teachings that we have held so dear. The Trans-Himalayan tradition in its three phases has been, and is the result of a Secondary Revelation from the Hierarchical to the Human centre, and forms a causal lotus on the abstract levels of the mental plane, its three tiers of petals (existing outside of time) being embodied in its three phases. Just as the role of the causal lotus is to bring the personality and monad into such close eventual relation that it itself can be extracted from the equation, so also has the goal of this tradition been to bring Humanity and Shamballa, personality and monad, Earth and the Universal Reality, into such relation. Once this has been established, the task of the intermediate factor, the soul, has been fulfilled, and it is consumed in the glorious fire of its own sacrifice. So also, as each one of us is able to contact and find identification in SPIRIT, will the causal body of the Teachings be consumed in such divine fire, having served their purpose. This sacrifice will allow a Primary Revelation, one sourced in Shamballa, to break upon the human centre, one concerned with the first aspect Reality, Humanity's identification as a single Being of cosmic origin, and the Purpose of the planetary Logos in taking incarnation through this most densest of planets. For this we ARE. Namaste.

Non HPB/AAB/Agni Yoga References