The first point which I would like to bring out is that accepted disciples are in training for initiation. If, when they [694] approach the Path of Discipleship they fail to grasp this fact and to give the fullest cooperation, they postpone the time of that initiation. Their grasp of the fact will be demonstrated in the intensity of their proffered service. Planned service is one of the modes of the training. Disciples in the early stages of their work are apt to be primarily interested in themselves and in their own reactions and attitudes to the Master. The fact that they are working in a Master's group seems to them the fact of paramount importance.

The second thing which I would like to point out is that there is a great difference between a Master's group and his Ashram. This is seldom realized. Many people can be found in a Master's group but the personnel of his Ashram is picked out of that of the group. In a group, the Master is in touch with and aware of the aspiring disciple and he has had a definite contact with him, but this has involved a personality as well as a soul relation. But in an Ashram only that is to be found within the sphere of influence of an Ashram which is of the soul. Nothing of the personality is allowed to enter in - personality reactions, disabilities, limitations, personality thoughts and all that is material and connected with the lower nature, never reaches the Ashram at all. In the early stages, therefore, of a disciple's work, it is possible that there is little or nothing that the disciple will be able to contribute of any kind for a long time. Only those positively sensed intuitions and those definite soul impressions and impulses which the disciple may succeed in evoking (through meditation and growing purity of intention) can contribute anything to the life of the Ashram. There is consequently a law which protects the Ashram from your limitations. I have been using the word "Ashram" quite definitely in my effort to lead you to discriminate between a group and an Ashram. An Ashram is basically formed of those who through their knowledge, devotion and service have worked their way out of a group into an inner center where the Master's energy, wisdom and effort is more easily available. In order to work their way from the group into the Ashram, disciples will need most carefully to discriminate between their high grade personality inclinations, their [695] responses to truth and ideals and their true soul reactions, spiritual wisdom and intuitive perception.

The third point which I would like to bring out is that disciples when they form part of an Ashram are subjecting themselves to a greatly increased pressure and are in a position to participate in much wider distribution of energy than heretofore. Today, as the Coming One nears the earth and draws closer to humanity, and as the inflow of spiritual energy from Shamballa into the hierarchical Center becomes greater, there is a great keying up of human receptivity and a greatly augmented stimulation is taking place with varying effects. This involves an intensified aspiration and spiritual determination. It also signifies an opportunity of an unprecedented nature.

This is the opportunity which is held out today before the aspirants and probationary disciples. This effort might be termed an externalization of the Ashram. You have been told that it is the intention of the Hierarchy to restore the Mysteries on earth. This is the first step towards that objective. If this embryonic externalization succeeds in functioning and if those participating in this new effort manage to work with unity, love and understanding, and if this proves so strong as to withstand all disintegrating forces, then it may be possible later to increase the membership, power and size of any Ashram. [696] This lies entirely in the hands of the group. Every new person who is put in touch with the Ashram becomes a definite responsibility. The work of integration and of absorption lies with the Ashram and not with the individual. This is not easily apparent until disciples are accepted and integral parts of the Ashram. Such disciples constitute a definite problem.

The question now arises: How does a Master form and organize his Ashram or inner group of which the personnel is provided from the outer group of aspirants? It must surely be apparent to you that a Master, in forming his Ashram, proceeds as automatically as does the Creator. He meditates; he visualizes; he speaks and that which he seeks to create and to materialize (in line with the hierarchical Plan) begins to take form. By the power of his focused and directed thought, he attracts to him those whose type of mind synchronizes with his, because of ray, karmic relationships, point in evolution and love for humanity. In the words focus and direction lie the key to any technique or method of contributing to what I might here call the reservoir of thought which is an Ashram. It is a sustained focus, plus a dynamic direction which makes this reservoir of thought contributory to world service and creatively effective. The important thing for an accepted disciple to grasp is what the Master is seeking to accomplish through the medium of his group. This entails, finally, the enquiry, in the mind of the disciple, as to whether he thinks, focuses and works along lines similar to that of the Master. How close is the disciple to the Master's thoughts? The Master is prevented by occult law from using any pressure or power in the effort to swing the minds of those whom he is influencing into unison with his. He may not impose his will upon the disciple; his desires, aspirations and wishes must not be the enforced directing agency in the lives of those with whom he is in touch. He may impress their minds with what he feels is needed in periods of world crisis. He can express to them what he feels should be done. But it remains for the disciple to decide and prove. Disciples are in a Master's group because of similarity of ideas, even though they sense and express those ideas far less clearly than he does and see the vision as through a glass darkly. But their innate convictions are [697] basically the same and their task is to discover the points of contact, the analogous idealism for the group effort and then to submerge their entire individual lives and activities in the recognized effort. Behind this effort stands the Master - an initiating and distributing center of power.