There are several such mantric formulas and Words of Power in use by such students but they fail to accomplish very much because the person using them has no real understanding of their import and purpose and is usually so focused in his emotional, aspirational, astral nature that all that he says and does (in connection with such Words of Power) is entirely innocuous and futile. Words of Power, ancient mantrams (such as the Lord's Prayer) and the Great Invocation are only effective if used upon the mental plane and with the power of a controlled mind - focused on their intent and meaning - behind the spoken effort. They then become potent. When said with the power of the soul as well as with the directed attention of the mind, they automatically become dynamically effective.

Students all the world over have for years used the Sacred Word, and have sounded the OM with great diligence. I would like here to ask: With what results? I myself will reply. With practically no results except a slight stimulation of the aspiration and a small awakening of the creative imagination. This means that the results achieved have had effect only within the aura of the person concerned and have not penetrated into his environment or produced any recognizable effects. The OM is potent and [145] dynamically effective when rightly used and will produce changes, destroy that which must be eliminated or ended, and will build in, by attraction and consolidation that which is desired into the fabric of the group life, producing incidentally (though none the less certainly) needed changes and the wise reconstruction of the individual life. Ponder upon this.

If the above is true of the OM and of its group effects, it is infinitely more true of the Great Invocation. Words of Power (and this is true also of the OM) are all of second ray origin. This is the ray of the manifestation of consciousness. They are, therefore, intended for soul use because the soul is the expression of the second aspect of divinity, and only the soul can really employ these Words and sounds and thus produce the desired results which are always in line with the divine Plan. It is frequently forgotten that they must be used by the soul in a dynamic manner, involving the serious recognition of the will aspect. The Great Invocation, the OM and all such Words of Power must go forth from the soul (whose nature is love and whose purpose is solely group good), backed by or "occultly propelled forth" (to use a translation of an almost untranslatable occult idea) by the dynamic will aspect, and carried outwards as an integrated thought-form upon a stream of living, illumined mental substance. This process therefore brings into activity the will, the love and the intelligence of the man who is using these words and formulas. Frequently, however, an hiatus occurs even when a man has integrated these three controlling factors within himself as far as he is able to do so at his particular point in evolution. All that he has succeeded in doing is the retaining of the created thought-form upon the mental plane; he fails to make its presence felt upon the physical plane and to achieve the desired results because his brain (the lower receiving and distributing center within the head) is incapable of the needed dual activity - retaining awareness of the intent, meaning and purpose of the formula being used and, at the same time, carrying on the task of sending forth the potency, [146] hidden yet conveyed by the Words or sounds. These two activities must be carried on simultaneously by the soul on its own plane through the medium of the mind and the brain. Here again is one of the objectives of all meditation work but one which is not emphasized as it is a sequential happening and not an objective. Effectiveness is, therefore, dependent upon a grasp of the above facts and a developed and trained integration between soul, mind, desire, brain and the spoken Word or sound.