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An Ashram has in it disciples and initiates at all points of evolutionary development and of all grades and degrees; these all work together in perfect unison and yet—within their differentiated ranks, for each degree stands alone yet united with all the others—with their own established rapport, their coded telepathic interplay, and a shared occult secrecy and silence which guard the secrets and knowledges of one grade from another and from the unready.
Similarly, when an aspirant, seeking upon the Physical plane to find those who will share with him the mystery of his next immediate step or demonstrated expansion, discovers his own group, he will find that it has in it those who have not reached his particular point of wisdom and those also who have already left him far behind. He will be drawn into a vortex of force and a field of service simultaneously. Ponder on this statement. He will learn, therefore, the lessons required by one who is to work in an Ashram and will know how to handle himself with those who may not yet share with him the secrets which he already knows, and with those who have penetrated deeper into the Mysteries than he has.
THE ENTERING OF THE TWO DOORS OF INITIATION
It is of course obvious to you that the use of the word "door" is purely symbolic; the interpretation given to the word by the ordinary esoteric student and the orthodox Theosophist is that of a point of entry, and the significance of it to him is that it offers an opportunity to pass to new experience and fresh revelation—much of which is regarded by him as due reward for discipline and aspiration. That is largely an interpretation based on wishful thinking and is of quite secondary importance.
The Door of Initiation
The real meaning underlying the phrase "door of initiation" is that of obstruction, of something which bars the way, of that which must be opened, or of that which hides or stands between the aspirant and his objective. This is a much more exact significance and one much more useful for the aspirant to grasp.
Naturally, the character development must be present and assumed to be stable in the man's equipment; these characteristics have, however, little bearing on initiation and passing through the "door" on the Path. They are indicative of the point reached upon the Path of Evolution, as a result of experiment, experience and continuous expression, and should be common to all aspirants who have reached the point of facing discipleship; they are unavoidable developments and connote simply the reaction of the personality to time and experience. It is eternally true that no one may pass through this door unless these character indications are developed, but that is due to the fact that the aspirant has progressed to a certain stage of unfoldment and automatically now has a measure of self-control, of mental understanding and of purity.
This door of initiation is connected with the great problem of what H.P.B. calls the "mystery of electricity"; the door is itself an electrical phenomenon essentially. Having said this, even if you do not understand my meaning, you can, however, grasp the possibility that (being electrical in nature) it can easily present an obstructing force, a repelling energy to the approach of the aspirant; this is the correct way to look at it. It is only when the electrical energy of which the door is constituted and that of which the man is constructed at any particular time synchronise and vibrate in unison that the aspirant can pass through to greater light. This gives you a somewhat new and rather abstruse definition of initiation. Nevertheless, as science arrives at a better understanding of the human being as an electrical unit of power and light, and of his triple mechanism as created of three aspects of electricity, a truer comprehension of the significance of initiation will eventuate.
The three fires of which all things are made are electrical in nature and—speaking symbolically—it is only when "Fire by Friction" is dominated by "Solar Fire" that the first four initiations can be taken, culminating in the fifth initiation in which these two fires are subordinated to "Electric Fire" emanating from the Monad and giving a new revelation. This Monadic process begins at the third initiation. It might be added that the third initiation (culminating in the Transfiguration) is taken on the three higher levels of the Mental plane, and that it is therefore upon the fourth level of the Mental plane that the aspirant first of all stands before the door, seeking initiation. That electrical unit or phenomenon of electricity which we call the fourth kingdom in nature, on this fourth subplane of the Mental plane esoterically "ejects" the unit of electricity which is ready to be absorbed by the higher form of electricity. Fire by Friction dies out and Solar Fire takes its place, and the relationship between the two higher forms of electricity becomes established.
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