The golden disk so often referred to in esoteric literature is the electrical doorway to the infinite and a bridge to Shamballa. The great 4th ray, as well as the great second ray of indigo blue, eventually become absorbed when the greater cycles end in pure praylayic darkness -- the unborn and the uncreated state of pure Being or primal darkness that exists prior to manifestation. It is the central laya point of fohatic Will that exists prior to form expression. It is the mysterious point within the circle whose circumference is everywhere and yet simultaneously is nowhere.

What is the mountain top of initiation so frequently referred to in esoteric literature but another symbol of the vortex-cone that each disciple must create in the meditative state in its different stages to reach perfection? What is the long horn of the unicorn but a symbol of rotary spiral-cyclic motion that climaxes in a searing point of piercing Will -- an inner trumpet out of the throat of which issues forth the sounds of God's hidden Purpose and Will, not language as we understand it, but pure first subplane devic fire? What distinguishes the new agni yoga teachings from all past work? The revelation that at the heart of each occult organism, chakra or force center, whether cosmic, systemic, or planetary, all are connected and fused by that point of pure fohatic Will? It is this identification that brings all diverse principles and laws into one synthetic whole.

Let me give a visual example of these three principle components -- color, the triangle, and the vortex -- and how they can be intimately connected for the full expression of some ray life from the highest levels to the lowest. An example of sixth ray force can be seen in Figure 39.

Figure 39
Here, through these different stages of descent, we see an unbroken
continuity through the color rose of high redemptive energy that once making
its impact on the human level circulates back to its originating source.
Click to see larger image.

What we have outlined here about the sixth ray can equally be stated about the other six divine rays. There is always an unbroken continuity and link between all the various ray expressions if one can learn the technique of following the light back to its original emanating point through the Law of Analogy. Human astral energy need not be a part of the great illusion if it can link back to its originating source.

An alignment with the cosmic astral plane begins with the color rose and conforms to the triangular relationship that leads to the vortex described in this commentary. The first point of the triangle starts from the cosmic astral plane from which this rose light descends to our Planetary Logos' astral body, which is the second point of the triangle. Then the third point of the triangle anchors itself in the purified astral energy of the Masters' ashrams. From this advanced triangle it can further descend into the astral body of humanity, the groups with whom disciples work, and then end with the individual astral body of the disciple -- one unbroken continuity of descending spiritual life connected through the principles of color, the triangle and the vortex.

The concepts above are very important because they concern how the "sound" and the "voice" can be contacted and used to destroy the four hindering veils through advanced group meditative work. These statements are important qualifications or lead-ins to working with the third formula of initiation.

Formula Three

"For long the teaching, given in the clear cold light, anent the door and the emphasis put upon the presentation of the door lying ahead of the aspirant has been made familiar, but that has been working with the lower aspects of the symbolism, even if aspirants did not realize it; they have been taught the fact of the light in the head, which is the personality correspondence to the clear cold light to which I refer. At the very center of that light, as many aspirants know theoretically or factually by inconstant experience, is a center or point of dark indigo blue - midnight blue. Note the significance of this in view of what I have been saying anent the "dark night," the midnight hour, the zero hour in the life of the soul. That center is in reality an opening, a door leading somewhere, a way of escape, a place through which the soul imprisoned in the body can emerge and pass into higher states of consciousness, untrammeled by form limitations; it has also been called 'the funnel or the channel for the sound'; it has been named the "trumpet through which the escaping AUM can pass." The ability to use this door or channel is brought about by the practice of alignment; hence the emphasis laid upon this exercise in the attempt to train aspirants and disciples."  (R&I:42)

Read more in The Rays and the Initiations, p. 42

Figure 9 (repeat)
From The Rays and the Initiations
Click to see larger image.

Figure 40
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"Trumpeted words" is a key phrase the Tibetan uses, to describe the third formula for group integration (see the DNA2 quote below). It is this formula which is according to him the "seed of all philosophies" and is instrumental in consummating the third initiation.

The vortex design which makes up the main body of the trumpet form creates the confining walls through which fohat or the enunciated "sound" can travel from higher levels to the lower with the least expenditure of energy and with the least resistance. (See Figure 40.) The main body of this trumpet design can be seen to be the color red symbolizing the 1st aspect of deity. From out of its flanged throat the thread of pure fohat fire blasts fourth. All of the seven rays in their potentiality or embryonic state can be seen in the rainbow ring around its inner throat. The first ray or aspect of deity always contains the other six rays latently or embryonically within its constitution.

The trumpet, a percussive instrument, is loud and shrill, and parallels outwardly on the physical plane in miniature the blast of first ray force on the inner planes as it is directed by an advanced group of first ray devas who work on the first atomic sub-plane of all the planes. It is those groups of maha-devas whose task it is to bring an end to form life when the usefulness of those forms has expired. Although the Tibetan may be specifically referring to the disintegrative sound of the first ray in this formula 3, which brings death to all outer forms, the vortex or trumpet design is equally found in all ray expressions in some variation. Since all occult energies or forces from the highest levels to the lowest are the result of sound enunciated by some entity expressing one of the seven rays, they will by nature conform in spite of their unique differences to some type of vortical or funnel configuration because of their rotary and spiral-cyclical motion.

It is not a coincidence that one of the key symbols of the first ray is the sword. The image of the projected energy being sent out by the figure seen here, and then being received, is one of the trumpet and its sound signature has been reproduced by sensitive electronic equipment and clearly looks like a sword. Like attracts like and sound can either build or it can destroy depending on its uses.

It is those groups of devas whose task it is to bring an end to form life when the usefulness of those forms has expired. Although the Tibetan may be specifically referring to the disintegrative sound of the first ray in this formula, which brings death to all outer forms, the vortex design is equally found in all ray expressions in some variation. Since all occult energies or forces from the highest levels to the lowest are the result of sound enunciated by some entity expressing one of the seven rays, they will by nature conform in spite of their unique differences to some type of spherical-vortex or funnel configuration because of their rotary and spiral-cyclical motio

Figure 40a
Click to see larger image.

Here is an excerpt from the Evans Wentz version of The Tibetan Book of the Dead, or Bardo Thödol, a sacred treatise on the art of transitioning from this world to another more advanced one through the use of Mantra and sound esoterically understood.

“MANTRAS OR WORDS OF POWER”

“A clue to the power of mantras, as referred to throughout the Bardo Thödol, lies in the ancient Greek theory of music; namely, that, if the key—note of any particular body or substance be known, by its use the particular body or substance can be disintegrated. Scientifically, the whole problem may be understood through understanding the law of vibration. Each organism exhibits its own vibratory rate, and so does every inanimate object from the grain of sand to the mountain and even to each planet and sun. When this røte of vibration is known, the organism or form can, by occult use of it, be disintegrated.

For the adept in occultism, to know the mantra of any deity is to know how to set up psychic or gift—wave communication similar to, but transcending, wireless or telepathic communication with that deity. For example, if the adept be of the left—hand path, that is to say, a black magician, he can, by mantras call up and command elementals and inferior orders of spiritual beings, because to each belongs a particular rate of vibration, and this being known and formulated as sound in a mantra gives the magician power even to annihilate by dissolution the particular elemental or spirit to whom it belongs.

As a highwayman at the point of a gun compels a traveler to give up money, so a black magician with a mantra compels a spirit to act as he wills. On account of this supreme power of sound, when formulated in mantras corresponding to the particular rate of vibration of spiritual beings and of spiritual and physical forces, the mantras are jealously guarded. And, for the purpose of maintaining this guardianship, lines of gurus (i.e. religious teachers) are established in whose keeping the words of power are placed.

Candidates for initiation into this Brotherhood of Guardians of the Mysteries must necessarily be well tested before the Treasures can be entrusted to them, and they themselves* in turn, be made Guardians. Unto the shishya after he has been well tested, the mantra which confers power over the sleeping Goddess KundalinI is transmitted; and when he utters it the Goddess awakens and comes to him to be commanded. Then is the need of the guru great; for the awakened Goddess can destroy as well as save—according as the mantra is wisely or unwisely used. As the outer air vibrates to gross sounds, the inner vital—airs (prāna vāyu) are set in motion and utilized by the use of the sounds of mantras : the Goddess first catches up the subtle occult sound, and, in tones of divine music, she causes it to ascend from her throne in the Root—Support Psychic—Centre to one after another of the Centers above, until its music fills the Lotus of a Thousand Petals and is there heard and responded to by the Supreme Guru. The visualization of a deity, as frequently directed in our text, is often but another way of thinking of the essential characteristics of that deity. A like yoglc effect comes from visualizing or else audibly pronouncing the mantra corresponding to that deity; for, by speaking forth as sound the mantra of any deity, that deity is made to appear. Unless the mantras are properly intoned they are without effect; and when printed and seen by the eye of the uninitiated they appear utterly meaningless—and so they are without the guidance of the human guru.

Furthermore, the correct pronunciation of the mantra of a deity depends upon bodily purity as well as upon knowledge of its proper intonation. Therefore it is necessary for the devotee first to purify, by purificatory mantras, the mouth, the tongue, and then the mantra itself, by a process called giving life to or awakening the sleeping power of the mantra. The occult ability to employ a mantra properly confers supernormal powers called Siddhis, and these can be used, according to the character of the adept, either as white magic for good ends or as black magic for evil ends: the right— and left—hand paths being the same up to this point of practical application of the fruits obtained through psychic development. One path leads upward to Emancipation, the other downward to Enslavement.”

"It [the energy set loose in sacrifice] deals with the purposes and plans of the Silent Watchers over the three planes -- the five, and the seven; it deals with the dynamic force of the great Destroying Angels on all the planes, who will eventually -- through the manipulation of the three forms of energy -- bring to an end all that is. These angels are a mysterious group of fohatic Lives Who sound forth the trumpets of destruction, and by means of the notes sounded produce that shattering which will set loose the energy of forms." (CF:882-83)

Read more in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire , p. 882

Figure 41
Click to see larger image.

The seven rays are not separate from each other in the common sense of the term, but together form a magnificent multidimensional composite of many spheres. Each sphere can be seen as nesting within or overlapping all of the others. (See Figure 41.) All vibration or motion is the result of the formless impacting upon the gross. When fohat begins its descent and meets resistance from the inertia of the lower planes, it sinuously begins to twist giving us the idea of how the birth of consciousness through the symbolism of motion comes into existence. This is the second aspect of deity which is associated with cyclic-spiral motion, as rotary motion which is associated with the third aspect of deity. This is the basis of the great truth spoken by HPB in the Secret Doctrine that "fohat drills holes in space"

Cyclically and in rhythmic rotation all of the seven rays trumpet or herald their important contribution at one time or another, in pairs or singularly. The trumpet design is long and cylindrical and from its throat the potent thread of fohatic fire, sound, can be heard issuing forth. This "will life" that is essentially formless in its highest state can be recognized by both its power and its ability to manipulate all the different grades of devic life within its periphery.

In the study of conventional electricity we have such an example. The visible flashing of brilliant streams or threads of bright luminous fire is not the electrical current itself but only its effect on the atmosphere or medium through which it manifests or travels. Electricity must ever remain an enigma or mystery until the disciple passes through the divine alchemical fires and knows directly and with certitude what animates the hidden worlds of spiritual energy and force.

The Tibetan further qualifies the funnel design in The Rays and the Initiations, p.42 in this way. This passage is particularly relevant in understanding this third formula for group initiation and has a direct relationship to the third initiation. Read more in The Rays and the Initiations, p. 42

Figure 42
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Figure 42 is an attempt to depict that esoteric truth graphically. It has a distinct difference from figure 40 in that the main body of the trumpet is constructed of all the seven rays instead of just the first ray symbolized by the red. From out of the throat of the funnel escapes the A.U.M depicted in green symbolizing a third ray soul being released from the imprisonment of matter.

We are told by the Tibetan that the trumpet symbolism has a strong fourth ray connotation and relates to the fourth kingdom and the soul ray of humanity. This brief description of the formula and its accompanying images can be said to be an expression of the first and fourth rays. Other interpretations or ray analyses may be equally valid. Many of the historical allegories and symbols found in Christianity and many world religions around sounding trumpets, spiral or elongated horns, are distortions or over-simplifications of these hidden forces we have just outlined. As an example:

"The seventh angel sounded his trumpet and there were loud voices in heaven which said: The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he will reign for ever and ever." -- Revelations 11:15.

No symbols can capture or approximate the magnificent hierarchy of revolving forces on the inner planes. The images presented here, however, when animated are useful approximations from a fourth ray point of view that can be used for visualization purposes on the form side of the Great Divide.

Formula Three:

     "The idea of meaning, cause and being underlies the symbology or the significance of the formula with which we are concerned in this instruction. I have pointed out to you before the difficulty of putting these ancient symbols or symbolic writings into such form that they can convey meaning through language. This difficulty is well-nigh insurmountable in connection with this third formula. The reason for this is that this formula has been preserved as sounds or (if I may use so ambiguous a phrase) as trumpeted words. It has not been committed to inscription as have the two previous symbolic formulas which you have already received. All that I can do is to give you a meaning (as far as I myself can understand and you can grasp) of these great sounds or chords, massed together and interspersed with certain very ancient phrases. You know yourselves how difficult it is to express the significance of the sound 0M. This is a still more difficult task; little human thinking has been applied as yet to this Formula but much has been given to the Sacred Word. Until some thought has been applied to what I shall now attempt to give you, it is no easy matter to find the words to express the underlying idea - the idea you can contact at your present point of development.

     "This third formula concerns Time and the consciousness of the spiritual man who is unaware of separation, of divisions in time and space or of the spell of the Great Illusion. It deals with the fact of immortality and with the unshatterable continuity of consciousness and life. It is this formula which - at the third initiation - produces the transfiguration which comes when the Eternal Now is realized and when the continuity of awareness and of identity is seen as an aspect of Being. This formula has been called by one of the Masters "the seed of all philosophies," and in that phrase you may find light on the subject - provided you know what philosophy is!

     "To the initiate who uses this formula, creating the necessary sounds and enunciating the ancient words in due place (and these I may not give you), the following six thoughts are emphasized in his consciousness; these six thoughts will give you the intent of the formula as clearly as is possible. It is not possible to convey to you the true beauty of the concepts, but if you will have in mind the thought of meaning as light on life, of cause as the breath of experience, and of Being as the initiator of all that is, then some vision may come, some dream arise in your consciousness, and some power of accomplishment pour in. The Masters use this formula when faced with death in some form or another (and these words must be used literally). I refer not to death as it may affect them, but to death as it affects God's created universe, producing release or finality, or opening the door to new life and closing the door on a cycle of manifestation, a civilization, or a race or nation.

     "Here, therefore, are the six conditioning thoughts which the initiate holds in his consciousness when using the formula - a formula which is older than the Stanzas of Dzyan:

1. God IS.  The Lord for aye stands firm.  Being exists alone.  Naught else is.
2. Time IS.  Being descends to manifest.  Creation is.  Time then and form agree. Being and time do not agree.
3. Unity IS.  The One between comes forth and knows both time and God.  But time destroys that middle One and only Being IS.
4. Space IS.  Time and space reverberate and veil the One who stands behind.  Pure Being IS - unknown and unafraid, untouched, for aye unchanged.
5. God IS.  Time, space, the middle One (with form and process) go, and yet for aye remain.  Pure reason then suffices.
6. Being cries forth and says:...(untranslatable).  Death crumbles all.  Existence disappears, yet all for aye remains - untouched, immutably the same.  God IS.

Each phrase out of the six has its own symbol at the close of each unit of thought, if I may call it that. These I may not give you or the chords upon which the phrases go forth. I have tried to indicate one of the meanings of the formula, but have not given a translation or a paraphrase. Bear this in mind and as you ponder these six sentences, try to give them an interpretation which will come to you from the world of meaning, producing a practical application, from the world of causes, producing an enlightened understanding, and (if you are far enough along) from the world of being, producing inclusiveness. These formulas have naught to do with personalities or with souls in deep incarnation, identified with form in the three worlds; they concern world movement, great and universal developments, and human progress (as a whole) towards the divine. You cannot yet think in those terms, but you can at least attempt to do so and grow thereby."    (DNA2:283-285)

Read more in Discipleship in the New Age , Vol 2, p. 283

NOTE:   Please notify us if the original designer of the image used in Figure 41 is found, so that we can include proper credits and reference.

Figure 43
Click to see larger image.

FORMULA 4 for group integration:

      A cautionary note is warranted here. The animated symbol shared here is not simply the personal work of an individual artist but is a potent symbol given by the Master DK for group integration and use. It is specifically constructed to stimulate the different spiritual bodies of the viewer and its use should be discontinued if any discomfort is experienced. It could be classified as a new type of art, but it is primarily constructed to cause a particular condition in the viewer’s perceptions. On the very lowest level and put into a more modern scientific language it has the potential to entrain certain brainwave frequencies and help create a magnetic resonance in the observer which will assist in their meditations and alignments. So important is this new and more esoteric work it will require an entire commentary to outline and explains more fully. The Spiritual Hierarchy is demanding new and more dynamic approaches to group integration that may seem to the untrained eye to be mere entertainment or novelty.

     The use of this type of symbol can become a type of ritual enacted upon the high mental plane when the full creative participation of the student’s imagination or picture making faculties are engaged. “Energy we know follows thought” but only if the interior focus and concentration is powerful enough. This is an important consideration since the higher initiations take place primarily in the causal field and only in the personality or physical brain as a reflex or grounding agent.

     A few key quotes by the Tibetan Master DK on this 4th Group Formula.

     Formula 4 . . . Concerns dynamic energy and is the basis of the true Laya-Yoga; this yoga deals ever with the point within the circle and its relation to other points which condition the evolutionary process. (DINA 2 366)

     Formula Four has a specific effect upon the "jewel in the lotus," awakening it to life; this it does (through effects produced) upon the three planes of the three worlds, thus bringing about changes in the seven wheels (centres) so that the "dynamic point at the centre of each wheel obliterates the lesser points of force, and thus the wheel begins to turn upon itself." DINA 2 250)

     Formula IV . . . Lead us from chaos to Beauty.

     “This formula is presented in the form of a symbol—one which is in such constant movement that it is most difficult to describe or to make it live before you.

     There lies before the investigator a square or oblong, composed of a kaleidoscopic mass of inchoate colours, moving, pulsating and in constant indescribable confusion. Superimposed upon this square is a radiant sun with a penumbra composed of the seven prismatic colours; these radiate from the sun in regular rhythmic bands and produce a marvellous blaze of colour. The background of the square appears to have its confusion of colours shown of a heavy, brilliant kind and quality; the scheme of beauty emerging (even if it appears as superimposed) is translucent and delicate and radiantly living in hue. The heavier background can be distinctly seen through the translucence. This formula differs according to the polarisation of the one who visions it and who studies it. If he is focussed in the personality, and is therefore conditioned by his personality ray, one type of energy will impinge upon his consciousness; if he is soul conscious and soul focussed, another type of energy will have its effect. Thus two different pictures will emerge. Both will be correct, but the interpreting agent will be different.

     This formula, if carefully considered and studied for a number of years, will become a key form by means of which aspects of the creative process will come to the attention of the student, plus revelation as to some of the divine objectives which are wider and of greater and richer implication than has yet been realised. I would here remind you that these formulas are not symbols of what already is, but are indicatory key forms of what may or shall be—a very different matter and one which you should bear in mind. They are symbols of the future and not of the past; they are predictive and not consummating; they reveal what is on the way as the result of the divine thought and are not pictorial presentations of what already is.

     Therefore, they are not easy to grasp and interpret, because it is only the activity of the intuition which will enable you to understand and move forward into the new impulsive causal area. Difficult though this task may be (and, my brother, is), it is of major importance to disciples in training for initiation, because it will steadily tend to facilitate their entry into the world of causes and their emergence from the world of effects. You can see also from this that this formula is related to the Law of Karma; in fact, in the ancient records from which these formulas are taken, Formula IV has the symbol of one of the four Lords of Karma at the four corners of this square or oblong design. This formula is sometimes called that of "the Sun upon the Square." I have no more to say anent this theme at this time or about this formula in this Instruction. All that I am giving you is intended to be suggestive and to develop in you the power to use the interpretive sense—one of the new senses as far as experience and experiment are concerned, but which is latent in every man.” (DINA 2 306-7)