SEVEN YOGAS OF THE SEVEN RAYS
quotes from
"Into Aquarius With The Masters"
by Mo Hone
The Absolute's Divine Essence, as a prerequisite to manifestation, is divided into seven divisions of tonal quality specifically related to basic motivations; these are called Rays and are distinguished by their vibrational frequencies, or on a lower harmonic by their colours. On Earth these have become known as the Seven Rays of Development.
Another way of looking at this division of His Essence is to compare the Absolute to daylight, in which unmanifest though essential state He would remain without something more gross or finite below that was able to reflect His qualities in their various hues. If a prism is held over some paper on a sunny day, the spectrum colours appear on the paper as a glorious representation of the divisions of white light; but the same light streaming from the sun before it reaches the prism remains invisible or unmanifest. It is the same in the cosmos, the white light of pure Absolute spirituality is unmanifest being infinite, and to become real and finite, whether on Earth or in the highest realms, it first has to be formed into the Seven Rays. Just as each person is spiritually one of seven distinct types according to these Seven Rays, so also are all higher and lower beings, the Masters included.
A further consideration of these Seven Rays is that the first three are called the major Primary Rays, and are to be found behind all manifestations of the Absolute in the cosmos; as such the First Ray expresses the positive masculine aspect or Spirit-Monad; the Second Ray expresses the negative feminine aspect or Soul-Ego; and the Third Ray expresses the neutral forming aspect, the vehicle for the creation or Body-Personality.It is significant that the colours of these three Rays are the primary colours, as all formations have their own colour and tone of colour made from these basic primaries, and the quality of each of these used in the 'mix' will also indicate the amount of each quality inherent in each individual manifestation.
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As the Seven Rays determine each individual's higher motivation through life, it follows that although there is only the one true Path which always involves contact with the Brotherhood either consciously or unconsciously, a person's attitude towards the spirit and their own methods of working towards its progressive development will vary according to their Ray type.Consequently the Path can give the appearance of being divided into seven distinct parallel paths when in fact each part is merely a division of the one way, just as a rainbow is the pure white light of the sun split temporarily into its prismatic hues.
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Just as people are different physically, so do they differ spiritually, and one person's path to salvation is another person's road to hell. Vedanta, the oldest extant religion, recognized this, but in the west it is forgotten knowledge and it must be revived. For too long people have tried to impress their own ideas, including religious ones, onto their neighbours, and violence has often been used as a means to accomplish this bigotry.
The Vedantics devised seven different types of development during the evolution of their philosophy, but in the modern western system of Yoga these tend to be re-grouped, or even considered as a singular corruption. They are called the seven Yogas, and their titles are Raja, Karma, Jnana, Hatha, Laya, Bhakti, and Yantra or Mantra. With certain reservations, which concern the slightly different make-up of individuals in present day society, these schools of Yoga match the seven ways that a person is able to attain enlightenment, but I will deal with this in more detail later.
Raja Yoga. This is the school of Pantanjali, based on the Yoga Sutras, and is the oldest as far as we can determine. It uses the will to control and effectively direct every part of an aspirant's nature towards the spiritual goal. It relates to the First Ray.Karma Yoga. This is the school of Shri Krishna, based on the wisdom of the Bhagavad-Gita, the doctrine of love for humanity and all other beings and the general goodwill towards others. It relates to the Second Ray.
Jnana Yoga. This is the school of Shankaracharya, based on the understanding of the principles of wisdom and the evolving philosophies of humanity. It relates to the Third Ray.
Hatha Yoga. This is based essentially on the balance between the body and the mind, with the goal of harmonious living. It relates to the Fourth Ray.
Laya Yoga. This is based on the awakening of the higher centres or chakras, through the application of detailed knowledge concerning the esoteric workings of the chakras and the serpent of Kundalini. It relates to the Fifth Ray.
Bhakti Yoga. This is concerned with the writings of the Bhagavad-Gita again, and is based on the adoration of God, coupled with an endless devotion and absolute faith in Him as the Saviour. It relates to the Sixth Ray.
Mantra Yoga, and also Yantra Yoga. These are based on the inherent power of symbols as an aid to contact the Divine; the symbols can either take the form of diagrams or mandalas (Yantra) or repetitious chants (Mantra), the latter being taken from the Vedas and Tantric hymns of the Hindus. They both relate to the Seventh Ray.
From the above it is easy to see how the Hindu religion has always catered for the seven basic types of human aspiration, whereas in the west this tolerance was unknown until recent times; and the main reason is that Christianity, the essential religion of the Piscean Age, is based very strongly on the character of its Age.We saw when discussing Piscean subjects that their deepest desire is to join up all diverse channels into one, and Christianity sought to do the same by treating all people as equal and teaching everybody the same way to the Path.
The idea of equality has been very necessary to humanity's evolution, but it is now time at the beginning of this New Age to recognize certain subtle differences between individuals: differences that are of the inner spirit and nothing to do with creed, colour, status or station.
This last point is very important, but I hope it will not require emphasis as I am certainly not suggesting segregation according to Ray type, which is as wrong as segregation according to skin colouring. All I am attempting to show you is that people do have differences in their spiritual motivation and we should become aware of this so that every person has a chance to go on the Path. During the Piscean Age, the majority of holy people have been of the Second Ray, and their 'devotees' have been either of the Second or Sixth Ray.
This over-emphasis of the two emotional Rays has caused a precedent. The typical First Ray person, who is happiest and best suited leading people either in battle or in business, and the typical Seventh Ray person, who is happy and content as a rich, independent art collector, answerable only to the rise and fall of the stock markets: these people, who might nevertheless have admirable spiritual qualifications, stand little chance of becoming aspirants under the old system.And that is why, up until now spirituality has been confined to religious doctrine rather than everyday life.
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A person's Ray relates to their higher self which makes an accurate assessment of their true Ray very difficult, especially as a different Ray appears to be operative on the three levels that relate to their lower three bodies, the Mental, Astral and Physical. These minor Ray influences cloud the awareness of a person’s true Ray, and need to be recognised as a hindrance to an awareness of the higher essence of spirituality which is an embodiment of the soul Ray one shares with one’s Master.
However this distorting process is a necessary part of the continuing existence of life on our planet. It acts like a shield between the blissful reality of the pure monadic Ray energies and man's physical form, which, if subjected to a sudden impulse from these high levels without the protection of such a barrier, would be extremely dangerous.
So we should recognise the existence of these extra Ray energies, yet seek to know the Ray of the soul which works through them, and which functions as our spiritual motivation.
Once again we are touching on the philosophy of Yoga and its teachings on the Kundalini serpent. Spiritual development is the way of preparing the physical form so that it is able to accept and benefit from contact with the higher self. We know this is achieved by de-angling, although mystical groups have different explanations and terminologies for the same practice.
Viewed symbolically, the serpent of Kundalini has to be slowly aroused before our perception and awareness can develop and learn to appreciate the qualities of our higher selves, which are our own characteristic Ray qualities. The serpent is this barrier between the reality of our monadic existence and our earthly existence which is mere illusion or Maya.
this page contains extracts from the book -
INTO AQUARIUS WITH THE MASTERS
The Spiritual Path of Humanity ~ a journey through time and space
ISBN 9780955430114
All content © Mo Hone 2008 All rights reserved
