CHAPTER XIV
THE INNER GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD
Among the many startling ideas which confront
the inquirer into Theosophy, one of the most
significant is that there is an inner Government
of the World. The international life of the
world throughout the ages seems to us so purposeless in most ways, that one is thoroughly
in accord with Gibbon's dictum that the history
of the nations “is, indeed, little more than the
register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes
of mankind”.
It seems scarcely credible to the sceptical
mind of today that every event in the world's
happenings is being used and guided to fulfil a
Divine Plan. Our religious faith is sufficient to
believe in a far-off “divine event to which the
whole creation moves”; but when it comes to
believing literally that not a sparrow “shall fall
on the ground without your Father”, our faith
is of the heart and not of the head.
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Yet no more wonderful fact exists in nature
than this revealed by the Christ; it is literally
true that not a sparrow falls, without that
event being noted in a Consciousness, and without a Love enwrapping the sparrow as it falls,
and guiding it beyond the gates of death to a
happier life. Here, on this globe of ours which
spins round the sun, Mighty Beings guide
every event; and the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind, as too, their heroisms,
sacrifices and dreams, are used by Them to
achieve that particular part of the Plan of the
Logos, which is intended for fulfilment as the
days and months pass, one by one.
The facts as to an Inner Government of the
World have been long kept as the most precious
of secrets in the Ancient Mysteries; but, with
the opportunities of a swifter evolution now
dawning for men, what was once hidden is now
revealed. To many, no doubt, the revelation
will mean nothing at all; in some it will give
rise to mockery; in a few it may call forth both
a new insight into life, and a new determination to throw themselves heart and soul into the
work of furthering “God's plan, which is Evolution”. It is for the sake of these latter, who
long to understand in order to justify to the
brain the faith which is in their hearts, that a
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great body of occult knowledge has been revealed to men through the Theosophical
Movement.
Throughout all these pages of First Priciples of Theosophy,
the one dominant theme has been that
all that happens in nature, in life, and in the
heart of man, is the Self-revelation of the
Logos. It has been shown that His Life
reveals itself stage by stage, and that all forms
of life and consciousness are related to each
other in a ladder of evolution. An atom and
an ameba contain His Life; but more of His
Life is revealed in a Dhyan Chohan or a Planetary Logos. On this earth of ours, all of us
men are embodiments of His Life, and we reveal Him more fully than can our younger
brothers of the animal creation. In an exactly
similar way, there are Beings higher than man
who reveal more still of His Life than can man.
It is They who form the Inner Government of
the World.
Each globe within the solar system has a
band of His Ministers who carry out His Plan
for that globe. This body is called the "Hierarchy" of the globe, and the Hierarchy on our
Earth is known in tradition by many names,
the one now chiefly in use being the "Great
White Brotherhood". This Brotherhood is
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not a mere association of Supermen but a
living organism which contains the Life-energies of the Logos. It is truly a "Grand Lodge
Above", the pattern of every Grand Lodge
that has ever been, and its mighty Officers
labor from noon to noon without ceasing.
The Adepts of the Great White Brotherhood
work in true hierarchical order, according to
their qualifications, each having his work in a
particular department of the Plan.
It has just been said that the Great White
Brotherhood contains the Life-energies of the
Logos. As the Logos, when in manifestation,
works as a Trinity, so all His energies flow
through three Ministers, who are the representatives for this Earth of His triple nature, and
who are the channels of the energies of that
Triplicity. The Great Triangle, "eternal in
the heavens", is that of the Logos as the First,
Second and Third Logos — Shiva, Vishnu and
Brahma, or Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Its
representation here on the Earth is another
Triangle, composed of three Great Adepts,
known as the Lord of the World, the Bodhisativa and the Maha-Chohan. The First
brings down to humanity the energies of the
Atmic or Power aspect of the Logos; the
Second, as the World-Teacher, is the channel
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of His Wisdom aspect, and performs for
humanity the mysterious function which is the
"Atonement"; the Third is the channel of His
Divine Mind, and reveals to earth all those
activities which are typical of the Third Logos,
the "Holy Ghost".
Though the Logos in activity is a Trinity,
there is an aspect of Him as the Unmanifested;
similarly is it with the Triangle of the Hierarchy
of this Earth. Behind the Great Three — the
King who wills, the Prime Minister who plans,
and the General who executes — is a Fourth, the
Silent Watcher, who in the last Round was the
Lord of the World of our globe, and now
"watches and waits" behind the Three, but
doing what mighty actions for man and God we
scarce can conceive.
The grades of the Hierarchy which rules the
world are set down briefly in Fig. 118.
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The
Head of the Hierarchy is that lofty Being, the
Lord of the World, who wills and orders all
events on this globe for men and for angels.
Within His consciousness is recorded everything
which happens on all the seven planes of our
globe. Since His aura pervades the entire
Earth, He is aware of all that happens within
that aura, and no act is so secret but He knows,
no injustice so small but He records it.
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(Only contains Fig. 118.)
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The King, as He is often named, is not an
Adept of our humanity; the position which He
holds is too lofty a one to be filled by any Adept
of our human evolution. He is a mighty
Adept of the great Venus Scheme of Evolution,
and came thence six and a half million years
ago to take charge of the evolution of this Earth,
to succeed a predecessor who had taken charge
when humanity had been transferred from the
Moon Chain to the Earth Chain. Without His
fiat, none can be admitted into the Great White
Brotherhood, and it is His Star which flashes in
assent over the head of the Adept Initiator, as a
sign that He accepts the initiate into His Brotherhood. Hindu tradition, which knows or
Him, calls Him Sanat Kumara; the " Eternal
Virgin-Youth ", for His Body, though physical,
is not born of woman, but was made by kriyashatki, or will-power, and it never ages; and He
is in appearance not a man but a "Youth or
sixteen summers". He is the Will of the
Logos incarnate for men, and yet is His mighty
Love as vast as the ocean.
Round Him stand the Four Great Devarajas,
or the Rulers of the Elements, who adjust the
karmas of men, and great Devas or Angels are
as His ministers, ready to do His bidding. All
earthly kings, whose dynasties have gained His
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Benediction as a recognition of their selfless sevice for men, have that mysterious
“divine right of kings” as a part of their invisible heritage. When the crown of England is set upon
the head of her King, a far-off reminiscence of
the tradition as to the Great King of the World
is seen in the little globe which is placed in the
King's left hand, and in the sceptre, or Rod of
Power, which is placed in his right. For of a
truth, this Earth of ours, large though it be to
us, does lie in the hollow of His Hand, and
verily not a sparrow falls but He knows.
With Him are three Pupils and Assistants,
who also came from Venus; They are named
in Hindu tradition Sanandana, Sanaka and
Sanarana, and all the glorious Four are called
“mind-born Sons of Brahma” and “Lords of
the Flame”. The four Lords of the Flame
have been also called “the Head, the Heart,
the Soul and the Seed of undying knowledge”.
When the life wave shall. pass from Earth to
Mercury, it is these Three who will become in
turn Lords of Mercury, and guide all evolution
on that globe. They are known in Buddhism
as Pratyeka Buddhas, the “solitary Buddhas”; for They do not teach, or establish
world-religions. They are on the First or
ruling Ray, while the Buddhas are on the
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Second or teaching Ray. Though They stand
at the level of the Buddhas, Theirs is not the
role of World-Teachers. Hence the curiously
misleading description in popular Buddhism
of Them as “solitary” or “selfish” Buddhas,
who “cannot” teach. Their love is as great
as that of the Buddhas, but They give to men
Power, not Wisdom.
The Buddha Initiation is the highest achievement on this Earth on the Second Ray, and it is
taken by a Bodhisattva or World-Teacher as
the crown of His work of ages for humanity.
After founding religion after religion, [a Bodhisattva]
gathers, in the last of His lives, all His pupils
who are ready to enter the various grades of
Initiation, and He reincarnates on earth with
them. Then He establishes a world-religion,
and after the work of that physical body is over,
He passes to loftier work on other planes. As
He passes from humanity, He hands over to
His successor the duties of the World-Teacher.
The last of the Buddhas was the Buddha Gautama, and His successor
in the office of World-Teacher is the Bodhisattva Maitreya, already
called by Buddhist tradition Maitreya Buddha,
in anticipation of His future office.
On all the remaining five Rays, from the
Third to the Seventh, the highest Initiation, as
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a member of our humanity, is that of the Maha-Chohan. This office is held by only one Adept
at a time. According to the dominant influence in evolution, at any given epoch,. of a
Ray and its sub-rays, is the type of Adept who
holds the position of Maha-Chohan. He is
the great “Keeper of the Records” of the evolutionary processes of the globe, and supervises
and directs all the activities of the members of
the Great Brotherhood, as stage by stage They
develop the Great Plan. He has been described as one “to whose insight the future lies like
an open page”.
The Adept of the First Ray who takes the
Fifth Initiation usually enters thereafter upon
the arduous duties of the Manu of a Root-race
on a globe. His work has already begun with
the slow selection of the Egos who are going to
work under Him at the commencement of the
new race, and through all the successive sub-races as they appear one by one. During the
hundreds of thousands of years of the history
of a Root-race, He directs as its Manu the
building of variant after variant of the sub-races, and Himself incarnates in each sub-race
to set the form for it. After His work as Manu
is completed, He passes on to take the Eighth
Initiation as a Pratyeka Buddha, and aeons
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later to take the Ninth Initiation, that of a
Lord of the World. Only two Manus now
remain with humanity, the Manu Chakshusha
who founded the Fourth Root-race, the Atlantean, over a million years ago, and the Manu
Vaivasvata, who founded the Fifth Root-race,
the Aryan, about sixty thousand years ago.
A careful study of Fig. 118 will show that, on
all the seven Rays, there are Adepts up to the
level of the Asekha Initiation1. At this stage,
the Adept can make one of seven choices, as to
his future work (see Fig. 73). If he decides to
continue to work with our humanity, he works
on and finally takes the Sixth Initiation. After
this, he may, if he so chooses, leave his work
with humanity, and take up work elsewhere.
But ifhe decides to continue with humanity, he
then qualifies himself to be a Manu, or a Bodhisattva, or a Maha-Chohan, and takes the
Seventh Initiation2. The Adept who is a
Maha-Chohan, after his period of office is
over, once more makes his "choice". If he
chooses still to continue to work with humanity
as an official of the Hierarchy, he must transfer ...
1 The first, second, third and fourth Initiations will be dealt with in the next Chapter, "The Path of Discipleship".
2
There are, however, Adepts on both the First and Second Rays who have taken the Seventh Initiation, and who do not hold the offices of Manu or Bodhisattva, but do other work in the Great Plan.
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himself to the First or the Second Ray, in
order to proceed to take the Eighth Initiation.
Similarly, the Adept who holds the office of
Buddha, if he chooses still to take office in the
Hierarchy, must transfer himself to the First
Ray to take the Ninth Initiation.
The Adepts of any Ray, who leave humanity
from the Asekha level upwards, will take elsewhere those Initiations for which they have not
qualified themselves on this globe. One Ray
is not better than another. All the Initiations
can be taken on all the Rays. But since only
three Lords of the World are required during
a world-period, and only seven Manus and
seven Buddhas, and only a certain number of
Maha-Chohans, not all Adepts as a matter of
fact qualify for these offices, and the majority
of them "enter Nirvana" after the Asekha
Initiation, and pass on to forms of work which
do not bring them directly in touch any more
with our humanity.
The work of the world, visible and invisible,
is under the direction of the Adepts of the Great
White Brotherhood. Into Their hands the
Logos commits His Power, Wisdom and Love,
and They distribute the energy of the Logos
into all the many departments of human activity. Religion and philosophy, science and
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art, commerce and development, are inspired
and guided by Them; either incarnating
among men, or from the invisible, They move
men and nations as pawns on a board, striving
to win over men to cooperate with the Divine
Plan. They are constantly hindered in Their
work by the unwillingness of men; yet since
They may not coerce men's wills, They toil
with a patience which has no bounds, and
They inspire and guide all, brooding over
men's good and evil with infinite love and
understanding.
The “Everlasting Arms” of the Great Brothers enfold humanity, and while They labor
to complete the Plan, no ultimate failure is
possible for mankind. Because They, once
weak and sinful as we are today, have now
achieved Perfection, the vision of our Perfection
some day is not a dream but a reality. In
Their love is our comfort, and in Their strength
is our peace and salvation. To serve Them is
to gain the certainty that all things move in
the direction of the Good, the True and the
Beautiful; to be accepted by Them as Their
assistants and helpers is to enter on the Path
that leads to Deification.
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