Becoming the Path II
The Teachings of the Sea Gods
The Adept and the Path
By
Valerie Bonwick
And
Jonathon Bigras
Sound and Form
In considering the relationship between sound and form, the following, comments bring us to a discussion of sound and its importance in the life of an Initiate. We have made many comments upon the power of sound in chapters Four and Six, but a greater understanding of the power of sound waves and the positive power of the sounded word will aid you in becoming the Path.
Before examining the positive practice of sound, let us reflect a little upon avoiding the damage inflicted when the printed or spoken word is sounded falsely. False speech is a practice that is not confined to any one section of the populace and is the responsibility of everyone. The roots of this modern-day concern may be discovered far back in history.
Speech and Becoming the Path
Questers of today are quite often familiar with Eastern mantras, many of which were inherited from Lemurian sources with some latter-day Atlantean input, but the bulk of the Atlantean mantric lore has been lost.
The Druids of ancient Britain and Gaul were mainly of the Atlantean descent who intermingled with the indigenous Hyperborean tribes. Later on in their own history, they drew upon the half forgotten teachings of our mutual ancestors when they founded their own mystery schools. Traditions of mantra practice, both positive and negative, were still current within the inner sanctuary of their schools and they made every effort to set preventative measures in place that would correct damaging speech at its source.
The fragment of verse which follows was brought to my attention by V. B. when we were discussing work on the self. To my mind it represents very well the responsibility which should be placed upon the spoken word by all mankind, but most especially by Questers who are treading the Path.
We can sympathize with one philosopher of the Druids who commented somewhat dryly that:
There is no man a hero,
Save he who would speak the truth.
It is indeed true, that the disciple in his wisdom, must at times remain silent while others speak out and sometimes speak out, when others remain silent. Both courses may require considerable courage or self-restraint according to the situation. Less dramatically perhaps, each and every Quester has ample opportunity to practice the discipline of judicious speech in everyday life and this is a field of practice which must not be neglected.
Because of the emphasis sometimes placed upon speech rather than thought and quite often the expression of speech without due thought, we believe you will enjoy with us this rather charming admonition:
Consider before thou speakest,
First, what thou speakest;
Secondly, why thou speakest;
Thirdly, to whom thou speakest;
Fourthly, concerning whom thou speakest;
Fifthly, what will become of what thou speakest;
Sixthly what will be the benefit of what thou speakest;
Seventhly, who may be listening before thou speakest;
Place thy word on the end of thy finger tip before thou speakest it,
And turn it there seven ways before thou speakest it,
And no harm will ever result from what thou speakest.
Myverian Archeology III ( Translated from an early Welsh manuscript, it is considered to have survived from an earlier Druidic source.)
Magical Mantra –OM
On a creative note, we will now take a little time to examine some of the properties and qualities associated with the sounding of a sacred word. We have chosen to discuss the sounding of the Om or Aum, because it is most suitable for your use when practicing the exercises which follow in later chapters.
There is no way that the sounding of this sacred word can be used efficiently or effectively in the service of negativity and it is impervious to perverted usage. Therefore, it is practical and beneficent whether sounded as an invocation, affirmation or benediction.
The traditions surrounding this sounding of the Om or Aum, are many and varied, but we do not intend to document a history of those traditions in this chapter. It is the intent of our elders to touch upon those facts which have been tried and proven by our people down through the millennia.
Om is one of the so-called sacred sounds. It was first brought within the planets aura when the Indwelling Intelligence took up residence on Earth. There are seven sacred sounds which are related to the root races, Om is the fifth of the seven and it is expressed as a response which balances the particular note sounded by the present root race, which is the fifth.
As we have written elsewhere, Om is the fingerprint of the Hierarchy and when sounded in choir with the sacred sounds of the previous four root races, the resulting chord is symbolic of and instrumental in expressing, the “Hand of God.“
When sounded correctly, one of the beneficent qualities of the Om, is the cleansing of the impure vibrations in the immediate radius within which the mantra can be heard or felt. Om disperses negativity and creates a radius of positivity within which Truth may function with greater understanding.
The above is one of the reasons that Om has been sounded as a greeting between the Knowers of the major space cultures for countless evolutions. When sounded correctly, it prepares a pure field of creativity to facilitate intercommunication of pristine clarity between Beings who are representative of quite dissimilar cultures, thereby providing greater understanding even on the Pilgrims Way.
Om remains the summation of existence, pre-existence and the conditions of the Eternal. Parallel to the fact that you are at this time, the summation of all that you have done and all that you have been in previous lives, so also is Om or Aum, the synthesis which is representative in essence of the sacred sounds, past and present.
The correct sounding of the Om depends upon the quality of tone, level of pitch, degree of intensity and intent of the practitioner, but it is the reason for sounding the Om, which determines the method of its sounding.
Exteriorization
For the purpose of creating a mini-environment of pure vibration, sound the Om with your mouth well-rounded and with an open throat, begin the sound at the back of the hard palate, gradually move the tone forward to the front of your mouth and release the reverberation smoothly into your immediate environment. It is a very good idea when moving into a new dwelling to upgrade its vibration by sounding the Om and if you have hosted visitors of low-level vibration within your environment or who are physically depleted due to illness, return positivity to your dwelling by sounding the sacred word, however softly!
Interiorization
The sacred sound Om, protects the secret of disillusions reversal and provides the magnification of Atman’s transmutation of the seven sins.
It is in the service of the above that we change to the personalized method of sounding the Om. Follow the previous instructions until releasing the sacred sound, but instead of prolonging the sounding of the open vowels, concentrate the reverberation upon the closing consonant of the Mmmm, then you will register the interiorization of the vibration within you. This also ensures that negative vibrations which may have impinged upon your aura during the period of time prior to your meditation, received no opportunity to cling to you unbidden.
Feminine Principle
The 20th century has produced a resurgence of sentiment concerned with the readjusting the practical inconsistencies that are expressed in the lives of women compared to those of their male counterparts. Therefore, it is not out of place at this point to say a few words regarding the life-style of Dagon women.
Dagon men and women consider their life-patterns to be equal in value and they respect each other as equals. We also realize that we each, men and women, possess qualities that are unique in respect and value them accordingly.
From what we have told you previously, you will know that we take it for granted that dwelling space is provided for us according to our needs. We do not need to prepare our foods individually, they are served to us by choice in any one of the beautiful dining areas designated for the purpose. This arrangement relieves us, both male and female from shopping, storing or preparing foods in our individual dwelling places and conserves time, space and energy.
Laundry is washed for us by a communal laundering service that we take turns in running ourselves, this also conserves fresh water. Many of the tasks that fall to Human Women as a matter of course, are shared by our people, men and women alike and it also includes the raising of our young.
Our way of life ensures that each of us has equal access to vocations, opportunities for mental and spiritual growth and physical leisure. Of course, this system also demands and depends upon each and everyone of us performing the most menial of tasks, when it is our turn to do so.
There are some important differences between Human and Dagon women however, resulting from the separation between our peoples at the time of the Deluge. Our ancestors were subjected to deprivation and anguish because of their enforced transfer to underwater Communal life, but they were also spared the prolonged, radiation-like aftereffects that remained from the last battles of planet Earth’s most deadly war.
One of those important side effects weakened the Human female form so that she became physiologically sensitive to the cycles of the moon, at first this was considered a sickness, but now humankind considers it to be normal. Another change which did not affect Dagon women because of their underwater protection was, the ease that had previously attended childbirth and which Dagon women retained, became both difficult and unpredictable on the surface of the planet.
Therefore, many of the safeguards which were initially co-ordinated by the Great Initiates to ensure equality between men and women after the division of the sexes, were lost to land dwellers practically overnight. This has remained a source of concern, but the originators of those safeguards are still in contact with us and remain ready to offer their encouragement as they have ever done. For instance, the following words from:
Ladies Isis
“I am the Feminine Principle. Initially I exemplified those qualities which were wanting in the Human Race at the time that I arrived on Earth. I am Venusian and I was sent to Earth to represent a characteristic expression of life as achieved by my people many ages ago.
The expression of this principle on Earth was not arrived at over night, but was gradually awakened in the Human consciousness by providing an ideological goal for women to work towards. It was decided that if 50% of mankind could respond to the psychological input of extra-terrestrial vibration from the source of the Feminine Principle, then man could avoid many of the pitfalls which await a race that is in the process of progressing from infancy to maturity.
It is just as important today to reiterate that—Woman is, and while progressing towards a more perfect expression of her functions in life, she does not achieve her full potential by aping the mannerisms or the failings of her opposite number.
Woman has deviated much from her original role and she must cultivate her strengths and eliminate her own weaknesses. This is an evolutionary necessity which must be accomplished without the interference or historical criticism from her male counterpart.
There are also excellent qualities exemplified by the male principle, but if Woman is to free herself psychologically, to be true to herself, she must avoid exchanging female limitations for those of the male.
Take courage. For while it is true that at no time in the history of this world has average Woman born of the Earth, fully achieved the identity envisioned for her, neither has average Man achieved his full potential.
Bear this in mind while doing your best to evolve positively during your present incarnation if you have incarnated in a female form. Meditating upon your potential can lift you to higher realms than you can possibly imagine, but first—honesty, humility and reality must assume priority in the search for your real self.
The archetypical woman of perfection has been portrayed by a picture drawn by imperfect man. Now, she must be on her guard against becoming a creation fantasized by an imperfect woman.
I first contacted Earth at the time of the division of the sexes. I now reside in the Siriusan system, but I retain a similar outward appearance as in the traditional portrayal with which so many of you are familiar, for my work on Earth is not yet complete.“
Lady Isis is working towards many male and female improvements during this Aquarian age, with which she is symbolically associated. Indeed, our own people’s involvement in the practice of mind merge prior to the conception of our children owes much to her guidance.
In the years to come, women will receive training techniques to mentally control the time of the child’s conception. This technique of birth control will be supported by techniques of painless childbirth and moral training of the infant will also be set into place prior to its birth. The respect and reverence for that procreation once received and now demands during these years of social disease that plague humankind, will be reinstated.
You are wrong if you think that Lady Isis brings little for the comfort of men. It is woman who very often determines the mental and moral caliber of the male child and it is in her hands that the quality of the male of the 21st century depends.
What of the Male Principle, paternal, protective and princely in conduct, who personifies him? Once upon a time, he was personified by Hercules, but now, the male principle waits to be redefined by an Avatar whose Light has already begun to influence the Earth.
Shamballa and Schools of Yoga
The Spiritual Quest Migrations provided one of the avenues by which the teachings of the ages were transported to distant lands. The standard bearer of those teachings was the Initiate Thoth, so well remembered in Egyptian lore.
All genuine Systems of yoga training originated from Shamballa or the Hierarchy. The training of the ladder Path when it was first initiated 60,000 years ago, presented a synthesis of the major systems of yoga. One or other of the methods could be emphasized to fit the needs of the individual Questors, adjusted to accommodate various circumstances or adapted to suit different environments down through the years, leaving no sincere Quester without access to the Way of the Union which leads to realization of the One.
Since that time, various schools have emphasized one system of yoga or another, sometimes improving upon the presentation when the teacher has received direct guidance from Shamballa, more often than not discarding internal safeguards which protected the foolhardy and provided deterrence to unworthy applicants, while at other times perverting the spirit of sanctity from which sprang the seeds truth.
Mudras
Mudra yoga was one of the first systems of training to be given to mankind. Introduced very gradually, it included attitudes designed to develop sensitivity in specific areas of the physical form. Early Lemurians were the first to receive the exercises which were intended to promote correct practices associated with physiological functions mankind now takes for granted.
Little of the original Mudric practice now survives, except that involving the Questers hands and fingers, but it is obvious from its inclusions within sanctified training practices, and that mankind of today owes his manual dexterity to that early training.
The relationship between the mudras and certain Sanskrit characters have been commented upon by some Questers. Certainly, an effort was made in times past to combine the two, adapting mudras to imitate Sanskrit formulae and vice versa, but this does not negate the fact that the practice of Mudra yoga was initiated first, the Sanskrit language followed later.
Hatha Yoga
Later on in the Lemurian Age, beneficial exercises were introduced to encourage a stable physical form and to establish rituals associated with practical hygiene. The process of preparing the physical form for higher levels of evolutionary progress, eventually developed into the complex system of Hatha Yoga. The major study areas of Hatha Yoga need not concern you at this time, because most Questers will already have received such training during previous incarnations.
Mantras
The development of speech was another advancement. The practice of Mantra Yoga was intended to promote exceptional qualities of evolutionary value on a higher turn of the spiral.
· The first intention, was to help mankind to identify himself as Man, rather than animal-man.
· The second intention was to provide man with the means by which he could amplify the vibration of his thought through the expression of sound as speech. In the beginning, great attention was paid to how, why and what was expressed vocally, words were not wasted.
· The third intention was to provide a wider range of opportunities for Man to pursue when he reincarnated, utilizing the vehicle of languages as speech patterns developed.
The practice of Mantra Yoga has persisted to this day although it is but a shadow of what it was at one time, yet it is possible even now, to work successfully and beneficently within the spirit of its original function.
Yantra
Another system of yoga was introduced during the early Atlantean age and which is almost been forgotten, was that of Yantra Yoga –the meaning and practice of signs, symbols and formulae, which are still very much in use on the higher levels of the inner planes.
Yantra was a pertinent influence upon the development of abstract thought when it was included in the training schools of Atlantis, but it fell victim to the vulgarization of over familiarity when its secrets were released and dissipated commercially. Originally, Atlantean Initiates received the yoga from Sirius by way of Shamballa. Today in another form, a similar impetus is gaining ground by way of current computer technology, which also received its initiatory impulse from Sirius.
Today
The yoga of mind—Raja Yoga, is that which demands our study during the Arya Age. The steps of the Ladder Path which have been chosen for your perusal are presented in a simplified version, designed to further progress as swiftly as possible. For those of you amongst our Quester friends who are acquainted with Sanskrit terminology, the training chosen for this stag of the Path includes a Raja Yoga, Laya Yoga—the science of the chakras and Karma Yoga—that of duty or service, presented from within the philosophical framework derived from the practical experience of the Elders and reflecting the Light of the Source.
Pages 210-222
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