The Fourth Initiation
The Great Renunciation
Renunciation of the causal body: awareness of the Spirit
Revelations and Mysteries:
At the fourth initiation, one understands the mystery of polarity.
Ray: Fourth Ray
Zodiac Signs involved: Taurus
Plane: it takes place on the buddhic plane
Centre: Heart
The man, now a disciple, having gained control over his astral body and learned how to consciously activate his mental body, finds himself on the threshold of a new evolutionary plane.
At the third Initiation, that of Transfiguration, the entire personality is flooded with light flowing from above. Only from this moment on does the Monad definitively guide the Ego. The Disciple, having freed himself from the limitations of the physical, emotional and mental worlds, has a much broader vision; thus he becomes aware of the Purpose and planetary karma in all its vastness, and consciously advances towards higher expansions of consciousness. [1]
He goes towards the fourth Initiation, called the Great Renunciation. With this initiation, the disciple acquires freedom from all self-interest, and the renouncing of the personal life in the interest of a larger whole. Even soul-consciousness ceases to be of importance and a more universal awareness, and one closer to the divine Mind, takes its place. [2] He thus manifests the supreme expression of the will-to-liberation from the three worlds—physical, emotional, and mental—with the aim of being able to help Humanity to a high degree by transmitting new energy to it.
The term Great Renunciation refers to detachment — a word that, in Eastern tradition, corresponds to the Western concept of renunciation.
It is an inner process that involves the “crucifixion” of the lower self, made possible only through the constant and daily practice of detachment. In Christianity, this moment is referred to as the Crucifixion, because Jesus, on the Cross, made the Great Renunciation for the salvation of Humanity: it was then that He received the Fourth Initiation. The term crucifixion, therefore, means “suffering with detachment”: the awareness that the soul does not suffer and that, for the Master who has attained liberation, there is neither pain nor anguish.
In this Initiation, the Law of Sacrifice begins to act upon the disciple, producing the destruction of the causal body, the body of the soul, so that the unified personality, infused by the soul, can act directly inspired by the Spiritual Triad, the triple expression or instrument of the Monad. The significance of these “destructive episodes which produce the freeing of the prisoner of the planet” (i.e., the divine, spiritual man) lies in the fact that, after the fourth initiation, the light of purpose is the sole controlling factor in the career of the initiate; he enters then upon a stage wherein he steadily approaches closer to the “centre where the will of God is known”. [3] The action of this Law “destroys all hindrances, breaks down all impediments and removes all individual obstacles, thus releasing the initiate into that vortex of force in which he learns the method of handling the planetary correspondence of that which he has individually overcome.” [4]
The concept of sacrifice has permeated all the teaching anent the Crucifixion or the Renunciation Initiation, both in the East and in the West. This is a sacrifice idea associated with the concept of pain, agony, suffering, patience, prolongation and death. Yet the true root of the word remains the same and gives the true significance: “Sacer”, to make holy; that is what in truth happens to the initiate; he is “made holy”; he is “set apart” for spiritual development and service. He is separated off from that which is natural, material, transmitted and handicapping, trammelling and destructive, and from that which lessens right activity for that which is new. He learns to define the Wholeness which is his divine right and prerogative. [5]
This initiation is therefore, in a unique sense, a culminating experience and a point of entrance into a new life for which all the past has been a preparation. Aspirants and disciples should remember that after the third initiation, the effects of the initiation which they may be undergoing are not confined simply to the individual initiate, but that henceforth at all the later initiations he becomes the transmitter of the energy which will pour through him with increasing potency at each application of the Rod. He acts primarily as an agent for the transmission, for the stepping down and for the consequent safe distribution of energy to the masses. [6]
Revelations and mysteries at the fourth initiation
At the fourth initiation another of the great secrets is revealed to him. It is called “the mystery of polarity”, and the clue to the significance of sex in every department of nature on all the planes is given to him. It is not possible to say much along these lines. All that can be done is to enumerate some of the subjects to which it gives the clue, adding to this the information that in our planetary scheme, owing to the point in evolution of our own Planetary Logos, this secret is the most vital.
Our Planetary Logos is at the stage wherein He is consciously seeking the at-one-ment with his polar opposite, another Planetary Logos. The subjects on which this secret throws a flood of light are:—
a. Sex on the physical plane. It gives us a key to the mystery of the separation of the sexes in Lemurian days.
b. The balancing of forces in all departments of nature.
c. The clue as to which Scheme forms with ours a duality.
d. The true name of our Planetary Logos and His relation to the Solar Logos.
e. “The Marriage of the Lamb” and the problem of the heavenly bride. A clue to this lies in the solar system of S…. which must be read astrologically.
f. The mystery of the Gemini, and the connection of our particular Planetary Logos with that constellation. [7]
The Rays at the Fourth Initiation: 4th Ray
The fourth initiation… [is in] relation to the fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict. This fourth ray… is out of incarnation, as far as the reincarnating egos or souls of men are concerned. From another angle, however, it is always active and ever present, because it is the ray which governs the fourth kingdom in nature, the human kingdom in the three worlds of strictly human evolution. [8]
Fundamentally, the 4th Ray is responsible for the efforts, tensions, and initial conflict between the pair of opposites we call spirit and matter. The Principle of Conflict, latent in every atom of substance, is always present before renunciation. It produces, first of all, conflict, then renunciation, and finally emancipation. [9]
In particular:
- The fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict is a controlling factor in human affairs at all times, and peculiarly today.
- The Principle of Conflict is the agent of the Principle of Harmony and produces the strains and the stresses which will lead, finally, to liberation.
- The great initiation of the Renunciation, plus the many smaller renunciations, is the result of inner conflict and ever precedes liberation into harmony and peace.
- Conflict produces: War-Renunciation-Liberation. [10]
The zodiac signs at the Fourth Initiation
At the fourth Initiation, the action of Taurus intensifies in relation to the luminary Vulcan. Vulcan is the ray or planet of isolation for, in a peculiar sense, it governs the fourth initiation wherein the depths of aloneness are plumbed and the man stands completely isolated. He stands detached from “that which is above and this which is below”. There comes a dramatic moment when all desire is renounced; the will of God or the Plan is seen as the only desirable objective but as yet the man has not proved to himself, to the world of men or to his Master whether he has the strength to move forward along the line of service. There is revealed to him (as there was revealed to the Christ at the fourth great initiatory crisis in His life) some definite, active undertaking which embodies that aspect of the will of God which it is his peculiar function to appropriate and make possible of expression. This has been called in the Christian phraseology, “the Gethsemane experience”. The Christ, kneeling beside the rock (symbolic of the depths of the mineral kingdom and of the activity of Vulcan, the fashioner), raises His eyes upward to where the light of revelation breaks forth and knows at that moment what it is He has to do. Such is the test of Vulcan, ruling Taurus, of the soul, ruling desire, of the Son of God, fashioning His instrument of expression in the depths, grasping the divine purpose and so bending the will of the little self to that of the greater Self. The depths have been reached and there is no more to be done. The light from the eye of the Bull which with ever increasing radiance has guided the struggling soul must give place eventually to the light of the Sun, for Vulcan is a substitute for the Sun; it is spoken of sometimes as being veiled by the Sun and at others it stands for the Sun itself. It stands between the man and the Sun, the soul. Therefore, we have in this connection three symbols of the light:
- Taurus – The eye of illumination or light. The Bull’s eye. Illumination. Exoterically—the physical Sun.
- Vulcan – The one who reveals that which is deeply hidden and brings it up into the light. Esoterically—the heart of the Sun.
- The Sun – The great Illuminator. Spiritually—the central spiritual Sun. Thus from every angle, illumination remains the theme of this sign. [11]
The 7 Planes of the Cosmic Physical Plane: the Plane of the Fourth Initiation
At this fourth initiation the initiate begins to function entirely and always upon the fourth plane, the buddhic levels of the cosmic physical plane—our intuitional plane. This is the case whether you count from below upwards or from above downwards. You have here again an indication of the central position of this initiation and of its importance. It is preceded by three initiations and succeeded by three initiations, leading up to that of the seventh or final planetary initiation, because the remaining two initiations are fundamentally not related in any way to our planetary Life.
The buddhic plane is the perceptive consciousness that is the pre-eminent characteristic of the Hierarchy. It is the fourth state of consciousness or intermediate state.
On the buddhic or intuitional plane (the fourth level of the cosmic physical plane) the mind nature—even that of the higher mind or the level of abstract thought—loses its control over the initiate and is henceforth only useful in service. The intuition, the pure reason, complete knowledge illumined by the loving purpose of the divine Mind… takes its place and the initiate lives henceforth in the light of correct or straight knowledge, expressing itself as wisdom in all affairs—hence the titles of Master of the Wisdom… From the buddhic level of awareness, the Master works; on it, He lives His life, undertakes His service and furthers the Plan in the three worlds and for the four kingdoms in nature. [12]
At this point, the Initiate realises that the antahkarana has been successfully completed and that there is a direct line of energy from the Spiritual Triad, along the antahkarana, to the mind and brain.
The Disciple then lays down the desire for life in form and formless life; he lays down the pride of the summit reached and renounces his Causal Body, which is replaced by the consciousness of the spirit. The causal body, as the vehicle of the soul, gradually dissolves through an act of spiritual will, no longer being necessary as an intermediary since, with the fusion of the lower mind with the higher, the entire bridge connects the Soul-infused Personality directly with the Monad. [Giuseppe Filipponio – The golden Door]
The centres at the Fourth Initiation – complete control of the heart centre
During the experience of the initiatory process in its first three phases, the initiate rejects control of the energies which are seated in the three centres below the diaphragm; he renounces their use for personality or selfish reasons. The centre at the base of the spine has received and distributed the energy of self-will (the will of the lower self) and is emptied and stands ready for the dynamic reception of the higher will which—using the spinal channel as the pathway or the symbol of the antahkarana—will pour into it from the highest head centre. The sacral centre which has received and distributed the energy which has fed the physical appetites to a far greater extent than is at present realised, is also under control—a control which is related to normal and proper direction from the throat centre and to the preservation of life on the physical plane, if the initiate chooses to incarnate for service ends. The solar plexus centre, which has received and distributed the energy of the astral plane, the energy of desire and of emotion, is likewise cleansed and purified; its energy is transmuted to such an extent that it can pass under the complete control of the heart centre, which henceforth and until the seventh Initiation of the Resurrection is “that whereby the initiate performs his hierarchical obligations”.
Therefore, at the Great Renunciation, the three lower centres reach a point of utter purification or speaking symbolically—of utter emptiness. No energy of their own (related to the selfish aeonial past) is left; they are simply pure receptacles for the energies of the three higher centres. The three lower centres are related to the three worlds of personality evolution; the three higher centres are related to hierarchical work and living and are under the control of the initiate—a control which becomes increasingly perfect until the seventh Initiation of Resurrection.
At that momentous resurrection, they become no longer of service; the Master needs no energy centres, and His consciousness is transcen-ded and transformed into a type of awareness of which those who have not experienced these initiations know nothing. If He chooses to take a physical vehicle (as many will when the Christ reappears and the Hierarchy is externalised on Earth), the Master will “function from the above to the below” and not (as is the case today with all disciples, though naturally not with the Masters) on “the below towards the above”. I am here quoting ancient phrases to be found in the archives of the Hierarchy. They will therefore need no centres on the etheric levels of our planetary physical plane. [13]
The mightiest lever of Cosmos, and the most sacred, is the heart.
Its consciousness fills Space; its light illumines Cosmos. [14]
[1] Alice A. Bailey, Rays and the Initiations, p. 602
[2] Ibid., p. 686
[3] Alice A. Bailey, Discipleship in the New Age Vol. II, p. 397
[4] Ibid., p. 399
[5] Alice A. Bailey, Rays and the Initiations, p. 699
[6] Ibid., p. 689
[7] Alice A. Bailey, Initiation, Human and Solar, p. 172-173
[8] Alice A. Bailey, Rays and the Initiations, p. 603-604
[9] Ibid., p. 607
[10] Ibid., p. 649
[11] Alice A. Bailey, Esoteric Astrology, p. 392
[12] Alice A. Bailey, Rays and the Initiations, p. 699-700
[13] Ibid., p. 698
[14] Agni Yoga Series, Infinity I § 79
If heart chakra is replaced by Hridayam, and the deeper meaning and expression of Hridayam is known experientially: grokked….not intellectually….then an aspect of the 4th initiation is clarified. Heart chakra is used at times as a blind for Hridayam, the deeper meaning and expression. The Eastern master Ramana Maharshi gifted his followers with the initial aspects of that meaning. The process is a flowering of Hridayam, a falling into that open flower from Chitikash, corresponding to the center of the skull, that also opens like a 3 tiered lotus {DK has spoken of) as the 7 primary head centers synthesize….from that stillness falling into Hridayam, being “undone”….and then there’s an arising phoenix like through the amritha nadi that connects with kundalini in the throat chakra and the merged energy flows into the head centers. A side effect is the secretion “amritha” (thus the term amritha nadi) flowing down through the roof of the mouth. This process is an aspect of the 4th initiation. There’s a danger of getting lost in the powerful flow….thus you see the self proclaimed “avatars” that indeed got lost in this process.