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The Masters and Their Emissaries:
From H.P.B. to Guru Ma and Beyond

By Govert Schuller

 

On September 7, 1875, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott founded the Theosophical Society. They were directed to do so by two eastern Adepts or Masters, Morya and Koot Hoomi.(1)  Besides its three official objects (1a), the mission of the Theosophical Society was to prepare the world for the coming of a great spiritual teacher, expected in the last quarter of the 20th century.(2)

Annie Besant, Blavatsky’s successor as leader of the Theosophical Society, and Charles Webster Leadbeater, mediator between the Adepts and the Theosophical Society, were directed to implement this project fifty years in advance.(3)  The young Jiddu Krishnamurti was chosen and trained to be the vehicle through whom the World Teacher Lord Maitreya would reveal himself.(4)  The Order of the Star in the East was the worldwide organization to draw together all those who expected the coming of this great teacher. Krishnamurti became its Head. Not all Theosophists were in agreement with these developments.(5)  Until about 1927 all went relatively well(6) and starting on December 28, 1925 Krishnamurti was overshadowed a few times by Lord Maitreya.(7) Krishnamurti and other Theosophists declared the project successful,(8) others were of the opposite opinion.(9)  From about 1927 on Krishnamurti decided to go his own way and irrevocably dissociated himself from the project by dissolving the Order of the Star on August 3, 1929.

Through Theosophists Cyril Scott and David Anrias, the Adepts communicated their evaluation of the project and declared it an almost complete failure.(10)   Krishnamurti caused so much confusion in the ranks of the Theosophists, that the Theosophical Society was disqualified as the spearhead of the work of the Adepts.  Nevertheless, some Theosophists, such as C. Jinarajadasa and Geoffrey Hodson, were still in contact with the Adepts(11), and They kept a continuing interest in the affairs of the Theosophical Society.(12)  Furthermore the Adepts worked also with Alice Bailey, which was not successful (13), and with Nicholas and Helena Roerich, which was.(14)

Three months after Krishnamurti had dissolved the Order of the Star, the crash on the New York Stock Exchange happened.  This event was the starting point of an unprecedented disastrous sixteen-year-cycle of economic depression, militarism, fascism and war, culminating in the Holocaust and the use of the atomic bomb.  This was no coincidence. One of its main causes was the earlier mentioned confusion amongst many advanced souls.   They were not able anymore to keep the forces of darkness at bay.(15)

In the summer of 1930, the Adept Saint Germain approached Guy Ballard, an American mining engineer with an interest in the occult, with the request to become messenger for the Adepts.  Ballard wrote Unveiled Mysteries under the name Godfre Ray King and founded the “I AM” Movement.(16)  Through Ballard the Adepts gave the revelations deemed necessary for the Age of Aquarius, which originally were intended to be given through Krishnamurti.(17)   These revelations included original teachings about mantra yoga, the divine self or the I AM Presence, and the initiation of the ascension.(18)   In the 1930s the “I AM” Movement was very successful.(19)   Because of Guy Ballard’s passing in 1939, a string of lawsuits and bad publicity, the movement experienced a setback. Guy Ballard’s wife, Edna Ballard, succeeded him.

In 1944 the Adept the Maha Chohan, the chief of El Morya and Kuthumi, contacted “I AM” member Geraldine Innocente.(20)  In April 1952 she founded anonymously the Bridge to Freedom to spread some teachings by “Thomas Printz,” pseudonym for El Morya.(21)

Mark Prophet, who was associated with the Bridge to Freedom, was contacted by El Morya in the early 1950s.  The Adepts directed him to found The Summit Lighthouse, which he did on August 8, 1958.  This organization, now also known as Church Universal and Triumphant, has been a very successful organization in spreading the revelations for the New Age of Aquarius.(22)   Its current head is Elizabeth Clare Prophet, who was contacted in the spring of 1961 by El Morya to join The Summit Lighthouse in order to be trained as a messenger.(23)  She became its head in 1973 after the passing of Mark Prophet to whom she was married.(24)   Among her students she is also known as Guru Ma or just Mother.  In 1997 the organization lost its protection from El Morya (24a) and unfortunately, in late 1998, Prophet was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and soon after stopped transmitting messages from the Masters.

Recent offshoots of Church Universal and Triumphant are The Temple of The Presence founded by Carolyn and Monroe Shearer; Ask the Real Jesus by Kim Michaels and Shangra-la by Lorraine Michaels; New Wisdom University by Marsha Covington; and The Hearts Center by David Lewis. All were members of Prophet's organization and claim to be contacted by the Masters to inaugurate new Ascended Master organizations. (25)

The revelations given through the Ballards and the Prophets on one side, and the philosophy of Krishnamurti (and others) on the other side might both lead to either the beginning of a transformation of already existing civilizations like the Judeo-Christian and the Indic, both of which might be stimulated to new levels of intellectual and spiritual development, or--and this probably being the case with Krishnamurti’s teachings--to the birth of a completely new, though deeply flawed, religion and civilization.(26)

 
1.
El Morya wrote in 1882:
“So casting about we found in America the man [H.S. Olcott] to stand as leader... . With him we associated a woman [H.P. Blavatsky] of most exceptional and wonderful endowments... . We sent her to America, brought them together--and the trial began.” Letter No.44, Morya to A.P. Sinnett, February 1882, in A.T. Barker, compiler, The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett (Adyar, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1972), p. 259.
And in 1975:
“In 1876, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was ordered by the Master Kuthumi and me, then known as the Masters K.H. and M., to write Isis Unveiled. Later she was given the responsibility of imparting The Secret Doctrine to the world.”El Morya, The Chela and the Path (Corwin Springs MT: Summit University Press, 1975), p. 122.
[Quotes in notes 1, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 23 and 24 were reprinted with permission from the publisher. Copyright © 1975, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1994, Summit University Press, P.O. Box 5000, Corwin Springs, Montana 59030-5000. (406) 848-9500. Web site: http://www.tsl.org].
Both Masters took their fifth initiation, the Ascension, at the close of the last century, thereby becoming incorporeal Ascended Masters. And as Blavatsky has written--referring to other saints, that, when “unburthened of their terrestrial tabernacles, their freed souls, henceforth united forever with their spirits, rejoin the whole shining host, which is bound together in one spiritual solidarity of thought and deed, and called the ‘anointed,’ ”--the same glad tidings could be told, not only about these two illustrious Masters, but also about many other brave souls who followed them. [H.P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled (Pasadena CA: Theosophical University Press, 1976 [1877]), II, p. 159]. For practical purposes the difference between an Unascended Master and an Ascended one is not very great. Both can work in the physical as well as in the spiritual realm and both have a wide array of occult powers at their command to guide Their pupils and help mankind. The difference is that an Unascended Master has its base of operations in a physical body and an Ascended Master in a spiritual body. To dismiss the latter as spooks, because They do not conform to one’s idea of flesh-and-blood Masters, is to deny oneself the great wisdom coming from the 'anointed' or Ascended Masters. 
[Blavatsky wrote about the concept of Nirmanakaya:
"As a Nirmanakaya, however, the adept leaves behind him only his physical body, and retains every other "principle" save the Kamic, for he has crushed this out for ever from his nature during life, and it can never resurrect in his post-mortem state. Thus, instead of going into selfish bliss, he chooses a life of self-sacrifice, an existence which ends only with the life-cycle, in order to be enabled to help mankind in an invisible, yet most effective, manner."
The Key to Theosophy (London: Theosophical Publishing Co., 1889), pp. 353-354]
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1a.
The objects of the Theosophical Society are the following:
  1. To form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity, without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or color.
  2. To encourage the comparative study of religion, philosophy, and science.
  3. To investigate unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in humanity.
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2.
Blavatsky wrote in 1889:
“If the present attempt, in the form of our Society, succeeds better than its predecessors have done, then it will be in existence as an organized, living and healthy body when the time comes for the effort of the XXth century. The general condition of men’s minds and hearts will have been improved and purified by the spread of its teachings, and, as I have said, their prejudices and dogmatic illusions will have been, to some extent at least, removed. Not only so, but besides a large and accessible literature ready to men’s hands, the next impulse will find a numerous and united body of people ready to welcome the new torch-bearer of Truth. He will find the minds of men prepared for his message, a language ready for him in which to clothe the new truths he brings, an organization awaiting his arrival, which will remove the merely mechanical, material obstacles and difficulties from his path. Think how much one, to whom such an opportunity is given, could accomplish. Measure it by comparison with what the Theosophical Society actually has achieved in the last fourteen years, with out any of these advantages and surrounded by hosts of hindrances which would not hamper the new leader. Consider all this, and then tell me whether I am too sanguine when I say that if the Theosophical Society survives and lives true to its mission, to its original impulses through the next hundred years--tell me, I say, if I go too far in asserting that earth will be a heaven in the twenty-first century in comparison with what it is now!”
H.P. Blavatsky, The Key to Theosophy (London: Theosophical Publishing Co., 1889), pp. 306-307.
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3.
Annie Besant wrote in 1912:
“It may interest members to recall the fact that Mme. H.P. Blavatsky, one of the founders of the T.S., regarded it as the mission of the T.S. to prepare the world for the coming of the next great Teacher, though she put that event perhaps half a century later than I do. Which of us is right as to date, only time can show. I do not say that she was necessarily right in making this its mission, but as she proclaimed this view in the supposedly ‘uncolored’ days, under ‘the old régime,’ the repetition of the statement by myself does not imply any change of policy. She wrote: ‘The next impulse will find a numerous and united body of people ready to welcome the new torch-bearer of Truth. He will find the minds of men prepared for his message, a language ready for him in which to clothe the new truths he brings, an organization awaiting his arrival, which will remove the merely mechanical, material obstacles and difficulties from his path.’ That was the view of one of our Founders--really of both--as to ‘the future of the Theosophical Society,’ and my crime is that I share it, and do what my poor powers permit in preparing the minds of men for that coming.”
Annie Besant, “Freedom of Opinion in the T.S.,” letter to The Vâhan 21\8 (March 1912), p. 153.
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4.
“Shortly after meeting Krishna for the first time, Leadbeater revealed to [Theosophist Ernest] Wood that the boy was to be the vehicle for the Lord Maitreya ‘unless something went wrong’ and that he, Leadbeater, had been directed to help train him for that purpose.”
Mary Lutyens, Krishnamurti: The Years of Awakening, (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1975), p. 21.
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5.
In particular the German Section of the Theosophical Society, led by Rudolf Steiner, expressed its intolerance towards members of the Order of the Star, by stating that membership of both organizations was mutually exclusive. This policy was obviously contrary to the principle of freedom of thought and association, a cornerstone of the Theosophical Society. The defiant stand taken on this issue by the German Section led eventually to the cancellation of their charter.
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6.
During the Jubilee Convention of the Theosophical Society in 1925 a message originating from an Adept was read to the participants. This happened a few days before December 28, when the first overshadowing of Krishnamurti by the Lord Maitreya occurred. A part of the message reads:
“A second half-century of fine promise lies before you. We say to you: You have the power to do more in the immediate future than any other body of men and women has ever achieved before. We say to you: Within this next half century you can make Brotherhood a living reality in the world. You can cause the warring classes, castes, and nations to cease their quarreling, the warring faiths to live once more in brotherhood, respect and understanding. Make Theosophy a living force in your lives, and through your example those class and caste distinctions, which for so long have bred hatred and misery, shall at no distant time come to be but distinctions of function in the common service of the nation-family and of the World-Brotherhood... ."
"It is the Law that Our Blessed Lord comes among you, be His welcome what it may, though even he may not outstay His welcome. And only at long intervals, so far, has He been able to bestow upon you the priceless benediction of His immediate presence in your midst. We have to wait. So be it. Yet, if His welcome lasts, perchance grows, He may dwell long with you, and the doors thus be flung wide open between Our world and your, and between other worlds and yours, that they may become one world, Ourselves restored to Our natural place among Our younger comrades, and Devas and mankind be once more together in happy comradeship.”
Anonymous Master, “A Message to the Members of the Theosophical Society from an Elder Brother,” The Theosophist 47\4 (January 1926), supplement, pp. 3 and 4. And what did Krishnamurti do? Instead of opening, he slammed the door in Their face.
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7.
Geoffrey Hodson wrote in 1927:
“As he [Krishnamurti] speaks, the spirit of the Christ descends, as a great collective inspiration, into the hearts and minds of all. It draws nearer and nearer in a great ring-shaped cloud of golden light. It hovers over our heads, descends still lower, slowly and gently, like a warm summer rain, till all are enwrapped in its beauty, its peace and all-compelling love... . Night after night, as he ceases to speak, a miracle occurs. Two thousand sevenhundred people remain perfectly still. In that silence the splendor of splendors is revealed to the inner eyes. The figure of the Lord appears above the head of Krishnaji. The silence deepens. We are enfolded in His embrace, filled with tenderness and compassion as he draws near.”
Geoffrey Hodson, Thus Have I Heard (Adyar, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1929), pp. 107-108.
Leadbeater wrote in 1930:
“This is He who should come, and there is no need to look elsewhere; as I have said, I know that the World-Teacher often speaks through Krishnaji, but I also know that there are occasions when He does not.”
C.W. Leadbeater, “Art Thou He That Should Come?” The Theosophist 51\9 (June 1930), p. 472.
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8.
Krishnamurti wrote in 1927:
“I know my destiny and my work. I know with certainty and knowledge of my own, that I am blending into the consciousness of the one Teacher and that He will completely fill me.”
Letter from Krishnamurti to Leadbeater February 9, 1927, quoted in Lutyens, Krishnamurti: The Years of Awakening, p. 241.
“I never said: I am the World Teacher; but now that I feel I am one with my Beloved, I say it.”
Talk by Krishnamurti, August 2, 1927, quoted in Lutyens, p. 250.
Annie Besant declared in 1927:
“The Divine Spirit has descended once more on a man, Krishnamurti, one who in his life is literally perfect, as those who know him can testify... . The World Teacher is here.
”Annie Besant, “The Way of Sorrows and the Way of Happiness: The New Message” The Theosophist 48/7 (April 1927), p. 6d.
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9.
I had a talk with [Theosophist] Jinarajadasa, who staggered me by saying that the gathering at Eerde [in August 1927] had been a tragedy and a failure and had almost wrecked the Plan of the Brotherhood.”
Lady Emily Lutyens, Candles in the Sun (London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1957), p. 163.
“C.W.L. declared privately when in Adyar in 1927 that ‘The Coming had gone wrong.’”
Adrian G. Vreede, “An Attack on Bishop Leadbeater,” The Liberal Catholic 34\7 (February 1964), p. 150.
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10.
“[His mission was] a success while still overshadowed by the world-Teacher,.. a failure afterwards.”
An English Master, “Sir Thomas” in His Pupil [Cyril Scott], The Initiate in the Dark Cycle (London: Routledge, 1932), p. 141.
“It became all but impossible for him to be used any longer as my medium.
Lord Maitreya in David Anrias [Brian Ross], Through the Eyes of the Masters: Meditations and Portraits (London: Routledge, 1932), p. 66.
For a metaphysical critique of Krishnamurti’s teachings see  Krishnamurti: An Esoteric View of his Teachings.
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11.
“State how... you received the information from Brother Jinarajadasa--Our Agent at that time--affirming that he had passed the Initiation during the night that preceded your experience on waking, at Mt Maunganui.”
Message from Master Polidorus Isurenus, June 30, 1975, to Geoffrey Hodson in Sandra Hodson (Comp.), Light of the Sanctuary: The Occult Diary of Geoffrey Hodson (Manila, Philippines: The Theosophical Publisher, 1988), p. 265.
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12.
The Master M. [El Morya] and K.H. [Kuthumi] together with the Maha Sahib [the Maha Chohan] will renew the hundred-year cycle of their service through the chelas at Adyar [the international headquarters of the Theosophical Society].”
Goddess of Liberty, “The Mutable Soul is Entrusted with the Immutable Spirit,” Pearls of Wisdom 23/12 (March 23, 1980), p. 66.
But the backing does not come without critical evaluation: “Look at those who have had the dispensation of the Ascended Masters in the Theosophical Society, the Rosicrucian Order, the Agni Yoga Society, the I AM movement and other forward movements that have begun to unveil the presence and teachings of great adepts in the earth. Look at the members of these organizations, beloved. Some have almost become intellectual snobs, for they do not use the teachings to challenge the forces of Darkness in the earth but only to elevate themselves as the wise ones, for they have such and such teaching that other earthlings do not have. This was never the Brotherhood’s intent in the founding of esoteric organizations.”
Mighty Victory, “Becoming more of God Day by Day,” Pearls of Wisdom 37/32 (August 7, 1994), pp. 376-377.
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13.
Kuthumi wrote in 1975:
“In the past we have had to withdraw our support from those who were given the opportunity to represent us. The one who for a time had the opportunity of representing the master Djwal Kul soon lost that authority through intellectual pride and the brittleness of the lower mental body, which can never be the channel of the mind of God. Thus I expose to you the false teachings subtly woven into the work of Alice Bailey, whose failure to surrender totally rendered her unfit as an instrument of the Tibetan Master.”
Kuthumi, “An Exposé of False Teachings” Pearls of Wisdom 19/5 (February 1, 1976), p. 28. (Relevant Paragraphs)
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14.
The Roerichs set forth the word of Morya destined to reach both the Russian and the American people with the energy and the enlightenment that should deter the red dragon of World Communism.”
El Morya, The Chela and the Path, p. 122. (Relevant Paragraphs)
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15.
Thus the stage was left for all kinds of black magicians and their ilk to play out their nefarious plots. Chief amongst them were the German Nazis, whose involvement in the occult and borrowing from Theosophy has been well documented. See for example Nicholas Goodrick Clarke, The Occult Roots of Nazism (New York: New York University Press, 1985); Dusty Sklar, The Nazis and the Occult (New York: Dorset Press, 1977); and the more speculative, but from an esoteric point of view more interesting, The Spear of Destiny (New York: Putnam, 1973) by Trevor Ravenscroft. The contrast between the expectations for humankind as presented in endnotes 2 and 6, and what actually happened indicates that we have to face up to a tragedy of immense proportions.
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16.
For a basic overview of the history and teachings of the “I AM” Movement see Charles S. Braden, These Also Believe: A Study of Modern American Cults and Minority Religious Movements (New York: Macmillan, 1949), pp. 257-307.
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17.
This is the pivotal statement connecting on one side the story of the Adepts’ involvement with the Theosophical Society and Krishnamurti from 1875 till 1929, and on the other side the story of Their involvement with the Ballards, Innocente and the Prophets from 1930 till the present. The rationale of the Masters’ changing allegiance to their embodied representatives is as follows:
“The Ascended Masters are the authority of the true teacher and the true messenger. We release the energy, the light, the teaching, the initiations, and the discipline to and through our representatives. If at any time the teacher or the messenger who has surrendered his human will to the divine will should elect to take back that human will, our dispensation will terminate. The light...would be withdrawn and the trained disciple would receive the certain sign of hierarchy that the instrument had become a dry reed, hollow and without the authentic vibration and backing of the entire Spirit of the Great White Brotherhood... . Stand beneath the waterfall and receive unreservedly the flow of the hierarchy of Aquarius that comes through our embodied messengers. When the waterfall ceases to flow, move on, for hierarchy will not be stopped. We will open another stream and prepare a channel for the crystal-clear waters of life.”
Kuthumi, “An Exposé of False Teachings,” Pearls of Wisdom 19/5 (February 1, 1976), p. 29. (Relevant Paragraphs)
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18.
In the 1930s came the twin flames Guy W. Ballard and Edna Ballard imparting the sacred mystery of the law of the I AM, further knowledge of hierarchy, the invocation of the sacred fire, and the path of the ascension.”
El Morya, The Chela and the Path, p. 122. (Relevant Paragraphs)
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19.
At its apex in the late thirties, it must have represented the greatest popular diffusion Theosophical concepts ever attained... . One cannot but admire the effectiveness with which Ballard presented in a truly popular and American manner the basic teaching and sense of wonder which underlies Theosophy.”
Robert S. Ellwood, Jr., Religious and Spiritual Groups in Modern America (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1973), p. 121.
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20.
J. Gordon Melton, “The Church Universal and Triumphant: Its Heritage and Thoughtworld,” in Church Universal and Triumphant In Scholarly Perspective, edited by. J.R. Lewis and J. Gordon Melton (Stanford: Center for Academic Publication, 1994), pp. 13-14.
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21.
El Morya wrote in 1954:
“The condition of the consciousness of seekers after Truth warranted the opportunity to find peace in the comradeship of the Masters, without homage to personality. It was my thought to give such opportunity, letting the balm of the Presence, the joy of the Masters’ friendship and the freedom of conscience which such an Open Door would allow, to flow freely to all life, without requiring allegiance to any human form.”
Thomas Printz (El Morya), The First Ray (Mount Shasta, CA: Ascended Master Teaching Foundation, 1986: originally published by the Bridge to Freedom in 1954), p.31.
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22.
In an academic study, conducted by a group of religious scholars, some notable conclusions regarding Elizabeth Clare Prophet and Church Universal and Triumphant were presented. In the introduction one can read that “many of the contributions to the present volume are shaped by, or at least address, the various accusations that have been leveled against Church Universal and Triumphant over the years. Some of us, and perhaps most of us who participated in the study, brought certain negative stereotypes along with us on our first trip to Montana [where the Church has its headquarters]. Yet, once there, our preconceptions quickly evaporated in the encounter with a group of generally very likable, intelligent, flesh-and-blood human beings. ... Beyond simple positive intentions, I think they have managed to establish one of the most intrinsically interesting religious communities to come into being in this century. The range and complexity of their worldview, just to mention one facet of the Church, deserves a half-dozen studies of the length we have undertaken in the present volume.”
J.R. Lewis, “Introduction,” in Church Universal and Triumphant In Scholarly Perspective, pp. xii-xiii.
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23.
Elizabeth Clare Prophet said in 1979:
“Within a matter of a few weeks [after having met Mark Prophet], I was crossing a park to Boston University to one of my courses. And there crossed my path a being of Light that I had never heard of or seen before. But the moment I saw him, I knew him. It was the Ascended Master El Morya... . Morya said to me ‘I have need of a female messenger. Go to Washington and I will train you through Mark Prophet. If you pass your initiations, Saint Germain will come and anoint you as messenger for the Ascended Masters.’”
Elizabeth Clare Prophet, “I’m Stumping for the Coming Revolution in Higher Consciousness,” Audio-tape no. A7945, (Corwin Springs MT: The Summit Lighthouse, 1979).
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24.
The History of the Summit Lighthouse (Livingston MT: Church Universal and Triumphant, 1994), p. 4.
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24a.
El Morya said:
"I, El Morya Khan, Chief of the Darjeeling Council, hereby announce the removal of the thread that originates from my mantle to the heart of the messenger to your hearts for the holding of the balance of your lifestreams. The dispensation of this thread, which is a thread of protection, was made possible because of the codes of conduct established and sponsored by me in the past. Your merit for intercession will now be based upon your own decree momentum, your devotion to your God Presence and your service to mankind. May you pass every test!"
Read by Elizabeth Clare Prophet at a staff meeting on May 13, 1997. [Last sentence added in 2001]
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25.
For some more background information about these post-Prophet organizations see "Beyond Guru Ma." [This paragraph was added in 2001 and revised in 2005]
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26.
For a philosophical-historical discussion of the relationship between religion and civilization, see Arnold J. Toynbee, Universal Churches, vol. 7B, A Study of History (London: Oxford University Press, 1954), pp. 381-544.
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