You might have noticed from that meditation that it can be difficult to be still, very challenging. The body is tense, agitated. It wants to move. That indicates to us that if our body is not in control, likewise, our mind is also not under our grip.
The fundamental definition of a master, in a spiritual sense, is someone who has full dominion of body, heart, and mind, someone who is aligned with the real divinity within, whom we denominate in our studies the Being, the spirit. I know it is a basic practice, but in truth, this can give us a snapshot of where we are, where we need to go, what we need to do. People often speak about liberation and the spiritual goal. Some religions have called it redemption. Some have called it the overcoming of suffering, freedom. If we cannot even tame the body, if we are not free of the body dictating what we want, it shows that we lack, again, that alignment with some higher principle. 
As we have studied in this course, there is strata of being, levels of being from the most divine to the most terrestrial, which we have explained in this glyph, the Tree of Life: a map of our Being―divinity from the heights down to this bottom sphere, our physical body. There are layers of being. Liberation in its fundamental sense means to be free of suffering, to overcome the causes, to understand the root of why we have pain, not only physically, but emotionally, mentally, spiritually.
Essential Points
We will talk about some very deep points about the nature of what this goal is: freedom from suffering, conquering the causes of real trauma, but it is also essential to clarify some common misconceptions, especially when we approach any religion.
In truth, every person wants to be free of pain. This is a fundamental axiom of human nature. However, not many people are willing to renounce that which causes real pain, not outside, but inside―our behaviors, which dictate whether we approach a state of communion with a real divine truth, or whether we, in dissonance of that, affect our well-being, but also our community. This state of liberation, ironically enough, occurs not by avoiding problems. It comes about by approaching them willingly, and this is a very distinct difference with our common psychology, because we all want to avoid pain. We do not want to suffer. In a real deep sense, we do not like to make other people suffer. But despite that, we tend to be driven to do things that are wrong, that we know in our heart. Voluntary suffering: it does not mean we go look for problems. It means that we face them willingly. As we are consciously trying to rectify our own mind, the things that we do, we also have to learn to face the consequences of our former actions. This is the teachings of karma that we explained previously in Buddhism. Every effect originates from a cause, and the situations in life that we experience were produced by us to some degree. We initiated this scenario. We set the stage in which we are both the director and the actor and the screenwriter. But unfortunately, we repeat the same drama again and again, suffering again and again, and not understanding this wheel (Samsara), which keeps repeating. संसार Samsara in Sanskrit meaning “cycling, repetition.” We have to face all that willingly and to work on our own defects consciously, to understand what in us, again, is perpetuating this motion. We will talk about renunciation too as a deep fundamental spiritual principle. Renunciation does not mean running away, avoiding, to avoid the problem. It means to give up that identity or self that is attached to the past. Renunciation is when we give up anger for love, fear for trust, and faith in the divine, lust for purity of mind, purity of heart. Renunciation is comprehension. When we understand in ourselves how certain things that we do really are wrong, not from some scripture or book, but our heart, we have peace, and we can willingly give up a lower level being for a higher one. In this way, we can say a fundamental truth is that we cannot renounce or give up what we do not have, and this is a very big problem within spiritual circles. Some people feel that they are spiritual because they renounce money or fame of a material sense. Meanwhile, we may covet power in spiritual groups, spiritual powers, abilities. We hear stories of astral projection and dream yoga, out-of-body experiences, the ability to talk to masters in the higher world like the kabbalah, Jinn science, many marvelous things that when we read, we become enamored. We are inspired and we say, “I want that,” and because we do not have material attachments, we think that we are spiritual and that is wrong. In truth, we can be coveting the spiritual itself. That is a form of desire, attachment. It is desire that we have to give up, wanting to be something else, and merely letting be. In a sense, in the context of this lecture today, we are going to talk about some very elevated spiritual things in terms of what a spiritual master must renounce to go to the highest regions, the truth. But I introduce this as a basic level instruction because this is going to be the doorway to understanding how it is a spiritual master renounces heaven, and goes even beyond anything we can conceive of. In our level, we have to renounce egotism in order to be spiritual, give up anger, pride, fear, lust, vanity, resentment, attachment, aversion, ignorance. What we are now has to be given up to go to a higher level of being, and that really prepares us to enter the path of spiritual mastery, to be a master of ourselves, such as when we meditate. Master the body. Master the heart. Master the mind. Master our will, concentration. Focus on one thing without being distracted, to not waver. But even then, to learn to give up our will for the divine. As Jesus proclaimed, “Not my will, but Thine be done” (Luke 22:42). Levels of mastery. You see that there is a hierarchy, degrees, which is what we call the path of initiation. That process that leads us through that development is compassion. That is really the heart of religion. That is how we really renounce what we are for something better. We have been talking a lot about initiation and that to enter this spiritual path, one has to learn to renounce. There are levels of instruction in religion, no matter what faith: introductory, intermediate, advanced, as we explained previously. Or to use Buddhist terms: Sravakayana, Mahayana, Tantrayana. Sravaka means “listener.” It is what we do in the beginning. We listen to instruction to be able to ascertain what we must do. Yana means “vehicle,” the means of instruction, ethics, basic character, good deeds. Reduce suffering by avoiding, or better said, comprehending and not acting on these lower emotions. That leads to the path of Mahayana: greater vehicle, love for humanity, love for others. The whole focus of this lecture is on the amount of compassion needed to go from the very beginning to the very end. 
The Requisites for Spiritual Initiation
This path is demanding because, obviously, the path of initiation is based on laws, but not material laws―spiritual ones.
Compassion is a law. It is a way of being. It is a superior state, which has its requisites, its demands, its longings. When we fail to live up to the law in our heart, we obviously feel pain, conflict. We feel the bitterness of wrong action, remorse. But compassion is, to use Gnostic terms, Christos, Christ, Avalokiteshvara, Chenrezig, Allah, Brahma―many names for one reality. In order to reach those heights, we have to follow and resonate with those levels of being, because if we do not, we do not go upward. We go down. We talked about in kabbalah, קליפות Klipoth, hell realms. Anger is hell. Fear is hell. Laziness is a state of inferno, pain. There are laws because what we are psychologically determines our trajectory in life and when we die. If our mind is not burdened with garbage, lack of density, lack of self, we obviously rise, because the mud goes down and the water goes up, like in a container, or like butter, or ghee floating on the surface of a river. It is in tune with that reality. This is why The Voice of the Silence emphasizes: Thou hast to be prepared to answer Dharma, the stern law, whose voice will ask thee at thy first at thy initial step:
Love is the requisite, selfless love, compassion. There are degrees of development that, if we wish to enter that stream―which is the river that leads to Nirvana (cessation, the end of pain in a psychological and ethical sense)―we learn to study the Tree of Life.
Initiatic Degrees
Again, this map, this glyph, depicts who we are, where we are, what we are, and what we need to do.
We have מלכות Malkuth, which means “Kingdom” in Hebrew. It is our physical body of which we are most acquainted, but there are other levels of nature that exists that are not merely physical. When we dream, we access regions like הוד Hod, “Splendor” in Hebrew. Some people call it the astral plane, the world of dreams, the world of visions. Below that we have יסוד Yesod, which means “Foundation.” It is our vitality. In a sense, if you studied Chinese medicine, acupuncture, Qi Gong, the vital currency of our health circulates through our nadis, these energetic centers, which give us animation in life. You wake up in the morning, you have your vital body charged and you are physically healthy. You feel rested. That vital body permeates and saturates the physical body and is a form of matter / energy that is not physical. It is semi-etheric. It is from the fourth dimension, different dimensions. These are layers of being, layers of dimensionality, places but also vehicles that we inhabit when either we are physically awake or when we dream. Beyond this astral vehicle, הוד Hod, the world of splendor, we have נצח Netzach, which in Hebrew means “Victory,” the mind, the intellect. This intellect is the mental body. It is the origin of thought, the origin of thought in our physical experience, because all these levels of nature really permeate here and now. You cannot physically point out your thoughts, but you sense them. You know them, even more real than your body, your emotions, your mind, your thinking, because these are forms of experience that are here and now, but different senses. Beyond that we have will, which in Hebrew is תפארת Tiphereth (causality). When you intend something, and you do it. It is action. It is interesting when you study this glyph that you see again the layers of density. Obviously, the physical body is most noticeable, but you can also sense vitality, energy. You can sense your emotions, your mind, and your will, and these get more subtle as you ascend. This is not verticality in space. It is verticality in terms of density, of expression, of being. Why study this? Because the path of initiation is precisely mastery of all of this. Mastery of self and initiation occurs when we learn to conquer, again, these lower levels of matter and experience, and make it resonate with God, with divinity. There are levels of this according to the Buddhist doctrine, when they talk about Srotapatti, Sakridagamin, Anagamin, Rahat or Arhat. These are these four level lower spheres that we must master. The one who has conquered the physical body through the spiritual path of initiation is Srotapatti: "He who was entered the stream" that leads to the Nirvanic ocean, because that is the beginning. Initiation means “to begin, to start,” and it is one level. Obviously with יסוד Yesod, when you conquer your vital energies, Sakridagamin: "He who will receive birth (only) once more," because really, if you think about it, if you conquer your life force, the creative energy, the power of sex, which can give life to a child, you really have the power of spiritual birth as we have been explaining. That energy, when it is mastered, gives you spiritual life. Therefore, at that point you have more control over where you go because you can create new circumstances instead of creating a physical body. It is very deep. Anagamin: "He who will be reincarnated no more." If you conquer the astral dimension, the heart, you create what is known as a superior astral body, as we have explained previously. This vehicle, which is a body belonging to divinity, will take you out of that wheel of recurrence. We talk about in Buddhist doctrine, 108 lives are given to initiates, or better said, people and humanity. We return again and again to new lives, but by mastering and creating what is known as a solar astral body, a vehicle belonging to divinity, we in turn can choose whether we incarnate or not. We overcome that wheel, mechanicity. As we master these lower parts of ourselves and resonate with higher laws, you have more decisions, or you can make more decisions in terms of your spiritual trajectory. Lastly, Rahat or Arhat, someone who conquers their mind, is “one who sees Nirvana during his or her life,” because above that is תפארת Tiphereth, Nirvana. Nirvana means “cessation.” It is a world of real peace, willpower. We talk about this in writings by Samael Aun Weor, such as his book called igneous Rose, where we call them Major Mysteries. These Major Mysteries or initiations are degrees given to the soul, the consciousness, the spirit. He emphasized the same points we made: The four great initiations of Major Mysteries are: Srotapanna, Sakridagamin, Anagamin, Arhan. These are the four paths that lead to Nirvana. ―Samael Aun Weor, Igneous Rose
This is the beginning of a spiritual master as we have been implying, but what people do not understand about higher truths and high realities is that mastery is a beginning level. There must be perfection in mastery, but that is a very different path, obviously. What I am talking about today may seem elevated and very beyond us, and it is. It is good to know, however, the map and the context, so that if we get there, we know what we want to do if we want it.
Nirvana―the beginning of mastery is someone known as a buddha at a certain level, levels of awakening, enlightenment, “awakened one” in Sanskrit. But, beyond that is what is known as an adept, and that term, to be adept at something, means to have perfect skill, control, some kind of harnessing and mastery of oneself. We also explained in our writings about Kundalini, the sacred fire known in Christianity as the Holy Spirit, the fire of Pentecost, the brazen serpent that Moses raised on a staff in the wilderness to heal the Israelites. Beautiful symbols for one reality: the creative power of God, which a married couple can harness in themselves and raise by not letting out that fire, but elevating it up the spine to the mind and then to the heart. Seven degrees. Every time that fire rises vertebra to vertebra, then to the mind and then to the heart, you accomplish an initiation, and that is a very slow process, very difficult. But it is the energy that allows the adept, the meditator, to master him or herself. When we are talking about initiation and these lower bodies, these vehicles, really in themselves they are like a cup. They need to be filled. That wine of divinity, of alchemy, divine ambrosia, is precisely that creative energy, which is raised up the spine up these lower bodies successively, degree by degree, until we reach תפארת Tiphereth. It is that energy that creates bodies that belong to divinity in different levels of nature. I talk about תפארת Tiphereth, but there are higher levels relating to גבורה Geburah, consciousness, justice. גבורה Geburah means “Justice” in Hebrew, and חסד Chesed means “Mercy.” It is the spirit, our inner Being, the truth―divine consciousness and spirit constitute divinity. Above תפארת Tiphereth are levels of divinity in which we transcend the human and enter the divine. It is very rare to reach and to experience and to master, even more so. Above this we have the famous trinity of of any religion: Father, Son, Holy Spirit: כתר Kether, חכמה Chokmah, בינה Binah in Hebrew―Crown, Wisdom, Intelligence in kabbalah―Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva―Osiris, Horus, Isis, in Egypt. But these are levels of being that are very difficult to comprehend and very rare. We call it Christos, Christ, the light of energy of compassion, which is empty of self. It is a universal cognizance that is eternal, in which in our studies we aspire to. Above this are higher levels. As Samael Aun Weor stated: Even when the Arhan is an Adept (reaching this level of תפארת Tiphereth), he must still raise the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Serpent of his eternal Divine Triad in order to convert himself into an Arhat of the "Mist of Fire." ―Samael Aun Weor, Igneous Rose
Notice we have three trinities here. The middle trinity is precisely our divine triad: spirit, soul, and will, which must be united in harmony. That creates what is known as an Arhat of the mist of the fire, because this region is animated by the fire of love, real compassion, divine being. It is an allegory. It is a metaphor. It is not literal.
These are the seven Great initiations of Major Mysteries. These are the seven serpents that any human being must raise by intensely practicing sexual magic with his spouse... ―Samael Aun Weor, Igneous Rose
Husband and wife can raise the fire of the Holy Ghost within themselves so as to enter initiation. Mozart, who was a Freemason who knew this teaching, allegorized this in The Magic Flute, in which the couple Pamino and Tamina go through the path of initiation together.
The Paths of a Buddha
What are the paths of a buddha? Obviously, now we are going into some more advanced elements of the spiritual path.
When someone reaches the Fourth Initiation of Major Mysteries, working with מלכות Malkuth, יסוד Yesod, הוד Hod, and then נצח Netzach, then that person becomes a buddha, a beginner at that level of mastery. Buddha means “awakened one,” to be conscious, awake in those regions. He or she has a mind under perfect control, has cleaned out their mind, is very pure. But even at that level, masters have choices. What do they want to do? Samael Aun Weor mentioned seven of them, which personally I find very moving and also very difficult to understand, because those are very elevated things, but you know, I mention them here because they provide context for what will await if you reach this level of development. When the master reaches the fourth initiation of major mysteries, seven paths are open before him:
This term, λόγος logos, is the term given to Christ, the Word. Logos means “word.” It is also the abstract principle before we think, thought that manifests.
So, at that level you can work with the divinities in relation to the solar system, because, obviously, with more mastery of oneself, more responsibility for others. This is the law of divinity. If you reach a certain level and you wish to go higher, you have to give. There are jurisdictions given to different hierarchies or divine beings. This is one of them. FOURTH: To remain as a Nirmanakaya, working in the Astral plane for humanity. ―Samael Aun Weor, Igneous Rose
Really, there are many beings like this who you can meet in the astral world, in your dreams, who are precisely doing this. Maybe you are practicing dream yoga. You physically fall asleep. You go to rest. You wake up in your dreams. You know that you are dreaming. Suddenly, an Egyptian woman comes to your home, and you immediately know, “This is a master,” because they are awake, and you are awake, and they can teach you things to guide you in that dimension. Very powerful and beautiful experience.
There are many of them who work in the astral plane to teach us very deep things about how to live. Maybe we are not at that point, but if we reach the Fourth Initiation of Major Mysteries, one can be like a Nirmanakaya. Instead of receiving that kind of help, you give it. Very beautiful gift. FIFTH: To work in the future Jupiterian period of our Earth. ―Samael Aun Weor, Igneous Rose
We talk about periods of manifestation within the universe. We call them cosmic days. Brahma breathes out and the universe a emerges. Brahma breathes in and then all this Tree of Life returns back to the divine cosmic space, the Absolute, in order to rest, to be in suspension. There are periods of development relating to, sometimes, the planets like Jupiter, which is a regal and royal planet with different astrological influences, relating to a future period in which there will be great work needed in different humanities.
SIXTH: To reincarnate in order to work for humanity. ―Samael Aun Weor, Igneous Rose
For our purposes today, this is the most important. This is the path of a bodhisattva. We will explain that.
SEVENTH: To enter the Devic or Angelic evolution in order to work in this great laboratory of nature under the direct orders of the Lord Jehovah… ―Samael Aun Weor, Igneous Rose
…who is a great angel, archangel, better said, to work amongst the gods, the divine beings who have perfected themselves.
We want to follow a path known as the straight path according to the Gnostics. If you have reached תפארת Tiphereth, you have created these lower vehicles relating to physicality, vitality, emotionality, mind and will, we have a choice. Do we want to go to Nirvana? Enjoy a vacation, stay there? It is a very welcome thing. Or, renounce it. Return to the world and serve humanity. It is a very lofty goal, and obviously it is a very difficult choice, especially, if you have ever experienced this dimension, a plane of being that is like nature. You see the cause and ripples of effects, action and consequences in perfect harmony.
The best analogy I can give of it is Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, his Pastoral. Really, the number six, if you count from the top to the bottom [of the Tree of Life], is תפארת Tiphereth, the beauty of nature. Beethoven was depicting that in his music because he was a Freemason. He was a master. He was rising in his perfection and mastery itself. He depicted that region very beautiful.
The Solar Bodies: An Obstacle or Steppingstone?
Honestly, having these lower vehicles: physical body, vital body, solar astral body, solar mental body, solar causal body, is very wonderful to have, very beautiful, because now as a divine human being, we have a certain level of communion with the truth. But it is not everything.
There are levels, levels of mastery. At that place, one can very easily lose sight of the suffering of humanity because that state is so blissful. In a sense, solar bodies, while necessary in the spiritual path, are really a steppingstone. They should not be the end in terms of perspective. Obviously, according to Blavatsky in The Voice of the Silence, these divine vehicles can be the source of the end of our compassion for humanity, because we forget the world: The Shangna (literally, “initiation”) robe, 'tis true, can purchase light eternal. The Shangna robe alone gives the Nirvana of destruction, it stops rebirth, but O Lanoo (disciple), it also kills ― compassion. No longer can the perfect Buddhas, who don the Dharmakaya glory, help man's salvation. Alas! shall selves be sacrificed to Self, mankind, unto the wheel of Units? ―The Voice of the Silence
Listen to Beethoven, the Sixth Symphony, because it depicts that level of beauty and nature that makes us forget the world. We have to understand that Nirvana is not the end, if that is what we want. There are higher degrees of initiation. There is mastery here, but there is perfection in mastery.
But to reach the heights, the absolute truth, requires renunciation of oneself, renunciation of bliss, happiness in a vacation, in which, metaphorically, you are given all that you want to eat, whatever you want to drink, happiness and peace, no strife, real beatitude, and love. Masters greet you at that level, who belong to that level of nature, who are very divine, and yet they are attached, and that is the problem. We call this path of nirvanis, people who remain at this level of nature, really the spiral path. It is a level of development that, like a spiral, takes aeons, cosmic days, centuries, millions of years, to finally reach the end goal. It just goes progressively, little by little, in terms of development, very patiently, but very little to overcome; very little suffering, barely any. It is the path of bliss, and it is a very beautiful thing. The Definition of a Bodhisattva
But there is another way. We call it the straight path.
This open path or the spiral path is what is open to every master who reaches that point. It is open because it is easy. Know, O beginner, this is the Open PATH, the way to selfish bliss, shunned by the Bodhisattvas of the “Secret Heart,” the Buddhas of Compassion. ―The Voice of the Silence
बोधि Bodhi means “light, wisdom, enlightenment.” Wisdom is synonymous with the kabbalah, חכמה Chokmah, which means wisdom. This is the level of Christ, the light of selfless compassion that is extended towards all beings without distinction. It is the energy of divinity, supreme, powerful, the intelligence of God.
सत्त्व Sattva means “essence, incarnation of,” the vehicle, the person―a person who has incarnated Christ, or to use Buddhist terms, Chenrezig, Avalokiteshvara―many names for that one reality. 
A bodhisattva is a master who incarnates the divine, symbolized by the Nativity of Jesus who enters the manger as a child from a pure virgin mother, meaning the initiate who has purified him or herself. But that child has to grow up. That is the beginning of perfection in mastery.
A bodhisattva, to receive that blessing, has to renounce heaven, everything, give it up, be willing to sacrifice personal satisfaction for the salvation of millions, humanity, many humanities. It is a responsibility that is very difficult to bear, but that path of renunciation and service is the doorway to entering higher levels of nature. The law of divinity, the law of Christ, is sacrifice, as we saw in the life of Jesus, the life of Buddha, of Krishna, Moses, prophets. They had what is known as bodhichitta, the altruistic, divine, compassionate, and enlightened state of mind that knows how to give to humanities without expectation or reward. It is true compassion empowered by an understanding of the selflessness of nature, how everything is impermanent. Nothing is static. Situations change. The mind constantly changes if we are watching, observing, examining. In those momentary states of anger, pride, fear, lust, these contaminants which trap our potential, in truth, are illusions. They have no real reality in ourselves. But we have to learn to clean that out and enter the path of Christ. 
The Superiority of Enlightened Compassion
Bodhichitta transcends solar bodies. It is good to have these vehicles so that you learn to navigate the astral plane, the mental plane, experience states of Nirvana and causality, the higher dimensions. But merely enjoying those states does not guarantee that we are going to enter higher regions. It is a work. It is a path. It is a discipline, very demanding.
The one who does not possess the Bodhichitta, even when he has created the superior existential bodies of the being, is still unconscious and absurd. ―Samael Aun Weor, The Pistis Sophia Unveiled
There are many people who have reached mastery. They enjoy powers and abilities. Sometimes they may even have their physical body here. They run spiritual groups and movements and have a lot of followers and are helping a lot of people, but it is an attachment. It is pride. Or there could be impurities that are mixed with the good intentions, which is why Jesus said, “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand doeth” (Matthew 6:3). We can not be attached. Learn to give but do not take credit. Really the one who takes credit is Christ.
They are unconscious. It is absurd. It explains why in many mythologies, there are gods who fight among themselves. This is the state of many spiritual movements because there are people who are at this level who are fighting for positions of spiritual authority, and this is wrong. Obviously, in a deeper sense, beings like Jesus, Buddha, Moses, were so far beyond that level of mastery that people cannot comprehend, because they are very revolutionary. You cannot fit them in a box. You cannot trap them in some ideology or belief. They know how to navigate with intuition in the moment. That is why the sayings of the Bible or Moses or the New Testament, when Christ speaks parables on the mount, the Mountain of Initiation to the multitudes, it is so profound and enlightening that it really escapes our ability to anticipate. You cannot predict what these initiates have to say or do. Having those bodies, again, is important, but they are just the beginning. Bodhichitta, selfless love for humanity, along with comprehension of these heights, is what allows the environment to be developed for the creation of a bodhisattva. 
The Source of Honor
This is the source of honor among any real master.
At the top of this glyph, we find כתר Kether, the “Crown,” the Father; חכמה Chokmah, “Wisdom,” the Son; בינה Binah, “Intelligence,” the Holy Spirit―three forces, not people―not anthropomorphized figures, but intelligences, principles. This light emerges from what is known as the cosmic Abstract Absolute Space. In kabbalah in Hebrew, it means אין Ain. It means “Nothingness,” אין סוף Ain Soph, “the Limitless,” אין סוף אור Ain Soph Aur, “the Limitless Light.” These are aspects of the origin and goal of any bodhisattva. But the law of this higher region is sacrifice. If what we want is to return to the bosom of the absolute truth, we have to be willing to give our last drop of blood for humanity. The one who incarnates Christ, Bodhi, the light, wisdom, חכמה Chokmah, renounces personal liberation, the enjoyment of a vacation in Nirvana, in order to return to the physical world and to teach and to help and to sacrifice for others. Know that the Bodhisattva who liberation changes for Renunciation to don the miseries of “Secret Life,” is called, “thrice Honoured,” O thou candidate for woe throughout the cycles. ― The Voice of the Silence
Why is this initiate thrice honored? Because the trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Those forces become more active in the individual and they seek to manifest that fully in themselves.
The Spiral and Straight Paths
To clarify, if you reach the Fifth Initiation of Major Mysteries, which is the sphere of תפארת Tiphereth, we have a choice to make:
But that means, at that point, all of the deeds that we have committed in the past are conglomerated. They are compressed into one life, in which the bodhisattva has to pay it all. This is why you see lives like Jesus, Moses, Muhammad, Krishna, are so revolutionary, because they were bodhisattvas. They decided, “I want to take the straight path. I want to renounce Nirvana.” Pay it all. All the Karma. All the suffering in one life. Padmasambhava is another example. Joan of Arc. Many initiates, you look at their histories whose lives were so fraught with pain, but in the end, they paid it all and they reunited and achieved what is known, in Christian terms, as resurrection, in which the soul is fully united within the divine. But that path is renunciation. Obviously, you have to give up what you have, which is that level of development, to go someplace higher. The PATH is one, Disciple, yet in the end, twofold. Marked are its stages by four and seven Portals. At one end ― bliss immediate, and at the other ― bliss deferred. Both are of merit the reward: the choice is thine. ―The Voice of the Silence
Four and seven portals, going back to numbers. The path of liberation begins after these four portals are achieved and we begin to enter Nirvana: four lower bodies. But, if you wish to enter the higher state of bliss, which comes through renunciation at the end, you have to enter seven portals. When you take the straight path, you learn to raise fire and elements relating to higher regions in this Tree of Life. So that is where the numerology comes into play.
“One way, bliss deferred,” meaning, the straight path. You wait. You pay all your karma in one life, and then at the end, you have peace, because you have achieved the goal. Or bliss immediate: stay in Nirvana. The One becomes the two, the Open and the Secret. The first one leadeth to the goal, the second, to Self-Immolation. ―The Voice of the Silence
What does a bodhisattva have to give up? Every defect, every error, every mistake. All that is imperfect must die, which is why Jesus, when he went through his Passion, dramatized with his body of flesh and bones, a metaphor, a symbol of what psychologically we need to do: die on the cross. Go up the mountain of Golgotha, “place the skull.” Raise the fire in your marriage, up to your mind. Crucify your mind. Endure the slings and arrows of persecution and hatred and pain and suffering, ordeals.
Be crowned with thorns, because the mind must be disciplined with will. But obviously it is a painful process. That which is immutable and divine must really manifest, but divinity cannot mix with impurity, like oil and water. Obviously, to incarnate Christ, there has to be some level of development, some level of mastery, where the mind, heart, body, will, and soul is clean. The mind must become virgin, which is why Christ is born, in any religion, through a virgin mother, to the purity of the sexual act, immaculate conception, the perfect matrimony.
The goal of the bodhisattva is to be like a drop. When it is fully pure, it goes back to the ocean to get lost in the Absolute, which we heard Wagner in his Das Rheingold, his opera, depicted in the first forty bars of the music descending to the Rhine River, like an ocean. Beautiful crescendos of music, describing the current of sound, of joy, that a soul experiences when lost within the origins of life.
The Nature of the Spiral PathWhen to the Permanent is sacrificed the Mutable, the prize is thine: the drop returneth whence it came. The Open PATH, leads to the changeless change ― Nirvana, the glorious state of Absoluteness, the Bliss past human thought. Thus, the first Path is LIBERATION. ―The Voice of the Silence
The spiral path. Nirvana is a level of bliss and happiness that is very profound. It is eternal. It is changeless. But also, it is the life and flux of causality and motion, of being. That is a level of liberation, freedom.
The Nature of the Straight PathBut Path the Second is ― RENUNCIATION, and therefore called the “Path of the Woe.” That Secret Path leads the Arhan to mental woe unspeakable, woe for the living Dead, and helpless pity for the men of Karmic sorrow, the fruit of Karma Sages dare not still. ―The Voice of the Silence
The straight path is the path of renunciation. It is the path of woe. Very difficult. Very hard. But it is the way, the life, and the truth.
After paying everything we owe, you are absorbed back, after serving many humanities, to the ultimate bliss, real liberation, which is so difficult to attain. Very few people have done it. Jesus is one of them. But their names are recited in the legacy of humanity. They have “woe for the living dead,” which is all of us. We are alive, but spiritually we are dead. Our hearts are hardened. We have problems. We suffer in life. We struggle. But we seek answers. “They have helpless pity for the men of karmic sorrow” because all of us are afflicted. Like in the last lecture, we talked about Carmina Burana, that classical piece, the wheel of fortune that strikes in its power the human being's heart. In a sense, these bodhisattvas seek to alleviate the suffering of humanity, but even then, karma, these sages, they are not still, because it is a very difficult thing to do, very hard, but they still work and try. The superior law of divinity is sacrifice. 
The Superior Law of Sacrifice
This path of the straight way symbolized by the crucifixion of Jesus is also embodied within the Mahayana doctrine of the Paramitas, the virtues―six in total. We will explain them.
पर Para means “beyond” in Sanskrit. पारमिता Paramitas are like the laws of reality beyond our physical senses. They are types of virtues that empower the soul on the path. To live to benefit mankind is the first step (bodhichitta). To practice the six glorious virtues (paramitas) is the second. 
The Paramitas or Perfections
These Paramitas also relate to the lower spheres of the Tree of Life.
If you studied Mahayana Buddhism, especially, such as Tsong Khapa, Shantideva’s The Way of the Bodhisattva, he talks about these: generosity, ethics, patience, diligence, meditation, and wisdom. We correlate them with the lower spheres of the Tree of Life. Generosity relates the יסוד Yesod, because the power of generation is the power of sex. The power of real virtue is the power of chastity― not the avoidance of sex, but its transformation into something pure, a sacrament. That energy can give life. It generates the virtues of the soul. Virtutis (Latin), virtue, relates to वीर्य virya, “strength,” virility. When that power is mastered, you have real virtue. Ethics relates to הוד Hod, the heart, because we need to learn how to restrain negative emotions, not give in to anger and pride and resentment and fear, not repress the heart or hide from it or avoid it, but understand it. Patience is related to נצח Netzach, the mind, because the mind gives the meditator many problems. The body is one thing. When we are trying to meditate, if we are moving around, we are agitated. But even when the body is still, the mind can be racing, distracted, going from thing to thing, and the mind is really the source of real pain. We have a problem. We think about trying to find a solution, and we are constantly agitated. We need patience. That is why Christ was wearing a crown of thorns and he needed patience to endure the pain of that. Diligence relates to תפארת Tiphereth, willpower, because we need great courage and zeal, enthusiasm, the will to work, to strive in order to advance in these higher degrees. Meditation relates to גבורה Geburah, the consciousness, because that is the practice, or better said, the state of being in which we balance everything. גבורה Geburah is “Justice,” not some arbitrary external law of divine punishment, but the equilibrium of the soul when we are in harmony with ourselves and humanity. Meditation teaches us that so that we can access real Wisdom (the final Paramita), प्रज्ञ Prajna, related with the spirit (חסד Chesed). This is real profound insight into any problem that we need to face or defect, so that by understanding it, we eliminate it. 
The אין סוף Ain Soph: The Supreme Goal
The goal for the bodhisattva on the path of renunciation is precisely the אין סוף Ain Soph, which Samael Aun Weor describes in his books as the Star of Bethlehem.
Above כתר Kether, Dharmakaya, the Father within the void, is like a light, a beautiful synthetic state of being, the root of all happiness and liberation―real liberation―not temporary. That light shines in the void, in the space, and is the synthesis of us. It is the real home, and that star shines upon the birth of Christ. As a symbol, it is limitless happiness, limitless joy. When you reduce everything about a human being to the root, it is that light: אין סוף Ain Soph. That light wants knowledge of itself, which we denominate परिनिष्पन्न Paranishpanna, self-realization, to know oneself. We came from that source, entered the universe down to this physical world. Now we are trying to return back upward with knowledge and experience, so that with developed consciousness, we have real appreciation or understanding of that root happiness, which is why The Voice of the Silence teaches: Have patience, Candidate, as one who fears no failure, courts, no success. Fix thy Soul's gaze upon the star whose ray thou art, the flaming star that shines within the lightless depths of ever-being, the boundless fields of the Unknown.
Everything in the universe will end, but the אין סוף Ain Soph is eternal. That is the goal of a bodhisattva. The Star of Bethlehem, “the house of bread,” and bread is a symbol of knowledge and wisdom that enlightens any initiate. That knowledge is precisely comprehension of oneself, elimination of defects, the birth of virtue, and sacrifice for humanity.
Conclusion
While we talked about a lot of elevated points, I wanted to just conclude that it is good to know the map, what's there. If we reach that point, we are more informed. We know what to do. But it can seem very discouraging, especially when we examine our life and talk about these very elevated things that are so abstract and profound. Personally, my experience, my very limited experience has been, when they have shown me things, they talked about these very elevated things, but also, they say, “Keep your feet on the ground. Do not get lost in the clouds.”
I mentioned the theory because it is beautiful and we need to know it, but we also have to be practical, which is why for the final lecture in this course, we are going to talk about the Paramitas [The Great Perfections], which can apply to any initiation, beginning, or whatever degree. A bodhisattva is perfected through those virtues, but also, we learn to enter the stream of Nirvana through virtue and those six degrees too. Any questions? Questions and Answers
Question: You mentioned four portals and then seven portals. If the first four are up to נצח Netzach. There are only six spheres above that, so is the seventh, אין סוף Ain Soph?
Instructor: Yeah, four and seven portals. This relates when you finish the Fourth Initiation of Major Mysteries and enter Nirvana―in a sense, you can count seven up. More specifically, when you become a master of the Fifth Initiation of Major Mysteries, you have worked with the serpents of fire, Kundalini, but for a master who seeks perfection, he has to work with the seven serpents of light.
So, First Mountain, right? The forge of Hephaestus, the perfect matrimony, finish the Minor Mysteries, then enter the Major Mysteries. If you reach this world of תפארת Tiphereth (after creating the four lower bodies, entering the four lower portals) and you take the straight path, now you have to descend back to מלכות Malkuth and raise the seven serpents of light, Christ. I know a lot of people are familiar with Kundalini and the serpents of fire (fiery serpents), but someone who takes the straight path and incarnates Christ has to raise now the serpents of Christ up the spine, up the seven lower bodies. It is another degree or level of initiation, which Jesus even allegorized to Nicodemus in the Book of John, I believe: And as Moses lifted up the (bronze) serpent in the wilderness (to heal the Israelites), even so must the Son of Man be lifted up:
Degrees to degrees. The serpent of bronze is fire. Bronze is an alchemical symbol. Copper and tin, male-female. But beyond the serpents of fire, the serpents of bronze that heals the Israelites in the wilderness of initiation, you know have to raise the serpents of light, which is much more elevated.
Question: I have two questions. The first one is, you mentioned we have solar bodies, right? Does that mean we also have lunar / moon bodies? Instructor: Yeah, so we begin with lunar bodies, but through initiation and the perfect matrimony, you create solar bodies. In The Perfect Matrimony, Samael Aun Weor explains that in the beginning, we are lunar. It is a symbol. The Moon is a symbol of mechanicity. We repeat things, not only psychologically, but all our behaviors, all of our actions in life. We also have what are known as lunar bodies. These are vehicles that we are given by nature so that when we dream, we have a vehicle by which to travel in the astral world (הוד Hod), to the mental world (נצח Netzach). It does not take any effort. We just have them. Solar bodies are created through a perfect matrimony. When a couple conserves the power of life, elevates it up the spine through tantra, that energy is accumulated like a surplus, and instead of creating a child, physically, you create inner vehicles. We call them “solar” because they resonate with Christ. They belong to a creative generative nature that is, in a sense, divine. Where else do find the power of creation, through love, but through sex? It is the power of divinity. Solar vehicles are what allow us to voluntarily travel in the astral world, travel the mental world, travel in the causal world. It is like, they have energy there that connects us like a circuit, so that the light can express, and only when you have those bodies created, can we possibly receive Christ, because that energy is so divine and powerful that it needs a conduit. If you try to put an electrical voltage through an imperfect wire, it would be obliterated. We need to resonate with that higher law, so lunar bodies are what we begin with. Solar bodies are a luxury. We have to create them. 
Question: The next one is, why is the yellow sephirah [דעת Da’ath] an unknown sephirah? Is it like an abstract place during the path?
Instructor: Yes, דעת Da’ath, the sphere in the middle of the Tree of life is “Knowledge.” This is alchemy. The kabbalists kept this secret because the rites of the perfect matrimony were secret for centuries. דעת Da’ath is precisely a marriage. When the Bible says, “Adam knew his wife, and they begot Cain,” or “Adam knew his wife and begot Seth, Abel.” Knowledge is intimately related to sex, to know your partner or know your spouse. But also, that energy, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, is precisely the creative force. It is when we ate from that Tree of Knowledge in the wrong way, we misused the energy and were kicked out of Eden. עֵדֶן Eden is “bliss” in Hebrew. We keep it as a secret sephirah because it is the knowledge that is related to the יסוד Yesod, the vital forces. You transpose or shift over some of the Hebrew letters, and you spell סודי sodi, which means “secret.” יסוד Yesod, the “Foundation,” and דעת Da’ath is the power of a matrimony that allows all this to be. 
In a sense, the Tree of Life is us, the human being: ten spheres that represent levels of being. In a sense you can call it the Christmas tree. What gives it light is the Tree of Knowledge. We have this Christmas tree, which is not lit up yet. We do not have the fire present. But with initiation, in Christmas, you decorate your tree. You put a star at the top. It is the אין סוף Ain Soph. It is the origin or symbol of that tradition. So, the Tree of Knowledge is the power of creativity that awakens all that. But the kabbalists were not allowed to talk about it until recently in 1950 when Samael Aun Weor unveiled it in The Perfect Matrimony.
Comment: Thank you! Instructor: You’re welcome! I know it is a lot. Yeah, Blavatsky can be very intense. There is a lot to condense in that scripture. But I also hope that with this course you are more inclined to study what she translated. The Voice of the Silence, despite its brevity, obviously, as you can see, is very compact, dense. There are a lot of levels to it. So, it is also very profound, and I invite you to meditate on it and seek to understand it from experience, because it enlightens the whole path from beginning to end.
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