How to Find Your Sponsoring Ascended Master

Fiat Rex by Niclolas Roerich

It is the end times and the time of new beginnings.
It is the end of the Kali Yuga and Piscean age.
It is the Age of prophecies fulfilled and of false prophets.
It is the Age of Masters and of counterfeit spirits.
It is the Age of suffocating human laws,
at the expense of common sense and spiritual laws.
It is the Age of sinking to the lowest common denominator,
smothering excellence and the Fire of Genius within.
It is the Age of accelerating karma, good and bad.
It is the Age of the Lightbearers victory,
It could become the best of times.
It could become the worst of times.

In case of either, perhaps the most important thing one can do is to make the tie to one’s God as strong as possible. To that end, did you know that each of us is assigned a guardian angel and a Sponsoring Ascended Master? To make that connection to your guardian angel we defer to Padre Pio. Just search “Padre Pio and Guardian Angels” to find out more, after all, he is without a doubt the greatest authority and advocate for your guardian angel in recent memory.

Our aim here is to help you find the other spiritual gift—that Ascended Master who oversees your life stream.

This Master guides the soul on a higher Path where you take your spiritual evolution consciously in hand. The Master tutors your soul as you take the key initiations of the Brotherhood and move from self-serving to a world server. The sponsoring Master is your link to higher consciousness as He or She helps you balance your personal karma as you in turn help the Great White Brotherhood balance world karma.

This relationship is the key to spiritual development. In this Age, we are called to move into conscious communion with God. And the next right step towards that communion is the relationship with the sponsoring Master. No longer seen behind a glass darkly, no longer just a sense, an intuition or a hope; this relationship can be tangible, real and meaningful. It is meant to be real for each one of us on the path.

Of course the easiest way to find your personal Master is to just ask a Guru. But maybe that’s not as easy as it sounds. Are there many reliable Gurus around? We know of someone who asked Elizabeth Clare Prophet about 30 years ago: “Mother, so many things make me think that Blue is my Ray and El Morya, my Master.” He was brand new and didn’t know that that was not something you would normally ask her, mainly because she didn’t usually answer questions like that. She preferred you find out for yourself. I guess the chap knew because she answered, “Yes, most definitely!”

So there you have an easy solution. The problem is, do you know a Guru who can answer the question? You might know some self- proclaimed gurus, but do you know where a true Guru might be?

You could ask a Yogi with the attainment of a Ramakrishna or Yogananda. We aren’t aware of any at the moment. You could ask a Rinpoche—but better to find the Master-teacher who taught him. If you find him in a remote cave in the Himalayas, he might say, “Follow Guru Rinpoche,” which would be a very good answer for the time being—but probably not the Master you’re seeking. You could ask a Messenger of the Great White Brotherhood, but at this time, that would have to be accomplished on inner planes.

So while that was a pretty cool idea to ask a Guru, you may have to do the work yourself.

A Task of Soul Awareness

You may already have inklings of personal connections to the Masters, their rays and soul qualities.  Refer to the charts below when answering the following questions that may help your task:

• Think back to your childhood. What were you attracted to?
• What professions were you interested in? What work do you do now? These could be clues.

• What is your favorite color? How about your second favorite color?

• Have you had memorable dreams of an ascended master or a Retreat experience? Sometimes this is how the Master reaches out to our souls.

• Have you had your astrology done? Clues will be hidden there. Is a certain planet prominent? Your North and South Nodes are important regarding what you bring to the world and what you have to offer. If there are some strong themes on certain lines of astrology pictured below, then maybe your Master is right in front of you.

Sometimes we have been drawn to a certain book of spiritual teachings or we are drawn to a unique area of the world that is the retreat of a Master; these can be signs as well. Pay close attention to the heart and to your own intuition.

 

Color, Ray, Chakra and Gems	God Qualities	Masters and Their Retreats	Archangels and Their Retreats	Elohim and Their Retreats
Blue 1st Ray Throat Lapis Lazuli Sapphire	Perfection, Faith, Divine Will, Protection, Obedience, God’s Laws, God-government	El Morya Darjeeling, India El Capitan, Yosemite	Archangel Michael and Faith Lake Louise, Canada	Hercules and Amazonia Half Dome, Yosemite
Yellow 2nd Ray Crown Yellow Diamond Topaz	Wisdom, Illumination, Discrimination, Intelligence, Humility, Resourcefulness.	Lord Lanto Grand Teton, Wyoming	Archangel Jophiel and Christine	Apollo and Lumina Lower Saxony Germany
Pink 3rd Ray Heart Ruby Rose Quartz	Divine Love, Selflessness, Beauty, Comfort, Creativity, Compassion, Unity	Paul the Venetian Southern France	Archangel Chamuel and Charity	Heros and Amora Over Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba
White 4th Ray Base of the Spine Diamond Quartz, Zircon	Purity, Perfection, Joy, Self-discipline, Wholeness, Divine Architecture, Symmetry	Serapis Bey Luxor, Egypt	Archangel Gabriel and Hope Between Sacramento and Mt. Shasta	Purity and Astrea Gulf of Archangel Russia
Green 5th Ray Third Eye Emerald Jade	Truth, Abundance, Supply, Science, Health, Healing, Rejuvenation, Precipitation	Hilarion Crete, Greece	Archangel Raphael and Mother Mary Fatima, Portugal	Cyclopea and Virginia Altai Range
Purple and Gold 6th Ray Solar Plexus Topaz, Ruby Diamond with Pearl	Peace, Ministration, Service, Brotherhood, Desire-less-ness, Judgment	Nada Saudi Arabia	Archangel Uriel and Aurora Tatra Mountains, Krakow, Poland	Peace and Aloha Hawaii Hawaiian Islands
Violet 7th Ray Soul Chakra Amethyst Aquamarine	Freedom, Justice, Forgiveness, Diplomacy, Ritual, Invocation of the Sacred Fire, Alchemy, Transmutation, Prophecy	Saint Germain Transylvania, Romania Table Mountain, Wyoming	Archangel Zadkiel and Amethyst Cuba	Arcturus and Victoria Luanda, Angola

Do any of these Seven Rays and their qualities resonate with you? As you may know, further rays are being brought to mankind’s awareness. The Eighth Ray is known as the Ruby Ray and it has the qualities of integration, resolution, judgment, fiery love and cohesion.  The great Maha Chohan sponsors this ray.

Yet all souls begin at the beginning with the foundational Seven Rays.

Meditate on these concepts and see if you have a special affinity with any of the colors, qualities or Masters and Cosmic Beings listed above. If you find you can’t make a connection, maybe it’s best to start at the beginning. The Chohan of the First Ray, El Morya is always an enlightened choice. When the time is right and you’re ready, he’ll send you on your way to the Master who is waiting for you. The First Ray provides the discipline, the stringency, the faith and good will for following the spiritual path successfully.

The Thread of Contact with the Sponsoring Master

Sorry, to throw you another curve, but your Master might not be on the same exact Ray as you. One has to dig deep to find the thread of contact.

Everyone has blockages in their aura and chakras. These blocks keep us from finding the Master. There is no better way to transmute these impediments than Saint Germain’s violet flame below. Clear your forcefield, bring you vibration up higher and you will attract The Master to you.

Do these 36X at a time. Call to Saint Germain for assistance. Visualize the violet flame surrounding you. Try 30 minutes.

 

After you’ve cleared your force field with violet fire, to aid you in your quest, you can ask your Guardian Angel, Holy Christ Self and Archangel Michael to take you to one of the etheric retreats listed in the chart above.

In the retreats, our souls are educated nightly while our bodies sleep. There you can find the sponsoring master. You might be able to bring back the memory in the morning.

Past Teachings on the Sponsoring Master

Charles W. Leadbeater, an important clairvoyant and teacher from Theosophy, was given clear teaching from the Master Kuthumi on the sponsoring Master relationship and how it works.

Excerpt from The Masters and the Path By Charles W. Leadbeater

Chapter III, The Way To The Master; The Entrance to the Path

THERE has always been a Brotherhood of Adepts, the
Great White Brotherhood; there have always been Those who knew, those who possessed this inner wisdom, and our Masters are among the present representatives of that mighty line of Seers and Sages. Part of the knowledge which They have garnered during countless aeons is available to every one on the physical plane under the name of Theosophy. But there is far more behind. The Master Kuthumi Himself once said smilingly, when some one spoke of the enormous change that the Theosophical knowledge had made in our lives, and of the wonderful comprehensiveness of the doctrine of reincarnation: “Yes, but we have lifted only a very small corner of the veil as yet.” When we have thoroughly assimilated the knowledge given us, and are all living up to it’s teaching, the Brotherhood will be ready to lift the veil further; but only when we have complied with those conditions.

For those who wish to know more and to draw nearer, the Path is open. But the man who aspires to approach the Masters can reach Them only by making himself unselfish as They are unselfish, by learning to forget the personal self, and by devoting himself wholly to the service of humanity as They do.

In her article on Occultism versus the Occult Arts Madame Blavatsky has expressed this necessity in characteristically vigorous language:

True Occultism or Theosophy is the great renunciation of self unconditionally and absolutely, in thought as in action. It is altruism, and it throws him who practices it out of the calculations of the ranks of the living altogether. Not for himself but for the world he lives, as soon as he has pledged himself to the work. Much is forgiven during the first years of probation. But no sooner is he accepted than his personality must disappear, and he has to become a mere beneficent force in Nature… It is only when the power of the passions is dead altogether, and when they have been crushed and annihilated in the retort of an unflinching will; when not only all the lusts and longings of the flesh are dead, but also the recognition of the personal self is killed out and the astral has been reduced in consequence to a cipher, that the union with the Higher Self can take place. Then, when the astral reflects only the conquered man—the still living, but no more the longing, selfish personality—then the brilliant Augoeides, the divine Self, can vibrate in conscious harmony with both the poles of the human entity– the man of matter purified, and the ever pure Spiritual Soul—and stand in the presence of the Master-Self, the Christos of the mystic Gnostic, blended, merged into, and one with It for ever… The aspirant has to choose absolutely between the life of the world and the life of Occultism. It is useless and vain to endeavor to unite the two, for no man can serve two masters and satisfy both.

Picking back up with The Masters and the Path:

Their [Masters] point of view is so radically different from ours that it is difficult at first for us to grasp it. They have Their private affections just as we have, and assuredly They love some men more than others; but They will never allow such feelings as those to influence Their attitude in the very slightest degree when the work is in question. They will take much trouble over a man if They see in him the seeds of future greatness, if They think that he will prove a good investment for the amount of time and force spent upon him. There is no such possibility as the faintest thought of favoritism in the minds of these Great Ones. They consider simply and solely the work which has to be done, the work of evolution, and the value of the man in relation to it; and if we will fit ourselves to take part in that, our progress will be rapid.

The Magnitude of the Task

Few people realize the magnitude of this undertaking, and therefore the seriousness of what they are asking when they want to be taken as pupils. The Adepts are dealing with the entire world in enormous comprehensive sweeps of power; They are influencing millions in their causal bodies or on the buddhic plane, and all the time steadily, though by almost imperceptible degrees, raising the higher bodies of the people on a wholesale scale. And yet the same Master who spends His life in doing that work will sometimes turn aside and pay personal attention to little details connected with one pupil.

All who dare to ask to become pupils should try to realize the stupendous character of the forces and the work, and the magnitude of the Beings with whom they propose to come into contact. The least understanding of the greatness of all these things will make it clear why the Adepts will not spend some of Their energy on a pupil unless They have evidence that in a reasonable time he will add to the support of the world a strong current of strength and power in the right direction. They live to do the work of the Logos of the system, and those of us who wish to draw near to Them must learn to do likewise, and live only for the work. Those who do that will certainly attract the attention of the Holy Ones, and be trained by Them to help and bless the world.

Human progress is slow, but it is constant; therefore the number of the Perfected Men is increasing, and the possibility of attaining to their level is within the reach of all who are willing to make the stupendous effort required. In normal times we should need many births before we could gain Adeptship, but just now it is possible for us to hasten our progress on that Path, to compress into a few lives the evolution which otherwise would take many thousands of years. That is the effort which is being made by many members of The Theosophical Society; for there is in that Society an Inner School which teaches men how to prepare themselves more rapidly for this higher work. That preparation needs great self-control, determined effort carried on year after year, and often with but little to show outwardly in the way of definite progress ; for it involves the training of the higher bodies far more than the physical body, and the training of the higher does not always manifest itself very obviously on the physical plane.

The Importance of the Work

Anyone who hears about the Masters and Their teaching, if he has any grasp at all of what it means and involves, must instantly be seized with a most intense desire to understand Them and enter Their service; the more he learns the more does he become filled with the wonder and beauty and glory of God’s plan, and the more anxious does he become to take part in the work. Once he has realized that God has a plan of evolution, he wants to be a fellow-laborer with God, and nothing else can possibly bring satisfaction.

Then he begins to ask himself the question: “What must I do next?” and the answer is: “Work. Do what you can to help the progress of humanity in the Master’ s way. Begin with what you have the opportunity to do and what you can do, which may be any little external thing at first, and presently, as you acquire the necessary qualities of character, you will be drawn into the higher side of it all, until, through striving to be and do your best, you will find yourself possessed of the qualifications which admit to Initiation and membership in the Great White Brotherhood itself.” When first I had the privilege of coming into somewhat closer touch with the Master, I asked Him in a letter what I should do. He answered to the following effect: “You must find work for yourself; you know what we are doing. Throw yourself into our work in any way you can. If I gave you a definite piece of work to do you would do it, but in that case the karma of what was done would be mine, because I told you to do it. You would have only the karma of willing obedience, which of course is very good, but it is not the karma initiating a fruitful line of action. I want you to initiate work for yourself, because then the karma of the good deed will come to you.”

I think we might all take that unto ourselves. We might realize that it is our business not to wait until we are asked to do something, but to set to work. There is a good deal of quite humble work to be done in connection with Theosophy. Often perhaps some of us would prefer the more spectacular part; we should like to stand up and deliver lectures in public to large audiences. We can generally find people who are willing to offer themselves for that; but there is a great deal of humdrum office work to be done in connection with our Society, and we do not always find so many volunteers for that. Reverence and love for our Masters will lead us to be willing to do anything whatever in Their service, however humble; and we may be sure that we are working in Their service when we are helping the Society which two of Them founded.

He will take a man as a pupil; or perhaps we should rather say as an apprentice, when more result eventually than any other way of expending the same amount—but not otherwise For example, a man might have many qualifications which would make him useful as an assistant, but at the same time some one great fault which would be a constant obstacle in his way, which would nullify much of the good that he might otherwise do. No Master would accept such a man as a pupil; but he might say to him: “Go to work and conquer that special fault of yours, and when you have succeeded I will take you as my assistant, and will train you further.”

So many of our earnest students are full of the most benevolent and altruistic feeling, and, knowing themselves to be in this way very different from the majority of mankind, they sometimes say to themselves, “I am so deeply anxious to work for humanity; why will not the Master take me in hand and train me?”

Let us face the facts boldly. The Master will not train you because you are still full of all sorts of minor imperfections. It is quite true, as you no doubt feel within yourselves, that your benevolence, your kindliness, your earnest wish to be helpful, are far greater things on the credit side of the account than are all these small faults on the debit side. But try to realize that there are thousands of people in the world who are benevolent and well-meaning, and that you differ from them only in the fact that you happen to have a little more knowledge, and so you are able to direct your benevolence into more definitely useful channels than those others. If these were all the qualifications required for discipleship, each Master might have thousands of pupils, and His whole time would be taken up in endeavoring to bring into shape those few thousands of people, with all their petty little faults on the astral and physical planes, and in the meantime the Master’s splendid work with the egos on the higher levels would have to be entirely neglected.

First of all then, to be a pupil of a Master means that one must look upon life as the Master looks upon it, solely from the point of view of what is best for the progress of the world. The pupil must be prepared absolutely to forget himself, to sink his personality entirely, and he must understand that this is not a mere poetical figure or a fashion of speech, but that it means just exactly what it says—that he must have no personal desires whatsoever, and must be willing to order the whole of his life according to the work that he has to do. How many of us are there who are wholeheartedly willing to take even this first step towards accepted discipleship?”

No real positive change on earth happens outside of the sponsoring Master relationship. People can be sponsored without being consciously aware of it, such as Mother Theresa and Maria Montessori. Yet, the goal of conscious communion with the sponsoring Master is a great one. Strive to become an accepted student of the Master and become a coworker who supports the spiritual evolution of the world.

Choosing the Master: A Great Story of Intuition

In 1880’s when Charles Leadbeater first learned of Theosophy, he decided that the obvious course of action would be for everyone ” to set before himself the definite intention of becoming a pupil of one of the great Adept Masters”. Mr. Sinnett responded that Europeans could hardly hope for anything of that sort at their present stage of knowledge. Leadbeater however decided that one might at least set their faces determinedly in that direction.  Leadbeater decided to write Kuthumi directly to request becoming his student. Many months later, Leadbeater received a surprising answer to his letter when a physical response from Kuthumi manifested in his mailbox. Leadbeater used his intuition and took immediate action. He left on a train to find Madame Blavatsky in London, offering to leave his comfortable life behind and travel with her back to India to serve the Brotherhood. She was leaving the very next day!

Leadbeater’s second letter from the Master Kuthumi came in swift response to this visit to Blavatksy and his offer to go to India. Madame Blavatsky bid Leadbeater to not leave her side until the answer from KH came. Close to midnight, as Leadbeater stood very close to Madame Blavatsky in front of a fireplace and with many other guests, his second letter from the Master surprised both of them by materializing right into Madame Blavatsky’s hand.” There is your answer” she said and sent him outside to read it.

Kuthumi greeted his new student and congratulated him on the right use of intuition and action.

Later, in India, the Master continued his teaching to Leadbeater on the relationship of the student to the Master.

The Master Kuthumi’s Instruction

In the K.H. Letters to C. W. Leadbeater, Kuthumi tells of three key steps in entering the sponsoring master relationship.  These steps are beautifully described in a wonderful new book called, My Divine Heart: The Indwelling Flame and the Great Pyramid of Self by Caroline Hanstke and Brian and Therese Emmanuel Grey.

Here are the Three Key Steps:

1. The student no doubt feels very close to a number of the Masters. The first step is to choose just one Master and to become completely dedicated to that one.

You cannot choose the “wrong” Master as they are all one in the Great Brotherhood. Over time, the direct sponsoring Master will become clear.

2. The second step is to enter in to the Master’s work by doing good works in the Master’s name—without telling anyone. This includes loving and constructive thoughts, words, feelings and deeds. The Master is interested in the good karma for these actions to accrue to the student, and not to the Master.

3. The third step is the practice of meditation upon the Master’s portrait daily.

When this instruction was given, only the members of the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society had the picture of the Masters El Morya, Saint Germain and Kuthumi. Now, there is a wide range of paintings to choose from. Be sure to use your soul discrimination and to choose a picture with a true vibration of the Master.

For the Meditation: Look directly into the eyes of the Master for no more than five minutes daily at the beginning. You can say a prayer associated with the Master, or decrees and fiats before hand. You can call to Archangel Michael for protection from any thing less than the Christ
vibration. Begin to become aware of the Master’s presence and to attune to His or Her level of World Service

Strengthening the Bond with the Master

Once you have found that Master with which you wish to strengthen the bond and follow, El Morya as some meditations and third eye exercises for you from the book Hierarchy (1931):

84. How to affirm oneself in the Teaching? How to approach the higher law of Hierarchy? Only through refinement of thoughts and expansion of consciousness. How can one assimilate the Command from Above if there is no affirmation of correspondence? One should display receptivity to each energy. One should be able to adopt the vastness of the Teaching. Only correspondence can permit the saturation of the vessel. Therefore, the manifestation of breadth is worthy of a broad consciousness. On the way to Us one may attain only through Hierarchy.

85. All religions have introduced special movements and positions of the body that aid the accumulation of the energy and impel one to the Highest. When following Us, achievement may be arrived at through the saturation of one’s heart, without fatiguing movements. He who succeeds through this means has an advantage, because the source of the heart is inexhaustible. The Image of the Lord, impressed upon the heart, will not grow dim and at any hour will be ready to help. This way of the heart is the most ancient, but it requires a considerable expansion of consciousness. One should not speak of the heart from the very first conversation, for then one may over-burden it aimlessly. It is likewise aimless to speak of love if the heart does not yet contain the Image of the Lord. But the hour strikes when one must indicate the power of the heart. I advise addressing oneself to the heart, not only because the Image of the Lord is already close but for cosmic reasons. It is easier to cross an abyss if the link with the Lord is strong.

86. Thus, it is not easy to be without the Lord. Repeat the Name of the Lord not only with the lips but rotate it in your heart, and He will not leave it—like a stone pressed into a crevice by the mountain waters. We say Cor Regale when the Lord of the Heart enters into the predestined chamber. One should shield oneself by the Lord.

89. When your consciousness prompts you to the necessity of possessing the constant Image of the Lord, retire to a quiet place and direct your sight upon the chosen Image. But remember, one must decide irrevocably, because in case of treason the constant Image will be a constant reproach. After gazing intensely upon the Image, close your eyes and transmit it to the third eye. Exercising thus you will attain a vivid Image, and you will feel a special intensified tremor of the heart. Soon the Image of the Lord will remain inseparably with you. You can test yourself before the sun, and you will still see the Lord before you, sometimes without color, but afterward vividly and even in action. Your prayer will lose the need of words and only the tremor of the heart will suffuse your understanding. Thus one may reach in life much that is useful, but the consciousness must be in conformity with it.

90. One more useful exercise Become accustomed to not being astonished or surprised at anything. But this should not be understood as the stifling of the spirit. On the contrary, in the complete readiness that gives birth to foresight, stand vigilant in the entire tremor of realization. Many wondrous things are approaching. One can understand them in accordance with one’s own desire and one’s own consciousness. But it is still easier to receive them through the Image of the Teacher. If you can visualize the Image of the Teacher in your consciousness with the most complete clarity you can transfer your consciousness into His, and thus act, as it were, through His Power. But for this, one must visualize the Image of the Teacher with utmost precision, even to the minutest detail, so that the Image may not falter, or suffer distortion, or change its outline, as frequently happens. But if, following the exercise of concentration, one succeeds in invoking a constant Image of the Teacher, through this one may gain the greatest benefit for oneself, for one’s nearest ones, and for the work.
Such is Our warning when waves rise upon the ocean. I deem that the present time demands such concentration, because there is a vast success in the atmosphere; but success, like a magnet, also attracts unsuspected metallic fragments, and needles and nails may be poisonous. Understand this correctly. Do not be diverted from the conception of the Teacher. Do not be astonished or surprised, because it is good when one can disclose the next step of understanding.

91. If the clarity of the Image of the Teacher brings us into closest cooperation with him, then each clear and vivid conception of an object in our third eye makes it near and attainable. One of the conditions of ancient magic was to teach the vividness of objects evoked by our inner conception. If the object is called forth with all completeness of line and color, one can apply it for the most immediate reaction; one may, as it were, possess it. Without limitations of space, one can regulate and bring closer its possibilities; from the most customary objects to the far-off planets one can utilize this force. There is nothing of the supernatural in this; but the duplicate becomes seemingly the identical, and a vital unifying thread is drawn to it. One can gradually develop in oneself these abilities, upon habitual objects, noticing thereby that when a clear image is created, a peculiar tremulous vibration occurs, similar to a magnetic reaction. Thus, in studying the Infinite one can approach it by beginning with the most customary objects.

92. Likewise you will begin to notice that you see your own image as if in front of you. You must not wonder, because it is the increased development of the divisibility of the spirit. The projection of one’s own image, and the sending of parts of one’s spirit, impart to the developed third eye the image that is sent. One should know that simultaneously someone sees this image and receives help.

Once you choose a Master, the quality of the image is important. There are quite a few odd looking characters out there on the internet. Many of them are appear syrupy sweet or just down right psychic- from the astral plane vs. the highest spiritual planes. Use your discernment and meditate on the right image.

Again, be sure to call forth spiritual protection from the Masters and Angels as you begin this level of the spiritual path. Call for the Light to descend around you and consciously qualify that light with your obedience to the spiritual laws.

Teachings on Guru Yoga from Padma Sambhava- Guru of Gurus

If you’re not sure if the teacher before you is a true Guru or a false guru, you could call to Padmasambhava. He is known as the Guru of Gurus. No one becomes a Guru without his anointing. In fact this whole exercise we have laid out is a form of Guru Yoga. Perhaps Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche said it best in his book Guru Yoga. He’s one of those master-teachers, in fact he taught the Dalai Lama. From Guru Yoga:

The essence of Guru Yoga is simply to remember the guru at all times: when you are happy, think of the guru; when you are sad, think of the guru; when you meet favorable circumstances, be grateful to the guru; and when you meet obstacles, pray to the guru, and rely on him alone. When you are sitting, think of the guru above your head. When you are walking, imagine that he is above your right shoulder, as if you were circumambulating him. When you are eating food, visualize the guru at your throat center and offer him the first portion. Whenever you wear new clothes, first offer them to the guru, and then wear them as if he had given them back to you.

At night, when you are about to fall asleep, visualize Guru Rinpoche in your heart center, the size of the first joint of your thumb, sitting on a four-petaled red lotus. He is emanating countless rays of light, which fill your whole environment, melting the room and the entire universe into light, and then returning to absorb into your heart. Then the guru himself dissolves into light. This is the state in which you should fall asleep, retaining the experience of luminosity. If you do not fall asleep, you can repeat the visualization again.

When you wake up in the morning, imagine that the guru emerges from your heart and rises up to sit again in the sky above your head, smiling compassionately, amidst a mass of rainbow light.

This is how we can remember the guru and apply devotion during every activity. And should death come suddenly, the best practice then is to blend our mind with the mind of the guru. Of all the sufferings of the three intermediate states, the most intense is the suffering of the moment of death. For this moment there are practices of Phowa, or the transference of consciousness to the Buddha fields. The practice of Guru Yoga is the most profound and essential way of doing Phowa. …” pp. 71, 72

Isn’t that just an exquisite explanation of devotion? Of course you can carry out those visualizations with your chosen Master. To cement the bond with Padma Sambhava or Guru Rinpoche it is imperative that you do his mantra at least 108 times a day.

OM AH HUM VAJRA GURU PADMA SIDDHI HUM

If you have a mala handy, what would be better than sealing the mediation session with Padmasambhava’s Vajra Guru Mantra for 108 times, or once around the rosary beads. You’re charging the mala with light as it doubles as a counter.

Here’s what Padmasambhava told his chief female disciple, Yeshe Tsogyal about this mantra. The explanation is a terma as well (one of the buried treasures or jewels foretold by him to be found in the future) since it was not discovered until the 14th century:

“…If this mantra is recited a hundred times a day, merely a hundred times a day without interruption, one will become attractive to others and will effortlessly come by food and wealth and the necessities of life.

“If one recites it a thousand or ten thousand times on a daily basis, one is able to literally overwhelm others with one’s brilliance, in the sense of becoming very charismatic and influential in exerting a positive influence over others, and one will gain unhindered force of blessings and spiritual power. …

“In the most excellent cases, individuals will attain the rainbow body, and the final level of attainment in this lifetime. On a more middling level, at the moment of death, the mother and child aspects of radiant luminosity will meet. At the very least, individuals will behold my face in the bardo state and all the appearances of the bardo state will be free in their own ground such that these individuals will be reborn on the continent of Ngayab and from that vantage point, be able to accomplish an immeasurable amount of benefit to beings. Thus the Guru replied to Yeshe Tsogyal.”

“When the Student is ready, the Master appears”

Conclusion

If it could become the worst of times, you don’t want to find yourself suddenly thrust into the Bardo state and you certainly don’t want to be stuck on a subway platform like Neo. The path of Guru Yoga insures that you won’t. Pick up a copy of The Masters and Their Retreats and Lords of the Seven Rays. Read about the Masters and see if one does not speak to your heart. How does that jive with your inclinations we discussed above? If a Master does not come to mind, then pick the most likely one. And as a last resort, pick El Morya or Padmasambhava. Whoever you choose, study their embodiments, their tendencies and qualities. Emulate them. Devote your time to them. If they have a prayer or decree, give those. And above all else, remember, through love and devotion the Guru will arrive at your door.

It is a Spiritual Law that,” When the student is ready, the Master appears.”
This process of developing a sponsored relationship with a Master is crucial to the balancing of your personal karma and your taking on of world karma. It is about taking the hand of the Master to accomplish World Service. This relationship is required if the student is striving towards the Higher Initiations of the Brotherhood. No one can cross the chasm alone. No one is meant to do this alone. The World is crying out for true way-showers and teachers and our Elder Brothers and Sisters are here to guide us.

The world is at a nexus of intense change. The Great White Brotherhood is calling the elder Sons and Daughters of God to step up higher for one’s Self and for mankind. You are not alone, all you have to do is ask.

By WCH and PKK

For more study, we recommend pursuing:

The Masters and Their Retreats

Lords of the Seven Rays

The Chela and the Path

The Masters and the Path

My Divine Heart: The Indwelling Flame and the Great Pyramid of Self

The Science of the Conversion of the Holy Spirit in the New Jerusalem

The Inner Life by C W Leadbeater

Hierarchy
Predict Your Future: Understand The Cycles Of The Cosmic Clock

Guru Yoga: According to the Preliminary Practice of Longchen Nyingtik