Book 17
The Palace and the Cave of Light

 

 

It was almost Christmastime. Maria was really looking forward to the birth of Christ in her heart, and to adoring baby Jesus in the manger. She loved the Christmas songs, especially Joy to the World, which she found out was Jesus' keynote. She fell asleep thinking thoughts of pure joy when all of a sudden, Archangel Michael appeared.

“Maria,” he said, “I remember how you wanted to go back to the Himalayas.”

“Yes, I would love to,” said Maria. “Should we go now?”

 

 

“The eternal now is always the perfect time,” said Archangel Michael.

“There is a very special retreat that I want to take you to. It is the Palace of Light of beloved Chananda. Chananda is the Chief of the Indian Council of the Great White Brotherhood.”

“The Palace of Light!” said Maria. “What a beautiful name.”

 

 

“The ascended masters have a number of retreats in the Himalayas,” said Archangel Michael. “There is the Palace of Light and the Temple of Good Will, the retreat of Lord Maitreya and the retreat of Vaivasvata Manu, the Retreat of the Blue Lotus and the Cave of Light, the Palace of White Marble and two retreats of the master Kuthumi in Shigatse, Tibet and Kashmir, as well as the retreat of the master Djwal Kul in Tibet.

“We also find gathered in the Himalayas the unascended master Babaji with his disciples! And Gautama Buddha appears in a Himalayan valley every year for the Wesak celebration.”

 

“Wow!” said Maria. “That is a lot! What is the Wesak Celebration?”

“Wesak is the celebration of the full moon in May that commemorates Gautama Buddha's birth, his moment of enlightenment and his ascension. He physically manifests every year to bless the earth when the moon waxes over Nepal, and pilgrims gather from near and far. The event is well documented in the book, The Masters and the Path.”

 

 

“Wow!” said Maria. “That is a lot! What is the Wesak Celebration?”

“Wesak is the celebration of the full moon in May that commemorates Gautama Buddha's birth, his moment of enlightenment and his ascension. He physically manifests every year to bless the earth when the moon waxes over Nepal, and pilgrims gather from near and far. The event is well documented in the book, The Masters and the Path.

“The Buddha appears in a small plateau surrounded by low hills, on the northern side of the Himalayas, not far from Nepal. The ground is mostly bare and stony, and covered with some scrubby vegetation. A stream runs through a pine-clothed ravine, eventually reaching a lake.

“The figure which floats above the hills is of enormous size, but exactly reproduces the form and features of the body in which the Lord last lived on earth. He appears seated cross-legged, with hands together, dressed in the yellow robe of the Buddhist monk, but wearing it so as to leave the right arm bare. His face is truly God-like, for it combines calmness and power, wisdom and love in an expression containing all that our minds can imagine of the Divine.

“One of the most striking features of this wondrous apparition is the splendid aura which surrounds the figure, and falls into concentric spheres, The figure is englobed in light which is both dazzling and transparent—so bright that the eye can hardly rest upon it, and yet through it the face and the color of the robe stand out with perfect clearness. The rings of the aura are of a glorious ultramarine; then glowing golden yellow, the richest crimson, pure silvery white and a magnificent scarlet. Then more yellow, blue, green and violet. A broad band of the most glorious pale pink rose imperceptibly melts into the violet. Rays of white light flash through and are faintly tinged with the ever-present pale rose.”

 

 

Archangel Michael continued. “The ascended master Nicholas Roerich also spent much time writing about the Himalayas and painting beautiful mystical Himalayan landscapes. He and his wife Helena Roerich wrote about their journeys in the book Altai Himalaya, and other Agni Yoga books. They were very much aware of the culture and beauty of the ascended master octave, and of the approaching spiritual shift that would occur when the Mother of the World returns. Hence, this most beautiful painting.”

 

Behold! the Mother of the World is coming.
Behold! The Mother of the World is here.
Where have you been, O Divine Mother,
Say how do we draw near?

The age of Mother is at hand,
So was the prophecy;
An impulse from the Pleiades
Immortal destiny.

Let us run to greet her then
Bright Children of the Sun!
And usher in a golden age
With Mother, One become!

Nay, we have never been alone—
The Brotherhood of Light
Hastens our course with Book of Prayer,
Beckons from lofty heights.

Sweet mystery of life unfolds.
'Neath canopy of stars
Initiates of the Brotherhood,
The vast Antahkarana.

Though twists and turns we must traverse
Beware the jagged crevice!
Still, step by step we climb the mount
That leads us to her Heaven.

“Become immortal,” Mother goads,
“Let go of sin and strife,
Please do not weary in well doing
And above all, serve Life.”

“Satsanga,” Mother whispers
Then turns to point the way;
Hail! sparkling jewels of the Buddha
Thrice blessing us each day.

 

“That was a beautiful poem,” said Maria.

“It is,” said Archangel Michael. “It was written by a friend of mine.”

“Why are the Himalayas so special?” asked Maria.

“The Himalayas are the highest mountains on earth, and an ancient focus of God's most pristine light. That is why Jesus loved to be in the Himalayas after his time in the Holy Land, and even before. Did you know that Jesus went to the Himalayas as a teenager and as a young man to learn?” asked Archangel Michael.

“I didn't know that,” said Maria.

“Well,” said Archangel Michael, “he spent years in the Himalayas learning from the great masters. He learned how to read Sanskrit, Kashmiri, Pali and other eastern languages. He studied Buddhism and all of the teachings of the Brotherhood before bringing them back to Israel. That is why the teachings of Buddha and Jesus are so similar.”

“I like to think of Jesus and Buddha being friends,” said Maria, “and sharing the same understanding of God.”

 

 

“Let's go visit some of these retreats tonight,” said Archangel Michael.

Archangel Michael and Maria arrived in a valley in the Himalayan mountains. There was a beautiful, magnificent building of white onyx, four stories high, with a great dome in the center.

The master Chananda and his sister, Lady Master Najah, greeted them both.

 

 

“Welcome to our retreat,” said Najah. “Would you like to see our beautiful table lined with gold? It is precipitated metal.”

Najah took Maria on a tour of the retreat. Maria saw at the end of one of the rooms an enormous table that could sit at least twenty people. It looked like it was made of teakwood, and was heavily inlaid with a substance that looked like gold, but it was, in reality, a precipitated metal. Towards the other end of the room was a white onyx table of the same size, the top of which was inlaid in violet and gold. It too, was made of precipitated substance, Najah explained.

 

 

During the tour, Maria saw a music room with a magnificent sitar, a cosmic observatory with scientific instruments yet unknown to the outer world, and a council chamber that could seat seven hundred people. The walls of this room were made of beautiful milk-white onyx with the most marvelous blue trimmings. On the floor was a thick carpet of the same wonderful blue. Maria thought for a moment, how the white and blue trimmings reminded her of the saris Mother Teresa and the Sisters of Charity wore in Calcutta.

Najah read her thoughts. “Mother Teresa was a Catholic nun,” she said, “but she would come to our retreat at night, and to other retreats of the ascended masters. She understood our oneness in God, and in good will service to mankind that transcends all religious doctrines, dogmas and divisions.

 

 

“Mother Teresa was very close to Jesus and Mother Mary, and she was also very much an inner disciple and chela of El Morya,” said Najah. “She established her home for the dying in the temple of the Indian Goddess Kali. It was in fact, on a train ride to Darjeeling, that she received her calling and vocation. ”

“In this room,” Najah explained, “my brother gathers the leaders of India and other nations to help bring about a cosmic cooperation between East and West, in preparation for Saint Germain's great golden age.”

At the side of the main room stood an altar and a golden chair. The main part of the altar was precipitated gold, but the top was made of another precipitated substance, the shade of blue that borders onto violet, like a deep tanzanite color.

 

 

“I love the way the ascended masters decorate their retreats,” said Maria. “There is so much beauty.”

“Yes,” said Najah, “and just wait until you see the Great Divine Director's Cave of Light. It is in the mountain behind this retreat.”

Chananda appeared in their midst, almost startling Maria.. “He does that sometimes,” said Najah with a smile.

“Would you like to see my magic carpet?”Chananda asked with a smile. “I once took the master Godfre Ray King, along with the young ascended masters Rex and Nada Rayborn, and Bob and Pearl Singleton. We rose up eleven thousand feet into the atmosphere to enjoy the view of the valley.”

 

 

“I would like to see it,” said Maria, “but I also want to get to the retreat of the Great Divine Director.”

“All in God's time,” said Chananda, as he showed her his carpet. It was a sheet of precipitated metal covered with a Persian rug.

“We use the metal for stability,” he said. “We propel ourselves using the Navez force that was familiar on Atlantis. It is the night side of the Mother energy of the planet that has not yet been rediscovered in the outer world.

“Here, let me take you on a short ride.”

 

Maria climbed onto the carpet with Najah. Archangel Michael was there as well in his brilliant blue flame guardian action. The Song of India began to play as they lifted up through the air.

“I will tell you a story as we fly,” said Chananda, as the carpet gently soared over the Palace of Light and then onto the forest and violet castle below. Maria saw what she thought was a Bengal Tiger between the trees.

“They are out here,” said Chananda. “They are magnificent creatures, but you must be careful.” Maria nodded as Chananda continued his story.

“We shun violence and want to always exude peace, which is the all-power of God, but you have to really study the terms of that peace with your own God Self, if you expect God to provide that power of peace as you face absolute war.

 

 

“I remember in a previous lifetime that there was a battle that raged all around me. There were more than ten thousand soldiers, and I stood in their midst, holding the focus of the sacred fire. And you know, they saw me not—just like Jesus when he disappeared from the midst of the people. I became invisible in the physical spectrum, even though I was still in physical embodiment.

“I was wearing the cloak of invisibility, invulnerability and invincibility that the master Lanello speaks about. By unswerving allegiance to the light, I became a pillar of fire for God in the midst of the battle, and they could not continue. They retreated on both sides, leaving me standing alone in the midst of the plain on which the battle had taken place.

“That is what we must do when the threat of war comes upon us. Through the power of our most devoted and intense prayer, we can compel the forces of war to back off. We can compel peace to manifest as the will of God acting through us.

“The more we grow in adeptship, the more we increase our planetary influence over world affairs. The Indian Council works with the Darjeeling Council, to foster an environment of peace that can sustain Golden Age governance for all of the nations of the world. This governance must be based on the principles that inspired the American Constitution and the early American patriots through the heart of our beloved Saint Germain.”

Chananda gently lowered the carpet to the ground in front of the palace. Thankfully, the Bengal tiger was nowhere to be seen. Najah then led Maria past electrical and chemical laboratories, to a half-mile tunnel in the center of the west wall that leads to the entrance of the Cave of Light.

“Let us go now to the Cave of Light,” said Chananda, “where we can meet the Great Divine Director.

 

 

“The Great Divine Director is the master who holds the divine plan of every lifestream upon Earth in his causal body,” said Najah. “He works to help us to manifest our divine plan. In fact, we can give prayers and novenas to him to help us to figure out our divine plan and manifest it.”

“The Cave of Light is consecrated as the secret chamber of the heart of the heaven world,” said Chananda. “Many ascended masters come to the Cave of Light to be recharged, and Saint Germain spends a great deal of time here. It is a place of safety, a haven of initiation where the soul and the Christ become one.”

Maria could hardly fathom the wondrous beauty of the Cave of Light, encrusted with dazzling crystalline substance and magnificent focuses of light serving as talismans of great power. “There is so much diamond light here,” she said, as she watched the ministering angels shining with all of the colors of the causal body, and especially the blue and purple light of the violet flame.

 

“The Great Divine Director is a great initiator on the path of the ascension,” said Chananda. “One of the purposes of the Cave of Light is to conduct activities that prepare and accelerate candidates for the ascension. He uses his authority to purify the four lower bodies of advanced initiates from a portion of their remaining karma.”

“Why does he do this?” asked Maria.

“The unascended initiates who receive this blessing can use their purified vehicles to render a cosmic service in the world prior to their ascension. They may come in their finer bodies to be trained for a special service that requires superhuman strength and certain disciplines that can only be imparted in the ascended master retreats. Some who were commissioned to go forth in the name of the Brotherhood, and who had not yet transmuted their remaining karma received this extraordinary assistance, as was the case of Godfre, Rex, Nada, Bob and Pearl.”

Deep in the cave, Maria saw doors of solid gold behind which radiated the white heat of a great furnace. “Here,” said Chananda, “the initiations of the five secret rays take place as five spherical interlocking chambers with an incomparable forcefield, for those who have prepared themselves by devotion to the will of God and by invoking violet flame.”

 

“The glory here is beyond words,” said Maria.

“Two days and two nights later,” said Chananda, continuing his story, “Godfre and his friends emerged from this eternal flame wearing new bodies of immortal endurance. Their four lower bodies were purified and aligned to become the immaculate receptacle for their Christ consciousness.”

“That is incredible!” exclaimed Maria.

When this dispensation is accorded worthy chelas,” said Chananda, “their remaining service to life is magnificently accomplished because their consciousness has become the perfect focalization for the entire spirit the Great White Brotherhood. Miracles, demonstrations of alchemy, and the control of natural forces and elemental life become the mark of those who are so blessed to be perfected like this prior to their ascension.”

“Like Jesus?” asked Maria.

“Yes,” said Chananda, “and those who were divinely blessed through the ages to work true miracles in the name of God.”

The Great Divine Director appeared for a splendid moment. “I bid you only come to the Cave of Light when you are ready,” he said, “when you are fully prepared to surrender your all—your life, your service and your will—to the will of God. All of the disciplines of our retreat are to tether the soul to divine direction. If you cannot hear that direction, you will not be ready for our retreat.

“You must first be tutored in developing the sensitivities of soul consciousness, so that you can be certain when the Lord God places the rod of power upon you and gives you the key of light through which you can detect that divine direction. If you are fortunate to have this happen, follow that divine direction to the fullest capability of your consciousness.”

 

 

“O God, you are so magnificent!” exclaimed Maria. “I will make myself ready and return. I want to place my whole life in the hands of God.”

“That is good,” said the Great Divine Director. “When you think of me, you can say, 'Thy blue belt protect my world, thy dazzling jewels so rare, surround my form and adorn with essence of thy prayer.' Then, I will come to your side to give you the next unfolding of divine direction for your life.”

“Thank you,” said Maria. “And thank you for inspiring these books.”

 

 

Having given her respects to the Great Divine Director, Maria woke up to the winter sun gently piercing through the fog. The song Joy to the World was still playing in her head.

Soon Christmas would be here. Now, Maria understood that the Christ was born not only in a cave in the town of Bethlehem, but also in the Cave of Light and in the secret chamber of the heart.

And as she closed her eyes for a moment, she realized that the star of Bethlehem was the star of baby Jesus' Mighty I AM Presence, and also the star of her own Great God Self. In that moment, she perceived the splendor and the majesty of her own Magic Presence, that heavenly angels sing!

 

 

Joy to the World
The Lord has come
Let earth receive her king.
Let every heart
Prepare him room
And heaven and nature sing!