The Fourth Ray

Wisdom Teachings
The Seven Rays
Book: The Seven Rays

All who live on earth experience the duality of light and dark because the planet rotates on its axis as it orbits the sun. As long as we are on this earth, day and night cannot be avoided. For someone who left the planet and is in space, day and night no longer exist. When we rise above mundane awareness, we can see much better the alternating currents that operate through time. For this we have to withdraw into our centre. There we are in an awareness that is not subject to change. From there we can also see what is eternal and what is time-bound. Whoever is inside the wheel cannot perceive the movement of the wheel as well as someone who is outside.

The law of alternation is always active in creation: harmony and conflict, joy and pain, truth and falsehood alternate. The world is duality. While we live in duality, we cannot say 'I want to have harmony permanently'. What brings conflict also brings harmony and vice versa. This has to do with the energy of the fourth ray of harmony and conflict: It is actually only our perspective that either brings conflict or harmony. We have to shift our awareness; then the conflicts of duality will dissolve within us.

Every conflict has its harmony on a higher level. The conflict is on the lower level. When through conflict we find the higher state of awareness, we also find a new balance. In every step towards the new balance there is always a challenge to be taken into account, individually and also in society: As long as the rich do not include the poor, the conflict continues. Opposition must always be seen as a message to seek a higher balance.

For this, we have to reconcile our mundane understanding with the divine understanding. Wisdom gives us divine understanding. This divine understanding develops as we regularly study the wisdom teachings and Scriptures and learn to apply the teachings of the teachers in life. Thus, we begin to see things not only with the light of the mundane mind but also with the light of wisdom. We then understand that nothing happens without the impulse coming from the divine attempts to assisting us in discovering a new balance. Every conflict has its harmony in its higher level. There is a divine order in all calamities – in environmental and natural disasters, in wars and terrorist activities. We can see this order with the eye of wisdom when we see the light in the heart of everything that happens.

In our daily lives, our personality is usually functioning within the fourth ray of harmony and conflict. Permanent harmony is not possible. While one aspect of our lives may be in harmony, other aspects may not be so. If the economic situation is under control, then health is not under our control. If we have health under control, then the children are not under control. If we have the children under control, then something happens to our spouse. One or the other always slips out of our control. Most people believe that they can achieve harmony with the help of external circumstances. To live in harmony, we build houses, get married, have children and try to progress in our profession… But harmony does not come from external things, nor can we buy it with money; it has to come from within.

For harmony we do not need a special education. An uneducated person can possess it, while it eludes learned men. The path to harmony lies in the way we think. To the degree we have cultivated mental order, is how much our mind will function smoothly, and comfort arises.

Harmony, comfort, poise and peace are all qualities of Venus. Through Venus comes the fourth ray. Venus brings beauty and the experience of harmony from higher planes to earth and helps the soul to ascend. The fourth ray is called Viswatrayarchas (harmony) in the East. It helps us dissociate from the dense physical and associate with the beauty, splendour and rhythm of the inner life. To keep us in harmony, the activity we do should not only nourish us, but also serve society. The two factors play together. If we choose work, regardless of the needs of society, the society does not respond to our work and we end up in conflict.

Each of us is in his or her own personal life situation. If we do not like the situation, we find ourselves in the conflict part of the fourth ray. And if we accept the situation, we reach the harmony part of the ray. The first skill to develop on the spiritual path is not to try to escape from a situation, but to accept it and work with it. If we do not get the work that we like, the alternative is to like the work that is given. If we try to escape, we are usually trapped by our own intelligence. As long as we have strong personal opinions, nature will teach us to make concessions. This is the fruit of working with our own conflicts. From a spiritual point of view, a serious health problem provides an opportunity to rethink one's own routine and patterns - our thought patterns, food patterns, work patterns, behaviour patterns… The health problem gives us time to develop new forms of behaviour. It is an interlude to reorient ourselves and start anew in an orderly fashion. If we are balanced and harmonious, we can avoid feeling quickly disturbed. Harmony gives us resistance to illness and promotes health.

Wise people are not disturbed or upset by differences of opinion and conflicts in their environment. On the contrary, they have a positive effect on their environment and create harmony. Group prayers help to dissolve crises on the planet or prevent crises that otherwise would have manifested. When we gather and utter OM seven times, it rises up and spreads around to bring the needed harmony. The effect of praying together is much greater than the effect of an individual. We cannot perceive the invisible work, but it is seen by the Masters. It is also our duty to invoke divine intervention so that right thoughts occur to the leaders and right actions are taken for the general good of humanity. Even good will groups are seldom engaged in thoughts of good will. They often are at conflict with other groups or even with members of their own group. Their thoughts radiate energies of conflict. When we regularly generate conflict through our thoughts, how can we have aspirations of harmony for humanity?

There is a huge global war happening in the subtle plane due to the energies of competition, greed and hatred regularly emitted by all human groups around the planet. Most people suffer from mental or emotional conflict based on mental or emotional disorientation. The holy word OM can dissolve the grey matter of confusion and pave the way for right thinking and acting. In order to bring the fourth ray of disharmony into harmony and order, we should work with the rhythm of the seventh ray, because it works like a remedy to dissolve the disorder. Conflict can also lead to curative efforts. May the first step to harmony be cooperation and good will; this will benefit both ourselves and the world. The members of the Hierarchy live friendliness and support all who strive for goodwill. It is up to humans to invite friendliness into their being and to improve the quality of their actions.

When someone is disturbing, be it a family or a group, the best answer for the disturbing one is to remain silent. Our silence neutralises his inner disturbance or unease that he keeps on putting it outside. If we have enough love, we can see that the one who is disturbed is suffering from inner restlessness. One can project disharmony by unkind comments, criticism and judgements. This may make the disturbed one feel more comfortable without the awareness that they are causing disturbance to others. A loving understanding and a collective prayer for a long period would slowly bring the needed inner peace, poise and harmony. If someone is constantly disturbing, it is a great challenge for the others. We can understand it as the karma allotted to us and as a message from nature to become tolerant and patient.

We should not reject a person, even if we disagree with the views and mannerisms of the person. We may reject the views of others, but we should not reject the person as a whole. If we focus on what makes us different, it leads to conflict. By focusing on what we have in common, we find harmony. There is so much that is common between us. The personalities are different, but the person is one and the same in every form. Our ability to accept many personalities shows an expansive consciousness.

All that we see in the universe is but one and an expression of the One. There is no other, only one. Relating to this essential unity enables us to gain harmony.

Sources used: K.P. Kumar: Teachings of Lord Maitreya. Div. seminar notes / E. Krishnamacharya: The Seven Rays. The World Teacher Trust - Dhanishta, Visakhapatnam, India