The Sixth Ray

Wisdom Teachings
The Seven Rays
Book: The Seven Rays

Devotion is the alignment of the personality with the soul. Devotion is another name for integration - the integration of the personality with the soul and the soul with the universal soul. Integration should proceed in these steps. Devotional persons are humble, silent and have the ability to wait. They are consistent and constantly striving to connect with the soul. Thus, they build the bridge between THAT and themselves as a personality. Today we use a different term for this than devotion - discipleship. Discipleship is nothing other than the practice in daily life of connecting with the soul at every moment. That is devotion; that is discipleship.

Without dedicating ourselves to a noble task or service, we cannot rise. Devotion to a noble cause is the power of the Sixth Ray. In Sanskrit, the Sixth Ray is called Sarvavasu, which is known as the path of devotion. The quality of the Sixth Ray is striving for an ideal. When we continuously strive for an ideal, this is called tapas, fiery aspiration. With the help of this fire, we can ascend.

Many esotericists think that the Sixth Ray is no longer needed, because Master Djwhal Khul wrote in his books that the Sixth Ray is disappearing, being withdrawn. He meant a cycle of several thousand years and that the emotional part of the Sixth Ray is disappearing, not the Sixth Ray as a whole. Our ignorance makes us think it is no longer needed. Even the sun ray contains the energies of the Sixth Ray. The Sun does not say, “This ray is no longer needed.”

Continuity of aspiration towards an ideal is possible only when the Sixth Ray is well worked out; it has its own magic. The Master of the First Ray, Master Morya, works with the Sixth Ray today because the fiery aspiration associated with an ideal is the First Ray working through the emotions of the astral body. The building up of the will in devoted people enables them to follow the path steadily and more rapidly than someone who is constantly struggling with his mind.

In the terminology of the past, we spoke of devotional activity. Today we speak of the focused concentration of the mind. When we are focused and dedicated to a work, we do it in a concentrated way. We don't make mistakes, we don't forget anything, and we don't need to be told again and again what we should do. Mental focus and concentration cannot come to people who do not have dedication and the appropriate aspiration. Therefore, the First Ray and the Sixth Ray are the best combination to ascend.

The Sixth Ray unfolds its power especially on the astral plane, the plane of desire. People worship God in order to have their wishes fulfilled. But this is not true devotion. The power of desire can pull them in different directions. Devotion is not emotion; it is total alignment - the alignment of the personality with the soul. Emotion is not such an alignment, it is like unclean water, whereas devotion is like pure, distilled water. Distilled emotions are qualities of the heart like love, affection, inclusion, magnetism, sympathy, harmlessness …

Rose is the colour of the Sixth Ray and it belongs to the astral plane. Rose has a beneficial effect on the nervous system; it helps to calm emotional energies and restore balance. The colour rose calms and the colour silver restores order. The use of roses (flowers) in daily life and essential rose oil are helpful remedies for depression.

The negative qualities of a Sixth Ray personality include being ideological, fixed to a point of view and not accommodating other viewpoints. It is extremely emotional and can be fanatical to the point of violence. Devotion has to be voluntary. We must not impose it on anyone. In the past, religion imposed a strict order on people that the soul could not bear and people suffered under the pressure. The old structures are now broken, but the new structures have yet to be built for humanity to develop a higher spiritual culture.

There is and has been in our world much religious fanaticism. Fanatical spiritual people are constantly creating conflicts among people through their practices in the name of God. Religious leaders fanaticize by creating extreme emotions in people with the Sixth Ray instead of inspiring them to live a good life in peace and harmony. Human history is full of wars and bloodshed for religious or political reasons. The difference between a devotee and a fanatic is that the fanatic fights for his concept of truth on the outside, while the devotee battles for the light on the inside. Many countries are also governed by a certain emotional idealism which leads to sacrifices based on extreme idealism.

What is needed is the positive side of the Sixth Ray to free us from the lower influences. Devotion and dedication to a noble cause in service to society are the keys to the positive side of this ray. We should set a high goal for ourselves, then all our energy will be elevated by the Sixth Ray. This will enable us to reach the Second Ray of Love-Wisdom and to enter into synthesis from the Second Ray.

When we like something very much, we work for it at any cost. Devotion means that we permanently maintain the enthusiasm with which we begin a new work. When we devote ourselves to a service, it should still be with the same intense interest after five years as it was on the first day. This is called devotion in occultism. The love with which we do every little thing gives us the presence and joy of the here and now.

Devotion is a continual desire and aspiration to connect with the master consciousness within. Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, “Only one who is full of devotion is fit to receive knowledge.” Knowledge is revealed to those who have devotion and focus. Through devotion, the mind is stabilised. Thus, the Sixth Ray leads to a focusing of our attention. Attention means that we take care of everything - things we use, our body, everything in our lives, etc. - with much mindfulness, love and care. Through devotion we apply knowledge and attention to the smallest details in daily life, and this leads to focused action. The Sixth Ray also helps us develop interest in the inner life and to receive inner knowledge. This interest we call aspiration. If we are to truly live with spiritual aspiration, it must permeate our every activity.

Knowledge combined with devotion to the Divine is useful. Knowledge without devotion creates illusions and is dangerous. All knowledge should therefore be used with responsibility. Wisdom-knowledge alone can crystallise into intellectual concepts and can lead to selfish activity. Anything that drives us to act should not have a self-centred motive. When a group works together with the same fiery aspiration and tries to act in the best possible way, it brings out the best of everyone in the group, and our personality then follows the directions of the soul. In this way, complete dedication at work is possible.

Mars is the planetary ruler of the Sixth Ray of devotion. Fiery aspiration is initiated by Mars. When the work of transformation is complete, Venus takes charge. Venus is the lord of pure love. Through intelligent use of Venus energy, the emotional thought stream is filtered and purified. When the work of filtering on the ray of devotion is completed, pure devotional love remains. Jupiter is the Energy of Synthesis, the Second Ray, Love-Wisdom. First Jupiter initiates Love-Wisdom. Jupiter directs, Venus guides and Neptune refines one on the path. Pure love is in relation to Neptune. Under Neptune’s influence we have mysticism, music, and profound meditation. Melodious singing is actually the expressing of the sacred sound OM. To utter OM, to listen to the reverberation, and to dedicate oneself with devotion to the deeper purpose of the sound – all constitute a process of self-transformation.

Neptune directs the higher functions of the Sixth Ray. He is the Grand Master of mysteries, secrets and ecstasies. Neptune offers souls the experience of ecstasy, which makes one forget one’s surroundings and everything in the outer world. When we listen to good music, we can be absorbed by it and completely forget our surroundings. Only the music remains, we ourselves are no longer there. Krishna's flute music is of such Neptunian quality. His music lifts people up to soul awareness. Not only human beings, but also the animals, birds, plants, trees and rivers. Everything in Krishna's environment is absorbed into a state of bliss, which we call the Music of the Soul. Neptune enables this merging into the blissful experience of the One existence - “Ananda”, the causeless state. It is too early for us to think of Neptune experience now. We have to complete the work with Venus in our individual birth chart first. Neptune is part of the future programme.

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