[Permission for these quotations from the Bailey books was given by the Lucis Trust which holds the copyright.]

In order to explore the relationship between H.P.B. and A.A.B. in relation to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings,  references in the Bailey books have been sought. These references are to H.P.B. and to her main work - The Secret Doctrine - as well as references to the Theosophical Society, which H.P.B. founded. As there are many such references of necessity an attempt has been made to choose those which are likely to be of most interest as far as the relationship between their teachings in concerned.

One of the first references chosen makes a link by the Tibetan teacher  [who worked through Alice Bailey] between the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society and the Arcane School, which Bailey founded. This particular link is in Esoteric Psychology, Volume II, which was published by the Lucis Publishing Co. in 1942. On page 596  there is the following teaching;

“Today, aspirants and disciples are working in the modern esoteric schools (such as the Arcane School and the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society - to mention two of the most important) and there they learn some of the foundational truths of esotericism. They begin to gain control of the emotional nature and the mind; they learn to purify the body and to apprehend the basic postulates of the Ageless Wisdom. They are then under the direction subjectively of some senior disciple who knows the needed next truth….A few persons, here and there, are definitely working under the direction of one of the Masters.” 

In 1944 Discipleship in the New Age, Volume I, was published and under the third section on the six stages of discipleship there is a heading; “Stage III. Accepted Discipleship.” Then there is the following statement by the Tibetan Master;

“It is not my intention in this short series of Instructions to deal with the stage of Accepted Discipleship. Much has been written about this stage. I have covered every practical angle in my many books and there is nothing to be gained by duplication. The books on discipleship put out by the Theosophical Society adequately cover the Probationary Path; I have dealt in detail with the Path of Discipleship.” [p. 732]

So here a distinction is made clear; that between the Path of Probation, which is covered by the books of the Theosophical Society and the Path of Discipleship, which is covered by the Tibetan’s work with Alice Bailey.

One of the most important books (and undoubtedly the most difficult, it has to be admitted)  by the Tibetan is The Treatise on Cosmic Fire, which was published in 1925. Pages 3 to 7 consists of a section entitled, Introductory Postulates, which, it is said;

“are simply extensions of the three fundamentals to be found in the Proeme in the first volume of the Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky.” [p. 3]

So yet again there is a direct link here between the work of H.P.B. and A.A.B. with the explicit statement that the teaching in the later book is an extension of the earlier one as far as the fundamentals are concerned.

These fundamentals are stated in this section of The Treatise on Cosmic Fire to be as follows;

I. There is one Boundless Immutable Principle; one Absolute Reality which antecedes all manifested conditioned Being. It is beyond the range and reach of any human thought or expression.

II. There is a basic law called the Law of Periodicity.

III. All souls are identical with the Oversoul.

At the end of Discipleship in the New Age, Volume I, there is a section summarising the Tibetan’s work through the Alice Bailey books which were written from 1919 to 1949. Part of this is of immediate interest as far as the relationship between the teachings of Blavatsky and Bailey is concerned and begins by confirming the fact that the later teaching follows on from the earlier;

“The first book published was Initiation, Human and Solar….and…was intended to bring the fact of the Hierarchy to public attention. This had been done by H. P. B. by inference and statement but not in any sequential form.”  [p.777]

So in this sense too, that is, the task of bringing the fact of the Hierarchy to public attention, the later work of Bailey and the Tibetan is to be seen as an expansion of Blavatsky’s earlier efforts. However, the Tibetan states that there were many mistaken ideas around subsequent to the earlier teaching;

“The Theosophical Society had taught the fact of the Masters, though H. P. Blavatsky (in a communication to the Esoteric Section) stated that she bitterly regretted doing so. This teaching was misinterpreted by later theosophical leaders and they made certain mistakes.” [pp.777/8]

These mistakes are said to include: thinking of the Masters as infallible when they are actually still evolving; an engrossing interest in self-development and personal unfoldment; too much devotion to the personalities of the Masters; and too much emphasis on claims of initiate and discipleship status by some later members of the Theosophical Society.

These mistakes needed to be rectified and the Tibetan continues with the statement that;

“Letters on Occult Meditation followed next. These indicated a somewhat new approach to meditation, based not on devotion to the Masters but on a recognition of the soul in each person.” [Ibid.]

So the teachings in this book can be seen as part of an attempt to rectify the prevailing wrong attitudes amongst many at that time. The emphasis is quite definitely on making contact with the higher self, the soul, and thereby drawing the attention away from the lower self, the personality with its relatively small and petty concerns.

In this section there is also confirmation of the importance of A Treatise on Cosmic Fire as a continuation and expansion of the Secret Doctrine with a particular emphasis on the three fires;

“A Treatise on Cosmic Fire….was an expansion of the teaching given in the Secret Doctrine on the three fires - electric fire, solar fire and fire by friction - and it was an awaited sequence; it also presented the psychological key to the Secret Doctrine and is intended to offer study to disciples and initiates at the close of this century and the beginning of the next century, up until 2025 A.D.” [Ibid.]

So here is a very clear statement of not only the fact of an expansion of the previous teachings with this later book as a psychological key to the earlier one but also a direction as to which period of time these teachings were intended to be studied, that is, right now up until 2025. [This is the time when the Hierarchy and Shamballa have their next centennial conclave, when certain decisions pertaining to humanity regarding the next needed tests and crises, together with their appropriate level of consciousness, are made.]

There are further revelations regarding the sequence and timing of the Ageless Wisdom teachings in, for example, the book The Rays and the Initiations which was only published in 1960, though written many years before; 

“I would have you remember that the teaching which I have given out has been intermediate in nature, just as that given by H.P.B., under my instruction was preparatory. The teaching planned by the Hierarchy to precede and condition the New Age, the Aquarian Age, falls into three categories:

            1. Preparatory, given 1875 - 1890 ... written down by H.P.B.

            2. Intermediate, given 1919 - 1949 … written down by A.A.B.

            3. Revelatory, emerging after 1975 … to be given on a worldwide scale via the radio.

In the next century and early in the century an initiate will appear and will carry on this teaching. It will be under the same “impression,” for my task is not yet completed and this series of bridging treatises between the material knowledge of man and the science of the initiates has still another phase to run.” [p.255]

This information is the most definite and wide ranging up to now, covering the period 1875 through to 2025 and beyond. In this statement is confirmation that the Tibetan instructed H.P.B. with the Preparatory teaching. It is also worth noting that the third category here outlined, that of the Revelatory stage, is not to do with a different set of teachings - that will only happen after 2025. The Revelatory teaching which is to take place between 1975 and 2025 is rather the task of making the teachings of both the Preparatory and Intermediate categories more available and accessible to the public. This movement can be seen to be happening now and has been given a special impetus, surely, with the advent of the internet. In fact, this movement as a whole can be seen to be part of the externalisation process itself.

In 1957 the book The Externalisation of the Hierarchy was published though yet again, it had been written some time before by the Tibetan under Alice Bailey’s name. There is much detail here of what is to come as well as of the beginning of this externalisation movement, or impulse, as well as other pertinent information, so it is deemed worth quoting a relevant passage in its entirety.
 
“H.P.B. (one of the first working disciples to go forth on the externalisation impulse and with first ray energy driving him) gave the background of the Plan, under impression from me; the more detailed structure and the sweep of the  hierarchical intention have been given by me in the books  which A.A.B. has introduced under her own name to the public (in so doing acting under my instructions). For the  first time in human history, the purpose of past events ‑ historical and psychological ‑ can be clearly noted as the foundation for all present happenings, thus bringing the mysterious Law of Karma in an easy manner to public attention. The  present can also be seen, indicating the way of the future  and revealing clearly the Will‑to‑Good which is animating  the entire evolutionary process ‑ a process in which humanity (again for the first time) is intelligently participating and cooperating. It is this cooperative participation, even if unconsciously rendered, which has made it possible for the Hierarchy to grasp the opportunity to bring to an end the long silence which has persisted since Atlantean days; the  Masters can now begin to undertake to renew an ancient “sharing of the secrets,” and to prepare humanity for a civilisation which will be distinguished by a constant intellectual perception of truth, and which will cooperate with the externalised Ashrams in the various parts of the world.

The internal consolidation is now being somewhat loosened, if I may use such an inadequate expression, and a  majority of the Members of the Hierarchy are withdrawing Their close attention from reception of impression from  Shamballa and are now orienting Themselves ‑ in an entirely  new and directed manner ‑ to the fourth kingdom in nature.  At the same time, a very powerful minority of Masters are entering into a much closer association with the Council of  Sanat Kumara.” [p.685]

There are many points worthy of note here. For example, H.P.B. is stated to be one of the first working disciples to respond to the impulse to externalise or manifest on earth. Also here is the information that H.P.B. was a first ray disciple. The fact that H.P.B. is referred to as “him” simply indicates that on the higher levels of soul and spirit there is no male and female distinction. Indeed, the word “man” as used in the Bailey books stems from the Sanskrit “manas”  meaning mind.

The broad sweep of the Plan of the Hierarchy for humanity is indicated too, as is the emphasis on the co-operative participation of humanity in the whole evolutionary and externalisation processes. It is also worth noting that in these processes free will is never violated. In addition, here there is a reference to the fourth kingdom in nature which is that of humanity as a whole. The first kingdom is the mineral, the second is the vegetable and the third is the animal and these three kingdoms are referred to in the teachings as the sub-human kingdoms. These three sub-human kingdoms are distinct from the super-human kingdoms. The super-human kingdoms are the higher states of planetary consciousness and humanity is intended to be the intelligent, loving intermediary between these super-human and the sub-human kingdoms.

For further information on the planes as states of consciousness and another reference to H.P.B., the following from Discipleship in the New Age, Volume II, by A.A.B. is of some interest;

“It is wise to remember that “space is an entity” - as H.P.B. expressed it. When he so defined space, he gave humanity one of the most important hints it has ever received. The realisation of the existence of this entity leads to a practical recognition of the aphorism that “in Him we live and move and have our being.” It explains the necessity for the esoteric teaching anent planetary centres and the planes as states of consciousness.” [p.396]

There are many expansions of this teaching on the planetary centres and the planes as states of consciousness throughout all the Tibetan’s work in the Bailey books which are outside the focus of this paper. However, as previously stated, there are many references in the Bailey books to the importance of the earlier teachings of H.P.B. and here is one from Esoteric Psychology, Volume II, which was published in 1942 by the Lucis Publishing Co. under the name of Alice A. Bailey;

“Let us not forget that H.P.B. has said (and truly) that the physical body is not a principle. These seven basic trends which we are considering are purely psychical or psychological in nature.” [p.235 ]

The number seven is of significance as far as the planes or states of consciousness are concerned and in the teachings, the physical body is seen as an automaton in that it responds to these planes or states.

Yet another fundamental teaching on these seven planes which stems from the work of H.P.B. is to be found in the book Esoteric Psychology, Volume I, which was published in 1936;

“When we are more advanced upon the Path, we shall see naught but spirit everywhere, and the aphorism, enunciated by that great disciple, H.P.B., that “matter is spirit at the lowest point of its cyclic activity” and “spirit is matter on the seventh plane,” or the highest, will be a realised fact in our consciousness.” [p.17]

The final quote offered here as worth some contemplation is from Discipleship in the New Age, Volume I, page 700 with two references to The Secret Doctrine;

“Finally, when the power of the Triangles (the spiritual name given in The Secret Doctrine to the soul) is being imposed upon the personality, then their energy supersedes the other energies”.

The second reference is to the eventual purpose of the disciple;

“When he knows himself to be the “Life and the lives” (as The Secret Doctrine puts it), a sumtotal of forces and controlling energy, then he can be a world disciple and work significantly in an Ashram.”