Baptism

Baptism of Christ, Paolo Veronese (c. 1561)

Baptism is the first sacrament, which comes to us by the action of the first ray. The baptism is the origin of the sacred mission, the sacred event of the consecration of the soul to the will of God. It is that moment when the soul is infused with that mantra, which was spoken by Jesus when he descended into his form in Bethlehem. “Lo, I AM come to do thy will, O God.”

Some have an idea that the little child in arms cannot be baptized because he cannot give full acknowledgment to that mantra; but it is a mantra of the soul. It is the mantra that is spoken. It is the commitment of will upon incarnation, as the soul is sent forth from God to earth. And when it has arrived, that presentation in the temple, that coming forth for the baptism, is sponsored by the parents who stand with the soul at inner levels in the commitment to “do thy will, O God.”

As Jesus publicly submitted to his baptism, so we should also submit to a public baptism through an ordained minister of the Church:

Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, “I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?”

And Jesus answering said unto him, “Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he suffered him.

And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water. And, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him: and, lo, a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

An initiation unto Christhood

In The Opening of the Seventh Seal, Sanat Kumara explains that the water baptism corresponds to one the stages of initiation of Christhood. There are (1) birth, (2) water baptism, (3) fire baptism (transfiguration), and (4) crucifixion, resurrection and ascension.

The initiation of the second stage of Christhood is the Water (Matter) Baptism through the Christ of Maitreya under the office of the Lion on the north gate. This stage was reenacted by the Lord Jesus Christ in his baptism by John in the river Jordan. Its purpose was to illustrate the ritual for you, my beloved; for the living Gurus (God-men) John and Jesus had no need to publicly reenact the ritual except to fulfill the law as an example of its righteous use to their chelas—an example which they should follow both in the spirit and the letter in the hour of their initiation into the second gospel of the four that form the square.

Therefore the Master said, “Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.” This is the moment of the initiation by Maitreya when the Person of the Father enters the temple—magnified by the already balanced and expanded Threefold Flame. The Light of the I AM Presence, as the Light of Alpha and Omega, pours directly through his heart chakra as he is dedicated to his earthly mission by the dove of the Holy Ghost. This is the moment of my approbation, “This is my Son, my beloved, in whom I AM well pleased.”

The meaning of these words is revealed to the initiated: “This is my Son [the Light manifestation of my Presence, i.e., the incarnation of my Word--the extension of my Self through the lineal descent of the Ruby Ray]—this is my beloved soul Jesus [my beloved Self in Matter—in Mother] in whom I AM THAT I AM—[in whom I dwell, for “I and my Son (Light) are one”] well pleased [exceedingly One]”.

The pleasure of the Father in the Son is always by the law of congruency. When the Son is the perfect chalice for the Father, then is the Father joyous, comfortable, and comforting all life through the transparent Presence of the Son. Thus when the Son fulfills his purpose of being the chalice worthy, the chalice is sealed in the Water Baptism and the divine approbation is pronounced before the councils of the hosts of heaven and before all upon earth who have ears to hear.

This baptism is the sign that the Guru is in the chela—bodily. The equilateral triangles of their identity are congruent. This is part one of the threefold empowerment conferred in stages two, three, and four.

All that transpires between the Water (Matter) Baptism and the Transfiguration in the high mountain of the Christ consciousness on the west gate fulfills the second archetype of personal Christhood on the Path of the Ruby Ray. Many of these initiations are illustrated in the public ministry of the Saviour—but not all. Other initiations are borne solely within the retreats of the Brotherhood. His public ministry is evidence to all adepts that he has undergone said initiations according to the preordained path.

Sources

Elizabeth Clare Prophet, December 5, 1976.

Tenets of Church Universal and Triumphant.