It is my intention to be very practical. The building of the antahkarana (which is consciously undertaken upon the Path of Discipleship) is a process which is followed under certain ancient and proven rules. When these rules are correctly followed, the sequence of events and the appearance of the desired results are inevitable and unavoidable. There is much that I could say which would be of small use to the average aspirant, as it would be concerned with subjective realities which - though existent and occult facts in a natural process - are as yet unrealizable. My problem is to present the process in such a manner that - towards the end of this century - educators will be thinking, speaking and teaching in terms of bridging, and thus approaching basic statements which have a definite bearing upon this point which we are considering. I would like here very succinctly to recall a few of them to your attention:

1. Knowledge-force expresses itself through the consciousness thread and the creative thread.
2. These two threads are, for the disciple, a fusion of [475] past knowledge (the consciousness thread) and the present (the creative thread).
3. The life thread or sutratma proper is closely blended with these two. You then have atma-buddhi-manas (the latter being the agent of creation) functioning to a certain degree consciously in the aspirant.
4. The fusion of personality and soul is in process, but when it has reached a certain point it becomes apparent that a creativity or a creative activity of the Will is needed to bridge between the Spiritual Triad and the personality, via the soul.
5. The bridge which must be constructed is called, technically, the antahkarana.
6. This bridge has to be built by the aspirant who is focused upon the mental plane, because it is mental substance (in three grades) which must be used, and the three aspects of the mind - the manasic permanent atom, the Son of Mind or Ego, and the mental unit - are all involved in the process.

Students would do well to learn that this process of building the antahkarana is one of the means whereby man, the trinity, becomes a duality. When the task is completed and the antahkarana is definitely built - thus producing perfect alignment between the Monad and its expression upon the physical plane - the body of the soul (the causal body) is completely and finally destroyed by the fire of the Monad, pouring down the antahkarana. There is then complete reciprocity between the Monad and the fully conscious soul on the physical plane. The "divine intermediary" is no longer required. The "Son of God Who is the Son of Mind" dies; the "veil of the temple is rent in twain from the top to the bottom"; the fourth initiation is passed, and there then comes the revelation of the Father.

The above is a brief and probably meaningless statement except theoretically, but it summarizes the task which lies ahead and the work of the disciple who is in process of constructing the antahkarana. There is a close connection between the fourth initiation, the quaternary in its evolved condition - vital body, emotional vehicle, mind and soul - and this fourth technical stage of building consciously the "rainbow bridge." You have therefore:

1. The Quaternary, the creative factor on Earth.
2. The fourth initiation, that of the Crucifixion.
3. The fourth technical stage of building the Antahkarana:
   1. Sutratma, the life thread.
   2. The consciousness thread.
   3. The creative thread, itself threefold.
   4. The technical antahkarana, bridging between the threefold personality and the Spiritual Triad.
4. The four stages of the Path of Return:
   1. The stage of evolution itself.
   2. The stage of the Probationary Path.
   3. The stage of the Path of Discipleship.
   4. The stage of the Path of Initiation.