What, truly, is RELIGION? Is it an opiate for the weary senses wherein the seeming reality of the distresses of the outer world may, for the moment, be forgotten? 

No! RELIGION is based on a seven-fold principle, and mankind, for the most part, including conscious students of the Law and even advanced chelas have not fully understood its seven-fold nature. 

On its journey back .to God, the soul passes through each of the Seven Rays. Surfeited with the enjoyments of the senses, and impelled by the Divine Teacher within the heart, it at last comes to its knees before its Creator, and here you have the action of the FIRST RAY in the invocation of the bemuddled consciousness to learn the WILL OF GOD! 

The soul next passes into the radiation of the SECOND RAY and learns the Law of Cause and Effect through the recoil of its own energy - which is the pleasure or pain occasioned by the qualification of the life given into its charge. A little later, under this Ray, the Divine Design of the Hierarchy is explained and the place where each individual belongs in the Great Plan. It is the place of ILLUMINATION where, after asking the Will of God, the revelation of the Divine Scheme of things is presented to the earnest soul. 

Then the aspirant passes through the portals of the THIRD RAY, and under its radiation, he endeavors to make his understanding of practical value to his fellowman developing TOLERANCE, UNDERSTANDING, and a sincere deep interest in the spiritual growth and welfare of the race to which he belongs. 

He then passes into the FOURTH SPHERE, and looking upon the sordidness and distortion of the life principle which has become his body and environment, he recognizes the Truth that BEAUTY, HARMONY, and PERFECTION are God-ordained as part of the RELIGION of the awakened man and he begins, through the molding of his thought, the purifying power of feeling, and the direction of the Sacred Fire, to externalize that which should be a credit and example to all life. 

In the FIFTH SPHERE, following the same pattern, he passes to the Illumined Understanding of the mathematical accuracy that lies within creation, precipitation, etheralization, and levitation, and all those powers called mystic by the mind of the undisciplined. 

He next passes into the SIXTH SPHERE, having received within himself the Gifts that all the preceding Rays have offered him, and here he kneels, but this time in THANKSGIVING and DEVOTION for the Gifts of Life. Then the Hosannas rise from the heart and lips; the Aves fill the atmosphere; and "Praise God from whom all Blessings flow" becomes the illumined heart prayer of the initiate of the Sixth Temple. 

Having expressed his gratitude to God through devotion to his Christ Self, to the Angelic Host, to the Masters of Wisdom, and to his fellowman, he is then ready to pass on into the Seventh and final activity of his RELIGION - whether he be Moslem, Jew, Christian, Metaphysician or Student of the "I AM" - whatever label he gives to his Religion, he then enters the Seventh Sphere. 

Here in the SEVENTH SPHERE, the Words of the Master Jesus ring through his consciousness: "Hitherto the Father worketh; but now the Father and I work!" Now all of these gifts of energy; all of the Teachings of the Brotherhood; and all of the Beauty and Sacrifice, Illumination and Devotion gained by the lifestream on its journey through the preceding Spheres now become his responsibility to offer on the Altar of Humanity in ORDERED SERVICE, which is the watchword of Saint Germain, Chohan of the Seventh Ray or Sphere in which the spiritual traveler now finds himself. In this Seventh Sphere, knowing the Will of God; illumined by Understanding; loving his fellowman, the Elemental and Angelic Kingdoms; filled with the Beauty and Opulence which is his birthright; understanding the powers of centripetal and centrifugal force; heeding the cry that comes from the hearts of the brothers and sisters still in bondage, and answering that cry with a heart overflowing with Good - not with the lips, but through the feelings that is the man through whom the Ceremonial Worship of the Seven Ray, the Final Ray, shall be effected. 

You who have responded, through the veil of flesh and through the vibratory action of the outer consciousness, to the magnetic pull of our Hearts, and who have bared your souls to the Vital Rays of Truth; what, in your RELIGION, distinguishes you who are its followers from the masses? Inner Peace, perhaps? But it must be more than that. 

Worship has begun to mean relaxation of the senses, and well can I understand that - seeing with the inner eye, the desires of the day; how you long for the Peace and Sanctuary of God - away from the thralldom of your own creations. I do not condemn, for I love you more than you can ever love yourselves, but I do want you to be what God intended you to be - not what you want for yourselves. I want you to be FREE! I want you to be MASTER! I want you to be that which Saint Germain can use as a living example of the Free Man - in which is embodied the Sevenfold Nature of Religion. 

Now be not unduly concerned, for every man is strong in ONE point out of the seven - which is natural because each of you is one of seven types. Saint Francis of Assisi got his Freedom and found his God walking through the fields; Saint Augustine in a cathedral; Saint Paul walking along the dusty road with bitterness in his heart toward the one who was to be his own Great Master. It is a wonderful thing that you have even one facet developed; else you would not be interested in this Activity. You would be 'gamboling in the fields' with the rest of the race. At least one of your developed designs of worship is strong enough to have brought you to the feet of the Master and the Cosmic Christ. 

Now I want you to do something for me. I want you to take your soul, each day, through the Seven Temples - one in each Sphere. Discipline that soul! Abide for a time in the Temple - at least until there is a response to your own vibration. If you are proud and stiff-necked, and your knee knows not the capacity to bend, kneel at the feet of the great El Morya and learn from him the Joy of surrender, and to say: "Thy Will, my God, be done - not mine!" 

If you are mentally lazy and prefer to have another design your Religion for you, enter into the Heart of the Temple of Love in the Second Sphere and demand God's Illumination. Leave not that Temple until Understanding, not born of another's word, but your own, makes service a happiness. 

Do you know why men make the practice of Religion a duty? Because they are building their faith on someone else's word. Therefore, the practice of their Religion is performed through duty and fear without feeling its Truth - just because some other part of life has said so. Oh, when your Heart Flame has revealed to you the Cause behind the Action, you will serve like the Angels; your feelings will be happy; and your hearts will sing. 

Do you find that loving your fellowman is a chore? Then keep your soul centered in the Third Sphere until you hear the cry in the heart of that fellowman - until you sense his struggle, his hopes, and his needs. Do not leave it, children of my bosom, until you feel that Love. This is my own Temple as well. 

Do you believe in austerity, in self-denial, rigid surrender of all your senses to the Penitential Doctrine built into your sweet lives through early living when the hair shirt and the Vow of Poverty were considered a Virtue? Then abide for a while in the Fourth Realm. Observe the garments of the Angels, the Beauty of your own Celestial Mother, and the Divine Perfection of the Heart of the God Self - not for vanity, mind you, but because the world needs Beauty. Suppose that all the flowers were made square, or black, with no perfume - conserving on the energy required to put color and scent within the flowers. Where would man be? Oh, it is good to pour Beauty into the world when the motive is to bring happiness to life. Do you see? 

Then, on your journey into the Fifth Sphere where the great Hilarion and the Goddess of Truth abide, watch the combination of the Rays that make certain powers available. Look at Love mathematically and see how it draws the Goodness of Life toward itself. Ask the Master to show you a vortex of hate and see how it repels money, friends, and every good thing; and there confirm your faith by practical witness. 

And the Sixth Temple - oh, I do not have to urge you to enter here, but I would have you elaborate on the manifold blessings in your individual life. Mark them off, one by one, if you can count them! Draw into your feeling world the Love of the Master Jesus and Beloved Nada which permeates this Sphere, and do not leave it until you have felt that Peace which fills the atmosphere of this Holy Realm. 

You are now ready to enter the Seventh and final Sphere, and here you may consciously step into the arms of the Sacred Love of the Sacred Fire - asking the Loving Presence within its Heart to remove from your four lower bodies every human tendency - raising them by its Divine Alchemy into the Perfection of itself.

Thus is the Nature of Religion and what is expected of the mature man in return for the assiduous care on the part of the Celestial Hierarchy in guiding his footsteps through the various Spheres necessary for his spiritual development.