What truly is religion? Is it an opiate for the weary sense wherein the seeming reality of all distresses of the external world may be for the moment forgotten? No! Religion is based on a sevenfold principle, and mankind for the most part--and this includes conscious students of the law as well as advanced chelas--has not fully understood its sevenfold nature. Let us begin at the beginning!

The soul surfeited with the enjoyments of the senses and impelled by the teacher which is the heart for one reason or another comes to its knees before its Creator. Here you have the action of the First Ray in the invocation of the bemuddled consciousness to know the will of God.

In the radiation of the Second Ray the soul begins to learn the law of cause and effect, the direction of energy and its recoil which is pleasure or pain occasioned by the qualification of the life-energy. A little later the divine design of Hierarchy is explained--the place where each shepherd, each religious teacher and each chela belongs in the great plan. It is the place of illumination when after asking the will of God, the revelation of the divine scheme of things is presented to the earnest soul.

Then the aspirant passes thru the portals of the Third Ray and endeavors to make the understanding of benefit 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 manifest as his body and environment, he recognizes that truth and beauty, harmony and perfection are God-ordained as part of the religion of the awakened man and he begins thru 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 an example to all life.

In the fifth sphere within the same religion he passes to the illumined understanding of the mathematical accuracy that lies within creation, precipitation, etherealization and levitation and all these powers called mystic by the mind of the undisciplined.

Having received within himself from his own one religion, mind you, the gifts of all the preceding rays, he comes into the presence of the sixth sphere and again he kneels, but this time in thanksgiving and devotion for the gifts of life. Then Hosannas rise from the hearts and lips, Aves fill the atmosphere: "Praise God from whom all blessings flow" becomes the illumined heart prayer of the initiate of the sixth sphere and having expressed his gratitude to God thru devotion to his Christ Self, to angels, masters and his fellowman, he passes on into the seventh and final activity of his religion--whehter he be Moslem, Jew, Christian, metaphysician or I AM student, 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 thru his consciousness: "Hitherto the Father worketh, but now the Father and I work," and all of these gifts of energy and all of the teachings of the Brotherhood and all the beauty and sacrifice, illumination and devotion gained by the lifestream become his responsibility to offer upon the altar of mankind in ordered service which is the watchword of St. Germain.

Within the seventh sphere, knowing the will of God, illumined by understanding, loving his fellowman, the elemental kingdom, the angels, devas, cherubim and seraphim, filled with the beauty and opulence which is his birthreight, understanding the powers of centripetal and centrifugal force, heeding the cry with hearts overflowing with good not with lips but thru feelings--that is the man thru whom the ceremonial worship of the Seventh Ray shall be effected. He is the bridge between the kingdoms of angels, elementals and brother man. He is the bridge between the Kingdom of Heaven and of Earth. That is, he whose outstretched arms form within himself the Maltese cross of freedom--the parallel kindoms of angels, man and elementals making the crossarm or bar, with the masters and the powers of the sacred fire thru his own body into the Earth making the upright bar. That is the man who understands religion.

What in your religion distinguishes you from the masses? Inner peace perhaps. But it must be more than that! O that I might convey into the feelings of the Messengers, the chelas and the students the fact that Lord Maitreya has ordained that We come, and in speaking Our hearts to those of you who are willing to listen We are endeavoring to convince your feelings of your ability to change conditions thru the direction of the power of your life.

Worship has begun to mean relaxation of the senses and well can I understand that, seeing with the inner sight the pressures 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. I love you more than you shall 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 St. Germain can use as a living example of the free man in which the sevenfold nature of religion is embodied.

Now be not unduly concerned, for every man is strong in one point out of seven which is natural because each of you is one of seven types. St. Francis of Asissi achieved his freedom and found his God in a field, St. Augustine found his God in a cathedral, St. Paul found his walking along the dusty road with bitterness in his heart toward his own great master. It is wonderful that you have even one facet developed or you would not be here. You would be gamboling in the fields with the rest of the race. 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 take your soul each day thru the seven temples, one in each sphere. Discipline that soul! Abide for a time in the temple least responsive to your own vibration. If you are proud and stiffnecked and your knees know not the capacity to bend, kneel at the feet of the great Morya, one of the proudest sons of Heaven, and learn from Him what it means to surrender and learn to say "Thy will my God be done." If you are mentally lazy and prefer to have another design your religion for you, enter into the temple in the second sphere and demand God's illumination from within. Leave not that temple until understanding not born of another's word but your own makes service and happiness. Do you know why men make the practise of religion a duty? It is because they are building their faith on someone else's word. The practise of their religion is performed thru duty and fear without feeling its truth just because some other part of life has said so. O when your own heartflame 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 under the great Paul the Venetian until you hear the cry of the heart of that fellowman, until you sense his struggle, his hope, his need. Do not leave it, children of My bosom, until you feel that love. This is My Own temple too.

Do you believe in austerity, self-denial, rigid surrender of all your senses to the penitential doctrine built into your sweet lives thru early centuries when the hairshirt and the vow of poverty were considered virtuous? Then abide for awhile in the fourth realm. See the garments of the angels and the beauty of your own celestial Mother and the divine perfection of the heart of the God-Self not for vanity but because the world needs beauty. Suppose that I made all your flowers square or black or green with no perfume, conserving on the energy required to put color and scents within the flowers. Where would man be? O 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 to make certain powers available. Look at love matematically and see how it draws the goodness of life towards itself. Ask the master to show you a vortex of intense dislike and see how it repels money, friends and every good thing, and confirm your faith by practical witness.

And the sixth temple, o I do not have to urge you to enter here. For the past 2000 years man has spent much time here in devotional service and praise to God for His goodness, for which I thank Our Heavenly Father. My only concern here is that I would have you elaborate on the manifold blessings in your own life. Mark them off one by one. Our beloved Frances in her song of thanksgiving has rendered a great service to the students if they choose to accept it. Where would you be without life, without a heartbeat, without a platform of earth beneath your feet, without a sun to shine in the sky, without water? You would not even have a body were it not for parents! People say they have nothing to do and yet this application I give you this morning would take you thru three hours of acknowledgment and application. When you have spent a certain portion of time sending your love and gratitude to God, you might start thinking of the channels that brought you into truth and bless them each one. Think of the minister that baptized you, of the priest and rabbi and the Sunday-schoolteacher and the patient schoolteacher, the first one who taught you loyalty and awareness. Then think of your spiritual teachers, each one that opened the door to truth.

While in this contemplative mood you might think of your celestial friends such as beloved Godfre. How much has that man given! And Lotus too! Think of each lifestream who has opened your consciousness to truth. Think of Archangel Michael and His loving guardianship. Think of Sanat Kumara, glory be to His name! Think of the Sun God and Goddess from when came your own heartflame, and on and on and on ad infinitum. When you have finished this contemplation you will find that you have filled your feeling world with happiness and joy and I AM sure that you will want to give a balance back to life by entering into the Violet Temple of St. Germain's own sphere. You will want to become that bridge, giving your energy in decrees, songs and visualizations and you will want to become an example of what a free man should be. That is religion. I love you.