This is "the greatest event upon our planet, from the stand point of
the Spiritual verities, and the one which has the greatest effect upon
the human race." (The Master Djwhal Khul)
The time has now come when the West should understand the true
significance of this event. As men understand and avail themselves of
the op****tunity offered at the Festival, they place themselves in line
with a particular spiritual force. They become vitalized by it, and
spiritually stimulated, and are consequently rendered available for
service...
In some parts of India the Wesak Festival has for centuries been
regarded as a public holiday. It is a day of reunion, of pilgrimage and
of rejoicing expectancy. It is a holy day. That the inner significance
of the day is recognized by only a handful of the spiritually minded is
of course true...
The dates of the Christian Festivals are all of them established by
past events or by happenings which occurred centuries ago... The Wesak
Festival is in recognition of a present living event. This heavenly
event takes place annually at the time of the full moon of Taurus
(often called the "May Full Moon"), and at that event there is released
upon Earth (according to the measure of man's demand) the blessing of
God Himself, transmitted through the Buddha and His Brother, the
Christ.
This happening, however, can and does work out into physical
manifestation and has its physical counterpart. Paralleling the
subjective and spiritual ceremony, an event of some im****tance takes
place simultaneously in a little valley in Tibet, on the further side
of the Himalayas. It is there that the earthly ceremony of blessing is
supposed to take place, and to that valley many people in and around
the district find their way, as pilgrims towards the light. There, at
the time of the full moon, a solemn ritual is performed, which can be
as definitely seen and heard as can any ceremonial in any of our great
cathedrals...
The dream, the legend, the fact can be described as follows: There is
a valley, lying at a rather high altitude in the foothills of the
Himalayan-Tibet ranges. It is surrounded by high mountains on all sides
except towards the northeast, where there is a narrow opening in the
mountain ranges. The valley is, therefore, bottle-shaped in contour,
with the neck of the bottle to the northeast, and it widens very
considerably towards the south. Up towards the northern end, close to
the neck of the bottle, there is to be found a huge flat rock. There
are no trees or shrubs in the valley, which is covered with a kind of
coarse grass, but the sides of the mountains are covered with trees.
At the time of the full moon of Taurus, pilgrims from all the
surrounding districts begin to gather; the holy men & lamas find their
way into the valley & fill the southern & the middle parts, leaving the
northeastern end relatively free. There, so the legend runs, there
gathers a group of those great Beings Who are the Custodians on Earth
of God's Plan for our planet & for humanity. By what name we call these
Beings does not greatly matter. The Christian believer may prefer to
speak of Christ & His church, & regard Them as constituting that great
Cloud of Witnesses who guarantee to humanity ultimate salvation. The
esotericists of the world may call Them the Masters of the Wisdom, the
planetary Hierarchy, Who in Their varied grades are ruled & taught by
the Christ, the Master of all Masters, and the Teacher alike of angels
& of men. Or we can call Them the Ri****s of the Hindu Scriptures, or
the Society of the Illumined Minds, as in the Tibetan teaching.
They are the Great Intuitives & the Great Companions of our more modern
presentation, & are the aggregate of perfected humanity who have
followed in Christ's steps & have entered They, with Their wisdom,
love & knowledge, stand as a protective wall around our race, & seek to
lead us on, step by step (as They Themselves were led in Their time)
from darkness to light, from the unreal to the real, & from death to
immortality. This group of knowers of divinity are the main
participants in the Wesak Festival. They range Themselves in the
northeastern end of the valley, & in concentric circles (according to
the status & grade of Their initiatory development) prepare Themselves
for a great act of service. In front of the rock, looking towards the
northeast, stand Those Beings Who are called by Their disciples "the
Three Great Lords." These are the Christ, Who stands in the center; the
Lord of living forms, the Manu, Who stands on His right; & the Lord of
Civilization, Who stands on His left. These three face the rock, upon
which there rests a great crystal bowl full of water...
All who have dreamt of participating in it are always well aware of the
exact position in the lower part of the valley where they themselves
stood. One who described it to me spoke of standing well off to one
side, close to a tree to which a horse was tethered; & others seemed to
know equally well where they found themselves. Some few realised that
the place & the position, within the body of onlookers, indicated quite
clearly the evolutionary status of the participant.
Behind the grouped Masters, adepts, initiates and senior workers under
God's plan, are to be found the world disciples and aspirants in their
various grades and groups (either "in the body or out of the body" to
quote the words of St. Paul), who constitute at this time the New Group
of World Servers. Those present in their physical bodies have found
their way there by ordinary means. Others are present in their
spiritual bodies and in the dream state...
As the hour of the full moon approaches, a stillness settles down upon
the crowd, & all look towards the northeast. Certain ritualistic
movements take place in which the grouped Masters and Their disciples
of all ranks take up symbolic positions, and form on the floor of the
valley such significant symbols as the five-pointed star, with the
Christ standing at the highest point; or a triangle, with the Christ at
the apex; or a cross, and other well known *formations, all of which
have a deep & potent meaning. This is all done to the sound of certain
chanted words and esoteric phrases, called mantrams.
The expectancy in the waiting, onlooking crowds becomes very great, and
the tension is real and increasing. Through the entire body of people
there seems to be felt a stimulation or potent vibration which has the
effect of awakening the souls of those present, fusing & blending the
group into one united whole, & lifting all into a great act of
spiritual demand, readiness, and expectancy. It is the climax of the
world's aspiration, focussed in this waiting group. These three
words--demand, readiness & expectancy--best describe the atmosphere
surrounding those present in this secret valley.
The chanting and the rhythmic weaving grows stronger, & all the
participants and the watching crowd raise their eyes towards the sky in
the direction of the narrow part of the valley. Just a few minutes
before the exact time of the full moon, in the far distance, a tiny
speck can be seen in the sky. It comes nearer & nearer, & grows in
clarity and definiteness of outline, until the form of the Buddha can
be seen, seated in the cross-legged Buddha position, clad in His
saffron-colored robe, bathed in light and color, and with His hand
extended in blessing. When He arrives at a point exactly over the great
rock, hovering there in the air over the heads of the three Great
Lords, a great mantram, used only once a year, at the Festival, is
intoned by the Christ, & the entire group of people in the valley fall
upon their faces.
This Invocation sets up a great vibration or thought current which is
of such potency that it reaches up from the group of aspirants,
disciples or initiates who employ it, to God Himself. It marks the
supreme moment of intensive spiritual effort throughout the entire
year, and the spiritual vitalization of humanity & the spiritual
effects last throughout the succeeding months. The effect of this Great
Invocation is universal or cosmic, and serves to link us up with that
cosmic center of spiritual force from which all created beings have
come. The blessing is poured forth, & the Christ--as the Representative
of humanity--receives it in trust, for distribution...
Slowly then the Buddha recedes into the distance, until again only a
faint speck can be seen in the sky, and this eventually disappears. The
whole ceremonial blessing, from the time of the first appearance in the
distance until the moment the Buddha fades out of view, takes just
about eight minutes. The Buddha's annual sacrifice for humanity (for He
comes back only at great cost) is over, and He returns again to that
high place where He works and waits.
Year after year He comes back in blessing; year after year the same
ceremony has taken place. Year after year He and His great Brother, the
Christ, work in the closest cooperation for the spiritual benefit of
humanity. In these two great Sons of God have been focussed two aspects
of divine life, and They act together as Custodians of the highest type
of spiritual force to which our humanity can respond. Through the
Buddha, the wisdom of God is poured fourth. Through the Christ, the
love of God is manifested to humanity; and it is this wisdom and this
love which pour fourth upon mankind each "May" full moon...
When the Buddha has again disappeared, the crowd rises to their feet;
the water in the bowl is distributed in tiny ****tions to the Masters,
initiates and disciples, and They go Their way to the place of service.
The crowd, who have all brought their little cups and vessels of water,
drink of them, and share with others...Thus blessed, the crowd silently
disperses; the Masters and the disciples return with renewed strength,
to undertake another year of world service...
To some living people (in the world today) this Festival stands for
certain most definite and clearly marked ideas, and for a great
proffered op****tunity. The ideas for which it stands might be
enumerated as follows:
First this Festival links the past with the present in a way that no
other festival, connected with any of the great world religions, has
ever done. It stands for a living truth, and for a present op****tunity.
In their mutual service to the race, the Buddha and the Christ bring
about this linking; They also blend the East with the West, and unite
in one whole the Christian tradition, the Buddhist and the Hindu
faiths, and the aspiration of all believers in the world today,
orthodox and unorthodox. Religious distinctions disappear.
Secondly, this festival marks the high-water mark of spiritual blessing
in the world. It is a time of an unusual inflow of life and of
spiritual stimulation, and serves to vitalize the aspiration of all
mankind.
Thirdly, at the time of the Festival and through the united effort of
the Christ and the Buddha, working in the closest cooperation, there is
opened a channel of communication between humanity and God, down which
the love and wisdom of God himself can pour to a waiting and needy
world.
more details:
http://www.lucistrust.org/epamphlets/wskp.shtml
http://www.souledout.org/wesak/wesaklegend.html
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