Ra
The Egyptian God of the Sun, son of Nut, the sky, the bearer of the sun disc (Aten). He stands as the Soul or Solar Logos.
Radha
Principal Gopi (shepherdess) and wife of Krishna.
Raga
Lower form of love or desire. Also a Hindu musical score.
Rahu
A demon whose lower parts were like a dragon’s tail. He became the constellation of the Dragon (Draco), and is also associated with the waxing and waning Moons, the Moon’s ascending node.
Raj-Agni
The kingly Fire, the Fire of spiritual enthusiasm, which purifies all surrounding space; it is the flaming Fire of the Heart offered for the Great Service, and thus sustains the Hierarchy of Light.
Raja
In India, a prince or king.
Raja Lord
This term refers to the great Devic Lords that ensoul each of the seven planes of perception. They rule the substance and lesser lives thereon, and hence are “kingly”. The Raja Lords of the five lower planes are; Kshiti, the dense physical, Varuna, the astral, Agni, the mental, Indra, buddhi, and The Mother of the World, Atma.
Rajas
One of the three gunas, or modifications of existence, the quality of differentiation.or activity. See gunas.
Raja Yoga
The “kingly yoga”, the highest of the yogas (means of union with divinity) for it concerns the control of the substance of the mind, and the wise utilisation of its properties. This method of training was compiled and codified by Patanjali many thousands of years ago and can be found described in any good book on his yoga sutras. See The Light of the Soul by A.A. Bailey.
Rakshasas
(From raksas, harm, injuring.) Demons, evil spirits, the denizens of the lower strata of the astral and mental realms.They are feminine in nature, devourers of men, and sometimes said to be protectoresses. They are often depicted in gigantic form.
Rama
The seventh avatar or incarnation of Vishnu. The Hindu epic, the Ramayana is is based on his life story.
Raphael
(Hebrew for “God has healed”.). A most important Deva Lord (Raja Lord) or Archangel in that he embodies the substance of the mental plane, specifically that associated with the Kingdom of Souls. He rules in fact, the Devic fusion with that kingdom, thus embodies the karmic threads and substance through which our Souls must evolve. For this reason He is often depicted as the Angel of Healing in religious works, as in the Apocryphal Book of Tobit where he was sent to remove the white films from the eyes of Tobit, and to bind Asmodeus the evil demon.
He embodies the quality of the cosmic Touch of a Logos in that the mental plane is really the Dense physical, cosmically speaking. He thus moulds the physical plane, which is but a reflection of the mental, being entirely conditioned by the substance of the Mind. He is sometimes regarded as a guardian or patron of the arts because of the sense of ordered beauty and rhythm that emanates from the Kingdom of Souls, of that which is the Son of Mind. His Element is Earth, and the colour attributed to him is golden. He forms a triplicity with Galadiel and Rivendiel.
Ratnasambhava
A mirror reflects all things equally to all directions in Space. This action is symbolised by Ratnasambhava, the third of the Dhyani Buddhas, representing the “Equalising Wisdom” and the gesture of giving, of giving equally to all concerned. Diagrammatically, He is represented by the spirallic motion, the force that is manifestation, the eternal cause to the gathering of wisdom. Such Wisdom is inherent in the constitution of Deity and is expressed as illumination, as pure reason, onto the plane that represents mind. Ratnasambhava represents the transmuted correspondence to the instinct of self-assertion.
Ravana
The king of all the demons (Rakshasas).
Rays, the seven
These seven Rays of Light derive from one primordial Ray. They are the vehicles for the unfoldment of consciousness throughout our solar sphere. And indeed within the Universe, from where they originate. They are an aspect of the creative Word of a Logos. In our solar system they are subrays of the one fundamental Ray of Love-Wisdom. Each of the planetary Logoi are considered Ray Lords and are thus agents for the distribution of the specific qualities associated with the colourings of any Ray. Light is composed (as all else) of countless little deva lives, who vibrantly “paint” the qualities of the Rays with their substance.
The seven Rays can be viewed thus:
Rays of Aspect.
1. The first Ray of Will or Power.
2. The second Ray of Love-Wisdom.
3. The third Ray of Mathematical Exactitude.
Rays of Attribute.
4. The fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict, of Beauty or Art.
5. The fifth Ray of Concrete Knowledge or Science.
6. The sixth Ray of Devotion or Idealism.
7. The seventh Ray of Ceremonial Aptitude, Magic, or Ritual.
Reincarnation
The doctrine of the rebirth of the consciousness aspect into a new personality or physical vehicle from one birth to another by means of the action of the Soul, and in accordance with working out of the karma of the past actions of the individual. Human beings are not reborn into the vehicles of the animal kingdom. Each life is a progression from the past one and leads the being to eventually become a fully enlightened being, a Christ, and thence a Logos or aspect thereof. The process that makes us “as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5) by becoming “perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), or to “the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ” (Eph. 4:13) takes far more than merely one miserable life to accomplish. The Buddhist and Hindu religious doctrines teach only the most exoteric aspects of this doctrine, and thus are long overdue for reform.
Rigden-jyepo
The legendary king of Shamballa, according to Tibetan sources.
Right hand path
The following the way of the White magician, of the unfoldment of the qualities of the right hand or Pingala (Son/consciousness) Nadi stream. It is the way of Love, as trod by all members of the Hierarchy of Light. It leads eventually to liberation of the consciousness aspect from all attachments to the formed realms, to embrace the vastness of Cosmic Space. It is thus the opposite to the path of evil, materialistic activity, designated the left hand path.
Ring-pass-not
This is the circumference of the sphere of activity within which a Logos limits or delineates His Being during a Mahamanvantara. It can be considered as the sphere into which He has Incarnated and outside of which He will not step for the duration of that Life. It is a necessary sphere of self-imposed limitation that ensures that a Logos remains inwardly focussed for the duration of the Compassionate Involvement with those that constitute His Body of Manifestation.
The term also refers to all magical and meditative endeavours wherein the Meditator/magician builds around himself a ring of protection, within which he concentrates his energies. It is the basis of all mandalic practices.
It can be compared to our outer skin, which limits the expression of our internal organs, and helps protect them, but is by no means impermeable to impressions and energies, the coming and going of the various elements, the watery and airy secretions, which are the correspondences to Nirvanees on a Logoic sphere.
Rishis
They are holy sages. In the ancient Hindu philosophy there were seven of these, and they corresponded to the present Chohans of the Rays.
Ritual
Ritual (as applied by the White Brotherhood) is the evocation of subjective forces (the God within) in a rhythmic manner via meditative unfoldment (“moving” meditation) so that the outer person can harmonise his service aptitude in conjunction with the rhythmic flows of energy governing the whole, the field of application. (The service arena that is productive of the common good within the human kingdom.) It is a rhythm that is synonymous with the mode of activity of the Building and healing Devas. It is a calling forth of the energy of the heart and hands lain forth in the field of service through power of prayer and the silent Sound.
Ritual is necessary because it helps to impose a rhythm of spiritual life on the physical plane. It anchors the “Divine”, the energies from the Soul and higher realms into the subtle sheaths of the person, thus greatly assisting him in all meditative and healing undertakings. Ritual is that which allows “miracles” to be accomplished on the physical plane. Ritual builds the protective aura of the accomplished magician.
Note that the movement of the seasons of zodiacal changings, the lunar and Solar cycles that govern all activity upon our biosphere is but an effect of the ritualistic motions of the greater Logos. Also, blood pours through our veins in ritualistic (cyclic) motion, allowing the thing called “life” to be sustained. Note also the cycles of breath, eating, sleeping, etc., that help produce a healthy body and mind.
The common understanding of ritual concerns the type of costumed affair so prevalent in exoteric religion and the many forms of secret societies and groups (that call themselves “practical magicians”, Kabbalists, and the like) that are focussed upon the invoking of the lower psychic powers and Elementals. Ritual, as applied in true white magic, has litle or nothing to do with such pompous grandstanding, for premature awakening of psychic powers is totally inimical to spiritual development, and indeed is most harmful, being but the broad road to all types of obsession, and dark brotherhood activity.
Rivendiel
The Archangel (Raja Lord) that embodies the substance of the four concrete subplanes of the mental, with which human intellects and most of our thought forms are fashioned. He is one with Raphael and Galadiel, who also embody aspects of the mental plane. The colour attributed to him is orange.
Root Race
One of the seven major divisions of the human race, seen in terms of the evolution of the human consciousness through time. Each Root Race is a bearer of a different aspect of consciousness, which they were responsible for developing. This then has reflections in the evolution of the types of forms through which these Root Races incarnated. To each Root Race is assigned a specific Continent through which the majority of that race evolved their characteristics. We are presently evolving through the fifth Racial cycle, designated with the term Aryan.
The first two of the seven Root Races are not specifically human, in that they were still developing the form that could be bearer of the mental principle that is the outstanding characteristic of humanity, and which distinguishes them from the animal kingdom. Their evolution was involutionary, in that they existed upon incorporeal realms and had still to incarnate into dense physical forms.
The third of The Root Races (the Lemurians) was the first truly human Race, in that they could be bearers of the “spark of mind”, and thus they “Individualised” into human forms. They were the giants of old. The main focus of their evolutions was simply to begin to utilise the physical forms, and etheric substructure into which they incarnated. The fourth Root Race (the Atlanteans) developed the emotions, and thus the sum of the conditionings associated with the astral realms, the Heaven and Hell states so familiar to us in theological doctrines.
The fifth and present Root Race (the Aryan) perfected the use of the concrete mind, and the epitome of its civilisation is seen all around us. The final two Root Races (the sixth and the seventh) will develop the Intuition, and then Spiritual Will, which will be the mainstays of those civilisations, as the mind rules ours.
Rounds
In esotericism, the “time” it takes for the consciousness aspect of any Kingdom of Nature to spiral through seven globes or spheres of evolutionary attainment, and then through seven Chains of such globes, which are the component parts of a Planetary Scheme, the Body of manifestation of a Planetary Logos. This then can be placed in the larger viewpoint of the sum of Solar evolution, where these Rounds must then manifest through the seven Planetary Schemes, and finally be abstracted into the three synthesising Planetary Schemes at the end of Solar Evolution. See also Chains, Schemes.
Ruach
The Hebrew term for the breath of life, prana.
Rudra
The embodiment of the destructive, regenerative energy of Shiva.
Rupa
Anything to do with the formed aspect of phenomenal life.
Rupa Devas
Devas with form. Those embodying the planes of perception below the higher mental, or the forces associated with the regions below the diaphragm esoterically considered.
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