The Rt. Rev. C. W. Leadbeater

From 'The Australian Theosophist', January 1932, pages 187-188

 

MOTTO: Live Pure. Speak True. Right Wrong. Follow the King.

In this section:

• I. The Bread and Salt Ceremony
• II. The King Whom We Serve
• In His Name

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Though this Order of the Round Table is comparatively new, it follows on the lines of the Round Table of King Arthur, some one hundred and twenty years after Christ. The central point of our meetings is the beautiful ceremony of the consecration and distribution of bread and salt, which is very much older than the time of King Arthur. Ι do not know exactly the date of its institution, but Ι can certify that Ι myself shared in it rather more than three thousand years ago as part of the ritual of the Mysteries of Mithra. That was a cult very widely spread in the Roman Empire before the time of Christ, so it is interesting to know that this ceremony, simple as it is, represents something which is at least three thousand years old, and is substantially the same as that which was performed by that great body of soldiers of Mithra, who long ago in the Roman Empire banded themselves together to try to help the world, to right wrong and to advance themselves, in order that they might be able to work better for others.

It should be understood that all ceremonies of this sort have three aspects. First, their beauty and stateliness as ceremonies, and the external impression which they are designed to make as spectacles upon those who see them and take part in them; secondly, their symbolical side—the inner meaning which they suggest to the minds of those who understand their signification; and thirdly, what we may call their magical side—the definite result which they are intended to produce.

Suppose, for example, you go into a Christian Church to attend the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. There will be—or at least there should be—a splendid and dignified ritual which at once attracts respectful attention, and is in itself a beautiful and impressive spectacle, even though you may not comprehend its meaning. If you interrogate any intelligent priest he will tell you that to him it is far more than that. He will say that in offering this Service, the Christians "do show forth their Lord's death until He come again," that the stages of the ritual are symbolical of the life of the Christ. He will further tell you that those who partake of that Holy Communion therein verily though mystically receive into themselves the power of the Christ, to their great upliftment and benefit. There you have the three aspects of the Eucharistic ceremony; let us see to what extent this is true with regard to this far older rite of ours.

Ι think no-one would deny the beauty and picturesqueness of the ceremony. We stand in a circle about our Round Table, in front of the great chair in which no physical presence ever sits. We unroll the silken cord of love, and all of us simultaneously hold it. Then a senior Knight brings round to us the bread and the salt, thus exemplifying the evangelical dictum: "He that is greatest among you, let him be your servant." Each one of us, as he partakes of this symbolical food, proclaims that he performs this action "To the glory of God and the service of the King."

The symbology is not hard to follow. The great chair reminds us always of the unseen presence of our King; the Round Table of the Order to which we belong and the pledge we have taken. The silken cord tells us of the bond of love which must exist between us before we can usefully join in a common act of fellowship and devotion. Bread, being the staple article of food in these countries, has always been regarded as a symbol of the nourishment, physical and spiritual, with which God provides His people, and therefore solemnly to partake of it with due acknowledgement is a ceremonial act expressing our thankfulness to Him. Salt is the universal token of brotherhood—so widely accepted that even the most fanatical and treacherous Arab will never harm a man who has eaten of his salt, whatever the temptation may be.* So we take bread and salt together in pledge of brotherhood, and in grateful recognition of the Great Power above and the spiritual food wherewith He provides all who will put forth their hands and take it.

Most interesting of all is the third aspect—the actual inner effect of the ceremony. What this is for each of us depends largely upon his own attitude. The ceremony holds within itself the potentiality of great and lasting results; but to achieve them we must be attentive and receptive. The silken cord is not merely a symbol of love. It is also its actual vehicle, and one who is sensitive may feel the love-force rushing along it just as the electric current rushes along a wire.

In some Round Tables the Companions hold one another's hands instead of a cord. Both these methods were employed in the Mithraic Mysteries, but the taking of hands was prescribed only for the Ravens, who were the members of the lowest order in the Mysteries—mere apprentices in the Great Work. That name was given to them because at their stage they were not allowed to give any teaching of their own; they might only, like ravens or parrots, repeat what had been taught to them. As soon as they reached a higher grade they used a cord as you do—generally a silver cord, because it was found that the metal was a more perfect conductor for the force. The cord is decidedly preferable for magnetic reasons. Each person has a distinct magnetism of his own, and as he advances on the path of progress the distinction becomes more and more marked. If you hold the hand of another your magnetism comes into immediate contact with his: and unless your vibrations and his are absolutely harmonious there will be a jar and a sense of discomfort. On the scheme of holding hands the whole complex stream of jangling vibrations rushes through the entire body of each participant; with the cord only the love-stream is sent round, and each absorbs from it what is sufficiently in harmony with his nature to be assimilable by him.

In the same way a real inner effect is produced by partaking of the bread and the salt. Remember that they have been solemnly blessed in the name of the King, and that means in truth that they have been blessed by Him. To invoke a sacred Name in the proper way and with reverent spirit means to call down the power belonging to that Name; hence the extreme reprobation always expressed for those who take a holy Name in vain. Therefore be sure that in receiving the consecrated bread and salt you receive with it the blessing of the King; and what that may mean to you is limited only by your own receptivity. The more fully a man understands, the more he can receive. There is much help to be had all the time; there are mighty influences being shed abroad all round us, there are great Angels who are distributing them; and all that we have to do in order to share these benefits is to adopt the right attitude of unselfish devotion. The more you understand the more you will gain from a beautiful ceremony like this. All who are present assuredly obtain something, even though they may not know it; but the higher experience is always for him who comprehends.

 

* Editors Note: CW Leadbeater had a great love for all humanity without exception. His comment reflects the literature, customs and experience known at the time of writing, particularly the popular tales of the Arabian nights. In "Ali Baba", the bandit chief, disguised to Ali Baba as Cogia Houssain, says that "I can eat no victuals that have any salt in them", and so Ali Baba has dishes made without it, until his wise slave girl, slaying the thief, explaining he is the captain of the gang of thieves, and that her suspicions were aroused when the chief would not eat salt. See "The Story Of Ali Baba, And The Forty Thieves Destroyed By A Slave". "The Arabian Nights' Entertainments". Edited By Robert L Mack. Oxford World's Classics, Oxford University Press, 1995. Pages 784 and 786 and Explanatory Note regarding salt page 935.

"Eating a man's salt creates mutual obligation". From "Folk Traditions Of The Arab World, A Guide To Motif Classification" Volumes I and 2. By El-Shamy, Hasan M. 1995. In Univ+press. Vol 1, Page 305.

                                                There is also an Arab story which tells of a thief who tasted something to see if it was sugar, and on realizing it was salt, put back all that he had taken and left. See "Hospitality" in Wikipedia.com and Answers.com, May 2011
    Assyrians from four thousand years ago used the phrase amelu sa tabtiya, “man of my salt” to denote a friend (as in a person with whom one shares valuable salt). To eat a man’s salt in Arabic is to accept his hospitality. See classics.com, May 2011.

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In our ritual we say that the King is the Perfect Man, and it has been one of the principles of the Round Table to leave its Knights and Companions perfectly free to select, as the King Whom they wish to follow and to imitate, any Great One Whom they know; the idea being, of course, that there are many different lines of thought, and that each should set before himself that ideal which most appeals to him. There is a Spiritual King of the World in very truth, a Great One who represents to us the Deity or the Logos of the whole solar system but we have said and thought little of Him in our Round Table.

We have generally set before ourselves as King one Who has sometimes been called His Prime Minister, that is to say, the Lord Christ, the World-Teacher. He is in very truth a World-Teacher, because He does not confine Himself to instructing any one race or any one religion. In our Christian religion we call Him the Lord Christ, but He is spoken of and adored by many other people who are not of our religion. Though most of us think of the Christ as the King, each member is left quite free to set up any high, noble and advanced entity in his mind as the Representative of the King towards Whom he tries to raise himself, Whose conduct he takes as a model.

The ceremony through which you pass when being admitted as Companions seems such a simple thing that Ι am afraid candidates sometimes hardly realise how much it involves. They do not understand the immense importance of it. They pledge themselves to the service of the King, and Ι say to them in reply, "The King Whom we serve has heard your vow." Now that is not only a form of words; it represents a very real and definite fact. This Order was founded under the auspices of the Great One—the Christ Himself knew of it. You take your pledge apparently to me, but 1 am only a mouthpiece, the physical plane representative; in reality you take your pledge to Him. It is He Who hears your vow; it is He Who admits you and receives you into this fellowship with Him. The act of joining and of taking that vow makes a real link with Him.

Now why do you suppose that He, the Great One, should take the trouble to make a link with a boy or girl down in the ordinary physical world. He does it in order that He may help us, and indirectly, too, though that seems very far away and perhaps strange to us, that we may help Him. How can we help One so great as He? He is engaged in a great work, engaged in furthering the work of the great Law.

What is the great Law? It is the law of evolution, the law that everythίng is growing. Nothing is intended to remain as it is. If anything does remain just as it is, then it is in a condition of stagnation. It is just like stagnant water in a pond instead of water in a flowing stream. All of us ought to be running water, not standing water, because standing water decays; running water is always fresh and pure and useful, and so we ought all of us to be growing all the time. Just as you, who are young, ought to be growing physically, so ought you to be growing spiritually, growing in wisdom and in goodness.

That sounds a vague sort of term—goodness—but it is not a vague thing at all. It means that you should make yourself like the King. Try to be as perfect, as great, as loving, as pure, as truthful as the King. You cannot do it all at once. No, but you can get steadily nearer to it every day, every week, every month, every year, all the while you can be steadily growing, and as long as you grow you are obeying the law.

We talk about a Law of Nature. Religious people say that these laws are the Will of God. That is quite true. It is His Will that men should grow, so we speak of a law of evolution. It is His Will that an effect should follow from a cause, and so we talk about eternal justice, which in the Eastern nations they call karma. That means that whatever we do produces some result, either a good result or a bad one, and it is for us to take care that we produce good results, and so we can help in the great work which the King is doing, if we will.

First of all make yourself a little better each day, and then, if you can, try to help to make the world a little better. Many people think they are helping others only by the actions they do and the words they speak, but that is not so at all. There is a third thing we can do besides speaking and acting. We can think, and that, although it does not show on the physical plane in the same way as the spoken word or the act, is a very powerful lever.

If all the time we radiate out from ourselves good thoughts we are doing good to other people as well as to ourselves. If we try always to keep happy, never to yield to depression, never to feel miserable or uncomfortable, then we are radiating out happiness, and that will affect the people round us, and they will be happy too because of what we have done. Insensibly, without knowing of it the people round us will be affected by our thought and will become a little better, a little purer. So that is one way in which every one of us can help the world and serve our King.

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Ι have often thought while we were repeating that formula: "To the glory of God and to the service of the King," what splendid words those are and what a grand thing it would be if we dedicated our whole lives in that way to the glory of God and to the service of the King. It means just the same thing as our Motto. If we follow the King we do everything in His service. It is wonderful what a difference that makes when we can remember it and think of it. Three hundred years ago a good man named George Herbert wrote a poem on that subject, and he spoke there of the remembrance of our duty to God and the King as making drudgery divine: "Who sweeps a room as for His laws, makes that and the action fine." Sweeping a room seems a commonplace action enough, but if we think of what it means and what it symbolises we shall see there is a good deal in it.

Why do you do it? Because the place must be kept clean. You do it as part of your service to the household to which you belong, but it is also part of God's service in the world to keep things clean, healthy, decent. God, you know, has a plan for us all and that plan is evolution. We arc to evolve; we are to go on getting better and better, stronger and stronger in order that we may work better for Him. He has His plan for the world and He expects us as soon as we are sufficiently intelligent to help Him in His plan.

You have to do your school work; you think sometimes that all these sums and lessons are merely drudgery. But you are doing these things in the service of the King in order that you may learn to serve Him better. Then, when you get older, sometimes comes the desire to make money merely for the sake of having it. If you are making your money in order to be able to spend it to the glory of God and in the service of the King, well and good; but if you make it only for yourselves in order that you may have finer clothes and a larger house to live in, it is a small and a selfish thing. Ι do not blame people who pursue that way, but I do say that they are not pursuing the highest. If all we do could be done as a real service to Christ and to the King then all our actions would be very much more effective.

We are so busy, and life is such a rush and such a hurry that it is difficult to keep the high ideal always in our minds. You think you get tired sometimes, but it is not you. The real you is the soul inside and the soul happily does not get tired. We have tried many experiments and we have not succeeded in tiring a soul after many days and nights of continuous work; the soul happily does not get tired, but the body does. But if we think all the time of the King, if we have the thought of Him at the back of our minds we shall find it makes our work lighter than it would otherwise be.

We sometimes feel our work is dreary and we are tired of it. Ι know, because Ι have had some experience of that myself. Ι remember being in a bank where all Ι had to do all day long was to put down long rows of figures and add them up. Nothing could be more deadly than that. It is a really soul-destroying kind of business. There is no sort of human interest in it. Ι did not know so much then as Ι do now, and Ι admit that Ι found that work very wearisome. Ι stood it for a couple of years. Then Ι gave it up. But if Ι had to do that now Ι should take this attitude towards it: "This is a particularly uninteresting piece of work, but Ι shall try to do it as perfectly as I can with the highest ideal in view." You could hardly persuade yourself that such work is exactly God's service, but you have to earn your living, you are paid to do this thing, therefore it is your duty to do it as well as you can.

Happily there are other lines of life in which you know that you are doing good all the while. Ι suppose there is no more trying profession in many ways than that of a doctor. He has always a heavy responsibility, the feeling that he may kill as easily as he may cure. He often has to make weighty decisions when there is no one to help him how to decide whether this way or that. It is a terribly exacting profession, and yet it has that enormous advantage that all the time in the process of earning his living the doctor is helping people. He is always trying to do good all the way through. The same thing is true of the Theosophical lecturer and of the priest in the Church. Any one who is trying to uplift and help people is doing such good as he can. We who write books—we are doing it in the hope of helping other people. So there are some lines of work in which we can help other people.

Some may ask: "How will this particular bit of work glorify God? What difference can it make whether Ι do it well or not?" You have only half the story when you say that God is far away. Never forget that He is also very near. Tennyson wrote:

Closer is He than breathing, and
nearer than hands and feet.

That is very very true because God is in you. You are a spark of the Divine Fire, and if you get lazy or careless, if you do not do your work well, whatever that work may be, even if it is only learning lessons for school, then you are not allowing God to manifest through you as clearly as He should.

There are times when it is a little difficult to remember. The body gets very tired with all the noise of these crowded cities and all the constant meeting with other people. Why should the meeting with other people make us tired? Not that they are worse or better, but they are different, and the different sets of vibration all coming together wear us out. When we are tired our physical nerves become excited and we become irritable; a little thing will make us angry or annoy us. It is purely physical. It is not our fault actually; it is the fault of the conditions in which we live. It is difficult to control this irritability because the brain with which we are thinking is tired; it is very hard to remember: "Ι am part of Him and so for the glory of the Godhead of which Ι am a part and for the service of Christ the King Ι must control this body and Ι must not let myself give way to irritability." That is just the hardest time to remember it. You will try, and you will forget; never mind, go on sticking to it. You will gradually succeed, and when you have got control of these bodies you can spend your whole life as a true servant should, thinking always of the service of God—not thinking of an annoying rule you have to keep, but rather of joyous service. You serve the King because you love the King, because your feeling of affection and loyalty is carried out, and so you try to do everything in His Name and for His sake.

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