Words of Power and Great Words

Excerpts from: Alice A. Bailey. Initiation Human and Solar. pp. 155-160.

"All the Words of Power are rooted in the Great Word committed to the Solar Logos at the dawn of manifestation.

All the Words of Power are permutations or expansions of the three basic sounds, and increase in length as the planes are involved, until the sentences and speech of the finite unit, man, in their myriad differentiations are arrived at.

Therefore, on the path of return, speech becomes ever more brief, words are more sparingly used, and the time eventually comes when the adept employs formulas of words only as required to carry out specific purposes along two lines:

Definite creative processes.
Specific direction of energy.

This, of course, on the planes in the three worlds.

The aspirant, therefore, has mainly three things to do when preparing for initiation:

To control every activity of his threefold lower nature. This involves the application of intelligent energy to every atom of his three sheaths—physical, astral, and mental. It is literally the shining forth of the Brahma, or third aspect, of the inner God.
To control his speech every minute of every day. This is a statement easily made, but most difficult to make practical. He who achieves it is rapidly nearing emancipation. This applies not to the reticence, the moroseness, the silence, and the voicelessness which often distinguishes natures but little evolved, and which are in reality an inarticulate condition. It refers to the controlled use of words to effect certain ends, and the retention of speech energy when not needed,— a very different matter. It involves a realization of cycles; of times and of seasons; it supposes a knowledge of the power of sound, and of the effects produced through the spoken word; it involves an apprehension of the building forces of nature and their due manipulation, and is based on an ability to wield mental matter, and to set it in motion, in order to produce results in physical matter, consonant with the clearly defined purpose of the inner God. It is the shining forth of the second aspect of the Self, the Vishnu, or form-building aspect, which is the prime characteristic of the Ego on its own plane. It would be well to ponder on this.
To meditate, and thus arrive at the purpose of the Ego. By thus meditating the first aspect comes steadily into greater prominence, and the conscious will of the inner God can make itself felt on the physical plane.

Every Great Word includes within itself its differentiations, its expansions and permutations, and by its utterance the initiate sets in motion the lesser, through the vibration of the greater. Hence the terrific responsibility and the magnitude of the results achieved. Each Word is committed to the initiate orally and visually. It is spoken to him first in the form of seven syllables, each of which he has to memorize as a separate Word. Then he is shown how to blend these seven so as to make a threefold sound and thus produce more united and far reaching results. Finally the three are blended into one Word which is committed to him. The seven words which form the Great Word at any initiation are communicated to the initiate by the initiates of equal rank with his own. This group divides itself into seven groups, according to subray or ray formation, and each group then chants one word in rapid rotation. Simultaneously, the colors and symbols of the various sounds pass in front of him, so that he hears and sees that which is committed to him. The more advanced group around the throne of office (the three Departmental Heads at the first two initiations, and the Pratyeka Buddhas at the final ones) chant then for him the triple Word which blends the seven, and again he sees it before his inner eye. Finally the Initiator sounds it forth, and the initiate becomes aware within himself, in practical experience, of the one great sound, and knows in one particular center what its vibration is. As is well known, every center is connected with some plane, scheme, ray, and other septenary divisions, and thus the significance of its inner reaction will be apparent.

The Masters and initiates, in their work of aiding the evolution of the three worlds, concern themselves principally with the seven syllables of the Word of their degree or initiated grade. The three Words which blend the seven are seldom used except under the direct sanction of one of the departmental heads (according to the syllable involved each Word is directly connected with the triple AUM, and therefore with the Brahma, Vishnu, or Shiva aspect, of which the three Heads are the Planetary representatives).

When any initiate desires to use, for evolutionary purposes, the entire Word as a unit, the sanction of the assembled Lodge has to be gained, for such a Word affects the matter of an entire plane within a planetary scheme, and consequently the matter of those planes which are subsidiary to the one involved. For instance, an initiate of the third degree, in sounding the Word of his degree, affects the matter of the lower mental subplanes, and subsequently the matter of the astral and physical planes. An initiate of the second degree similarly affects the astral plane, and subsequently the physical. Far reaching results are thus achieved, and the work of many is thus affected.

Every Word, differentiated or synthesized, affects the deva kingdoms, and hence the form-building aspects of manifestation. No sound is ever made without producing a corresponding response in deva substance, and driving multitudes of tiny lives to take specific forms. These forms persist and carry out their functions just as long as the sound which caused them is prolonged, and the specific will-energy of the one who initiated the sound is directed towards the living form. This is equally true of a Solar Logos enunciating the AUM, and thus producing the solar system; of a Planetary Logos sounding his planetary Word, and producing a planetary scheme; of an adept producing results for the helping of humanity on the physical plane; and of an ordinary human being, who—in much differentiated diversified speech—expresses an inner purpose or state of mind, and thus builds a form or vehicle in deva substance. The majority of human beings as yet build unconsciously, and the form constructed is either of a beneficent or maleficent agency, according to the underlying motive or purpose of the man, and will carry out his will as long as its term of being persists.

Every Word sounded is distinguished by:
a. A specific colour.
b. A particular tone.
c. A special form.
d. A degree of energy or activity.
e. The nature of the ensouling life, self-conscious, conscious, or unconscious, God, man, or deva.
The student, again, will find this equally true of a solar system, of a planetary scheme, of a human being, of a thought form ensouled by an elemental life, and of the atom of the physicist or chemist. In the knowledge of these facts, and in their conscious realization, may be known the true occultist. The Solar Logos sounded forth a Word, the form of our solar system came into being, its color being blue and its note a particular cosmic musical tone. Its degree of activity is of a specific mathematical notation beyond the grasp of the human mind at this stage of development; and the nature of its great ensouling Life, that of the triple Logos, is active, intelligent Love.

The Great Word of our solar system keys in, if it might be so expressed, with other Words, and is but one Word of the sevenfold Word, known to that great Existence who stands in the same relation to the Solar Logos as the latter does to the Planetary Logos. The sacred Words of seven solar systems (of which ours is but one) make up this septenary sound, which vibrates at this time in the cosmic spheres.
In these nine statements are very cursorily summed up the major truths anent the creative processes in the solar system."
(IHS 155-160)
Alice A. Bailey's Initiation Human and Solar online

"Each Identity concerned proceeds to sound a WORD. This sound expands into a mantram and the solar angels vibrate in response. There is a point of interest to be noted here.

a. The first aspect works through a Word of Power.
b The second aspect works through mantric combinations.
c. The third aspect works through mathematical formulas.

Having sounded the Word the first aspect, represented by the electric fire at the centre of the lotus, sinks back into quiescence, and becomes an abstraction as far as the self-conscious unit is concerned. The work has been begun, the necessary vibration has been set up, and the whole process then proceeds under law. The solar angels have begun their activity, and until their work has reached a very high stage, the Spirit aspect must become, in the causal body, an analogy to the Silent Watcher. As the solar Angels continue sounding out the mantram which is the basis of their work, the lunar Pitris respond to certain sounds in that mantram (not to all by any means at first) and gather out of those sounds the formula under which their work must proceed. So the Word is the basis of the mantram, and the mantram is the basis of the formula.

At each incarnation, finer forms are required, and the formulas therefore grow more complicated, and the sounds on which they are based become more numerous. In time, the formulas are completed, and the lunar Pitris respond no more to the sounds or mantrams chanted on the mental plane. This is indicative of the stage of perfection, and shows that the three worlds have no more a downward pull for the jiva concerned."
(CF:771-72)
Read more in A Treatise on Cosmic Fire

When the Christ overshadowed Master Jesus to carry out His high purpose, many of the statements that he enunciated verbally on the physical plane were words of power that came from a deep and divine source. The purpose of the science of invocation and spiritual contact is to create a direct and unimpeded line of descent from the highest interior levels of sound and energy right down to the most mundane and exoteric though the spoken word. This is why an initiate or master on the physical plane can be said to "occultly save the lesser lives" he has come to serve. It is because of the unbroken continuity of this sound. A Master can enunciate a word of power that is first and foremost a cosmic principle and later becomes a proclamation on the form side that can help build a bridge for those who can listen and be attentive to the greater revelation within. This bridge is essentially a radiation or auric vibration of the inner vortex of the initiate's life.

When a high initiate or master of wisdom speaks on the physical plane, his words will "be like fire" and have the potential to awaken the latent seeds of love that exist within all of humanity and all living organisms. There is much controversy surrounding the identity and name of "the one for whom the whole word waits" and why he has failed to manifest externally or publicly at this time. Perhaps the whole concept of avatars and the externalization of the Hierarchy needs to be reinterpreted in the light of a greater group dynamic or occult event in which many will participate simultaneously. If humanity is destined to become the savior of the planet, we must emphasize the power of the group when we think of the doctrine of avatars, and not just an individual person however advanced.