There are seven main fields of service work, corresponding to the seven major rays of divine Light. Keep in mind that there are no firm dividing lines between these, so there can of course be overlap, and specific kinds of work could involve more than one ray. Describing these seven areas can only be a rough generalization, but here they are.
1. Politics, leadership, decision-making
2. Healing and
care-giving
3. Education and teaching
4. Artistic or creative
work, and innovative ideas
5. Scientific, technological discovery,
and ecological studies
6. Religious and social group relations,
networking and gatherings
7. Financial, business, industry,
building or repair
An Ashram could be involved with any of these various fields, such as: world and local politics, leadership, education, physical and emotional healing, religious and ethical values, science and technology, creative arts and music, harmonious architecture and construction, right use of money and business, solving poverty and health problems, sustainable ecology and its protection.
For example, healing work is guided by an Ashram focused on principles of healing and how to evolve this field of work so that better holistic healing methods will be developed. Educational work is guided by an Ashram sharing the best educational principles and the highest visions of a holistic education that includes spiritual teachings as well as the most practical skills education. Political and social leadership work is guided by an Ashram devoted to the highest spiritual principles of government and how to be a practical leader with spiritual principles, including a higher Vision of a cooperative and harmonious world.
Each of these fields of work relate to one of the seven Rays of Divine Will and Light, the seven Rays of Divine Expression which will manifest as the integrated world, though this is all in process of evolution and unfoldment. The Divine Purpose is to creatively express (or manifest) Divine Love and Wisdom, and this manifestation involves seven Rays of Light, which correspond to seven Divine Qualities seeking to be expressed. Then, all of these seven Ray Qualities manifested will form the spiritually integrated world of the future, which we are now evolving towards. These seven Ray Qualities spiritually structure the world by inspiring the various fields of work to help build an integrated and harmonious world. Thus, each field of service work {world work to manifest the Divine} is inspired by its corresponding Ray Qualities and energies unfolding from the Divine into manifestation.
The Hierarchy is organized along spiritual principles {metaphysical laws}. Light divides most generally into three primary rays; yet more specifically, light divides into seven rays. Even more specifically, each of these seven have three primary aspects, or divisions, and seven is again involved as well. This is all part of the law of three and seven; explained in another chapter devoted to metaphysics.
The point here is that the Hierarchy is metaphysically organized into seven Ray 'Families' (the word used here is unimportant); so the Masters and Ashrams are each in one of the seven Ray groupings. Each of the Ray groupings have some of all the rays in them, but each maintains a particular ray emphasis. Nothing and no one in the Hierarchy is actually separated or distinctly divided; all 'divisions' are to do with emphasis.
Each Master and Ashram is involved with and focused on one Ray kind of service in the world. In other words, each has a particular 'purposeful focus' as part of the overall spiritual Purpose of manifesting Love, Light, Wisdom and Beauty in the world (and all of the many secondary qualities that derive from these). So, there are Groups focusing on various fields in the spiritual evolution of our world.
The first Ray of Divine Will and Power inspires the social field of politics. This does not mean that all politics is divinely inspired, but gradually over long periods of social evolution the Divine Will has been subtly and slowly inspiring politics and its leaders. This has been guiding the positive overall evolution of politics and social change, and of institutions and laws, in order to make things better.
It needs to be noted, though, that human will and power have been the most abused gifts given to us from the Divine. Yet this is not a surprise, since power can either greatly help/heal or else greatly hinder/hurt; and having power without also having love and wisdom will invariably cause problems. This is this greatest fundamental problem overall in humanity at this time – too many people with a developed power ...yet lacking in love and wisdom to balance and guide all this power. An important Purpose to realize is to develop a balance of the seven Divine Rays, especially a balance of the primary three Divine Rays of Will/Power, Love/Compassion, and Wisdom {Holistic Intelligence}.
Next, the second Ray of Divine Love and Compassion inspires the field of humanitarian and social care, motherhood, and all kinds of healing modalities. So, gradually over time, there has been an evolution of love, care, and healing in people and in the social institutions of humanity. This Ray inspires in people a greater love, compassion, and caring. Love is a feeling of spiritual relatedness and inclusiveness with others, a feeling that we are all interrelatedly in one spiritual Family. Compassion is feeling in empathy with others, sharing in the same feelings of both joy and suffering; which then brings about caring – real caring about others in the world and caring about the whole planet. This caring inspires one to help heal others and eliminate unneeded suffering in the world. This caring inspires one to work towards health and healing, for others and for oneself as well. And there are many now who are drawn to this general Ray of service, inspired by their love, compassion and caring. They are inspired from within their soul. So any area of work or service related to love, care, healing, and good health is inspired and guided from the second Ray.
The third Ray of Holistic Wisdom inspires the service field of education and teaching. The meaning of holistic here is that the intelligence is more and more encompassing the Whole of all life and its many interrelated aspects. A holistic intelligence understands the complex interrelatedness of life and all things; though this Larger Understanding will inevitably be limited to some degree. The more evolved is one's holistic intelligence, the Larger and more encompassing is one's understanding. When this holistic intelligence is combined with a further understanding of higher Purpose and when there is also some understanding of how to practically fulfill those Purposes, then this can be called Wisdom.
The obvious goal of this Ray is a holistic education and the development of a holistic intelligence. This could be the visionary goal of all people and all education. Thus, the holistic education would include spiritual inquiry and developing intuition, as well as very a practical and earthy education, to supplement the current meal of the usual standard education. Yet this visionary education is not merely about accumulating facts or 'knowledge'; but more important is the development of our intellectual and intuitive capacities, so that we can inquire and discover truth on our own.
Also, the service work of teaching and education will naturally involve all fields of life, so this Ray spans over all social progress. For example, there will need to be teachings involved with political awareness, political critique and solutions. So politics might also involve third Ray work, as well as the actual first Ray leadership and doing work. Additionally, there will need to be intellectual thinking and teachings involved with health and healing fields; in order to develop an understanding about holistic health and healing, and how to best make all of this more practical in the world. And in all caring endeavors of the second Ray of Love there will need to be a corresponding intellectual and teaching aspect to it.
The third Ray is the divine inspiration for our mind and intelligence. It inspires new ideas and visions which lead us forward in our human evolution – towards towards greater harmony, joy and beauty. Masters and Ashrams of the third Ray are first inspired, so they are the first to realize these new ideas and visions. Though, really, they themselves build new ideas and visions from the third Ray inspiration. These then are radiated out to the rest of humanity, and those living persons who are ready and capable will then realize some of this. But the ideas and visions descending from the Ashrams are mostly general, not specific; so it is then the work of living recipients to make these general ideas and visions into more specific ideas and visions, then even further create specific goals and plans.
So, the cosmic third Ray brings divine Principles and Realizations, Ideas and Visions into our planetary sphere, which are then received and assimilated by advanced soul-minds in one of the third Ray Ashrams of the Hierarchy. This receiving and assimilating is one part of their job, their work. Another part of their work is to make use of what they received, or realized, by building new ideas and visions for humanity – to help meet humanity's evolutionary needs of the time. Yet their idea-building will not be as specific as shall be needed for each specific place and circumstance.
In effect, the Ashrams share out general ideas and visions, based on their divine realizations. These are not as general as they had received, for they did build more specifically from that; but what they give to us is usually quite general. Thus, it is the work of those who have received new ideas and visions from the Hierarchy to build these into more specific ideas and visions – which only those who are now living can do. In summary, the Ashrams give us new ideas and visions, but we need to make practical use of these by building more specific ideas and visions from these general ones.
The third Ray inspiration is also a dedication to Truth and to discovering Truth. In western philosophy, the Master Plato brought this Aim to light and inspired many in humanity to search for the Truth and to inquire as to what is Wisdom. The search for Truth is one of the great passions of the soul inspired person. And the person wishes to actually realize what is true, rather than merely be told what it is. This Truth includes what is true about life, the world, oneself, the Divine and of what the Purpose of life really is. Everyone really wants to know and to have direct realization, but only a few admit it, and only a few are dedicated to it. Those souls within the third Ray, predominately, are most interested in this search for truth and are most willing to work at finding it.
The fifth ray is very related to our mental life and the mental world of humanity. So the fifth ray energy works with ideas and can even create new ideas. It has the power to create thought-forms; though these could be useful or not so useful, helpful or not helpful. The fifth ray also brings to people an inspiration to search for truths and to discover the workings of nature, if they are receptive to this ray. So this is the ray of the philosopher and scientist type of person; as this ray develops in people an inquisitive and scientific mind, which also leads to new technological discoveries. The many ongoing discoveries in science and advancements in technology are energized by this ray. What science often lacks, though, and what the thinking mind often lacks, is an insight into greater Purpose and higher Values to guide the use of science and technology. So this ray works for the best when supplemented by the third ray of wisdom.
The sixth ray is related to the emotional life and emotional world of humanity. The sixth ray energy brings people together and creates relationship, so it is the ray involved with social group relations. These relations can be positive or negative; relationships can be harmonious or dysfunctionally at odds. People/groups can love or they can fight. So as with all of the Rays, there is no guarantee that their final expression will be for the good, since people will make use of these energies in their own different ways. At the core all of these Rays are divinely good, but how they manifest in people depends on the coloration or distortion that people bring. So the sixth ray can manifest as the dedicated lover, the devoted servant of God, or else as the fiercest of fighters. The sixth ray works best if supplemented by the second ray of love. Groups with the most extremely dedicated people are usually expressing the sixth ray.
The seventh ray is a manifesting, structuring and organizing energy; so it could bring forth the building of things, or of structure, or even of institutions. It could also manifest as making more structure, organization and routine in one's life. Hopefully this work of organizing and building will be in harmony with nature and also not be harmful to others; hopefully it will be for the good, but unfortunately, this is not always the case. The seventh ray works best if supplemented by the first ray of spiritual will-to-good. This is the motivating ray for people who like to manifest, build, organize, or make practical stuff happen in the world. Builders are most obviously seventh ray, but so are business and finance working people. Economics is also seventh ray.
The fourth ray is the most difficult ray to understand. This is the ray of creative harmony, or harmony of diversity. This is the middle ray with an energy to balance and harmonize all the other rays. Think of an artist or dancer, who's intention is to creatively bring all of the ray qualities together into one harmonious, balancing and beautiful dance, or work of art. Think of a person who wishes to balance and harmonize all of the rays within their own self. Essentially, this is the ray that inspires integration, balance, and wholeness.
Each of the rays are significantly essential in the Divine Purpose. Each ray radiates one of the Divine essences. Yet this fourth ray is the energy-quality that integrates and balances all of the rays. And because there is no pre-set divine blueprint for how to accomplish this, the fourth ray work is an unpredictable and ever-surprising creative process.
Each of the other rays have some kind of distinguishable quality; but this fourth ray quality of harmony and balance is fairly nebulous. For what exactly is creative harmony and balance? It depends on what is being harmonized and balanced. It's like a stew in the works; how it all turns out depends on what one collects from the garden and adds to the mix. The end result of any creative mixturing and balancing can never really be pre-planned. It is an ongoing creative process.
The fourth ray is the inspirational energy for truly artistic work, when its intention is to bring various qualities together into a fusion, harmony, and balance. This ray also helps to work through conflicts and bring forth harmony; so it is also the ray of resolving conflicts into harmony.
A good question is how to contact and receive from an Ashram-Group involved in a similar field of interest, or to do with this particular aspect of the 'divine plan', as it might be called. The divine plan, by the way, is not an already fixedly determined script of how things shall be, as it is mistakenly believed by religious determinists. Rather, 'divine plans' are plans set out by Hierarchical Ashrams; they are general sketch plans for bringing more Light and Love into the world, and for helping humanity unfold the seven sacred Rays that are inherently-potentially within. Hopefully these plans work out, but sometimes they do not; in which case, the Ashrams make needed adjustments and set forth new plans, which then become spiritual influences upon the minds and hearts of humanity. This is not spiritual dictatorship, but rather spiritual guidance. Neither is this like the idea of God determining everything or dictating how life will be at each instance. The Hierarchy is a source of love-wisdom for humanity, and it gives us general ideas, impressions, and inspirations. Yet our freedom is never violated, because forced compliance is an insult to the dignity of life. Nonetheless, the Hierarchy shares its higher ideas and inspirations, and it uses its spiritual power to influence - but not to force anyone against their free choice.
Yet this was a digression from the question of how to contact and receive from an Ashram -- a higher Group of souls in the Hierarchy dedicated towards a particular focus of service in bringing forth some aspect of the Divine Purpose.
This will be a higher spiritual Group that is already involved with the field of interest that we have, and Who are sharing wise and helpful ideas for its recipients to be successful and creative in that field. The Ashram will share higher and deeper principles regarding this particular aspect of the Divine Work. The living disciple, or recipient, will then make practical use of these inspirations and ideas; perhaps bringing them into clearer intellectual understanding, or into some artistic medium, or into actual manifestation in some way.
Anyone, in any field of interest or work, might ask themselves about where their spontaneous inspirations, intuitions and ideas come from. The answer is this: from a Group in the Hierarchy. Yet, this does not mean that we are just merely channels or listening apparatuses. The ideas we have and the inspired directions we take are a fusion of what we receive from Greater ones combined with our own interpretive creative thinking. What comes from the Higher (as Guidance, Intuition, Impression, or Inspiration) are the more general and abstract principles and ideas; but we, as living persons involved with this particular social and practical life, have to interpret and translate the General into the specific, the Higher Principles and Ideas into the manifested practical.
But again, we have digressed from the question of how to contact. A few helpful pointers can be given regarding contact. What follows here is the most esoteric.
Find the sound of the Ashram. Each Ashram is related with one of the seven Rays; or more specifically, with an aspect or focus of one the seven Rays. And each of these Ashrams has its own particular sound, its own note in the greater scale of things. So we can find and contact and even come into an Ashram by way of its sound or note. Each Ray of the One Divine Being has a sound; this is the sound of the Ray. And fundamentally, there are seven primary notes, which was the esoteric teaching given to the western world a while back ago. So each Ashram, being a subsidiary branch of one of the Rays, has its own derivative note, its own sound as it were. This then is how we can know the Ashram we are seeking, or the Ashram that is our home (once known before this birth); that is, the Ashram of our soul -- our spiritual Group, our Family. We do not need to know the name of this group; nor do we need to know the name of any higher Teacher in the Hierarchy; we only need to know the sound, for their sound will lead us to who we seek. And we can feel this sound, just as well as we might hear it. By their sound, we will know them.