By Peter Mt. Shasta
(Copyright 2010)
Since the publication of Adventures of a Western Mystic, about real-life experiences with the ascended masters, I have repeatedly been asked, “How can I contact these miraculous masters and have the same kind of personal experiences?” However, as Krishnamurti also discovered, that may not only not be necessary, but it may be a detriment—taking the student away from real knowledge of the self. It is encouraging to know that these omniscient beings, who were once human like ourselves and have attained the rainbow body, are guiding us from a higher plane. However, to remain sitting at their feet may prevent us from going within and attaining our own mastery.
Of course, many people find it diverting to hear supposed personal messages channeled from these beings telling them what to do in every aspect of their lives; even if they should contact the real masters, this will not lead to their own mastery.
Just as parents guide and educate their children to the point where they can leave home and become self-sufficient, the masters do the same, supporting us on the path to the point where we can proceed on our own and develop our own strength, independence, and self-determination.
In my own quest I was blessed to have several personal contacts with not only the Master Saint Germain, but also Kuthumi and El Morya. These were not fantasies but real-life, physical contacts. And these encounters, which I describe in my book, inspired me on the path to a considerable extent, for once you experience the majesty, kindness, and mastery of these great ones you want nothing more than to become what they are. It is for this reason that I wrote about these encounters, and the many inner, etheric contacts, so that others might be inspired in their own quest for higher attainment—not implying that this contact is necessary for evolution.
In fact, after several years of apprenticeship and years of probation in service to the masters, these striking encounters seemed to cease. “Oh, you mean you are no longer in contact with them?” people often ask, no longer interested.
I might say, in reply, “If you were learning to swim, would you rather listen to someone who is also learning to swim, someone under the instruction of competent teachers, or would you rather listen to one who has graduated from this class and has already been swimming many years in the ocean?” Indeed, I feel many times as though the masters cast me adrift in a stormy sea, and in dealing with the tumultuous experiences that buffet and try to submerge me, I achieve a new strength and ability, not only in my own life, but in my ability to help others. And, of course, the masters are not really absent but watching from a distance, where their presence will not distract me. I feel their spiritual radiation and grace as always, not as a voice telling me what to do, but as a loving and uplifting energy. Should I take a wrong turn I am guided by the waning of that energy, which originates not only from the masters but my own higher self, that tells me I need to reconsider my actions and see if the radiation changes.
The essence of the masters’ teachings, I would have to say, is Know thyself! This has been the teaching of the great masters of wisdom from the beginning of time in every culture. This is what the masters expect, not that you sit eternally at their feet, but that you become what they are—which can only be achieved through independent action and self-observation. It is, as Krishnamurti often said, only through observing the self do we truly grow. We can change paths as often as we want, from one “ism” to another, from one teacher to another, but our consciousness expands only through self-observation.
Through stilling the mind and observing ourselves we not only cut through the delusional state of the self-created maya to which we are addicted, our own “movies” so to speak, but eventually discover the light within our own hearts, the spark of our own divinity—the I am presence, of which the outer self is but an emanation. The masters want for us to become masters ourselves—just as they have.
So, I hope that those who read about these adventures with the masters will not waste their time in seeking them outwardly, whether on the slopes of mountains or by going to psychics for messages, for the masters can be encountered within, the same place you encounter your own master presence—within yourself. In fact, the masters say that they rarely appear to those who seek contact for purely personal reasons, but they are drawn to help those whose sincere desire is to help others—to be of service to humanity. It is that group of world servers to whom the masters are attracted, and then only when those individuals are grounded in the knowledge and strength of their own higher self, the individual I am God presence that is the source of their being.
I hope that those who read Adventures of a Western Mystic will be inspired to go beyond the excitement of contact with extraordinary beings and perceive the message that is the culmination of the book, to find the I am presence within and become the master—which is your destiny.
You can contact Peter at pshasta@sbcglobal.net