By George A. Boyd © 2020
Q: What is a lineage holder? How do people become lineage holders? Are there bogus lineage holders?
A: A lineage holder carries forward a spiritual tradition. He or she may continue an existing tradition, or found a new one. There are ten major types of lineage holders. The first three of them are not empowered; the fourth develops subsequent empowerment, but it is not passed through the one that initiates him or her; and the remaining six of them are Divinely empowered through the Initiate that supervises them. Let’s examine them:
- Imaginary Lineage Holder – As the result of visions after taking a psychedelic drug or receiving guidance from spirits in the Psychic Realm, someone believes he or she is the representative of a lineage—based on visions and voices. This individual is clearly delusional, and no spiritual power is conferred upon him or her.
- Ceremonial Lineage Holder – In groups that conduct sacred, spiritual rites, an individual may be appointed or elected as its leader. For example, the Pope in the Roman Catholic Church or the Grandmaster of Masonic Lodges are installed in this fashion. No Divine Anointing occurs, however, but the individual may assume a teaching and leadership role, and pray to the Divine on behalf of those in the group he or she oversees.
- Spiritual organization successor – These ones take over stewardship of a spiritual organization to preserve revealed teachings. The organizational successors may act as teachers and interpreter of these writings, but they do not formally initiate anyone. Those who lead the Theosophical Society or the Lucis Trust are examples of this type of organization successor.
- Independent Disciplic Preparation – This occurs when an Initiate prepares a disciple to achieve a similar state of spirituality as the Initiate has attained, but the Divine anoints the disciple—there is no passing of the flame of anointing from Initiate to disciple. These types of preparation for Mastery with direct anointing from the form of the Divine at the level the disciple achieves occur at the stage of the Occult Adept, the Saint, the Ascended Master, the Adept, the Adept Master, the Cosmic Master in the Cosmic Hierarchy, and those who assume stages of Mastery in the Supracosmic and Transcendental Hierarchies.
- Yogi Preceptor Successor – Upon the disciple’s attainment of the Hridaya Chakra in the First Cosmic Initiation on any of the nine Yogi Preceptor Platforms, an established Yogi Preceptor can pass the power, so the disciple can teach, guide, and initiate disciples of his or her own. These create networks of lineages on each of these Yogi Preceptor Platforms. For example, there are many Kriya Yogi Preceptors who can initiate others into Kriya Yoga—and each Yogi Preceptor may pass the Light and empower several others to become Kriya Yoga Adepts. These second generation Kriya Yoga Adepts likewise initiate disciples, and may empower some of these to become Kriya Yoga Adepts.
- Light Master Successor – The current Light Master selects one disciple, whose cosmic soul awareness has reached the 22nd world of God, to carry on the work of the Light Master. The current Light Master anoints this individual to initiate, guide, and teach at this level. The cosmic soul awareness of those disciples in the Second Cosmic Initiation, who are not chosen to be a Light Master, pass into the abode of the Liberated Ones.
- Supracosmic Master (Guru) Successor – The Guru of a Supracosmic Path passes the Light to one disciple, whose Supracosmic Soul rises into the Guru Padam above the brain chakra on a Supracosmic Path, to carry on the tradition. Two conditions must be met for this transference to occur: (1) the disciple’s Supracosmic Soul must dwell on that Path, and (2) the disciple must have liberated the Supracosmic seed atom of that Path at the top of the Supracosmic brain chakra.
- “Low Throne” Transcendental Mastery – There are orders of Mastery on T1 to T5 at an advanced stage of the Path that are below the highest stage. A “Low Throne” Master can initiate, manifest a guide form, and can lead the chela to the same stage of the Path he or she has attained. On T1, this is the Subud Master. On T2, this is the Shabd Master, who operates in the Brahmandi Man above the top of the Second Plane. On T3, this is an Initiate who has attained the first Mental Plane. On T4, this is the Maharaj stage, above the seven Superuniverses. On T5, this is the Madhis, who has ascended to the Soul Plane. In each of these stages, an Initiate of this stage passes the Light and the Divine confirms the new Initiate. Like the Yogi Preceptor Platform, these Initiates can create their own lineages—each newly empowered Initiate can similarly empower a successor to succeed him or her.
- “High Throne” Transcendental Mastery (Sat Guru) – These are beings who have liberated their spirit and their ensouling entity has risen to the origin of the spirit on T1 to T5. One individual is chosen as the successor to the current Sat Guru to carry on the lineage. These “High Throne” Sat Gurus have all the abilities of the “Low Throne” Transcendental Adepts, plus they can lead the spirit back to its origin and liberate it. These include the T1 Sat Guru, the T2 Sat Guru (Sant Sat Guru), T3 Sat Guru (Perfect Master), the T4 Sat Guru (Paradise Master), and the T5 Sat Guru (Mahanta).
- Multiplane Mastery (Adi Sat Guru) – These are stages of Mastery on the Bridge Path, T6, and T7 that appear as a lineage on the highest Plane of the Bridge Path, Adi Sat Guru Desh. The representative of these Multiplane Masters is directly below this lineage—this is the living lineage holder for the Mudrashram® lineage.
In the future, as our most advanced disciples reach Multiplane Mastery, they will form a network with the original lineage of Mudrashram® Adi Sat Gurus and with other beings who have ascended on the Bridge Path to the Transcendental Hierarchy.
Q: What constitutes genuine assumption of the state of a lineage holder?
A: We can characterize seven markers that are associated with a lineage holder, which vary according to the tradition:
- The Supervising Initiate’s and Divine acknowledgement of attainment of the state of consciousness of the lineage holder. This can be publicly proclaimed or announced, or the disciple rising to this station on the Path may receive an inner confirmation, taking the form “Thou art [state of consciousness].” This state of realization and identification precedes empowerment.
- Passing of the flame of anointing from the Divine and the Supervising Initiate. This enables the disciple to teach, guide, and initiate on behalf of the lineage.
- Assignment of a dispensation and/or taking responsibility for the spiritual development of the aspirants and disciples that this lineage serves.
- Authorization to lead the organization supporting the lineage. In most lineages that have established temples, schools, retreat centers, or ashrams, the lineage holder will assume leadership of the organization.
- Ceremonial installation as the lineage holder. In some lineages, quite elaborate ceremonies have been instituted to acknowledge the formal passing of the “Rod of Power.”
- Passing a symbol that represents lineage empowerment to the successor. This might be a crystal, a thunderbolt wand (dorje), a turban, or other object that carries the charging of the lineage. As the successor takes possession of this object, there is a shift of the etheric resonance that transfers the fulcrum of power from the current lineage holder to his or her successor.
- Putting on ceremonial garments that are reserved for the lineage holder. In some traditions, there may be special robes and power objects that only the lineage holder is authorized to wear.
Markers one to three comprise the core authorization and empowerment of a lineage holder. Mere attainment of the state of consciousness of a lineage holder (marker one) is not sufficient to establish a disciple as a lineage holder; the Initiate and the Divine must also convey the Divine anointing and give the disciple responsibility for the lineage’s dispensation and those who are within its mantle of ministry.
Assuming responsibility for an organization (marker four), or any of the ceremonial elements (markers five through seven) do not make someone a lineage holder—as there are individuals who could seize power in an organization and proclaim themselves as its lineage holder. They might show evidence of his or her leadership role; undergo the installation ceremony; take possession of the lineage’s power object; and don the robes or talismans reserved for the lineage holder.
Only the living transference of Divine Power and Grace, and ownership of the teaching and ministry of the tradition genuinely establishes someone as a lineage holder. If markers two and three are not activated and functioning in you, you are not a real lineage holder.
When you asked what constitutes a bogus lineage holder, look to see if he or she has the genuine anointing; he or she is engaged in active teaching, ministry, guiding, and initiation; and he or she is working on fulfilling the Dispensation bestowed upon the lineage holder [if this is part of the lineage’s Divine Plan]. If that’s not there, you have an organizational leader, who has been inducted into the role of a lineage holder through ceremony—either conveyed through misguided disciples or usurped.
A ceremonial lineage holder can sustain a movement, but the actual power of transformation—not just the recitation of prayers and credos, inculcation of moral values, discourse upon the scriptures, and ritual invocation of the Divine through worship ceremonies—has to be there to for the lineage to truly awaken, enlighten, and unfold the spiritual potentials of its adherents.
We encourage you to reflect on these ideas. Whatever Path you embrace, we urge you to work with a genuine lineage holder and not waste your time in rituals and ceremonies.
