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The Expected Ones

Gods Messengers In the previous section, we referred to those Great Sons of God known variously as Avatars, Mediators, Prophets, Messiahs, Saviours and Teachers. In this section, we shall take a closer look these special human beings, with particular emphasis on their expected return, to continue the work their began when they last worked among men, bearing in mind that some cultures, these Avatars are not the old Ones returning in another, more perfect form, but more perfect Beings than the previous Saviours or Teachers, although, in all cases, continuity is emphasised. In Eastern traditions, such sent-downs are called Avatars (Avatara), a name which has unfortunately been distorted almost beyond redress. The name simply means One Who came down from heaven to bring good news and consolation to humanity, help men out of their misery, and set their foot back on the Path to the Fathers House. Heaven as referenced here is really the Heart Centre of our planetary life, for the messenger comes from the ranks of the Hierarchy of the Guides of Humanity, who are characterised and motivated by love: hence the heart symbolism. Thus the Christ, working with/through the Master Jesus, served at a time and in a place where mans spiritual life was at particularly low ebb: under a decadent Roman empire. Muhammad worked in an equally decadent Arabia; where practically everyone had their own god, corresponding to their own whims. The major biblical prophets clearly came at times of crisis, and their warnings either fell into deaf ears, or earned them scorn and even death: we recall Jesus lament over Jerusalem, a city known for killing its prophets and stoning those who were sent to (warn) it. Earlier still, Krishna, who is said to have been an earlier incarnation of our current Christ, came at a time of great corruption, judging from the terrible persecution he had to suffer. In Hinduism and Indian mythology, Krishna is the eighth avatar or reincarnation of the god Vishnu, representing the second aspect of Divinity: in Christian theology, the Son, as the second Person of the Trinity. An even earlier Avatar of Vishnu was Parasu Rama, or Rama with the Axe. The image of an axe-wielding Avatar is also found in Rwanda, where Ruganzu the Saviour King is called Nyirintorezo yinganzamarungu, Wilder of the Giant-Felling Axe. The coming incarnation of Vishnu will be Kalki: the Avatar on a White Horse. The archetypal figure of the White Rider is, as we shall see later, typical of many of the Expected Ones. Rwandas own Saviour King, Ruganzu Mutabazi, is expected to return yet again, under the epithet of Rwaaza-Nzoogera rwa Nzooza ya Ruziga, the Illustrious One, whose name is I shall come again (to close the circle?) The following highly significant words are attributed to Krishna:
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Whenever there is a withering of the law and an uprising of lawlessness on all sides, then I manifest Myself. For the salvation of the righteous and the destruction of such as do evil, for the firm establishing of the Law, I come to birth age after age. (Bhagavad-Gita, Book IV, Sutra 7, 8). As we shall see below, many other saviours and teachers share similar aims. The Master Djwhal Khul (DK) also writes that Avatars always come at great points of tension: Right down the ages, in many world cycles and in many countries (and today in all) great points of tension have occurred which have been characterized by a hopeful sense of expectancy. Someone is expected and His coming is anticipated. (Alice Bailey and Djwhal Khul, Reappearance of the Christ, p. 5) For decades, the reappearance of the Christ, the Avatar, has been anticipated by the faithful in both hemispheresnot only by the Christian faithful, but by those who look for Maitreya and for the Bodhisattva as well as those who expect the Imam Mahdi. (Id. p. 6) As we shall see below, many other peoples expect the return of their own culture heroes and great saviours and teachers of the past. But while some of these are national of even local heroes, the above-named are cross-cultural: the Christ, the Bodhisattva (Buddha) Maitreya, and the Imam Mahdi. These are universal Expected Ones. As we meditate on these Great Ones, we shall also think about the minor ones, for they are minor only to the outside the world: to the culture concerned, they are very importantand rightly so, for they have maintained alive the flame of hope and expectancy among their faithful and followers.

The Expected Ones

The Expected Avatarswill also return in similar crisis points. Given current tensions, Their time may be near:
The coming of the Avatar, the advent of a Coming One and, in terms of today, the reappearance of the Christ, are the keynotes of the prevalent expectancy. When the times are ripe, the invocation of the masses is strident enough and the faith of those who know is keen enough, then always He has come and today will be no exception to this ancient rule or to this universal law. For decades, the reappearance of the Christ, the Avatar, has been anticipated by the faithful in both hemispheresnot only by the Christian faithful, but by those who look for Maitreya and for the Bodhisattva as well as those who expect the Imam Mahdi. (Id. p. 6)

Along with the Christ and the Mahdi, other Expected Returnees include Saoshyant in Iran, Quetzalcoatl and Kontiki in Mesoamerica, Ruganzu in Rwanda, the Red Rider among the Bambara, and many others:
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The doctrine of Mediators, of Messiahs, of Christs and of Avatars can be found running like a golden thread through all the world faiths and Scriptures and, relating these world Scriptures to some central source of emanation, they are found in rich abundance everywhere. Even the human soul is regarded as an intermediary between man and God; Christ is believed by countless millions to act as the divine mediator between humanity and divinity. (id., p. 6)

DK points to the difficulty that some may experience in accepting to consider the Christ as the Teacher of all, not just the Teacher of the Christian churches:
The work and the teaching of the Christ will be hard for the Christian world to accept, though easier of assimilation in the East. Nevertheless, some hard blow or some difficult presentation of the truth is badly needed if the Christian world is to be awakened, and if Christian people are to recognize their place within a worldwide divine revelation and see Christ as representing all the faiths and taking His rightful place as World Teacher. He is the World Teacher and not a Christian teacher. He Himself told us that He had other folds and to them He has meant [63] as much as He has meant to the orthodox Christian. They may not call Him Christ, but they have their own name for Him and follow Him as truly and faithfully as their Western brethren. (Reappearance, p.62)

Similar difficulties may arise when Muslims are faced with the fact that the Mahdi will not come only for them, but for all. His work of restoring the true religion and converting the whole world to Islam is to be understood from the perspective that Islam means submission to God, or falling in with Divine Plans. When Suhrawardi, the great exponent of Shia theosophy, Ishraqthe east, the rising sun, the source of light, material and spiritualprayed for the Advent of the Mahdi (Send them a King, a Defender, an Illuminator!), he was praying for all: ...Many are crying in the secret of their sanctuaries, in the Muslim and non-Muslim world. Suhravardi meditated long on the significance of duodecimal (Twelver) Shiism teaching about the XIIth Imam, the Hidden One, as the mystical pole of our world:
Il est celui qui dtient le sens sotrique de la Loi rvle par le Ntiq, le prophte dnonciateur de la Loi religieuse, et par consquent le dpositaire de la Religion divine. Cest en ce sens que lImam est appel al-Smit, le Silencieux. Il est aussi le Ple cleste et le Matre intrieur de chacun de ses fidles. Il est enfin la thophanie ternelle, grce quoi les adeptes, les amis de Dieu, contemplent le visage divin. (Henry Corbin, En Islam iranien, Gallimard, 1978, IV)

The great specialist of Suhravardi, Henry Corbin (En Islam iranien, Gallimard, 1978, IV), informs us that Suhravardi, the Shi'a theosophists, the Ishraqiyun ( those who look for the light in the East), had identified the XIIth Imam with both the Christ and the Saoshyant, the Zoroastrian Teacher, who also is expected to return and bring to greater perfection the work He began in earlier cycles.

Other cultures expect other Great Ones of their past history to return and carry their people to greater heights of civilization and spirituality. According to the best available Teachings all these Holy Ones are in fact members of the same spiritual Hierarchy of the Elders and Guides of humanity, and They work in so united a manner that They can be thought of as One, despite the differences in presentation, which depend on culture and outlook. Such that when the Hierarchy dwells again among men in visible form, each people will recognize their own Holy King, Founder, Saviour, Teacher, Prophet.

The Awaited Messenger of the Manding In his novel, Monn, outrages et dfis (Seuil, 1990), Amadou Kourouma tells the story of Djigui Keita, king of Soba. While both king and kingdom are fictional, the Keitas were a real, historical dynasty which ruled the Mali Empire. The novel cites a traditional prophecy about a messenger who was to bring good news to the people on condition that he is recognized as such and welcomed according to the instructions of the prophets of old. Such prophecies are found in many African culturesand as shown in this paper, in many other cultures as well. As to the Manding of West African, the traditions about their Expected Ones do not appear to be very abundant, except for a Red Rider, who will have to be transformed into a White Rider before he is allowed to enter the royal city of the Keitas. Ivorian novelist, the late Amadou Kourouma, wrote of a Manding legendary figure known in Manding country as The Messenger. The old prophecies had described him as:
A tall man, with a great bearded figure riding a red -saddled red horse, wearing a red headgear, red boots, holding a great sabre in a red scabbard, with a red bag hanging down his back. (Amadou Kourouma, Monn, Outrages et Dfis, Seuil, 1990, pp. 1718)

It had been prophesied that this Red Rider would come one day, though none knew the day of his coming. But now Djigui knew that he was coming:
Depuis la fondation du royaume de Soba au XIIme sicle, la dynastie des Keita vit dans l'attente du messager qui la prviendrait de l'arrive de l'Etranger. Sept sicles plus tard, c'est Djigui que revient le bonheur de l'accueillir.

According to Kourouma, the Manding Kings had a special ritual to be performed upon his arrivala rite which was as well-rehearsed as the five daily prayers.
Tiwour, the greatest seer that the Manding kingdom had ever known, had made this prophecy to a XIIth century Manding king, of the Keitas dynasty:

5 One day, in the early morning, there shall arrive at the gate of this palace, a Messenger. He will be dressed in red from head to toe. The Keita then reigning will need to recognize him. The court servants will need to know the rites whereby he shall be propitiated. Should the reigning king fail to recognize the Messenger, and the servants to perform the propitiation rites, a great misfortune will befall the kingdom, and the royal line of Keitas, kings of Soba, will come to an end.

Over the centuries, other seers had confirmed the prophecy, but none could tell when the Messenger would come. Over the centuries, the Keitas had kept themselves ready for the advent of the Red Rider. Learning the signs whereby he would be recognised, and the rites whereby he would be exorcised, became an essential part of the princes training programme. For centuries, every first Wednesday of the month, the court servants rehearsed the prescribed rites. These rites, Kourouma says, though rather complex, amounted to the following steps:
Meet him outside the palace gates, and before he has uttered a single wordgag him if necessary, Help him out of his red attire, and Dress him in white clothes, and give him a white-saddled white horse Thus transformed from red to white, escort him through the city, and into the Bolloda, the royal palace of the Keitas; Then, and then only, shall he deliver his message.

Kourouma specifies that the Messengers red attire should be entirely burnt, and the ashes buried in eight hundred and eighty eight (888) holes dug on the summit of Mount Kour0ufi. It clear, therefore, that the rites consisted in transforming the Red Rider into a White Rider. The analogy between this figure and the Apocalyptic White Rider is evident: the latter also has a red aspect:
He is dresses in a robe dipped in blood His name is Word of God, i.e., a messenger from Godthe breaking of the Seal is also revelatory of a messenger, an envoy, opening a seal to reveal the contents He is escorted by the armies of heavenjust like Kouroumas Rider is escorted by the kings servants, no doubt also riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.

The Manding Empire was founded by Sonjata Keita, who, in 1240, conquered the Sosso empire, itself a successor to the earlier Wagadou, or Ganna empire. This astonishing empire-builder, conqueror of a hundred kings became the master of a large expanse of land extending from the Atlantic Ocean to Timbuctu. The Manding empire became famous for its wealth in gold. One of Sunjatas successors, Kankou Moussa (r. 1307-1332), while on his way to Makka for pilgrimage in 1325, stopped in Cairo, and there distributed so much gold that he caused a
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serious inflation. Kankou (or Kankan) Moussa, the wealthiest person of all time, is mentioned in the Catalan Atlas of Charles the Vth of France, wearing a gold crown and holding a sceptre. (See : (D.T. Niane, Sunjata, lEpope mandingue, 1964; Bernard Nantet, Dictionnaire dHistoire et Civilisations africaines, Larousse-Bordas/HER, 1999) The Manding place their origin in the East. Interestingly, this ancient tradition was to become so mixed up with Islam that the original ancestor was identified with Bilal, the first black convert to Islam and first muezzin of the Prophet Muhammad. The Wagadu empire, predecessor to the Manding Empire, had been founded by a mythical ancestor called Dinga, who had come from the region of the Rising Sun. He gained his legitimacy by marrying the daughters of the genies, and supremacy, by marrying the daughters of the local chiefs. Amadu Kourouma does not specify so, but it seems likely that the myth of the Manding Messenger belongs to this tradition of a Sun King, whose return would be announced by a Red Rider, to be dressed in white before entering the royal city, thus turning into a White Rider, the Bringer of Good News. The founder of the Islamic Empire of Massina, Amadu Hammadi Bouboubetter known as Cheikou Amadu (see below), appears also to have been inspired by a tradition of the Expected King of Justice, in this case, the Mahdi, the expected XIIth Imam of Shiia Islam. He considered himself to be divinely inspired to be precursor to the Era of the Mahdi. Did this divine inspiration find its deeper roots in an older, preIslamic tradition of an Expected Divine King, who would restore the order that existed in the beginning, during the reign of the Founder from the Rising Sun? The East is central to the traditions of both the Fulbe (Peul, Fulani) and the Manding (or Mande): this was their origin as a people, the birth place of their Founders and/or Civilizing Ancestors. As such, it remains the origin of all that is good: salvation comes from the East. And just as Sonjata Keita, the Saviour King, came from the East, so will the Ultimate Saviour, the Great One, of whom the Red Rider will be the harbinger: that Messenger who will have to be dressed in white and his red horse replaced by a white horse, for the news to be of peace, not of war. Regrettably, we are not told more about the Manding Messenger: such as, for instance, his origin, and the reason for his coming. Here again, the Christian missionaries were confused with the Messenger: the incident dramatised by Kourouma features a messenger come to announce the arrival of the French conquerors, who were then about to descend upon that part of the Mali empire, having already conquered Senegal The confusion was inevitable: King Djigui Keita had dreamed about him at night, and since then, the image of the arriving Red Rider had not left his mind. On the day of his arrival, the vision of the Messenger had not left the king for a single moment, not even during his prayers:

7 Une nuit, au rveil, en faisant ses ablutions, il pensa au messager. En entrant en prire, il ne russit pas carter limage du messager. Dans le corps de la prire, la figure du messager continuait apparatre ; elle devint obsdante. Le messager arrive! conclut Djigui. Rapidement, les conclusions se murent en certitudes. Il le sentit sapprocher de la ville ; chaque instant, il tait en mesure dapprcier la distance qui sparait le messager du Bolloda [le palais des Keitas]. Au petit matin, il entendit de ses deux oreilles, comme on le lui avait tant dcrit, le tambourinage lointain des trots entrant dans la ville, sapprochant du palais. Djigui retourna sa peau de prire, se leva et arriva la porte du Bolloda en mme temps que le cavalier. (Amadu Kourouma, Monn, outrages et dfis, Seuil, 1990, pp. 17-18)

But the messenger had only come to announce the arrival of the French conqueror He was indeed a messenger, but not the MESSENGER, the Prophesied One! The same mistake occurred in Rwanda, where the White Fathers were taken for the White Rider. In Mexico, the Spanish conquerors were taken to be the expected Quetzalcoatl: it had been prophesied that he would reappear as a White Sailor arriving over the Eastern Seas. (See also the Quetzalcoatl section below). But we know enough to suspect a connection with other Expected Ones. We have another indication as to his nature. In esoteric numerology, eight is the number of the Christ Principle, or of the soul consciousness in usthe Christ in usas a reflection of the Christ as the World Teacher, Who is Himself a reflection of the Cosmic Christ. We note that the sign, or glyph, for infinity is a horizontal figure eight:
In the design of the figure eight, we see the flowing, serpentine union of a higher sphere and a lower. Thus is the Great Work accomplished. (Michael D. Robbins, Commentaries on the 28 Rules, see web reference above)

We note also that the rehearsals for the arrival of the Messenger take place every Wednesday of the month, that is, on the day of Mercury, the Messenger of the Gods. This detail, added to the symbol, added to the triple 8, tends to suggest a larger Messenger, Someone greater than an announcer of the coming of a French soldier. Amadou Hammadi Boubou, Precursor of the Mahdi The material on Hammadi Boubou is based on the following sources: (1) Amadu Hampat B & Jacques Daget, L'empire peul du Macina (1818-1853), Paris, Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines. Editions de l'Ecole de Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. 1975. 306 (web copy); and (2) (Bernard Nantet, Dictionnaire dHistoire et Civilisations africaines, Larousse-Bordas/HER, 1999) Amadu Hammadi Boubou, known as Shaykh Amadu, founded settled the previously nomadic Peulthe Fulbe, also known as Fula and Fulania pastoral people of the Sahel region of West Africa, and organised them into a theocratic empire modelled on the original Umma, the Community of the Prophet Muhammad in Medina, and on the Kaaba temple. Hence the pre-eminence of the four in his life and work.
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This vision was influenced by the fact that, although a Sunni Muslim, Amadu was sensitive to Shiia teachings about the XIIth Imam, the Expected Mahdi, who would come and reform religion and restore justice. He saw himself as a precursor of the Era of the Imam. This vision was actually translated into action: Shaykh Amadu instituted a theocratic state intended as a haven of justice and brotherhood, led by holy and learned men, according to the teachings of the Prophet, and as a model of what was to come when the Imam is back to reign over the Earth. Thus, Shaykh Amadu governed his kingdom with the aid of 40 Marabouts (Morabioun: students gathered around a master in a ribat, or place of assembly a field, a courtyard, a hall, a school, a conventin this case, a fortified Islamic school, where the combatants gathered as they prepared to launch their jihad). All state resourceswar bounty, income from religious dime, taxes, etc.were collected and redistributed, with specified portions going to the institutions, the army, the poor, the redeeming of prisoners All the men of his Empire divide their day into four parts, following the rhythm of the five prayers, each period with its own activities, including a family time, during which they were to remain at home with their family Like many visionary empire founders, Amadou Hammadi Boubou began life as a simple Peul herd boy. At age seven, he was sent to Lard Bali, to study under Master Alfa Hambarke Sangare, with whom he stayed for four years, before moving to more learned teachers. One day, he had a prophetic dream: he was to gather together the scattered nomadic tribes of the Peuls, and make them adopt a settled lifestyle. In the region ruled by Shaykh Amadou, there are four major Peul clans: Diallo, Diakite, Sidibe and Sangare. He was then to organise them into an Empire, which he intended as similar in all points to the original community of the Prophet. After receiving this spiritual intimation, he made a spiritual retreat in Bambanna, at his Round Sirou residence. For four months, he was in complete silence and isolation, in order to seek Gods guidance. At the end of the period, he received the revelation he was seeking: he was the man God had chosen to dispel darkness and destroy idolatry. Shaykh Amadou had no doubt been inspired by Osman Dan Fodios jihad against the prevailing crypto-paganism. A very learned man, by all accounts, Osman Dan Fodio was then the Sultan of Sokoto (now in Northern Nigeria), from where he exerted tremendous influence over Islamic scholars and students in the whole of West Africa, most of whom were Peul (Fulani), including the two men.

Indeed, both Islam empire-building in West Africa owe much to this ethnic group, which is spread across the whole region. Amadou had received the title of Shaykh from Osman Dan Fodio him, as a reward for his work on behalf of the faith. He also received four books on Islamic governance. One dealt with leadership, the second, with the behaviour suitable to the prince, the third contained instructions for the lawyers, and the fourth was a commentary on the Quran. Thus Shaykh Amadou had the wherewithal to carry out his project of creating a Quran-inspired community. He was later also to receive recognition from the Sultan of Constantinople, and regular relations were established between the two centres. Hamdallahi, the capital city Shaykh Amadou, was a walled city, with four doors in the four directions: Damal Sebera to the West, Damal Fakala to the South, Damal Ba'Ben to the East, and to the North, Damal Kunari. At a critical time of his reign, Shaykh Amadou consulted a seer who used an object named Konsou, which was a miniature rectangular dooragain, the fourwith four magical locks, symbolically opening to the four winds, and representing the four groups of angels or genies specialised in the protection of cattle and herders (the Peul are pastoralists), and to the four elements. The seer predicted danger from fire Practically everything of importance was connected with the number four, including the units of measure. The standard spear, known as gawal, measured four cubits in total length; the measuring basket for grain, the sawal, was worth four muddiije, or small baskets The standard battle deployment had that characteristic that its central formation was open to the four directions, with the four portions forming a crossthe cross of man, for they were called right arm, right leg, etc. The daily activities of married men were strictly regulated: the day was divided into four parts: a time for prayer and religious study, a time to themselves, but also a period during which they were obliged to remain indoors, keeping company to their wives, which was distinct from the period to be consecrated to the family as a whole. Shaykh Amadou, it is reported, was inwardly informed of the day of his death. He put all the affairs of the empire in order, gathered his family and gave them his will, and then dedicated the four remaining days to preparing himself for the great voyage. At his death, this remarkable figure had achieved his objective: he has liberated the Peul from the domination of local rulers, he had gathered them together and persuaded them to abandon their nomadic life and live a settled life, as active members of a powerful and independent State. He had reduced the sources of friction by setting the dates and itineraries of cattle transhumance, in consultation with the local farming communities. (A. Hampate Ba, Amkoullel, lenfant peul, Actes Sud, 1992, p. 23) In this sense, he was Saviour of the People.
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Preparing the Era of the Mahdi One may speculate that the fact that Cheikou Amadou saw himself as a precursor to the Era of the Mahdi, may also have been based on a tradition more ancient than the introduction of Islam. The Peul have much stronger symbolic connections with the East than even the Bambara and the Manding: their myths of origin specify that the Peulas a people, and not just their Founderscame from the region of the rising sun. According to B. Nantet (op. cit.), all the great XIX reformers, Nantet, were either Peul or descendants of Peul. The Peul, he explains, converted to Islam very early in history, and were responsible for the conversion of West Africa to Islam. The major engine for this religious dynamism has been Sufism. Many serious Muslims in West Africa, including most of the empire-builders, belonged to a Sufi path. These brotherhoods have demonstrated an astonishing vitality, engineering religious reforms, leading the struggle against Western colonisation, or promoting greater economic activity among their followers. This may explain Sheikh Amadous familiarity with the teaching on the Mahdi, for the common teaching (orthodox) is Sunni Islam, while the teaching about the Return of the Expected Imam, the Mahdi, belongs to shiia Islam. Nevertheless, the idea of a Supreme Leader sent from heaven, and originating from the Place of Sunrise, Ishraq, preceded Islam in West Africa: Peul Tradition places their origin in the East (Amadou Hampate Ba, Amkoullel, lenfant peul, Actes Sud, 1992, pp. 20-21). This is also the case with the Manding traditionand the Rwandan tradition, as well as many other the religious traditions of Africa). The connection between the East as a direction and the East as the source of spiritual light, and thus, as the direction from which the Light of the Imam Mahdi was to shine over the Earth, is at the heart of the teachings of the School of thought founded by Iranian philosopher Suhrawardi in the 13th century, and continued by his compatriot Sadra Shirazi (15th century). At any rate, regardless of the means whereby Sheikh Amadou came across this teaching, it certainly fell on fertile ground. It is not unreasonable to suggest that this land was previously tilled by a tradition of expectation of a King of Justice who would establish the reign of God on earth, and bring the land to the happy days of the beginning, when the Sun King from the East reigned over the earth. Peul (Fula) traditions indicate the East as the origin of their Founder. Whatever may be the historical truth behind this myth, what we are interested in is the symbolic value of this information: the East as source of light and salvation.

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The thought of Amadou Hampate Ba A brilliant product of the marriage between African wisdom and Sufism is Malian Sage Amadou Hampate Ba (born in Bandiagara, Mali, in 1901; died in Abidjan, Cte dIvoire, in 1991). By his own admission, Amadou Hampate Ba (AHB) was an initiate in the secret sciences of the Peul (his ethnic origin) and the Bambara (among whom he was brought up) and a Muslim mysticand I love laughing and making people laugh! (Amadou Hampate Ba, Sur les Traces dAmkoullel, lenfant peul, p. 12). Even his Master in Islamic studies, Tierno Bokarone upon whom divine light shonetaught him essentially the same as Kullel, his Master in traditional sciences of the Peul: how to read the Great Book of Nature, and how to master the Great Art of Listening... (id., p.53-54) Tierno Bokarand his disciple Amadou Hampate Babelonged to the Tijani Brotherhood, a Sufi school founded by Algerian Sufi Shaykh Ahmed Tijani. Although Islam was introduced to West Africa as early as the 11th century, and was the official religion in a number of kingdoms, it had really only touched the top classes, and did not involve the mass of the people until the 19th century. The Tijaniya emphasizes both mysticism and learning (occultism). Thus, Ba describes himself as, among other things, an arithmosophist. Ivorian Islamic scholar Tidiani Ba (El Hadj Ahmed Tidiani Ba, Lhomme et lErudit, Collection CEDA Rencontre, 2000, p. 87) says that many of the Tijani Sufis in Paris and Geneva were disciples of A. H. Ba, who had been Malis ambassador to UNESCO in Paris. Ba played a major role in advocating the preservation of Africas oral tradition. In a famous address to the UNESCO 1960 General Conference, he advocated for the urgent need to save the oral traditions of Africa: In Africa, he stresses, every old person who dies is like a library that burns. Alongside this effort, Ba was also a tireless promoter of dialogue between religions and philosophies. He held that Judaism, Christianity and Islam were three brothers of a polygamous father: each mother brought her child up in the tradition of her people, speaking of the Father according to her own conception. He deployed considerable energy in organising a dialogue between the three Abrahamic religions, which culminated in an inter-faith prayer meeting on Mount Zion, on 20 June 1961. Commenting on his efforts towards a dialogue between the three religions, Ba said:
My efforts are modest and I do not pretend, alone, to bring about a dialogue between the Cross and the Crescent. But it is certainly possible to bring together people of goodwill from the Cross and the Crescent religions. In fact, my modest attempts have already borne fruit, for, among other actions, I was able, after many ups and downs, to bring together, on Mount Zion, in Jerusalem, a priest and a rabbi, and on the night of 20th to 21st June, 1961, between we prayed together, after each 11

12 had read a passage from his own scriptures. (Amadou Hampate Ba, Jsus vu par un Musulman, Jsus vu par un Musulman ; XXX ., p. 142-143)

Bas example This dynamism may yet work for even greater reforms in the future, and perhaps contribute to laying the foundation for the One Religion of the future, according to the vision of the Tibetan Master Djwhal Khul: Religion must eventually be composite, gathered from many sources and composed of many truths. Exponents of all faiths are today meeting to discuss the possibility of finding a platform of such universality and truth that upon it all men may unite, and on which the coming world religion may be based.
(AAB/DK, DINA2, 13]

Echoing this teaching, A H Ba often said that religious differences were due to the fact that when the One Truth descends in the human world of multiplicity, it necessarily presents different facets:
Lorsquune Vrit ternelle descend dans le monde de la multiplicit () des diffrences extrieures apparaissent, et cest, et cest invitable. Il faut laccepter comme une des conditions de la vie humaine, mais essayer de nous retrouver, par del ces diffrences, sur ce qui est essentiel.

These various facets should be a source of mutual enrichment, not conflict:

La Vrit Une, qui appartient Dieu seul, se rvle chaque fois sous un clairage diffrent pour, complter notre instruction.

This will be the case when we have understood and accepted the fact that Revelation is One, and comes always from the same Source, only under different formulations, which depend on the needs of the time and culture:
Pour le musulman, la Rvlation est Une et provident toujours de la mme source : Dieu, travers les Prophtes et les Grands Envoys. La Rvlation est toujours Une et semblable elle-mme, et pourtant toujours neuve dans sa formulation telle la vie, toujours semblable travers la diversit des tres.

Prophets and Teachers are Rays of the same Sun, each lighting up a different spot on the planet, so that such that none is deprived of Light. It is unreasonable, therefore, to hold to the Ray that came ones way, ignoring the others, and turning this into a source of division and rejection of the others:
Les Prophtes sont considrs comme des Rayons lumineux manant dune mme source. Le soleil est un, mais ses rayons *slancent+ dans toutes les directions, afin que nul ne soit priv de sa lumire. () Mais lhomme bloui saisit souvent un reflet et ne veut plus considrer les autres rayons de la Lumire. Il est dans la nature de lhomme de sattacher davantage ce qui diffrencie qu ce qui unit.

Although each of the great Divine Envoys was at the origin of a new religion, in reality They all preached one and the same eternal Religion, that of the One Godwith,
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each time, a preponderance of certain aspects, related to the conditions and needs of evolving humanity. People see a new religion where there is only a new interpretation, a different presentation of the same Eternal Religion:
En gnral, avec chacun de ces Envoys apparut une religion nouvelle, bien quen ralit ils aient toujours prch une seule et ternelle religion, celle du Dieu Un avec chaque fois, il est vrai, une sorte de prpondrance de certains aspects, lie aux conditions et aux ncessits de lvolution humaine. *Les hommes+ voient des religions nouvelles l o il ny a que des interprtations diffrentes, ou des revtements extrieurs diffrents, dune mme religion ternelle.

Given these factors, Ba said, the future lay in convergence between religionsa meeting of all around a common platform of essential and universal truthsso that we converge together towards that confluent where the Great Minds who have realised themselves in Godor, to put it otherwise, in Humanitydrink the same sun-saturated water, the source of colourless light, pure intelligence and thought:
Je suis convaincu que la convergence () est la meilleure manire pour nous diriger vers le confluent o les esprits raliss en Dieu ou simplement en humanit boivent une mme eau sature par un mme soleil, source de lumire sans couleur, centre des intelligences et des penses pures.

Indeed, the Teaching is One, the Teaching Hierarchy is One. A. H. Ba gives us a beautiful definition of the Earth Hierarchy: that Society of Minds Who have realised Themselves in Divinity, or, simply, Who have attained the fullness of Human Men. We are thus given to understand that attaining divine status and realising ones full potential as a human being, amount to the same thing. A man is thus presented as a future divinity, a god-in-becoming.

Hermes
Hermes, as we know, is the Greek form of Mercury, the Messenger of the Gods in Greek mythology. This divinity has taken many shapes over the centuries, depending on the culture, the most famous of these shapes being Hermes Trismegistus (the Thrice Great), identified with the Egyptian god Toth (Teuthi). To whom was attributed a great number of writings, which are in reality the works of various authors of the past. Moreover, the name Hermes, as used in this context, is generic, not personal. However, the Tibetan Master Djwhal Khul assures us that there did exist an actual historic figure by this name, even if the time of his life and work is not given. He was known by different names in different cultures, but he was what the legend says: a divine Messenger, come down from heaven as the expression goes, to enlighten the world. As a matter of fact, DK informs us, Hermes was the first Light of the World in human shape:
"At some unknown date Hermes came and, so the records say, was the first to proclaim Himself as "the Light of the World." (Reappearance, p. 105) 13

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In The Labours of Hercules, A. Bailey has provided an interesting commentary on this figure of the Divine Messenger, as a prelude to the study of the influences of his planet, Mercury:
The name Hermes comes from herma, a square or rectangular pillar in either stone or bronze, with the head of Hermes (usually with a beard), which adorned the top of the pillar, and male genitals near to the base of the pillar. These were used for road and boundary markers. Also in Athens they stood outside houses to help fend off evil. In Athens of 415 BCE, shortly before the Athenian fleet set sail against Syracuse (during the Peloponnesian War), all the herms throughout Athens were defaced. This was attributed to people who were against the war. Their intentions were to cast evil omens on the expedition, by seeking to offend the god of travel. (This has never been proved as the true reason for the mutilation of the herms.) Hermaphroditus (also known as Aphroditus) was conceived after the union of Hermes and Aphrodite. He was born on Mount Ida but he was raised by the Naiads (nymphs of freshwater). He was an androgynous deity, depicted as either a handsome young man but with female breasts, or as Aphrodite with male genitals. It was Hermes who liberated Io, the lover of Zeus, from the hundred-eyed giant Argus, who had been ordered by Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus, to watch her. Hermes charmed the giant with his flute, and while Argos slept Hermes cut off his head and released Io. Hera, as a gesture of thanks to her loyal servant, scattered the hundred eyes of Argos over the tail of a peacock her sacred bird. Hermes also used his ingenuity and abilities to persuade the nymph Calypso to release Odysseus, the wandering hero, from her charms. She had kept Odysseus captive, after he was shipwrecked on her island, Ogygia, promising him immortality if he married her, but Zeus sent Hermes to release Odysseus. Legend says that Calypso died of grief when Odysseus sailed away. Hermes also saved Odysseus and his men from being transformed into pigs by the goddess-sorceress Circe. He gave them a herb which resisted the spell. Hermes also guided Eurydice back down to the underworld after she had been allowed to stay for one day on earth with her husband Orpheus. Known for his swiftness and athleticism, Hermes was given credit for inventing footracing and boxing. At Olympia a statue of him stood at the entrance to the stadium and his statues where in every gymnasium throughout Greece. Apart from herms, Hermes was a popular subject for artists. Both painted pottery and statuary show him in various forms, but the most fashionable depicted him as a good-looking young man, with an athletic body, and winged sandals and his heralds staff. His Roman counterpart Mercury inherited his attributes, and there are many Roman copies of Greek artistic creations of Hermes. (A. Bailey, The Labours of Hercules.)

Clearly, the passage on our Earth of this Divine Man, transmitter of the Word-Light of God, left a strong impression. Different cultures have kept different memories of him, but the figure of the Early Divine Messenger is universally celebrated and cherished. We see also from the above that myths are not made-up stories of lying inventions: they are old, very old history. They tell us about people and events not otherwise
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recordedexcept in the Archives of the Masters of Wisdom, Our Elder Brothers and Spiritual Guides, the Ancestors, as we call Them in Africa.

Hercules
Another well-known mythical figure turns out also to have had objective existence in a past even more remote than Hermes-Mercury: Hercules. DK tells us that this Son of God was the First Teacher, the First Messenger of God to his brother humans. Again, the Greek version of the story of this divinity is the better known, although there are many cultures with Herculian stories in their lore. DK considers that knowledge about the succession of these Sons of God and their work provides an essential background to any discussion on the Reappearance of the Christ and the Teaching He will be providing. On Hercules, He gives the following comment: We can study several concepts which today underlie the teaching of all the world religions, and which modern religious teachers should be presenting to the public mind. The first such Teacher is of such ancient date that it is not possible to say when He truly lived; even His name is a modernized one, given to an ancient heroteacher. His name is Hercules. Hercules presented to the world, through the form of a pictorial and world drama (symbolic in nature) the concept of a great objective, only to be reached as the result of struggle and difficulty. He pointed to a goal toward which men must make their way, no matter what the obstacles; these obstacles He portrayed in the Twelve Labors of Hercules which were dramas and not factual occurrences. He thus pictured for those who had eyes to see and hearts to understand the nature of the problem to be solved upon the Path of Return to God; He depicted the Prodigal Son's journey back to the Father's house, and the tests and trials which all disciples, aspirants and initiates have to face and which all Those Who today compose the spiritual Hierarchy have already faced. When this statement is considered, it must include also the Christ Who, we are told, "was in all points tempted like as we are." (Heb. IV, 15.), but also passed triumphantly the tests and trials. (Reappearance, p. 104) There is probably no culture that has not, in its history or myth, a Divine Messenger story. Most of them, or perhaps all, go on to affirm that this Great One, or another like Himand occasionally Herwill return and carry to greater heights and perfection the work begun long ago. Such expectation is universal, and becomes particularly acute in times of trouble.
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Quetzalcoatl
Native Americans have many traditions about the god-king Quetzalcoatl and Viracocha, who brought civilization to the Native Americans. They then disappeared to the east, promising to return someday:
The Aztecs believed that Quetzalcoatl would put an end to evil and fear, and that he would restore the golden age of peace and plenty over which he had presided in the mythical past. (Graham Hancock, Heaven's Mirror)

It is interesting to note the similarity in symbolism between Suhravardi Imam al Ishraqthe Teacher of the Light of the Orientand the symbolic association of the Mesoamerican God-Kings, who, having, at their departure, risen into the heavens and became the star which appears in the morning (Voyagers to the New World, Nigel Davies, Macmillan London, 1979). Having thus risen to become the Star in the East, from where they shall arise and return, like the Morning Star, like (the Lord of) Venus as He rises in the eastern sky at dawn:
The most authentic account of Quetzalcoatl's departure comes from the Annals of Cuauhtitlan and was written in the Nahuatl language. It says that Quetzalcoatl will return as the Morning Star. (Bernard Ortiz de Montellano, on Tom Jonard's Anti Science Web Page)

Interestingly enough, when the Europeans arrived in Mexico, the Aztecs were fooled into believing them to be Quetzalcoatl and his retinuejust as did the Bambara, the Rwandans and no doubt a good number of others:
In 1519, Moctezuma had reports that huge hairy men were arriving from the East, in houses floating on the sea. They could make thunder and lightning; they rode [sea] monsters, so they must be gods. But which gods, and how could he avoid offending these gods by making a mistake? As Corts approached Vera Cruz, Moctezuma sent him magnificent gifts, including the traditional garb of Quetzalcatl, that of the Rain God, and that of the God known as 'Smoking Mirror'. (Nigel Davies, Voyagers to the New World, Macmillan London, 1979, quoted by Bernard Ortiz de Montellano as above)

This kind of mistakes is a confirmation that the hope of the Reappearance of the Saviour King was still vivid in peoples minds. As keepers of the traditions of their peoples, Kings Moctezuma of the Mexicans, Djigui Keita of the Bambara (fictitious, yet truer than fiction)had thought to recognise the Expected One, according to the old descriptions, but they failed to realise that these descriptions were symbolic, and not to be taken literally. The same mistake has been, and is still being, made by the Christians, many of whom take literally the White Rider with a Bow and Sword. The tendency to literalism is the answer to Montellanos astonished questions: If indeed Quetzalcatl was at that time conceived as a white god destined to return from the east (as some modern writers present him), why did Moctezuma send the attire for three separate gods instead of just that for Quetzalcatl? Why didn't
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Moctezuma know it was Quetzalcatl? How could he, when he had only an allusive, symbolic description? On the basis of a similar description, the Keitas, kings of the Bambara, mistook a messenger bringing news of an impending French invasion for their Expected Oneyet they had most carefully and ceaselessly trained in the art of recognizing Him! Confusion or lack of recognition is not confined to the above cases. As H. Corbin repeatedly reminds us, due to our apparently self-imposed, blindness it is at present nearly impossible to recognize the Expected One:
The Manifestation of the Imam shall remain inconceivable so long as men have not changed their hearts, and rendered themselves capable of perceiving Him.

Ruganzu Mutabazi (Rwanda and the Great Lakes area)

The writer named above, Bernard Ortiz de Montellano, complains that Christian missionaries distorted the legends of Viracocha and Quetzalcoatl (both names may refer to One and the same Individuality), by over-laying them, or super-imposing on them, the biblical story of the Messiah (in the Old Testament) and the Christ (in the New Testament). This author may have a point, but it does not really matter, since legends of Saviours do tend to look alike. The myth of the Rwandan Saviour King may also be suspected to have been so over-laid, for the first foreign writer to record it was a missionary, named Andr Pags. One particular item is particularly suspicious: the mention that at His Second Coming, the Expected One will be seen in the Eastern light, bright as the morning sun (this is authentic), riding a white animal. Like all other saviours, Rwandas Ruganzu also came to defend and save the people (here, the kings cattle, like Jesus sheep, represent the people) from their enemies, and to comfort and reassure them: Ndi Ruganzu Nyamuganza Ndi Cyitatire cya Mutabazi Nyirumuheto Muhetangoma Nyirubuhiri buhirika amakombe Nyirinkota yinkotanyi-cyane Nyirintorezo yInganzamarungu Nyiricumu ryaca igihugu mwikibi kabiri. Ndi Nyamukinga inka igitugu igituza kizirasanira Muhoza wa Muhumuza. Naritatiye ndatera ntera ababisha ubwoba.

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The words in this icyivugo belong to the previous coming or manifestation of the great Saviour King. But interestingly, he says that this was a second coming: The name Muhetangoma suggests that his bow saved the kingdom a second time (ubuheta); His spear was also used more than once to abolish evil, as indicated by the word kabiri- twice. This suggests that his expected return will then be third comingat the very least. As we shall see below, many other peoples expect the return of their own culture heroes and great saviours and teachers of the past. His weapons are also quite special. His Spearwhich He forged Himselfwas made entirely of metal, whereas Rwandan spears are mounted on a wooden rod. This wonderful item earned Him the title: Nyir icumu ryac igihugu mwikibi kabiri: the Wielder of the Spear1 that twice cleared evil from the kingdom. The sword had been his fathers, as well as the sandals, which had served to ensure that he had come of age: if they fitted him, then his aunt would not that he had was old enough to put his footsteps in his fathers, and take over the kingdom. The normal ceremony employs a plate of flourHis celestial iron mace ubuhiri served to stop the earth from quaking, while his staff inkoni, also of celestial iron, stabilised moving rocks and other disorderly behaviour. As a Warrior King, He is described as having been careful to gather the needed military intelligence Himself, personally, by going into enemy territory, surveyed the lay of the land, before launching the attack and the enemy was filled with fear: Nariitatiye ndateera, nteer ababish ubwooba. The Mahdi is also said to carry a sword of celestial iron, which was wrought in heaven, and descended from there through the agency of the angels. In this celestial iron is a redoubtable force, as far as enemies are concerned, but also a virtue beneficent to men. (H. Corbin, Le Douzime Imam, in En Islam iranien, IV, p. 362). As a Warrior King, Ruganzu is described as having been careful to gather the needed military intelligence Himself, personally, by going into enemy territory, surveyed the lay of the land, before launching the attack, and the enemy was filled with fear: Nariitatiye ndateera, nteer ababish ubwooba. He will return also as a warrior, a banisher of evil and a comforter of the people. He will, of course have with his Companions, the Magnificent Ibisuumizi, Seven great lords, chiefs of the Seven Armies, also known as Ibisuumizi (Cf. A. Kagame, Un Abrg dEthno-Histoire du Rwanda, 1972, no. 173). Both the Christ and Mahdi are also portrayed as warriors, riders on white horses, carrying a sword not made of human hands, but wrought in heaven. Both have an army, with which they will conquer evil and spread peace, law and order. The Militia Christi are well known in Christian tradition. They are described in the book of Revelation, chapter 19:14, as riding on white horses and
1

This spear was iron and all of a piece (Pags 1933:295).

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dressed in fine linen, white and clean. The armies of the Mahdi are also an esoteric militia, a great cavalry led by 313 officersor divided into 313 units (Cf. H. Corbin, En Islam iranien, Book IV, p. 359-360) Ruganzus Bow, named Muhetangoma, Twice-Saviour of the Kingdom, was made of the same celestial iron as the Hammer of the King of Heaven, Nyarushara, which His Ancestor Kigwa had brought with Him from the celestial Smithy. His battle axe, called InganzamarunguFeller-of-giantswas also of the same metal, as was all-metal spear, Rwamutara, of which Pages (1933) informs us that both shaft and head were metallic. The Bow was (for that reason?) so heavy that He alone could lift itand yet we are told that He was a youth of 16 years (17, according to Pags: but the correct number is 16, to match the number of His Companions, Abaryankuna: cf. Kagame, 1972, pp. 94-95). The Bow String was of the same material as the one Kigwa had used to climb down from heaven It emitted a sound which was perceived as a terrifying roar by the enemy, and as a soothing purr to the people He was defending Given such equipment, the possession of a white steed is not surprising. As a matter of fact, all the known prophecies of Returning Saviours have their Great One return on a white vehiclewhether a horse, as in the case of the Christ, the Mahdi, the Kalki Avatara, themanding Messenger, or a great bird, a ship (Quetzalcoatl), a cloud (the Christ, Ruganzu), a space barque (Ruganzu), a rainbow (Ruganzu), or any other white carrier, including one made of light. This impressive weaponry belongs to the Kings First Coming, as a Warrior King, for the Second Coming is more associated to light and loving-kindness. And yet, even when referring to His Second Coming, the poets Abasizi still give Him warrior names, notably the title Nyirumuheto Muhetangoma: He Who carries the Bow which saves the kingdom twice (or which shall save the kingdom once more). This is no doubt an inherent feature of the Saviour, as the Conquering Hero par excellence. We know that other Expected Ones are also presented in the same fashion: the Islamic Tradition Mahdi presents the Mahdi as a Warrior, so does the Christian Tradition, which has the Returning Christ appear as the Archer riding a White Horse. An igisigo poem addresses the following invocation to Ruganzu, but it would fit any of the Coming Ones:
"Yee! Nyirumuheto! Ye! Muhetangoma! Muhungu wa Miheto! Mhetera-ndahise wa Ndahiro!" O Great-Archer, O Twice-Saviour of the Kingdom, O Son of the Bowman, Come again and save [us] 19

20 O Son of Ndahiro! (Cf. Umunsi inkuba iganza intare: The Day when Thunder overcame Lion; A. Kagame, Inganji Kalinga, II, p. 150)

From the above, we see that the Saviour-King Ruganzu is presented as a Conquering Warrior. So is the Christ, in the biblical book of Revelation:
I watched as the Lamb [a figure of the Christ-Messiah] opened the first of the seven seals I looked and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest! (Rev 6:1-2) I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war He is dresses in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations He will rule them with an iron sceptre, He treads the wine-press of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. (Rev 19:11-15).

The iron sceptre is reminiscent of Egyptian Narmers and Rwandan Ruganzus iron mace sceptres As indicated above, cultures held iron to be of celestial origin. However, the other features of Ruganzu are closer to the Jewish Messiah and the Christian Christ on His Return, while the white steed image is also found in the Asian Expected One: the Kalki Avatara, the coming incarnation of VishnuKrishna was the previous Onewill come riding a white horse, too. Rwanda Tradition has many other legend s concerning the Return of King Ruganzu. We have, for instance, a prophecy attributed to Nyirabiyoro, queen of Mubari, a kingdom to the east of Rwanda. This prophecy depicts a Rider on a White Steed: Umwera uzaturuka i Mubari na Mazinga, ahetswe ninyamaswa year, abengerana nkizuba. the White One, who shall come from Mubari na Mazinga, riding a white animal, shining like the sun. Mubari na Mazinga or Mazinga ya Mubari is an actual area in eastern Rwanda, now within the Akagera National Park. The word umwera means either white or pureor perhaps both in this case. The context suggests a general impression of a bright white apparition, and not the appearance of a white person, in the sense of a person of the "white" or European origin. The name "Umwera", the White One, refers to the white light surrounding the Saviour (not to His garments); symbolically, white connotes purity, and is not a matter of skin colour. When people come out of mourning, after they have performed the purification rites, they are "white". Even a person declared innocent by a court of law is said to be "umwere"... The mention of this steed is peculiar, since pre-colonial Rwandans had neither horses nor donkeys, and did not ride any of the animals present in the country. A. Pags, a
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White Father missionary (of the Missionaries of Our Lady of Africa), who recorded a version of the Nyirabiyoro prophecies, interpreted this as a vision of a white-robed White Father arriving from Rwandas eastern neighbour, Tanzania, rid ing a donkey2 But besides the point that donkeys are not white, the queens vision actually refers to the bright white light issuing from the figure appearing in the east, and not to a European dressed in a white cassocklong white beard notwithstanding. Moreover, European visitors struck the local people as not so much white as pink or even red, Ibituku, especially when exposed to the African sun: their colour was likened to that of a new-born infant. Nevertheless, Father Pages version, even skewed towards an interpretation featuring the arrival of the Europeans, stills contains the essential traditional elements: the strange person is to appear from the East, riding a white steed, a description which identifies as Ruganzu Ndori, whose second return was announced by Himself and many seers and prophets, as well as a number of poets Abasizi. Certainly the description of a White Rider since Rwanda had not domesticated the hors or the donkey, white or otherwise. Pags hypothesis was that this was a reference to a white-robed White Father (a member of the Missionaries of Our Lady of Africa, his congregation), coming from Tanzania (east) riding a donkey But the myth is not referring to them: the white in question is the light issuing from the holy figure of the Expected One, King Ruganzu: donkeys are not white, and the colour white does not apply to Europeans, who are either pink or red, especially when exposed to the African sun. In some versions of this myth, however, the Returning Saviour King comes on the wings of a crested cranethe bird of the Abanyiginya dynasty But so many other things are strange in the legend of this Great Son of the King of Heaven. Even at his First coming, He wore sandals (Pags 1933:254), whereas Rwandans went barefoot3. A vision of the imminent Return of the Great One heralded by a kind of survey mission was attributed to Ruganzu.s fourth successor, King Yuhi Mazimpaka, features a space barque: a traditional barque, complete with oars and rowers, but sailing in space. The King saw one such space craft in his time, and prophesied that a similar one would come in the distant future, to save the people from evil waters. This prophecy was thought to apply to Ruganzu at His First Cominghe crossed River Akagera (a source of the Nile), and saved the land from the
2

" Lanimal trange (ne) qui viendra de Mubari na [Mazinga], portant sur son dos un individu non moins curieux (le Blanc, lEuropen." 3 When Ruganzu reached the river Akagera, which forms the border between the kingdoms of Karagwe and Rwanda, he sent Kavuna back to the Queens Palace, to bring his sandals, inkweeto,which he seemed to have forgotten. But the Queen had placed them herself in the young princes bags Kavuna ran back to the riverside, but he was too late! The prince had already sailed across: Kavuna was not allowed to "carry his sandals" across River Akagera. In the kubandwa rites, Ryangombe wears sandals, as sacerdotal attributes, hence his epithet, Rukweto rukwetera kunyagwa no kuronka. Sandals are also found in the other kingdoms of the Great Lakes, as regalia.

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evil waters of Nyirantsibura, the evil queen of the west (the place of darkness and evil), but all this happened on the earth, and not in the sky. He did, at some stage, make a trip to heaven, to visit His heavenly bride, but this was well into his reign, not at His arrival, so that the prophecy does not fit the First Coming. Will it fit the Second Coming better? Luzwi-Muundi, the Expected One of the Zulu Concerning Southern Africas Expected One, we have a testimony from Zulu Isanuzi (Prophet, Umuhanuzi), C. Vusamazulu Mutwa. According to Mutwa, the Zulu are expecting the return of King Luzwi-Muundi, the Saviour of the Bantu, who will establish paradise on earth and give immortality to the human race. (Indaba, My Children, p. 452). Mutwa, reporting on the myths about Luzwi-Muundi, wrote that this King will be concerned, primarily with the Bantu, but also with every man and woman on earth: In the far distant future, a chief will be born among the Bantu, and his name will be Luzwi-Muundi. He will be so powerful and so wise that he will give immortality to every man and woman on earth The armies of Luzwi-Muundi will besiege the Hidden Kraal of the (evil) gods and capture them, and enslave them. An end will be put to greed, anger, murder, war and famine. The whole world will be turned into a soft, scented paradise, in which undying men and women will live in peace and happiness forever. (Indaba, My Children, p. 452). With the introduction of Christianity, the expectation of Luzwi-Muundi has not ceased: it has simply been transferred to the Christ as preached by the missionaries. King Arthur Legend has it that King Arthur did not die: he is asleep , somewhere in the middle of the ocean, in the enigmatic Island of Avalon, where he is watched over by faeries; one day, he sill awake and return, holding in his hand the Sword of Sovereignty *Excalibur, Violent Thunder), in order to restore the ideal kingdom which the powers of darkness prevented him from realizing in the past. (Jean Markale, Le Cycle du Graal, Premire poque, La naissance du roi Arthur, Pygmalion, 1992, p.11)
After the battle of Camlann *+, the body of Arthur, which had been mortally wounded, was taken by a noble lady named Morgan, who was his cousin, to the Island of Avalon *and+ buried in the cemetery. But credulous Brittons and their bards invented the legend according to which a fantastic witch named Morgan took *King Arthurs+ body to the Island of Avalon, there to heal his wounds. When he is fully restored to health, and has regained his strength and all his power, the King shall back and reign over Britain. The result of all this is that the Brittons really expect his return. (Text by the Chronicler Gerald of Wales (in French : Giraud de Cambrie, 22

23 1146-1223), quoted by Jean Markale, Le Cycle du Graal, Huitime poque : La mort du Roi Arthur, Pygmalion, 1992, p.308n)

This proves, Jean Markale comments, that opinion that King Arthur was not dead, and was expected to return and reunite the Kingdom of Britain (Great-Britain and Brittany) was widely spread in the popular tradition of Great-Britain during the Middle Ages. (Based on the Vita Merlini by Geoffroy de Monmouth, a work in Latin dating abour 1130 (ed. Edmon Faral, La Lgendre arthurenne, Paris, 1927, tome III) Jean Markale writes concludes his book, Le Cycle dArthur, by the account of the battle of Camlann, where King Arthur was mortally wounded, and his body subsequently taken away by his sister, Morgan the fairy, to the Island of Avalon, there to be treated, awaiting the hour of his return to carry his interrupted work forward. The he has the magician Tieslin say to one of the Knights of the Round Table: I can assure you, King Bohort, that he is not dead, and that he will return on this coast when the Gods have so decided, when Morgan has healed his wounds and the world is at last ready to behold the shining splendour of his sword Excalubur (p. 335) The Mahdi XVth century philosopher Molla Sadra Shirazi, who carried forward the teachings of Suhrawardi, wrote beautifully on the subject of Divine Messengers who transmit the Word of God and His Book. In his Kitab al-Mashair, translated by Henry Corbin as Le Livre des pntrations mystiques (The Book of Mystical Insights), Molla Sadra wrote that These Messengers are Themselves the Word of God; They are, in Themselves, His Book. By Word of God, is not meant the production of a collection of sounds and letters with a meaning:
The *term+ Word of God does not designate the creation of sounds and letters with a meaning The Word of God is the production of perfect Words *Kalimt tmmat+ and the issuing of Immutable Signsthe archetypal Books (Omm al-Kitb) and other signs and metaphors (3 :4), hidden under the outer garments of allusive words and expressions. The Christ, Is ibn Maryam, was His Envoy and His Word, which He projected into Maryam, and a Spirit from Himself. (Kitb al-MashirHenry Corbin, Le Livre des pntrations mystiques, 4e pntration, Indication concernant la Paroles de Dieu et le Livre de Dieu, p. 148)

Thus, according to Sadra, all Divine Envoys emanate from God, and are His Words, or projections of His unique Word. Sadras thinking regarding the relationship between these various aspects of the One Unique Word of God is presented in Nos.117 & 122 of the Kitab al-Mashair discuss. Sadras translator and presenter, Henry Corbin, summarises these thoughts as follows:
And in the same way as the Prophecy (zhir) has its plenary manifestation (mazhar) in the person of Muhammad as the Seal of Prophets, so does the walayt [the inner 23

24 meaning] have its full manifestation in the Imamatemore exactly, in the person of the First Imam as the Seal of the general walayt (motlaqa), and in the person of the XIIth Imam as the Seal of the Mohammadan walya. The XIIth Imamthe Hidden Imam, the Expected (Montazar)is thus present both in the past and in the future; His manifestation shall reveal the hidden meaning of all divine Revelations and shall bring humanity back to the One Religion, as in the days of Adam (Henry Corbin, Le Livre des pntrations mystiques, Introduction, p. 22)

However, although the Mahdi is now hidden from sight, he does succour his faithful, when in difficulties, but they do not recognize him, except afterwardsas in the case of the risen Christ, when he appeared to some of his disciples on the way to Emmaus, and they only knew it was him after he had disappeared from their sight, for ou r heart burned inside us. The Mahdi similarly appeared to Ali ibn Fazel Mazandana, while on his way from Andalusia to Samarra. His companions had gone ahead of him, and he had lost his way. Alone, in a foreign and hostile-looking city, he panicked. Then a man appeared to him, reassured him and put him back on the way, but the traveller did not know who had helped him, until a senior disciple of the Mahdi told him:
At that time, you saw coming towards you, a young man riding a white horse, holding a long spear, the point of which was in Damascus iron. When you saw him, you were at first frightened, thinking he would take your clothes from you. When he drew nearer, he said: Do not be afraid. Go and join your companions. They are waiting for you under that tree, in the far distance. (in Majliss Encyclopaedia of Shia Hadith): The Green Isle, quoted in H. Corbin, En Islam iranien, Book IV, Le Douzime Imam, p. 364)

The armies of the Mahdi are also an esoteric militia, a great cavalry commanded by 313 officersor divided into 313 units, as reported by Corbin (En Islam iranien), quoting the story of Ali ibn Fzel. Ali ibn Fazel had been led to the city of the Expected One, the XIIth Imam, Mohammad al-Mahdi, in the Green Isle in the White Sea. Ali ibn Fazel had sailed there under the guidance of Sayyed Shamsoddn Mohammad al-Alim (the Master), one of the Companions of the Imama person of indescribable majesty and gravity, gentleness and serenity. (id., p. 355). One Friday, which happened to be the middle of the (lunar) month of Shaban, the Sayyed had, as usual, led the Prayer, and had begun to preside over the assembly to which he gave his teaching, when suddenly Ali heard a great clamour was heard outside the mosque. He enquired, and was told that:
Every time that the middle of the month *the day of the full moon+ falls on a Friday, the chiefs of our army assemble in the expectation of the Joy *of the Reappearance of the Expected One, the XIIth Imam].

We note this Full Moon ritual, and we shall come back to it later. Having asked for permission to go out and see the Great Army, Ali found himself in the presence of a great throng of horsemen, from which rose a triumphal hymn,
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asking God to hasten the Joy of the Appearance of the Imam Who is to defend the Divine Cause, Muhammad al-Mahdi, Who reigns invisibly over our times.
How many are they who form this spiritual cavalry? Three hundred and thirteen, the Sayyed replies.

The number 313, Corbin comments, is the number given by tradition for the spiritual Hierarchy at the service of the Imam, a Hierarchy that is always present in the world, but incognito, working invisibly among men. The 313 are the Leaders of this esoteric militia. (Cf. H. Corbin, En Islam iranien, Book IV, Le Douzime Imam, p. 361-362) The moving scene led Ali to ask:
When will the Joy *of the Reappearance of the now Invisible Imam+ come? Brother, the Sayyed replied, the knowledge is in God alone, and the advent depends on His will alone, such that the Imam Himself does not know. But there shall be signs and indications announcing his Apparition.

One such Sign is the Speaking Sword of the Great Lord:

The Sword shall speak, demanding that the Imam employ it.

This, however, is a spiritual Sword, which came from heaven, and was not wrought by human hands. Neither was it made of any metal found on this world. Such that, Corbin explains:
The battles and triumphs of the Imam will not be exactly as some enthusiastic literalists expect...

We are again reminded of the sharp sword which will issue from the mouth of the Christ, and with which He shall strike down the nations. But we know that this, too, is the sword of the spirit, and the nations to be struck down will be the same as those to be combated by the Rwandan Expected One, Ruganzu: the armies of darkness, represented by Ubunyabungo, the kingdom of darkness (to the West, the side of the setting sun), and the armies of materialism, symbolised by Byinshi bya Bamara, Umwaami wAbanyabyinshi: Plenty, son of Consumer, king of the Possessors-of-Plenty. Such people, the Gospels teach us, will find it harder to enter the Kingdom of Heaventhe Coming Reign of the Expected One(s)than a camel to pass through the eye of the needle In fact, they will not want to: instead, they will fight the Coming One and His Armies, and will therefore have to be eliminatedthe sins, not the sinner. The Sword of the Mahdi, made of celestial iron, is mentioned in the Quran (S. 57:25):
We have caused to be brought down the Book and the Scales We have sent down the Iron; there is in it a redoubtable force, but also a virtue beneficent to men.

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Referring to Haydar Amols the commentary on the Foss of Ibn Arab (Jarullah 1470, 42b) by Corbin writes that:
Shia gnosis has deeply meditated this verse, in which they see a reference to the sword of the Mahdinot as a weapon of metal, but as a source and symbol of invisible force, coming down through the ministry of the Angels.

The weapons which Ruganzu will use at His Second Comingas Rwaza-Nzogera rwa Nzoza ya Ruziga: the One Who shall come in glory, *the One named+ I shall -come, the Bearded One (idem the Manding Rider: see above, no. 404) shall be equally spiritual: the axe will fell the evil giants, or cut great evil to the root; with His bow he will shoot into hard rocks and cause water to flow in desert lands; with His spear, He shall banish all evil from the land, for He is Nyiricumu ryac Igihugu mw ikibi kabiri, the Wilder of the spear which shall abolish evil from the land once more. His great army, the Magnificent Ibisumizi, will support the King in this endeavour, as they did the First time, when they scoured the kingdom, destroying evil and succouring the widow and the orphan, as the Light-Bearers of the King, to whom He says: CHAANA, light the fire and make light:
Muhoz arahererekanya ngo Chaana The Comforters word was relayed from point to point: CHAANA: Light up! Let the light shine!

At the Second Coming of the great King, Ruganzu Mutabaazi, the Ibisuumizi will be an Army of the Light. Corbin points to the fact that the advent of the XIIth Imam is identified with that of the Second Coming of the Christ *as the Gospels Counsellor+:
Certains de nos auteurs, Haydar Amoli par exemple, identifient nommment le XII th Imam avec celui que la tradition vanglique, galement connue deux, dnomme le Paraclet. (Henry Corbin, En Islam iranien, Tome V, p. 16)

The familiarity of Iranian scholars and spiritual researchers with the Christ and His message is further attested by a verse from Hafez, which, Corbin comments, has become a proverb:
Si leffusion de lEsprit dispense de nouveau son aide, dautres leu r tour feront ce que le Christ lui-mme faisait (Diwan de Hfez, d. M. Qazwn et Q. Ghn, Thran 1320 h., s., p. 142) (If the Spirit descends again and accords His aid once more, then others will also do what the Christ Himself did.

This is clearly an echo of the saying of the Christ: You shall do even greater things than I did. The Holy Spirit is here the Spirit of the Christ, which carries on and deepens the teachings given in Palestine. The Holy Spirit teaches the heart directly, which is why He is represented as a fire, the fire of Manas, the vivid light and powerful energy which, like a swordthe sword of the Spiritpenetrates the heart. In this context, therefore, what is meant is not the third Person of the Trinity (the third Aspect of Divinity), but the Teaching Spirit, which is the Spirit of the Christ, the World Teacher. The Mahdi is also a Teacher and Illuminator, One Who says, with
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Ruganzu, Chaana! Light the fire of mind, and let there be understanding and penetration to the heart of the teachings. The similarity between the Christ and the Imam Mahdi is further attested in their identical relationship to the number eight, as manifested in the story of the Green Isle in the White Sea. We saw in the story that that the Full Moon F estival to which Ali was witness it occurred during the eighth month, Shaban, the Month of the Mahdi. The Full Moon of this month is His Birthday. In this case, however, the interpretation of the symbol of this full moon will not be astrological, but numerological: based on the symbolic value of the number eight. The reason for this is as follows. The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar without intercalation, as laid down by the Prophet in the Quran (S. IX: 36-37) and in his sermon at the Farewell Pilgrimage. This was a departure from the lunisolar calendar commonly used in the Arab world, in which months were based on first sightings of the lunar crescent, but an intercalary month was added as deemed necessary . This reform means that the Islamic calendar, based on a purely lunar year of 354 days, no longer follows the solar year, such that the ritual events, though tied to the phases of the moon, no longer have any fixed relation to the seasons of the 365-day solar year. It means also that the new moons and full moons do not correspond to the zodiacal signs; this correspondence is the basis of astrology. Such that while the month Shaban is the eighth moon of the Islamic calendar, it corresponds neither to August, the eighth month of the Julian calendar, nor to Libra, the eighth sign of the Zodiac. This contrasts with the ritual calendar of Rwanda, which was lunisolar: based on lunations, but regularly corrected to approximate the solar year and the seasons, by means of intercalation, i.e., the addition of an extra month, known as ihagiko, the plug. The Hindu and Buddhist ritual calendars were also lunisolar, such that the Wesak Festival, for instance, falls on the Taurus Full Moon, being the second full moon of spring, at the same date as the Rw andan Festival of Kamena, also a Taurus Festival. The Festival of the Christ, also known as the Festival of Goodwill, which is now celebrated internationally by disciples of the Masters everywhere, takes place at the Full Moon of Gemini. Again, this corresponds to the Rwandan First Bread Festival, Umuganura (a harvest-and-first-fruit festival), which takes place on the Nyakanga (Gemini) Full Moon, being the first Full Moon of the dry season Ichyi. But as the Islamic Calendar is entirely lunar (and not lunisolar like the Rwandan Calendar), the above-named Festival of the middle of Shaban would be a mobile festival. The interpretation has therefore to be purely numerical, and not astrological. As indicated above, the number eight is the number of the Christ. This is the title of the World Teacher, and applies therefore also to the Mahdi, inasmuch as the Mahdi and the Christ are esoterically One. We saw above that Hermes caduceus is represented by serpents intertwined in an eight-shaped figure. Hermes is another
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Christic Figure. The same number is found in the story of the Manding Expected One: his transformation from red to white, or from a War Messengerthe Red Riderto a Messenger of Peacethe White Riderinvolved burning his redness and burying it in 888 holes on a mountaintop, the summit of Mount Kouroufi. Eight is therefore involved in the passage to Christhood. This point was emphasised above, when we recalled that eight is the number of the Christ Principle, or of the soul consciousness in usthe Christ in us, as a reflection of the Christ as the World Teacher, the latter being Himself a reflection of the Cosmic Christ. Eight denotes, Michael D. Robbins comments, the flowing, serpentine union of a higher sphere and a lower. The identity between the Imam Mahdi and the Christ in shia Islaman esoteric ecumenism, Corbin stressesis further attested by a sermon given by the Vth Imam, Mohammad Bqir, through whom the eternal Imam, said
I am the One Who, in the Gospels, is called Elijah.

thereby making Shia Islam a witness to the Transfiguration on Mount Thabor. The Imam, comments Corbin, is among Those Who were taken up and away from the visible world without going through the gate of death: Enoch, Elijah, the Christ (according to the Quran the Master Jesus did not die, to be later removed from the cross, but was taken away alive, and on to heaven). But while the Christ was taken up, He did not go the place which was His by right, but remained in the intermediate place symbolised above by the Green Isle in the White Sea, from whence He watches over mankind, awaiting for His Hour, which will be partly determined by humanitys progress, for He cannot come before men have progressed to a spiritual level such that they are able to see Him. This teaching, Corbin explains, is similar to the Buddhist teachings about the Bodhisattva refusing to enter nirvana before all beings have attained liberation:
*Just as] the Bodhisattva refused to enter nirvana before all beings have attained liberation. The eschatological expectation as polarised in the XIIth Imam corresponds also to the expectation of Maitreya, the coming Buddha, in Mahayana Buddhism; to the expectation of Saoshyant in Zoroastrism; and to that of the Second Coming of the Christ, in Christianity. (Id., p. 329).

The Imam said again:

I am the Christ Who heals the blind and the lepers, Who dissipates the clouds i.e., the Second Christ, according to the commentary). I al Him and He is Me (an howa wa howa an). Sermon by the Vth Imam, Mohammad Bqir, in Jafar b. Mansr al Yaman, Kitb al-Kshj, ed., R. Strothman, Oxford, 1952quoted by Henry Corbin, En Islam iranien, Book V, p. 442; see also, Henry Corbin, Trilogie ismalienne, p. 44)

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Corbin refers also to epic heroes expected to return: such as Kay Khosraw in Iran, and King Arthur in the Celtic epic, as recalled by R.F. Hobson, in The King who will return (Guild Lecture, 130, London 1965). According to Jean Markale, author of Le Cycle dArthur, British popular tradition during the whole Middle Ages firmly and widely believed that King Arthur did not die, but was asleep in the Island of Avalon, where his fairy sister Morgan has taken him to heal him. When his time has come, he will return and pursue the work he began with his Knights of the Round Table, but which was interrupted by the powers of darkness, and carry it to greater heights. Further proof of the identity of the Imam Mahdi and the Christ is provided in the traditions about the birth of the XIIth Imam, his mother, a Christian Byzantine princess named Narkes, had a vision of her future Son, returning with His Disciples, alongside the Christ, also with His Disciples: together, they mounted the same Chair of Light as One, in the Santa Sophia Cathedral at Constantinople. (id., p. 313) These events had been announced to her by the Mothers of their Predecessors, Jesus and Muhammad, the two great Ladies also working as One, and announcing to her that she too was to become the Mother of her Father:
Then the Sovereign Lady of feminine *the female half of+ humanity, Fatima the Resplendent, visited me. Maryam, escorted by a thousand young ladies of paradise, was with her. Then Maryam said to me: This is the queen of women and the mother of your husband, the Imam Hasan Askari (Id., p. 314)

Thus duodecimal Shiism leaves us in no doubt: if the XIIth Imam is not identical with the Christ, then He is the one human being Who is most like the Christ, and both shall return, either as One, or in the same manner (Id., p. 442) These thoughts were shared by a shaykh to whom Corbin has posed the question of the relationship between these two great Figures, in connection with the legend about the rejection of the Imam by the doctors of the law, and a parallel legend about the Christ being rejected by the same doctors of the law, as described in F. M. Dostoyevskys book, The Karamazov Brothers. The first tradition dates from the time of the Vth Imam, Mohammad al-Bqir, quoted above. When the Imam reappeared in the city of Kufa, the doctors of law said as one man:
O Son of Fatima! Go back to where you came from. We do not need you. We have no need for a son of Fatima! (Id., p. 441)

In the Dostoyevsky story, the Great Inquisitor in Seville, said as much to the Returning Christ, Whom he held prisoner:
Why have You come back to disturb us?... What right have you to reveal to us *the+ mysteries of the world from which You come? () Go away and never return again.

This shaykh, Corbin writes, had meditated on relationship between Christianity and Shiism, between the Christ and the Imam, in a manner that was his secret, a secret which he shares with many other Shiites, for Shia Imamology makes very frequently
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reference to Christology. Concerning the similarity between the two Great Beings, the shaykh explained that They shall return at the same time, but the Imam will come ahead of the Christ, for He must prepare His Way:
*The Christ+ shall return but not before our Imam has destroyed all those who could still say: Go away and never return. (Id., p. 442)

The manner in which the Imam will thus prepare the way for His Brotherthe Two being elsewhere presented as Oneis described by the shaykh as follows:
The Quran (S. 4:156) teaches us that the Christ did not die on the Cross; He was taken away by God as had been taken Enoch and Elijah. When the Imam returns, in vain shall the doctors of the Law, in Kufa or anywhere else, say to Him: Go away and never return. For the Imam will be wielding a sword not made of earth metal and able to penetrate the souls: with Him shall be not only the Companions, mighty and proud, who now sleep of a mysterious sleep awaiting His Coming, but legions of Angels, those who were with Noah in the Ark, with Abraham when he was thrown into the fire, with Moses when he separated the waves of the sea, with the Jesus when he was taken up into heaven by God , with Mohammad on the day of the battle of Badr, with the Imam Hosayn when he refused even their aid, on the day of his martyrdom at Karbala. (Nomn, Ghaybat, p.168; Kitb al-Mobn, vol. II, pp. 186187) Then [after the Imam has cleared the way of all opposition] the Christ shall return. (Id., p. 442)

Concerning these Companions of the Imam, who now sleep of a mysterious sleep awaiting His Coming, the Tibetan Master Djwhal Khul, in His book, The Externalization of the Hierarchydiscussing precisely the topic we are studying here, the Coming of the World Teacher and His Discipleswrote as follows:
There are also sleeping hosts which may be evoked for the aiding of the spiritual forces [working to end WWII], and certain ancient prophecies hint at these, but as we study the new Invocation phrase by phrase, I may be able to make this matter clearer, for there are several significances and meanings behind each phrase. [The Externalization of the Hierarchy, p. 259-260]

At all events, the coming of the World Teacher and His company, DK has reminded us,
is dependent upon the appeal (the often voiceless appeal) of all who stand with massed intent; it is dependent also upon the better establishment of right human relations and upon certain work being done at this time by senior Members of the Kingdom of God, the Church Invisible, the spiritual Hierarchy of our planet; it is dependent also upon the steadfastness of the Christ's disciples in the world at this time and His initiate-workersall working in the many groups, religious, political and economic.

Corbin has pointed to further correspondences between the Christ and the Imam are found in the works of Sohravardi and Molla Shirazi:
[In the works of Sohravardi and Moll Shirazi] the person and role of the XIIth Imam bear a striking correspondence to the idea of the Saviour or final Transfigurer (the Saoshyant) of Zoroastrian Persia Just as some Shite thinkers (such as a student of 30

31 Mir Dmd, for instance) identify by name the XIIe Imam to the Resurrector of the Zoroastrians, so does shite tradition identify the XIIth Imam with theCounsellor announced in St Johns Gospel. (H. Corbin, En Islam iranien, Introduction, p. III)

Corbin explains that contrary to Sunni Muslims, for whom, after the mission of the last Prophet, mankind has no more revelation to expect, Shites keep the future open: even after the coming of the Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad, there is more to be expected, i.e., a revelation of the inner significance of the teachings of the great prophets of the past. The teachings will be fully understood only when the XIIth Imam comes, He who is now hidden, but is yet the mystical pole of the world. (id.) We note that even the legend of the Christ coming as a Warriorsymbolically speakingwith a sword is top be found in the presentation of the Coming of the Mahdi in Iranian shism: He shall come wielding a sword wrought in metal not of this earth, which will penetrate the souls: Car lImam maniera un glaive non forg de mtal terrestre, et pntrant dans les mes. (Henry Corbin, En Islam iranien, p. 442)
This soul-penetrating sword is akin to that which will issue from the mouth of the Christ, when He comes as a conqueror bent in conquest (Rev 6:1-2): a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations (Rev 19:15).

The Expected One of Islam is thus identical with the World Teacher, the Christ, the Bodhisattva, the imminent return of Whom the Tibetan Master has so extensively discussed in His works. The Tibetan Master, Djhwhal Khul, is a representative of the Ageless Wisdom Teachings, as preserved and taught to the world, in different forms according to time and culture, by the large group of highly advanced people who form the Hierarchy of the Guides of Humanity. DK has stressed that all great Envoys of God come from the same sourceit is really obvious, but we still tend to believe that our own Teacher, Prophet, Saviour, was the only one ever to be sent by God. Yet, in a way, this is true: all are but aspects of the One Envoy of God, Who manifest cyclically, giving light and aid to humanity. Moreover, all religions believe that great Teacher, Prophet, Saviour and Benefactor will return, correct the errors that have been made in the interpretation and application of the teachings previously given, and generally rectify what had gone wrong; then carry His work a step further. Such that all religions, whether major or minor, local, international or worldwide, expect Someone to come from God or Heaven, any time soon, and in many cases, rather sooner than later. Shiism believes in and expects the Twelfth (duodecimal) Imam, the Mahdi. Molla Sadra, carrying forward the thought of Suhrawardi, has not only stressed the central place of this teaching in Islamic living, but also the universality of the Expected One, Montazar. Commenting on this thought, Corbin writes:
Clearly, in the person of the Hidden Imam, duodecimal Shiismor Imamismhas captured the profound mystery of human expectation in relation to a closing of 31

32 history and a palingenesis, as Zoroastrism had also captured it in the person of Saoshyant; Budhism in the person of Maitreya, the Buddha of the future; Christianity, with the Spirituals, from the time of 13th-century Joachimists [of Joachim de Flore], in the expectation of the reign of the Holy Spirit.(id.)

The Holy Spirit is here the Spirit of Christthe Christ Himself, returning as the Comforter and Defender of His people. Whether one calls Him Maitreya Buddha, Saoshyant, the Christ, the Mahdi, the Messiah, the god-kings Quetzalcoatl, Kontiki, Viracocha, the saviour king Ruganzu, and so on, we are still talking about the Same Expected One, who is to come, escorted by His Servantslike the White Rider of the Manding, or his twin representation in the biblical book of Revelation: the White Rider named Faithful and True. When the Great One and His Escort have come to dwell again visibly among men as in the days of Adamthe First timesthen, thinks Molla Sadra, it will become evident that there is, and can only be One Religion.
When the XIIth Imam, the Hidden One, the Expected OneMontazarhas appeared, then He will reveal the hidden meaning of all the (past) divine Revelations, and will thus bring humanity back to a common religionthe One Religion.

We see, therefore, that, Molla Sadra Shirazi, there have been many Messengers, but they all represent the One Message, the One Word of God, Which is a Person, not a collection of sounds and words, no matter how highly meaningful. What is usually called the Book is really only the expression of the words of the Teacher as He manifests and expresses the Word that He is. Thus, since all Messengers are from the same Source, and are exponent of the One Word of God, which they represent and manifest in forms differing only because they are addressed to different cultures in different times, there can only be One Religion, with different colourings and emphases On this One Religion of the future, the Tibetan Master has written extensively. In His book Discipleship in the New Age, which is collection of instructions to His disciples in Western countries, the Tibetan wrote:
The teaching of all religions stem from one great divine source. It is their inner meaning and our individual relation to them that are of importance. This realization will indicate to us our immediate goal and duty, which when understood will enable us to live more divinely, to serve more adequately, and thus to bring the will of God into fruition on earth. There is nothing but a valuable gain to us, an enriching of our consciousness, when we realize the unity, and at times the uniformity of the teaching as it is given in both the East and the West. Religion must eventually be composite, gathered from many sources and composed of many truths. Exponents of all faiths are today meeting to discuss the possibility of finding a platform of such universality and truth that upon it all men may unite, and on which the coming world religion may be based. And, although there are many messengers 32

33 there is only one Message; but this recognition in no way detracts from the unique task of the Christ and the unique function which He came forth to fulfil. (DINA2, 13-14)

It follows therefore, that all these Divine Envoys are expressions of the One Messenger or Avatar: the Christ, Maitreyathe Friend of Humanity. Le Saoshyant Nous avons vu plus haut que nombre de cultures attendent le Retour de leur Sauveur et Instructeur. Ceux des grandes religions cites par Corbin sont bien connus: le Christ, le 12e Imam, le Saoshyant, le Bouddha Maitreya, le Bodhisattva. De celui-ci, Corbin, rappelant la tradition selon laquelle Il "refusa dentrer dans le nirvana [la libration complte], avant que tous les tres soient sauvs", ajoute :
Lattente eschatologique que polarise le XIIe Imm correspond aussi, dans le Bouddhisme mahayaniste lattente de Maitreya, le Bouddha du futur ; lattente du Saoshyant, dans le Zoroastrisme ; lattente du second avnement du Christ, dans le Christianisme. (Id., p. 329).

Corbin a souvent mis en lumire le rapport troit qui existe entre le Rsurrecteur du Zoroastrisme et le XIIe Imam du Shiisme, rapport quil rsume en ces termes :
On a pu dire avec raison que la thologie zoroastrienne avait, elle seule, oppos au problme du mal une attitude vraiment radicale. Elle fut conduite concevoir une dramaturgie cosmique dont les phases sinscrivent dans une thologie de lAin (Aevum mundi), cest--dire une thologie ou thosophie rpartissant en douze millnaires les phases et le dnouement de la lutte entre le principe de Lumire (Ohrmazd) et le contre-principe de Tnbres (Ahriman). Le dnouement final est amen par lapparition du Sauveur cosmique, ou Il nest pas douteux quen la personne de lImam cach, le shiisme duodcimain, limmisme, ai pressenti le profond mystre dune attente humaine de la clture de lhistoire et dune palingnsie, comme le zoroastrisme lavait pressenti en la personne du Saoshyant ; le bouddhisme en la personne de Maitreya, le Bouddha futur ; le christianisme des spirituels, depuis les Joachimites du XIIIe sicle, dans lattente du rgne de lEspritSaint. Lthos profond du shsme.

Lthos iranien perptue et rejoint la tradition antique des pahlavn et la tradition abrahamique de la fotowwat. Compagnons du Saoshyant ou compagnons de lImam cach, les uns et les autres sont tendus vers le mme but final.
Puissions-nous tre de ceux qui produiront la Transfiguration du monde, rptait un refrain liturgique des fidles zoroastriens. Que Dieu hte la Joie de Sa venue, rpte chaque fidle shite chaque mention du nom du XIIe Imam.

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Les deux oraisons jaculatoires vibrent lunisson ; elles attestent lthique du chevalier de la foi dont est insparable la mtaphysique eschatologique : tonique et dominante reparaissant travers tous les thmes de la thosophie trs complexe qui ont t tudis au cours de cette recherche. Cet thos est celui que nous avons appris connatre ici comme tant essentiellement celui dune chevalerie spirituelle. Le pacte de fidlit qui unit le javnmard son Imam lui inspire des paroles et des engagements passionns. Il faut se reprsenter que le passage au rgne du Paraclet, que ce soit dans le temps existentiel de chaque tre humain ou comme clture du temps total de lhumanit historique, ne saccomplit pas sans un combat men contre toutes les puissances de ngation, de sclrose et de mort. () Cest cette ide qui a dress la conscience zoroastrienne contre les puissances ahrimanienne ; cest elle que lon retrouve dans lthos shite. Haydar Amol identifiait le XIIe Iman avec le Paraclet de lEvangile ; Qotboddin Ashkevr lidentifiait avec le dernier des trois Saohyant du zoroastrianisme. Millnaire du dernier Saoshyant et millnaire du dernier Imam sont le lieu de ce combat. Le vu de tout javnmardde tout chevalier de la foi, est dy participer aux cts de son Imam. Divine Messengers and Their Footwear Sandals are associated with messengersin this context, the messenger of Hierarchy: holding forth the hands of helpfulness, intent on the lifting of the little ones (DINA1 676) :
Upon his shoulder sits the bird of peace; Upon his feet the sandals of the messenger.

An ancient Rule for Disciples reads:

Let the disciple... seek the mark of the Messenger in his feet and let him learn to see with the eye which looks out from between the two. () Let the group serve as Aquarius indicates; let Mercury speed the group upon the upward Way let the mark of the Saviour... be seen above the aura of the group. (AAB/DK, RI, Rule XII)

Aquarius, DK explains, carries burdensthe weight of the world. For this reason, sandals play a major role in the life of many Divine Messengers, Founder Kings and Heroesavatars of various categories. A few examples will illustrate this truth:
The Narmer palette (Narmer was the Founder of the Fist Dynasty of ancient Egyptian), It was carved from a single piece of soft greenish slate and is about 65 cm tall. The obverse side of the palette shows Narmer as King of the North, or Lower Egypt, holding a mace sceptre and the royal flagellum. He is followed by a man bearing sandals. Sandal-bearers to Pharaoh were important personages, as the following testimony indicates: 34

35 "While I was (still only) Chamberlain of the Palace and Sandal-bearer the King of Upper & Lower Egypt (Merenre) my lord, who lives forever placed me as Mayor, and Overseer of Upper Egypt, South from Yebu, north to Medenit, because I was excellent in his majesty's heart, because I was rooted in his majesty's heart. The Narmer palette was found at Hierakonpolis and dates to about 3200 BCE. Narmer himself is depicted barefooteven the gods are so depicted. It has been suggested that being barefoot denotes the strong bond between the king and the land. But according to Christian Jacq, Pharaoh wore sandals when performing religious ceremonies or otherwise acting in his official functionas priestly attribute. Isis and her brother-husband Osiris were good illustrations of the Divine Messengers. It was in this capacity that she passed from Egypt to the Northern Mediterranean. In Metamorphoses, XI, 1-26, The Epiphany of Isis, Apuleius writes of the goddess Isisthe Queen of Heaven, celestial Venus: Her perfumed feet were shod with sandals woven of the palm of victory. Perseus is the third of the three constellations, called in the zodiac of Denderah, in Egypt, "the one who subdues"; sometimes called "the breaker", that which can chain the enthroned woman, and that which can conquer the monster. We are told that Perseus possessed the helmet of invisibility, the sandals of swiftness, the buckler of wisdom and the sword of the spirit. Thus Hercules saw himself reflected in the heavens... In Greek mythology, when Aegeus, the future father of the hero Theseus, had lain with Aethra at Troizen, and was returning to his home city, Athens, he left his sandals and a sword under a large rock: should Aethra bear a male child, she was to send him to Athens to claim his birthright as soon as he was old enough to lift the rock and retrieve the items. Hermes, the herald and messenger of the gods, is usually depicted with a winged cap, winged sandalsthe mark of the Messengerand the heralds staff: the kerykeion, or caduceus, a staff or shaft with two white ribbons, which were later represented by serpents intertwined in an eight-shaped figure. Painted pottery and statuary depicted him as a good-looking young man, with an athletic body, and winged sandals and his heralds staff, dressed as a traveller, or that of a workman or shepherd. (All functions were also exercised by Ruganzu.) His Roman counterpart Mercury inherited his attributes, and there are many Roman copies of Greek artistic creations of Hermes.

One aspect of the interpretation of these Messenger Myths is found in Esoteric Astrology: Mercury, the "divine Intermediary, is said to carry messages between the poles with speed and light":
"In a peculiar way, therefore, Mercury increases in the Gemini subject the latent sense of duality in its various stages and also the sense of distinction, leading to that mental agility and that fluidity of mind which is one of the major assets as well as one of the major difficulties of this sign. This agility has, however, to be rightly understood and handled. When there is facility of mental approach in any direction and in connection with the many opposites in manifestation, you have the emergence of the divine Messenger in his true character, able to comprehend extremes and to relate them divinely to each other. Gemini is pre-eminently the sign of the messenger, and this sign produces many of the messengers of God as they 35

36 appear down the ages, the revealers of new divine truths and the intermediaries between the fourth and fifth kingdoms. It is for this reason that you have the exoteric ruler given as Mercury and the esoteric ruler as Venus, for they embody between them the energies of the fourth Ray of Harmony through Conflict and the fifth Ray of Concrete Knowledge or Science which is embryonic understanding of causes and conditions resulting therefrom and also of the Plan."

Warrior-type Messengers
Ruganzus weapons are also quite special. His Spearwhich He forged Himselfwas made entirely of metal, whereas Rwandan spears are mounted on a wooden rod. This wonderful item earned Him the title: Nyiricumu ryaca igihugu mwikibi kabiri: the Wielder of the Spear that twice cleared evil from the kingdom. The sword had been his fathers, as well as the sandals, which had served to ensure that he had come of age: if they fitted him, then his aunt would not that he had was old enough to pu t his footsteps in his fathers, and take over the kingdom. The normal ceremony employs a plate of flourHis celestial iron mace ubuhiri served to stop the earth from quaking, while his staff inkoni, also of celestial iron, stabilised moving rocks and other disorderly behaviour. As a Warrior King, He is described as having been careful to gather the needed military intelligence Himself, personally, by going into enemy territory, surveyed the lay of the land, before launching the attack and the enemy was filled with fear: Nariitatiye ndateera, nteer ababish ubwooba. The Mahdi is also said to carry a sword of celestial iron, which was wrought in heaven, and descended from there through the agency of the angels. In this celestial iron is a redoubtable force, as far as enemies are concerned, but also a virtue beneficent to men. (cf. H. Corbin, Le Douzime Imam, in En Islam iranien, Book IV, p. 362). As a Warrior King, Ruganzu is described as having been careful to gather the needed military intelligence Himself, personally, by going into enemy territory, surveyed the lay of the land, before launching the attack, and the enemy was filled with fear: Nariitatiye ndateera, nteer ababish ubwooba. He will return also as a warrior, a banisher of evil and a comforter of the people. He will, of course have with his Companions, the Magnificent Ibisuumizi, Seven great lords, chiefs of the Seven Armies, also known as Ibisuumizi (Cf. A. Kagame, Un Abrg dEthno-Histoire du Rwanda, 1972, no. 173). Both the Christ and Mahdi are also portrayed as warriors, riders on white horses, carrying a sword not made of human hands, but wrought in heaven. Both have an army, with which they will conquer evil and spread peace, law and order. The Militia Christi are well known in Christian tradition. They are described in the book of Revelation, chapter 19:14, as riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. The armies of the Mahdi are also an esoteric

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militia, a great cavalry led by 313 officersor divided into 313 units (Cf. H. Corbin, En Islam iranien, Book IV, p. 359-360) Ruganzus Bow, named Muhetangoma, Twice-Saviour of the Kingdom, was made of the same celestial iron as the Hammer of the King of Heaven, Nyarushara, which His Ancestor Kigwa had brought with Him from the celestial Smithy. (His battle axe, intoorezo, called InganzamarunguFeller-of-giantswas also of the same metal.) The Bow was (for that reason?) so heavy that He alone could lift itand yet we are told that He was a youth of 16 years (17, according to Pags: but the correct number is 16, to match the number of His Companions, Abaryankuna: cf. Kagame, 1972, pp. 94-95). The Bow String was of the same material as the one Kigwa had used to climb down from heaven It emitted a sound which was perceived as a terrifying roar by the enemy, and as a soothing purr to the people He was defending Given such equipment, the possession of a white steed is not surprising. As a matter of fact, all the known prophecies of Returning Saviours have their Great One return on a white vehiclewhether a horse, as in the case of the Christ, the Mahdi, the Kalki Avatara, the Manding Messenger, or a great bird, a ship (Quetzalcoatl), a cloud (the Christ, Ruganzu), a space barque (Ruganzu), a rainbow (Ruganzu), or any other white carrier, including one made of light. This impressive weaponry belongs to the Kings First Coming, as a Warrior King, for the Second Coming is more associated to light and loving-kindness. And yet, even when referring to His Second Coming, the poets Abasizi still give Him warrior names, notably the title Nyirumuheto Muhetangoma: He Who carries the Bow which saves the kingdom twice (or which shall save the kingdom once more). This is no doubt an inherent feature of the Saviour, as the Conquering Hero par excellence. We know that other Expected Ones are also presented in the same fashion: the Islamic Tradition presents the Mahdi as a Warrior, so does the Christian Tradition, which has the Returning Christ appear as the Archer riding a White Horse. As we saw above in the Nyirumuheto invocation addressed to Ruganzu, Rwandas Saviour-King is also presented as a Conquering Warriorjust like the Christ in the biblical book of Revelation:
I watched as the Lamb [a figure of the Christ-Messiah] opened the first of the seven seals I looked and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest! (Rev 6:1-2) I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war He is dresses in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations He will rule them with an iron sceptre; He treads the wine-press of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. (Rev 19:11-15). 37

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We see that the Christ is represented at his Parousia as a Conqueror; a Whiter Rider carrying a Bowjust like Ruganzu and many other Expected Ones. The iron sceptre is reminiscent of Egyptian Narmers iron mace sceptre, and indeed also Rwandan Ruganzus ubuhiri As indicated above, cultures held iron to be of celestial origin. However, the other features of Ruganzu are closer to the Jewish Messiah and the Christian Christ on His Return, while the white steed image is also found in the Asian Expected One: the Kalki Avatara, the coming incarnation of VishnuKrishna was the previous Onewill come riding a white horse, too. The Red-turned-White Rider of the Bambara As to the Bambara of West African, the traditions about their Expected Ones do not appear to be very abundant, except for a Red Rider, who is expected to come, but he will be transformed into a White Rider as he approaches the royal city of the Keitas. Ivorian novelist Amadou Kourouma,wrote of a Manding legendary figure known inmanding country as The Messenger. The old prophecies had described him as:
A tall, with a great bearded figure riding a red -saddled red horse, wearing a red headgear, red boots, holding a great sabre in a red scabbard, with a red bag hanging down his back. (Amadu Kourouma, Monn, outrages et dfis, Seuil, 1990, pp. 17-18)

It had been prophesied that this Red Rider would come one day, though none knew his time. According to Kourouma, themanding Kings had a special ritual to be performed upon his arrivala rite which was as well-rehearsed as the five daily prayers.
Tiwour, the greatest seer that the Manding kingdom had ever known, had made this prophecy to a XIIth century Manding king, of the Keita dynasty: One day, in the early morning, there shall arrive at the gate of this palace, a Messenger. He will be dressed in red from head to toe. The Keita then reigning will need to recognize him. The court servants will need to know the rites whereby he shall be propitiated. Should the reigning king fail to recognize the Messenger, and the servants to perform the propitiation rites, a great misfortune will ensue: the end of the Keitas and the royal line of Soba.

Over the centuries, other seers had confirmed this prophecy, but none could tell when the Messenger would come. The Keitas had always made sure to prepare for the advent of the Red Rider. Learning the signs whereby he would be recognised, and the rites whereby he would be exorcised, was part of the training programme for the princes. For centuries, every first Wednesday of the month, the court servants had rehearsed the prescribed rites. These rites, Kourouma says, were quite complex, by they could be summarised under the following steps:

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39 Meet him outside the gates, and before he has uttered a single word (gag him if necessary), Help him out of his red attire, and dress him in white clothes; Give him a white-saddled white horse to ride; Thus transformed from red to white, escort him into the city, and into the Bollod, the royal palace of the Keitas; Then, and then only, shall he deliver his message.

Kourouma specifies that the Messengers red attire should be entirely burnt, and the ashes buried in eight hundred and eighty eight (888) holes dug on the summit of Mount Kouroufi. It clear, therefore, that the rites consisted in transforming the Red Rider into a White Rider. The analogy between this figure and the Apocalyptic White Rider is evident: the latter also has a red aspect:
He is dresses in a robe dipped in blood His name is Word of God, i.e., a messenger from Godthe breaking of the Seal is also revelatory of a messenger, an envoy, opening a seal to reveal the contents He is escorted by the armies of heavenjust like Kouroumas Rider is escorted by the kings servants were following him, no doubt also riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.

It is a pity we are not told more about themanding Messenger: such as, for instance, his origin, and the reason for his coming. Here again, the first Nazaras (the Christians) would be confused with the Messengerthe incident dramatised by Kourouma features a messenger come to announce the arrival of the French general Faidherbe, who was descending upon that part of the Mali empire, after conquering Senegal The mistake was, however, inevitable, for the king had had ample warning about the imminent arrival of the Messenger. He had dreamed about him at night, and from that time, the image of the arriving Red Rider had not left his mind. On the very day of his arrival, the Messengers vision had not left King Djigui Keita for a single moment: even during his prayers, he had not been able to forget the obsessing picture:
Une nuit, au rveil, en faisant ses ablutions, il pensa au messager. En entrant en prire, il ne russit pas carter limage du messager. Dans le corps de la prire, la figure du messager continuait apparatre ; elle devint obsdante. Le message arrive ! conclut Djigui. Rapidement, les conclusions se murent en certitudes. Il le senti sapprocher de la ville ; chaque instant, il tait en mesure dapprcier la distance qui sparait le messager du Bolloda [le palais des Keitas]. Au petit matin, il entendit de ses deux oreilles, comme on le lui avait tant dcrit, le tambourinage lointain des trots entrant dans la ville, sapprochant du palais. Djigui retourna sa peau de prire, se leva et arriva la porte du Bolloda en mme temps que le cavalier. (Amadu Kourouma Monn, outrages et dfis, Seuil, 1990, pp. 17-18) 39

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The same mistake occurred in Rwanda, where the White Fathers were taken for the White Rider. In Mexico, the Spanish conquerors were taken to be the expected Quetzalcoatl: it had been prophesied that he would reappear as a White Sailor arriving over the Eastern Seas (see the Quetzalcoatl section below). But we know enough to suspect a connection with other Expected Ones. We have another indication as to his nature. In esoteric numerology, eight is the number of the Christ Principle, or soul consciousnessthe Christ in usas a reflection of the Christ as the World Teacher, the latter being Himself a reflection of the Cosmic Christ. We note that the sign, or glyph, for infinity is a horizontal figure eight:
In the design of the figure eight, Michael D. Robbins comments, we see the flowing, serpentine union of a higher sphere and a lower. Thus is the Great Work accomplished. (Commentaries on the 28 Rules, see web reference above) *

Avatars: teachings of the Tibetan Master Djwhal Khul

Exactly who are these Avatars? DK gives us some definitions:
An Avatar is one Who has a peculiar capacity (besides a self-initiated task and a preordained destiny) to transmit energy or divine power. This is necessarily a deep mystery and was demonstrated in a peculiar manner and in relation to cosmic energy by the Christ Who for the first time in planetary history, as far as we know transmitted the divine energy of love directly to our planet and in a most definite sense to humanity. Always too these Avatars or divine Messengers are linked with the concept of some subjective spiritual Order or Hierarchy of spiritual Lives, Who are concerned with the developing welfare of humanity. All we really know is that, down the ages, great and divine Representatives of God embody divine purpose, and affect the entire world in such a manner that Their names and Their influence are known and felt thousands of years after They no longer walk among men. Again and again, They have come and have left a changed world and some new world religion behind Them; we know also that prophecy and faith have ever held out to mankind the promise of Their coming again amongst us in an hour of need. These statements are statements of fact, historically proven. Beyond this we know relatively few details. The word "Avatar" is a Sanskrit word, meaning literally "coming down from far away." Ava (as prefix to verbs and verbal nouns) expresses the idea of "off, away, down." Avataram, (comparative) farther away. The root AV seems at all times to denote the idea of Protection from above, and is used in compounds, in words referring to protections by kings or rulers; in regard to the gods, it means accepted favorably when a sacrifice is offered. With the result that the root word can be said to mean "Coming down with the approval of the higher source from which it came and with benefit to the place at which it arrives." (From Monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary.) 40

41 All the world Avatars or Saviours, however, express two basic incentives: the need of God to contact humanity and to have relationship with men and the need of humanity for divine contact, help and understanding. Subject to those incentives, all true Avatars are therefore divine Intermediaries. They can act in this fashion because They [8] have completely divorced Themselves from every limitation, from all sense of selfhood and separativeness and are no longer--by ordinary human standards--the dramatic centre of Their lives, as are most of us. When They have reached that stage of spiritual decentralization, They Themselves can then become events in the life of our planet; toward Them every eye can look and all men can be affected. Therefore, an Avatar or a Christ comes forth for two reasons: one, the inscrutable and unknown Cause prompts Him so to do, and the other is the demand or the invocation of humanity itself. An Avatar is consequently a spiritual event, coming to us to bring about great changes or major restorations, to inaugurate a new civilization or to restore the "ancient landmarks" and lead man nearer to the divine. They have been defined as "extraordinary men Who from time to time appear to change the face of the world and inaugurate a new era in the destinies of humanity." They come in times of crisis; They frequently create crises in order to bring to an end the old and the undesirable and make way for new and more suitable forms for the evolving life of God Immanent in Nature. They come when evil is rampant. For this reason, if for no other, an Avatar may be looked for today. The necessary stage is set for the reappearance of the Christ. (Id, pp. 7-8)

Avatars come in many shapes and sizes:

Avatars are of all degrees and kinds; some of them are of great planetary importance because They express whole cycles of future development within Themselves and strike the note and give the teaching which will bring in a new age and a new civilization; They embody great truths towards which the masses of men must work and which still constitute an objective to the greatest minds of the age, even though as yet unrealized. Certain Avatars also express in Themselves the sumtotal, of human achievement [9] and of racial perfection, and thus become the "ideal men" of the ages. Others, greater still, are permitted to be the custodians of some divine principle or some divine quality which needs fresh presentation and expression upon Earth; this They can be because They have achieved perfection and have attained to the highest possible initiations. They have the gift of being these embodied spiritual qualities, and because They have in fullness expressed such a specific principle or quality They can act as channels for its transmission from the centre of all spiritual Life. This is the basis for the doctrine of Avatars or Divine Messengers. Such an one was the Christ; He was twice an Avatar because He not only struck the keynote of the new age (over two thousand years ago) but He also, in some mysterious and incomprehensible manner, embodied in Himself the divine Principle of Love; He was the first to reveal to men the true nature of God. (id., pp 8-9)

According to the Tibetan Master, such people have come in more frequently in recent centuries than in previous periods:

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42 Since the year 1400, there have been constant appearances of lesser avatars, called forth in response to minor crises, to national dilemmas and religious necessity. They have taken the form of those men and women who have championed successfully some truth or some right cause, some human right or correct human demand. All these people have worked actively upon the physical plane and seldom received recognition for what they truly were; only history, at a later date, laid emphasis upon their achievement. But they changed the current of men's thoughts; they pointed a way to a better life; they pioneered into new territories of human achievement. (The Externalisation of the Hierarchy, p. 297) The stimulation of certain people to phenomenal action, and the instigation of others to emerge as dynamic and inspired leaders, is also another way in which divine intervention might find expression. Oft, down the ages, men have been overshadowed by divinity and inspired by God to accept positive leadership, and so make divine purpose a fact in conditioning world affairs. Had they not so responded to the influencing impression, and had they not accepted the responsibility imposed upon them, the course of world affairs and world events might have been very different. I refer not here specifically to spiritual leaders but also to leaders in other departments of human livingto such expressions of the divine will as Moses, the Lawgiver, Akbar, the warrior and student, Leonardo da Vinci, the inspired artist, and to other great and outstanding figures who have determined the basic trends of human civilization; I refer also to the constructive forces which have guided mankind into the increasing light of knowledge and understanding. All these leaders have produced lasting effects upon the human consciousness and their work has lain therefore in the domain of the second aspect of divinity. *Id., p. 260+ Such persons embodied ideas and made historynot the history of conquest but the history of progress." [Id., p. 260]

The career of Akbar, the warrior and student, as DK calls him, is interesting in the context of our study, as it shows that one can be a warrior and a holy man, a fact not often recognised by those who think that a warrior cannot be a saint. Emperor (Shahenshah) Akbar the Great (b.1543, r. 1543-1605) Corbin cites as a major cultural event of the end of the XVIth and the beginning of the XVIIth centuries: "the extraordinary cultural exchange that took place between Iran and India, due to the generous religious reform by the Mongol *Mogul+ Emperor, Shh Akbar" (1543-1605):
Efforts were made to translate Sanskrit works into Persian, at such a grand scale, and resulting in such spiritual interpenetration, that Corbin deems this enterprise a major cultural phenomenon, comparable to the translations from Greek into Syriac and Arabic, and from Arabic into Latin. (H. Corbin, En Islam iranien, tome IV, pp. 28-29 ; 58)

The Mogul Empire in India was founded by Akbars grandfather Babur (1483-1530), a great scholar, strategist and politician, who had already conquered Afghanistan. Shahenshah Akbar created a Centre of Religion and Philosophy, called Ibadat
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Khana, which became a forum for learned men of every religion: Hindus, Parsis, Jains, Jesuits, etc. Having made extensive efforts to learn about the thousand religions of his empire, which included Christianity, he found them to be equally true. The emperor then promulgated a religion that cobbled together the best of all these religions, which he called Din Ilahi Divine Faith and attempted to do away with divisions based on faith. No one, he said, should be interfered with on account of his religion, and anyone should be allowed to go over to any religion... (D. Davidar, The Solitude of the Emperors, 2008, p. 145) Shahenshah Akbar was putting into practice, well ahead of his time, Shia Islams teachings about the ultimate unity of all religions:
The manifestation of XIIth Imam, the Seal of the Mohammadan walya, shall reveal the hidden meaning of all divine Revelations and shall bring humanity back to the One Religion, as in the days of Adam (Henry Corbin, Le Livre des pntrations mystiques, Introduction, p. 22)

Indeed, Jesus also taught that when the Counsellor/Paraclet comes, He shall teach us all things (Jn 15:25), so that we shall finally realise that all religions have always tended to the same objective, and their paths appeared different only in the sense that a mountaintop may be reached from different paths, which only appear divergent when one is still at or near the base of the mountain... Akbar the Great attempted his Din Ilahi during the last quarter of the 16 th century, which scholars deem to have been the most philosophically active period of this empire, according to. This tendency culminated in the sixteenth century AD with the establishment of the School of Isfahan by Mir Damad and the foremost metaphysician of later Islamic thought, Mulla Sadra (1572-1640). The court of Akbar included many Iranian philosophers, especially those of the Ishraq tradition as taught by Sohravard (1155-1191). An Iranian well versed in Indian Sufism, Mohammad Sharf ibn Haraw, translated from Arabic into Persian Sohravards work, the Book of Eastern Theosophy *or The Book of the Light of the East+, through which the 12th century Iranian philosopher had attempted to carry out his wonderful programme of reviving the ancient spiritual tradition of Iran, Zoroastrianism. As it happened, a large group of Zoroastrians had emigrated from Iran (Shiraz) to India, with their high priest Azar Kayvn. Within this group, the understanding, and devotion to the work of Sohravard was such that, just as the Ishraq master had wanted to resurrect the wisdom of Zarathustra, the Zoroastrians repaid him with their own effort to resurrect the wisdom of Persias Ibn Sinna. (id.) The extraordinary expansion, in 15th-16th centuries, of the thought of Sohravardi, still widely commented and studied up to present times, was the result of work of Akbar, and the intense current of spiritual exchanges he promoted between India and Iran. Sohravardis great 17th century disciple, Sadra Shirazi (1572-1640), owed a great
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deal to this effort, through his teacher, Mir Abul Qasim Fendereski (d. 1640), who played a major role in the work of translating Indian works from Sanskrit into Persian, during this period of cross-fertilization, resulting from the major impulse given by the Great Mogul Emperor Akbar the Great. Thus is it true that in India likewise, Islamic philosophy began to spread only after alSuhrawardi and during the past seven centuries most Islamic philosophers in that land have been also what in the West would be called mystics. It is not accidental that the school of Mulla Sadra spread rapidly after him in India and has had expositors there to this day. Perhaps the most famous of Muslim intellectual figures in India, Shah Waliullah of Delhi, exemplifies this reality. He was a philosopher and Sufi as well as a theologian, and his many writings attest to the blending of philosophy and mysticism. It can in fact be said that Islamic philosophy in India is essentially mystical philosophy, despite the attention paid by the Islamic philosophers there to logic and in some cases to natural philosophy and medicine. (Routlege Encyclopedia of Islam) Corbin recalls that the French orientalist Antequil-Duperron came by the Upanishads through their Persian version. He regrets the great work thus launched by Shah Akbar, and carried forth by the remarkable group of scholars who gather around him, has hardly been studied at all. (id.) Through the translation work he organised and supported, Akbar played a pivotal role in linking the Orient with the Occident. Through his religious reforms, the spirit of tolerance that he instituted, the One Faith idea that he promoted, the Moghul emperor truly merited his title: Akbar the Great. We recall the mention that
the Imam Mahdis manifestation shall reveal the hidden meaning of all divine Revelations and shall bring humanity back to the One Religion, as in the days of Adam. (H. Corbin, Le Livre des pntrations mystiques, p. 22).

It seems that Akbar began his contribution to the preparation for the Return of the World Teacher several centuries ago. As lord of both India and Afghanistan, he was the principal architect of the Mogul greatness, an active promoter of all the arts and letters, and founder of many schools. He practises a policy of integration of all his diverse peoples and their varying religions, sponsoring a great effort of translating Indias Sanskrit literature into Persian, thus sparking off intense intellectual exchanges between Iran and India. He even attempted, successfully, it seems, to establish a religion of the One God based on the points of convergence of all these religionsincluding the Christian religion, having had contacts with the Jesuits established in the region. The effort did not survive his reign, but the cultural links between India and Persia remained and prospered. The works of Sadra Shirazi, inter alia, bear witness to this cross-fertilization between the cultures of this vast area. The path from Akbar to this French orientalist was winding, but very significant for no less an enterprise than the spiritual advancement of mankind, to which the linking of
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East and West has so greatly contributed. DK has stressed the role played by the work of the Orientalist scholars in breaking down old barriers and in bringing about a condition of spiritual readiness everywhere in the Occident:
"They have made the literature of the East available, in all its beauty, to the West, and so have linked the spiritual truths of all ages with the Christian presentation of the truth, showing them all to be of equal progressive value."

The readiness here referenced is readiness for further contacts with the literature and teachings of the East, eventually leading to access to the Ageless Wisdom Teachings as promoted by the Trans-Himalayan School of Wisdom, first through the work of H. P. Blavatsky in the late 19th century, and during the first half of the 20th century, the great teaching effort by the Tibetan Master, with the help of Alice Bailey, through whose name the Blue Bookstwenty-four works on esoteric philosophy were published. The great 19th century occultist, H.P. Blavatsky, was a great admirer of Akbar the Great, of whom she wrote:
Le fameux protecteur des religions, des arts et des sciences, le plus libral de tous les souverains musulmans. Il ny a jamais eu de monarque plus tolrant ou plus clair que lempereur Akbar, ni dans lInde ni dans aucun autre pays musulmans.

Blavatsky quotes a passage from Dr. Blochmans translation of Badaonis Muntakhab at Tawarik (Ain i-Akbari, p. 104, note), concerning Akbars interest in all the religions of his time:
His Majesty relished inquiries into the sects of these infidels (who cannot be counted, so numerous they are, and who have no en of revealed books). As *the Sramana and Brahmins] surpass other learned men in their treatises on morals, on physical and religious sciences, and reach a high degree in their knowledge of the future, in their spiritual power and human perfection, they brought proof based on reason and testimony, and inculcated their doctrines so firmly that no man could now raise a doubt in his Majesty, even if the mountains were to crumble to dust, or the heavens were to tear asunder. (H.P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine, Vol. II, Introduction, xxiv, note.)

The Individuality who was Akbar the Great has now advanced much farther than the great student He was then. During a later incarnation as a Rajput prince, He made such progress that He was liberated from the Wheel of Rebirth, and He is today a great spiritual Leader, a Senior Disciple and close Helper of the World Teacherthe Imam Mahdi, the Christ, the Saoshyant, the Bodhisattva, Maitreya Buddha. Besides Akbar and the other personalities mentioned above, there are still greater Appearances "Who come forth from some hidden centre, remote from or near to humanity, and Who release from crisis the sons of men. These fall mainly into four relatively minor groups: Racial Avatar, Teaching Avatars, Ray Avatars, and Transmitting Avatars.
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The Appearances Whom DK terms Racial Avatars are evoked by the genius and destiny of a race:
The typical man (in quality and consciousness, not necessarily physically) foreshadows [298] the nature of some race. Such a man was Abraham Lincoln, coming forth from the very soul of a people, and introducing and transmitting racial qualitya quality to be worked out later as the race unfolds. (id., p. 298)

Another founder specifically mentioned is Mustapha Kemal the Father of Turkey (Atturk). DK explains that such Founding Fathers work along the lines of government, and frequently emerge at the founding of a nation. Surely Nelson Mandela should find his place among these political leaders and exemplars, who emerge from among the people in order to release from crisis the sons of menHe is not a nation-founder, for South Africa pre-existed him, but he is the founder of South Africa as the Rainbow Nation, having released his country from the dire crisis created by Apartheid. Mandela did not found a new race, but he certainly awakened a prepared humanity to a new and wider vision, not only in his own land, but everywhere. To quote DK again:
Ever down the ages, and at every great human crisis, always in the hours of necessity, at the founding of a new [10] race, or in the awakening of a prepared humanity to a new and wider vision, the Heart of Godimpelled by the Law of Compassionsends forth a Teacher, a world Savoir, an Illuminator, an Avatar, a transmitting Intermediary, a Christ. He gives the message which will heal, which will indicate the next step to be taken by the race of men, which will illumine a dark world problem and give to man an expression of some hitherto unrealized aspect of divinity. Upon this fact of the continuity of revelation and upon the sequence of this progressive manifestation of the divine Nature, is based the doctrine of Avatars, divine Messengers, divine Appearances and Saviours. To Them all, history unmistakenly testifies. It is upon the fact of this continuity, this sequence of Messengers and Avatars, and upon the dire and dreadful need of humanity at this time, that the worldwide expectancy of the reappearance of the Christ is based. It is the innate recognition of all these facts that has led to the steadily mounting invocative cry of humanity in every land for some form of divine relief or divine intervention; it is the recognition of these facts which also prompts the order which has gone forth from "the centre where the will of God is known" that the Avatar should come again; it is the knowledge of both these demands which has led the Christ to let His disciples in every land know that He will reappear when they have done the needed preparatory work. (Alice Bailey and Djwhal Khul, The Reappearance of the Christ, p. 10]

Of course, Mandela does not rank with the Christ, but with the category described by DK as another and lower aspect of divine guidance, such as was being given at the time DK was writing the book, by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Clearly, our usual ideas about men of God are far removed from reality: political
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saints! Yet DK leaves us with no other choice but to face the facts: this form of leadership as expressive of the avataric principle. But he adds somewhat enigmatically, that the Roosevelts and Churchills, andtodayMandelas, are not, strictly speaking, Messengers sent by God as we understand this, but, are, rather, called forth by us from among us. Such leadership is called forth by elements present in humanity itself. (p. 301). This is not easy to understand, since we are told at the same time that even great Divine Messengers such as the Christ, are brought down (from heaven) by the demand of the people, when it is strong enough to evoke the higher potency. (p. 305.) The invocative cry of humanity, DK says, is the second of the incentives producing a divine Emergencethe first being Gods desire to connect with man. This point is made in Rwanda Tradition, in relation to coming of the Saviour King Ruganzu: if the people do not desire and expect the Saviour, if their hearts and minds do not strain towards the hope of his coming, if they do not demand him, then he will not comehe cannot come. (Ruganzu was a minor Divine Guide who released from crisis that small portion humanity living in the Great Lakes region, for his work was not limited to Rwanda alone.) DK gives us a technical explanation of this phenomenon:
The invocative cry of humanity is potent in effect because the souls of men, particularly in concerted action, have, in them something which is akin to the divine nature of the Avatar. We are all Gods, all the children of the One Father, as the latest of the Avatars, the Christ, has told us. It is that divine centre in every human heart which, when awakened into activity, can call forth response from the high Place where the Coming One awaits His hour of appearance. It is only the united demand of humanity, its "massed intent," which can precipitate the descent (as it is called) of an Avatar.

Teaching Avatars appear to sound a new note in the realm of thought and of consciousness:
They reveal the next needed truth; they pronounce those words and formulate those truths which throw light upon the spiritual development of humanity. Such Avatars were Plato, the first Patanjali and Sankaracharya; they emerge upon the second ray line of energy, in the department of the Christ and are expressions of hierarchical force. When I say the department of the Christ, I would remind you that the name "Christ" is that of an officean office that has always had its Head. I do not mention the Christ or the Buddha as among these Avatars because They are Avatars of another class and of infinitely greater potency. (Id.)

The Ray Avatars (connected with the Great White Lodge on Sirius), are discussed in ExH, pp. 298-299). As for the Transmitting Avatars, DK has this to say. Transmitting Avatars.
These manifestations of divinity appear at those great cyclic moments of revelation when humanity needs the expression of a new truth or the expansion of an old one 47

48 in order to progress still higher on the evolutionary ladder. These Avatars issue forth in response to demand and are concerned more with [...] the subjective unfoldment of consciousness and with the stimulation of humanity as a whole. Of these Avatars the Buddha and the Christ are outstanding examples. They were not only humandivine Avatars, and hence able to link humanity with the Hierarchy, but They were something far greater and more important. They had reached the point where They could act as Transmitters of certain cosmic principles which focused in Them in an extra-planetary sensecould stimulate the deeply hidden and latent corresponding principle in humanity. They transmitted and brought something from outside the planetary lifefrom the very Heart of God to the heart of man. The Buddha, because He achieved illumination, stimulated the light in the world, in humanity and in all forms. He served the soul of man. The Christ, because of His stupendous achievementalong the line of understandingtransmitted to humanity, for the first time in human history, an aspect and a potency of the nature of God Himself, the Love principle of the Deity. Prior to the advent of the Buddha, light, aspiration, and the recognition of God Transcendent had been the flickering expression of the human attitude to God. Then the Buddha came and demonstrated in His Own life the fact of God Immanent as well as God Transcendent; the idea of God in the universe and of God in humanity evolved. The Selfhood of Deity [300] and the Self in the heart of individual man became a factor in human consciousness. It was a relatively new truth to be grasped by humanity. It had always been known by disciples and initiates. However, until Christ came and lived a life of love and service and gave mankind the new commandment to love, there had been very little emphasis upon God as Love in any of the world Scriptures. After He appeared as the Avatar of Love, then God became known as Love supernal, love as the goal and objective of creation, love as the basic principle of relationships, and love working throughout all manifestation towards a plan motivated by love. This divine quality Christ revealed, and thus altered all human living and human goals. At that time too there came a great impetus and extension to the work and growth of the Hierarchy, as there was in a lesser degree when the Buddha came. Many initiates became Masters; many Masters passed to still higher work, and many disciples took their places in the ranks of the initiates. There was numerically a great influx of aspirants into the ranks of accepted disciples. (Id.)

DK concludes this section by stressing the importance of reaching a wider public with the teaching on the doctrine of Avatars or of divine Appearances . Such knowledge will help to clarify many scriptures, especially the bible, which is of importance of the three Religions of the Book, as they are called in the Quran Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Followers of these religions would benefit from a clearer perspective on the issue of Prophets: The Bible, DK states, is full of such Appearances, but little is really understood about Them. Informing widely about the teaching on the doctrine of Avatars, DK says, is part of the necessary effort to prepare the general public for the Coming One by pointing out the testimony of the past, the recognition of the universal need for divine intervention and the holding out of hope to the distressed, the doubting and the
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tortured. In His appearance lies hope, and history testifies that it has frequently happened at times of world crisis. While doing so, it is also important to construct a network of light and service in every land, each one beginning in their own environment, and gradually extending the network of light throughout the world:
It was with this idea in view that I suggested the forming of Triangles of Light, formed by people pledged to use the Invocation and to extend its use through the world. It is my specific plan to help mass world thought and thus evoke the Avatar, and likewise to provide a world group through which the new forces and energies can function, the new ideas can spread, and the coming world order find adherents
(p.313)

The Master concludes His teaching with a poetic expression of the effect of the Hierarchys coming to dwell among men (as the bible has it):
When the Christ, the Avatar of Love, makes His reappearance then will the Sons of men who are now the Sons of God withdraw Their faces from the shining light and radiate that light upon the sons of men who know not yet they are the Sons of God. Then shall the Coming One appear, His footsteps hastened through the valley of the shadow by the One of awful power Who stands upon the mountain top, breathing out love eternal, light supernal and peaceful, silent Will. Then will the sons of men respond. Then will a newer light shine forth into the dismal, weary vale of earth. Then will new life course through the veins of [14] men, and then will their vision compass all the ways of what may be. So peace will come again on earth, but a peace unlike aught known before. Then will the will-to-good flower forth as understanding, and understanding blossom as goodwill in men." (Reappearance of the Christ, p. 14-15)

DK then comes to another class of Avatars, far higher than even the Christ, so high, in fact, that they are more difficult both to evoke and subsequently to contact:
There still remains one mode of intervention which is still more mysterious, illimitable more powerful, and definitely more difficult both to evoke and subsequently to contact. This is the emergence, response, or appearing of great Sons of God Who dwell in sources far removed from our planetary life altogether; this involves the appearance of Lives of such stupendous and divine expression and potency that only the massed spiritual purpose of vast numbers of men can be potent enough and far-reaching enough to pierce beyond the veil which protects the Earth, to those far distant realms where They have Their natural and everlasting abode. They cannot be reached by prayer or even by well formulated desire - the expression of the wish life of the masses. They lie utterly beyond the realm of feeling (as humanity understands it) and dwell ever in that high place which can only be reached by intentionally directed, selfless thought. [Id. p. 262] The Tibetan Master then poses this question: Are there enough people in the world today whose focused and illumined thought can be organized and directed towards these Lives in such a manner that They can be 49

50 attracted and led to respond to human need for deliverance? Such is the problem. It is possible, but not, perhaps, probable. The problem of a blended demand from the spiritual Hierarchy and humanitysimultaneously expressedwill have to be met, and this is by no means easy of accomplishment. (id.)

This material was written in the context of the Second World War, but perhaps humanitys need for deliverance is still great, in view of the current threat of terrorism; such that the problem of a blended demand from the spiritual Hierarchy and from humanitysimultaneously expressedis still current DK has given us the means whereby we, the human family, may do our part:
It is for this reason that these three stanzas from a very ancient invocation have been made available and put in your hands at this time. If you can use these phrases as voiced demands and affirmed beliefs - in unison with the [262] highest spiritual forces which claim your allegiance, no matter under what name - then there is just a chance that this type of divine activity might be set in motion along a particular line, and this might lead to changes of so auspicious a nature that a new heaven and a new earth might be rapidly precipitated. There is at least no harm in this attempt and this effort at participation in hierarchical endeavor. Planned collaboration with the work of the Christ at this time is useful and needed; it will serve at least to elevate humanity and its thought, and produce a permanent spiritual stabilization. Great potencies and the expression of ancient evil from the past are rampant upon earth at this time, released through unusual human selfishness, cruelty and error, and focused through one unhappy race and the power of certain dangerous men men who are easily subject to evil impression and influenced, obsessed, by selfishness and evil, and by forces of destruction4. Is it possible to evoke at this time eternal good, latent in Lives which would normally contact humanity in some far distant future, and thus hasten the day of heightened and deepened spiritual contact in the immediate present? Such is the question. If this can be done, the evil past and the glorious future may perhaps be brought into contact in the unhappy present, and an event take place which will produce stupendous changes. [Id., pp. 261-262]

It might therefore be of help to use one of the Invocations which the Tibetan gave to the world as a means of contributing to the ending the war, and the preparing for the Reappearance of the Christ and His Helpers, those great Messengers, Messiahs, Saviours, Teachers, Founders, Divine Kings, and all those great Lives Who constitute the great Brotherhood of Lightthe holy company of the Elders of Humanity. The Great Invocation has been in use since the second world war, and has now been translated in all the major languages of the worldand many minor ones as welland is used daily my thousands of people, irrespective of religion and culture, for it is a truly universal Invocation, in the same spirit as the prayer created by
4

DK is here referring to Nazi leaders and others persons who were under the influence of forces of evil and destruction.

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Suhravardi in the 11th century as the great Iranian philosopher, as he prayed for the many who are calling, crying and yearning for a King, a Defender, an Illuminator.

The Great Invocation

From the point of Light within the Mind of God Let light stream forth into the minds of men. Let Light descend on Earth. From the point of Love within the Heart of God Let love stream forth into the hearts of men. May Christ return to Earth. From the centre where the Will of God is known Let purpose guide the little wills of men The purpose which the Masters know and serve. From the centre which we call the race of men Let the Plan of Love and Light work out And may it seal the door where evil dwells. Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth.
*

This Great Invocation was given out by the Master Djwhal Khul, towards the end of the II World War, in June 1945, at the time of the Full Moon of Gemini, with this recommendation:
I would ask you to use it daily and as many times during the day as you can remember to do so; you will thus create a seed thought or a clear-cut thought-form which will make the launching of this Invocation among the masses of men a successful venture when the right time comes. *Id. p. 489+

The Great Invocation is now in use worldwide.

May Christ return to Earth

This Invocation affords an opportunity to discuss the modalities for the Return of these Elders and Guides of Humanity: the Christ, the Mahdi and their Companions, Disciples and Helpers, the Messengers, Messiahs, Teachers, Kings and Heroes expected in all the traditions of the world. We have seen that the Christian Tradition teaches that nobody knows the day of the Return of Christ. Islamic Tradition teaches the same of the Reappearance of the Mahdi: even He does not know His hour. We were further told that it will not be
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possible for the Great Ones to return before humanity has made the necessary preparations and acquired the capacity for certain recognitions. Otherwise men would not recognize Themliterally and figuratively. We shall now discuss the modalities for the Return of these Elders and Guides of Humanity. Commenting o the third phrase of the second stanza of this Invocation, May Christ return to earth, DK wrote:
This return must not be understood in its usual connotation and its well -known mysticalsense. Christ has never left the earth. What is referred to is the externalization of the Hierarchy and its exoteric appearance on earth. The Hierarchy will eventually, under its Head, the Christ, function openly and visibly on earth. This will happen when the purpose of the divine will and the plan which will implement it is better understood and the period of adjustment, of world enlightenment and of reconstruction has made real headway. This period begins San Francisco Conference [at the end of the Second World War] (hence its major importance) and will move very slowly at first. It will take time but the Hierarchy thinks not in terms of years and of brief cycles (though long to humanity), but in terms of events and the expansion of consciousness.

In terms of events and the expansion of consciousness: this is what is meant above, by the statement in both Islamic and Christian Traditions, that the Great Lord cannot return before human consciousness has met certain standards and fulfilled certain conditions. As DK explains this in terms of understanding the purpose of the divine will and the plan which will implement it. A cororally condition entails what DK calls the sealing of the door where evil dwells, which what Islamic Tradition describes as the destruction of all that opposes the Return of the World Teacherafter the Imam Mahdi has destroyed all those who could still say: Go away and never return. (H. Corbin, En Islam iranien, p. 442) The Imam Mahdi here represents the Forerunner. During the period of the Forerunnerour present timethe door where evil dwells has to be sealed, by us, with the help of Those Members of the Spiritual Hierarchy Who are, collectively, the Mahdi, the Well-Guided Who Guides Well. DK has this to say about the sealing of this door:
2. May it seal the door where evil dwells. The sealing up of the evil forces, released during this war, will take place within the immediate future. It will be soon. The evil referred to has nothing to do with the evil inclinations, the selfish instincts and the separativeness found in the hearts and minds of human beings. These they must overcome and eliminate [by] themselves. But the reduction to impotency of the loosed forces of evil which took advantage of the world situation, which obsessed the German people and directed the Japanese people, and which worked through barbarity, murder, sadism, lying propaganda and which prostituted science to achieve their ends, requires the imposition [490] of a power beyond the human. This must be invoked and the invocation will meet with speedy response. These evil potencies will be occultly "sealed" within their own place; what this exactly means has naught to do with humanity. 52

53 Men today must learn the lessons of the past, profit from the discipline of the war and dealeach in his own life and communitywith the weaknesses and errors to which he may find himself prone.

It would seem that men today have not learned the lessons of the past very well, nor have they, as yet, very much profited from the discipline of the war, in order to learn to deal with our own weaknesses and errors, individually and as communities, and ultimately, as a world community. But perhaps some advances can be detected, such as a growing: there may be a growing spirit of solidarity, despite the many wars still raging, and the still rampant materialism, the growing scourge of terrorism, all stemming from the enemy within each of us First, we shall see what DK has taught about this, notably in relation to the Great Invocation given above. But first, we want to understand why They are so often portrayed as Warriors, or Horsemen riding into battle. In popular lore, most of the names of Expected Ones reviewed above are expected to come as conquerors. The Christ is clearly described in the book of Revelation as a warrior coming with weapons and armies, both of angels and men. The Mahdi is similarly portrayed. So is Rwandas Ruganzu, LuzwiMuundi of South Africa, etc. Even the Manding Messenger is a messenger of war: as Red Rider, he is a harbinger of a disastrous war, while as a White Rider, he brings news of future victory. Why is this? We know that the passage from the world as it is today and the world as it is meant to be when it has come under the rule of the Hierarchy, will be far from smooth, because of the powers of negation, sclerosis and death, as Corbin pointed out:
Il faut se reprsenter que le passage au rgne du Paraclet, que ce soit dans le temps existentiel de chaque tre humain ou comme clture du temps total de lhumanit historique, ne saccomplit pas sans un combat men contre toutes les puissances de ngation, de sclrose et de mort. (En Islam iranien, p. 458)

Thus, we are dealing with a mystical war, more than a physical war. Indeed, the armies of these Great Ones are mystical armies, their weapons spirituallike the sword issuing from the mouth of the Lamb, an image of the Christ, which is a sword of the Spirit. Yet physical war is not excluded, and the Forerunners to the Great Onesincluding us, their little helpersmay not avoid physical war. Someone, for instance, has to fight terrorism today, with spiritual, moral and physical means. A war to end war is often inevitable, and it is a mistake to envision the Saviour as unable to wage war, for His oppositionthe powers of negations, sclerosis and death, as Corbin puts the pointis prepared and determined to attack humanity through means of destruction, both physical and psychological.

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When greater good is being defended, then destruction of the physical body that is what wars are aboutis both inevitable and of lesser consequence than the psychological and spiritual destruction that might occur when the violent are not combated and defeated. The sword of the Mahdi penetrates the hearts, and will help us root evil out of it, if we pledge our co-operation. Through Him, says the prophecy,
God will bring the earth back to life again, through knowledge and faith and rectitude, after it has died through errors and horrors. (H. Corbin, En Islam iranien, p. 317)

But we are also told that He will wield this celestial sword to destroy all negators, those who would say to Him and to His Brother the Christ: Go away and never return. So, perhaps the sword will have to do some destroying as well. But we have to keep in mind that the weapon here meant is not an ordinary sword, but a spiritual one: we have to understand this in terms of energy. The Mahdi, or the Christ, will not be engaged in physical hand-to-hand combat against the negators: it is just that Their energy will be too much for the latter: too pure, too full of love for the negative people to accept it. They will then fight the good, and in so doing, eventually harm themselves, for the disciples of the Imam, those we now call men and women of goodwillyou and I, if we want towill fight them, and defeat them, because they are on the side of right, and right will prevail. The weapons of the Savioursspear or swordrepresent the energies which the Elders of Mankind will, and do even now, wield for the benefit of Their younger brothers. It is saving energy. One of the Invocations given out by the Master Djwhal Khul, during the World War of the last century included the following:
Let the Rider from the secret place come forth and coming, save. Come forth, O Mighty One.

The Rider is an image with which we are now familiar: the Mahdi is often seen in dreams and visions as an armed horseman, riding a white steed, just like the Christ. What is the meaning of this archetypal symbol? The white horse represents ones developed and purified personalitythe vehicle of the soul. The World Teacher is, of course, perfect purity. In the vision of the biblical book of Revelation, the apocalyptic Lamb the Christis also described as the Archer on a white Horse, holding a Bow. DK tells us that the theme of the bow and arrow is that of Directionthe ordered direction of God's thought:

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55 The Archer is guiding his horse towards some one specific objective; he is sending or directing his arrow towards a desired point; he is aiming at some specific goal. (Esoteric Astrology, p. 190)

But the symbolism of the Rider, as is always the case with symbols, has a range of meanings, depending on context as well as level of understanding. One interpretation was given by DK, when commenting on the above phrase from the Invocation:

The White Rider

Here we come up against one of the oldest traditions in the world and of the ancient East; one, too, which finds its counterpart in the New Testament, where the Coming One is seen coming forth to the rescue of the people "riding upon a white horse." In the Occident we have for long thought in terms of the "Lamb, slain from the foundations of the world," and in this statement lies a profound astrological truth. It refers to that great round of the zodiac (a period of approximately 25,000 years) in which the sun passes through all the twelve signs of the zodiac. The period to which reference is made started in the sign Aries, the ram. The Orient, however, harks still further back, to a much earlier period and to a still more ancient date, remote in the night of time, when the greater world cycle started in the sign Sagittarius, the Archer. The symbol of this is sometimes (towards the latter part of the cycle) depicted as an archer, riding on a horse andin the early part of the cycleas a centaur, half man and half horse. Both refer to an emerging revelation of the consciousness of Deity as revealed through some Great Divine Expression, through some manifesting Son of God. [The Externalization of the Hierarchy, pp. 298-269]

We now understand somewhat the significance of the Lamb holding a Bow, and riding a white horsein the case of the Christand the title given to Ruganzu, the Rwandan Saviour: Nyirumuheto, the Archer. The idea is not, as we might think at first sight, and taking the symbol literally, but that of an emerging revelation of the consciousness of Deity as revealed through some Great Divine Expression, through some manifesting Son of God. DK continues his interpretation: the Rider Who comes to save us is One of us, as it were, for He is a liberated Son of God Who is further advanced on the Path than us, but yet remains a member of our Earth humanity. He is a Divinity insofar as He is much ahead of us, an Elder in the esoteric sense, an Umukurambere, a Grand Ancestor, as we say in Africa: One Who grew (gukura) before, or ahead (imbere) of us:
The point to bear in mind is that this Rider on the white horse is no extra-planetary Entity or Life, but is essentially One like unto ourselveshuman and animal combined as are we all, but fused with divinity and inspired from on high, informed by some cosmic and divine Principle, as Christ was informed with the Love of God and carried the revelation of love to man. The Rider is one of our humanity Who has reached a predestined goal and Whofor very love and understanding of manhas remained for ages in the secret place of 55

56 revelation (as it is esoterically called), waiting until His hour comes around again and He can then issue forth to lead His people to triumphant victory.

In this connection, Corbin has reminded us that in the teachings of the East, the Bodhisattva refused to enter nirvana before all beings have attained liberation . (En Islam iranien, p. 329). In the passage below, we read about various grades of Coming Ones, and the manner in which They can be reached and indu ced to come down and aid us. Some of Them we can reach through invocation, or calling, while others are too high up for us to reach Them directly, because our prayers are of too low a vibratory rate to attain Their exalted levels. Upon reflection, this seems logical, but it still comes as a shock to learn that there are levels of Divinity as yet unavailable to us. This includes a group of Beings known as the Lords of Liberation, who are far too high to be reached by the prayers of ordinary humanity. This reminds us of the biblical expression about God dwelling in unattainable lightliterally. Unattainable also are certain aspects of the will of God that are as yet withheld, and or held in suspension, awaiting the time when humanity will be sufficiently advanced to avail itself of these high-energy divine graces:
This coming One is on the Path of a world Saviour just as the more potent Lives, the Lords of Liberation, are on the Path of world Service. They issue forth via that highest spiritual centre wherein the Will of God is held in solution or custody, for gradual release or revelation as humanity can arrive at the needed point of understanding response and receptivity. Though They can [270] be reached relatively easily, it must be through the massed intent of the many focused minds. The Rider on the white horse can be reached by the individual aspirant if he can raise his consciousness adequately high. This Rider comes forth (from the centre wherein the Love of God is held for distribution) as the human centre (which we call humanity) becomes attuned to true love and can identify itself with all men, responding freely and without any inhibition to divine Lovewhich is wisdom, understanding, and effective, skillful activity.

Below, we learn further that invocation has to be mental and focussed, and not diffused and emotional, not matter how good, pure, selfless, elevated spiritual our emotions may be. Why is not possible to get very far when using just our emotional nature, no matter how powerfully we may pray and invoke? DK provides an explanation when commenting further on the symbol of the Rider, as representing the energies of Sagittarius:
In studying Sagittarius, it becomes obvious that one of the major underlying themes is that of Direction. The Archer is guiding his horse towards some one specific objective; he is sending or directing his arrow towards a desired point; he is aiming at some specific goal. This sense of direction or guidance is characteristic of the enlightened man, of the aspirant and disciple, and this is a growing recognition; when 56

57 this faculty of sensitive direction is rightly developed it becomes, in the early stages, an effort to identify all soul and personality activity with God's Plan, and this is, in the last analysis, the ordered direction of God's thought. There is no true direction apart from thought, and I would have you remember that thought is power. This is a statement upon which all disciples should ponder, for they can achieve no real comprehension of the direction of God's Plan unless they work with a phase in their own lives which is subject to their own mental direction. Then and only then, can they understand. Upon the ordinary wheel of life, the man who is born in this sign or with this sign in the ascendant will be influenced by what the ancient Hindu Scriptures call kama-manas, which is inadequately translated by the words, desiremind. This dual force controls and influences the life; in the early stages of unfoldment its focus is upon desire and the satisfaction of that desire and, in the later stages of purely personality development, the focus is upon the control of desire by the mind; the major objective is, at this time, the intelligent use of all powers to bring about adequate satisfaction of desire, which is, in this case, very frequently simply ambition to achieve some goal or attain some objective. This process of personality satisfaction takes place upon the ordinary wheel. Upon the reversed wheel, the goal is the expression of love-wisdom and this is ever selflessly developed and always consecrated to the good of the whole and not to the satisfaction of the individual. [The Externalization of the Hierarchy, pp. 190-191]

This is a point worth pondering. Nevertheless, even if emotion-based prayer will not get us very far, vibratorily, it suffices to reach the Person we are discussing: the White Rideron condition that there is volume in this sort of prayer. The recommendation to pray together is here apposite; however, what is meant here is something much, much larger than our individual congregations, or even denominations: all men and women everywhereat least most of themhave to pray in unison, for the critical mass to be reached. This does not mean that all humans have to gather in churches and mosques and temples (they may), but that they all aspire to divine help in some uniform fashion. Wars and catastrophes do manage to get humans to call to God, either expressly, or mutely but powerfully. But we should try and do this even when there are no tsunamis or epidemics:
When this invocation is rightly used and voiced by an adequate number of people, those who can in some measure employ the enlightened will may succeed in reaching the Lords of Liberation and produce, as a result, a phenomenal intervention of some kind. Those who work more emotionally will reach the Rider from the secret place and may bring Him forth to save and lead the masses of people. Are there enough focused minds and intense attentive hearts to reach the two centres where wait Those Who can aid at this time? That is the question. It will happen when the three centreshumanity, the spiritual Hierarchy of the planet, and the "place where the will of God lies hidden" (called in the ancient scriptures Shamballa)are aligned and en rapport with each other. There will then be established a direct relation between all three, and a direct channel for the inflow of liberating force. This has happened only once before in the history of the race. 57

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Shamballa is "place where the will of God lies hidden", and where it is truly known. Shamballa is the Palace of the King of the World, the Dwelling Place of God. This is the highest planetary centre, the others being the place (in terms of vibration) of the Hierarchy of the Great Servants of God, while the third is Humanity. The three are One, but the majority of humans are yet to realise this in truth and effectiveness. The link is therefore, still a dotted line, so that the three centres are aligned and en rapport with each other, as DK puts it. Divine Messengers regularly come down from Level Two, upon orders from Level One, in order to try and strengthen this connection, and transform the dotted line into a continuous line, and in due course, a bold line. In Rwanda Tradition, Shamballa is symbolised by the Kings House, literally the First House: Kambere. Within the fist House is the Kings Council Chamber, called Jabiro, which means the place of commandment, or the place from where the King power (ijabo) emanates. The Kingdom of God is thus symbolised by the Kingdom of Rwandathis name means the worldand its three areas or centres are the correspondences of the three planetary centres:
Shamballa, the highest planetary centre, the Palace of the King of the World, Sanat Kumara, is reflected in the First House, Kambere, enclosing the Council Chamber, Jabiro; The Hierarchythe Kings Sons and Daughters, Servants and Disciples is found in the Royal City, and in the Courtyard, Ibwami; while The Kings People, Rubandahumanityare to be found in the Peoples Place, in front and around the Royal City.

By the King is meant the Father of Kings, Muntu (Human, the Adam of Rwandan Tradition). Muntu was/is the Son of the Son of God who fell from Heaven in the Beginning, in order to found the Earth Kingdom (Urwanda), as an outpost of the Greater Kingdom of His Father Shyerezo (End, Final Destination), King o f Heaven and Earth. Muntu dwells eternally and invisibly in His Palace, the celestial Kambere, of which the Kambere of the reigning king is a reflection. From that high place, He watches over the Kingdom, assisted by His Sons and Daughters, the kings and queen mothers, who cyclically take their turn at caring for the Kings People. In this sense, Muntu is analogous to an aspect of Adam presented in Islamic teachings as the First Prophet: He was the First Envoy of the Heavenly Court of Godthe First Messenger of the Planetary Logos. Viewed from this angle, Rwandas Muntu and Islams Adam are Sanat Kumara, while God is, in this context, the Planetary Logos. However, the texts are not always specific, and tend to blur the distinction between the Planetary Logos Sanat Kumara and take Them One for the Other.

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Also, the archetype of the Father King is often represented by kings who are really son kings to the Father King, who are then designated by the titles which, strictly speaking, should belong to Muntu as Adam-Sanat Kumara, such as Gisaaza, Grand Old Man, or Gikambwe, Great Elder. (Cf. A. Kagame, Inganji Kalinga, II). Still, the doctrine remains clear enough. The Kings People, in Rwanda, often referred to as the Sacred Herd (the Rwanda Kings are pastoralists), with the King as Cattle Patron and Shepherd-in-Chief, having under His orders the Members of the Hierarchy, the Peoples Shepherds. These care for the Kings Cattle, and have often to defend them against predators and cattle rustlersthe forces of evil.

Spiritual Knighthood
The greatest among the Shepherd Sons was Ruganzu-Mutabaazi, VictoriousSaviour frequently mentioned above. He is expected to returnas strange phrase for One Who never left, for He announced, after His self-divestiture (He removed His body, member by member), that He was not going to the Land of the Ancestors, but would remain within the royal drum Karinga, invisibly present, until the time comes again to reappear in tangible form. A. Kagame writes:
Ruganzu () entendait sjourner perptuit lintrieur du *tambour-emblme] Karinga (Un Abrg dEthno-Histoire du Rwanda, 1972, p. 107)

The spear of Returning Ruganzu will banish all evil, if we enrol among His Companions, the Ibisuumizi, succour the widow and console the orphan, and light a thousand lamps all over the earth, so that darkness is abolished for ever: Muhoz araheererekanya ngo Chaana! The sword that issues from the mouth of Christ will cut off error and separate it from truth, if we join the Militia Christi, and tread the winepress with Him (Rev 6:3) With the Warriors of Luzwi-Muundi, we shall besiege the Hidden Kraal of the evil gods and capture them, and enslave them. An end will be put to greed, anger, murder, war and famine. (Indaba, My Children, p. 452). With Maryam and Fatima, we shall prepare to give birth to the Saviour of the New Age, if we join their Ladies-in-waiting. With the Queen Mother Nyiraruganzu Nyirarumaga, the Mother of Ruganzu and Second of the great Teachers of Rwanda, we shall gather together all Sacred Books, in readiness for Her Son, the World Teacher, to bring us to their inner meaning for us: as when the Counsellor comes, He shall teach us all things (Jn 15:25); and Shiism teaches us that:
The manifestation of XIIth Imam, the Seal of the Mohammadan walya, shall reveal the hidden meaning of all divine Revelations and shall bring humanity back to the One Religion, as in the days of Adam (Henry Corbin, Le Livre des pntrations mystiques, Introduction, p. 22) 59

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Meanwhile, with the Escort of the White Messenger of themanding, and the Celestial Company of the Apocalyptic Lamb, we should wash our clothes clean, and prepare for the Great Work of Restoration. In company with the Holy Riders of the Mahdi, the Christs Mystical Militia, the Knights of King Arthur, or the Knights of Khosraw, or the Magnificent Ibisuumizi, Companions of King Ruganzu, the Mystical Warriors of LuzwiMuundi, we should busy ourselves with the succouring of the widow and the orphan, the teaching of the ignorant, the healing of the sick, for it is through these practical manifestation of brotherhood that we shall do our part to hasten the Manifestation of the World Teacher and His Company. That has been the teaching of the Tibetan Master Djhwal Khul, and He did no more than reiterate what the Great Teachers of the past have consistently taught The following blessing He gave at the conclusion of one of His lessons points to the manner in which we should prepare for the Expected One:
May the love of God and of your fellowmen inspire you; the light of your souls direct you and the strength of the group enable you to aid in bringing good out of the present evil by right action and clear thinking. (ExH p.313)

We are taught that no prayer must be accompanied by right works. But works, or action, must also go hand in hand with prayer. DK has taught us that human vision and dreamhumanitys thought, desire, and activity have never been left without an answer from heaven: Never yet has the response failed. But He also cautioned us that this happens only when the demand is adequately voiced and the need has cried to high heaven:
Down the ages, from the very night of time, man has dreamed, expectant of divine revelation and of divine intervention. When all else seems to fail, men look to God. Again and again in the history of the race, the vision has taken form and the dream has materialized upon the wings of powerful desire and demand. Again and again, God has revealed and sent His Messengers and Representatives to aid and guide humanity. But this happens only when the demand is adequately voiced and the need has cried to high heaven. Never yet has the response failed. Again and again, lately, the nations of the world have been called to prayer, and this proclaimed appeal of millions cannot be disregarded or remain negligible. An answer must be forthcoming, though it may not take the same form as of old, because man is todayIn spite of appearancesmore capable of handling his own affairs and determining consciously his own events. No matter how unrealized, back of all these demands and prayers in the many Christian countries, lies a subtle, deep seated conviction that the return of Christ is imminent; there is widespread acceptance of the concept that the Presence of the Son of God can be evoked and that He must come to the assistance of His people. No matter what the dogmatic interpretation or the theological idealism, some form of this belief lies behind the cry of the millions. *The Externalization of the Hierarchy, p.264] 60

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We learn from the above that the return of Christ, the Expected One, is imminent. But while His Vehicle of Return is symbolised as a White Horse in many traditions, this is only a symbol of the purity of His Form, the Carrier of His Spirit, and does not mean that He will actually come riding a horse. However, the Tibetan Master tells us that the actual mode of the World Teachers return is not known: On what level of consciousness He will ride, it is not for us to say. It is possible that He will not appear upon the physical plane at all. Who can say? But the sound of His coming will be known and, speaking symbolically, the thunder of His horse's hoofs will be heard. The influence which He will wield and the energy which He will transmit from the Lords of Liberation will inevitably be potently felt, evoking an immediate human response. This will prove an incontrovertible fact. That His radiation will reach forth and surround His disciples, struggling in the conflict with evil, is also certain and sure. This will enable them to make the supreme effort which will win the battle for humanity. That He will come in "the air" is a well-known prophecy from the New Testament, thus enabling "every eye to see Him." These words have more meaning today than when written nearly two thousand years ago, for this world conflict is outstandingly an aerial one. Students and those using this Invocation would be wise to bear this in mind or they may fail to see and recognize the Deliverer when He comesa thing which has happened before. (id., pp. 272-273)

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