Be A Modern Master

Initiation & The Sutras

The Book Of Job

An initiation can come about after a long period of despair. Edgar Cayce, the "sleeping
medium," gave readings while in trance in which he said that Melchizedek wrote the Book
of Job, quite possibly the oldest book of the Bible, which Madame Blavatsky described as
“a complete representation of ancient initiation” and the trials that could precede it. In other
words, the Book of Job is a story of initiation.

Job is an upright man, with a family and good friends and enough wealth to be content
with his lot. God singles Job out for approval, but Satan objects, declaring that Job is good
only because of self-interest.

So God gives Satan the task of testing Job’s faith. Satan systematically strips away Job’s
home, family, and wealth, yet Job still blesses the name of the Lord.

Satan isn’t done quite yet. He is allowed to give Job another test, but not take his life. Even
with boils all over his body, Job recognizes the good that comes from the hand of God. But
eventually his misery is so great that he curses the day he was born and rails against God.
His three remaining friends respond when Job denounces his fate.

None of them can console Job, even though they cannot answer Job’s question of what
horrible transgression he is being punished for so severely.

Job is a character much like Arjuna, who is the hero of the Bhagavad Gita. Arjuna is in
despair because he has to face and possibly kill his beloved tutors, friends, and relatives in
a fierce battle. You have to shed your old psychological and mental attachments and go to
war with the tendencies of your lower nature.

When you are called upon to give up your attachments to the world, you may be filled with
despair at what you think you are going to lose.

As the story of Job continues, Elihu is a young hierophant (priest) who offers wisdom to
Job and says that “There is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them
understanding.”
 Be A Modern Master
Initiation & The Sutras

The Book Of Job

In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna says it this way: “Whatever pathway a man takes, that
path is mine.”

Elihu prepares Job for initiation by explaining that when he is quiet and receptive, then his
inner divinity can speak. Pain and suffering don’t come from Spirit; they originate with man,
and Satan is merely the shadow of the light of God.

When Job finally accepts what Elihu says and understands that Spirit was not responsible,
as he had thought, for the evils that befall humanity, God appears to Job and shows him
the wonders of creation.

Job is initiated into a higher level of spiritual wisdom.