As our development progresses through our capacity to meditate and build a magnetic and radiating aura, as well as through our sincerity and efforts in serving others we may start to attract those who would help us in our attempt to grow and serve. While we may believe we are seeking out the Teacher, in fact it is often the other way around. They are waiting for us to develop both the instruments of contact (an operational causal body) and the open-mindedness to accept that a productive relationship can be developed with Them. Unfortunately, the intellect left to its own devices will reject the unlikely idea that such unseen Helpers exist.

On a personal level we have those two beings which the Spiritualist tradition call our Mentor and Doorkeeper. These two both come from our Group soul or tribe and the Doorkeeper is responsible for warning and protecting us against  impending dangers, which we may experience in our lives.  This may involve a sudden instinct to stop the car or to cancel an activity and many anecdotes about these types of experiences exist in the writings of the world's psychics and mediums. We also have the Mentor who is a teacher of a certain degree who guides us from the inner worlds, perhaps placing people, books and other opportunities in our way to help in our psychic and spiritual unfoldment.  This teacher is one we have chosen from our Group soul before incarnating and they have in turn agreed to support us in our growth.

On a higher level we have the members of the Hierarchy with whom we may have a karmic link and these associations often come to light when we have a glimpse of the Teacher in meditation or the sleep state. This has happened on various occasions when through ongoing practice or an intensive period of meditation, a Teacher has made themselves known. Visits to mediums and psychics may also reveal these links and it goes without saying that one must test their statements to discern whether they are simply ego-inflating or have some substance. The Master R. suggested to me once that through a system of cross-referencing our experiences we can gradually come to a conviction about their validity and the existence of our true associates. And of course, communicating face to face with a Teacher is very convincing when it happens.
 
Contact with the Teacher or Master is dependent on several factors, including karma and similarity of vibration, so that a second ray soul will be likely to associate with a second ray Teacher. An exception to this occurs when a person takes the Second Initiation and moves from the ray of their Soul to that of their Monad. This is one example of how we move across the rays as we develop.

To contact a Teacher one must have developed access to one's causal body, which is like the "shunting station" through which access to other Souls occurs. After all, the Master and other Soul's already have an association with our own Soul, it is only that the personality doesn't have immediate access to that level. And it is good to remember that at the causal level and above, the nature of experience is one of group relationship anyway.

Exceptions to the rule of working with one's own ray associates have arisen more frequently with the emergence of the Synthesis Ashram, which was initiated by various well known Masters in the 1940's. In order to bring more Souls into greater light the members of this Ashram enlist workers from across the ray spectrum.  In fact, an earlier example of this was seen when HPB worked not only with her own Teacher on the the First ray, the Master El Morya but also with K.H. and the Master R. as well. The story goes that certain members of Hierarchy felt that they couldn't work with Blavatsky given her nature and that may have been due to her First ray qualities which grated upon them. I guess that shows that they aren't perfect!

The first Approach may be quite a shock when we experience it and the lower mind can rebel, throwing an avalanche of skepticism at the experience to protect its materialistic world view. The Teacher will patiently try to convince the erring disciple that what they are experiencing is real but this can be a challenging task when the students intellect wishes to stay in full control and not surrender to the Soul's way of operating. 

The following account of my meeting with the Master R, (Saint Germain) illustrates how not to proceed:

On the second day of a seership retreat I had been struggling to get any clear contact with the subtle worlds. Then in a wonderful moment my Soul as a luminous being appeared and gently beckoned me to stand under a beautiful shower of irridescent energy that fell between us. As I stood under this stream of light its energy grounded me and I (the personality) then felt safe and secure in continuing the mediumship process. As the teacher commenced the next visualization I found my awareness swept away from what he was saying and very different scenario opened before my inner eye.

I found myself looking down upon a book-lined study, which was very tastefully decorated in a style several centuries old and it was as if I was looking through a camera located high up between the ceiling and the wall. In the middle of the room, sitting at a desk and writing busily with a quill pen was a man dressed in Jacobean style and wearing, of all things, pantaloons. That in itself made me rather perplexed. Having spied this fellow, I then decided to test the veracity of my vision and mentally asked him if he walked in the light of the Christ? This was the test our teacher had suggested to check if we had made contact with a dark brother or some other trouble maker.  To this question the person quietly said "Yes" and continued with his writing.

Remaining uncertain about his identity I then repeated my question and at this he stood up, walked across the room to my apparent location and held up his candle towards the camera, as if to day in a humorous way, yes I do and here is the light to prove it! His behavior also showed me that he realized I was very skeptical/anxious and so was offering a very convincing non-verbal way to demonstrate the immediacy of our interview and of his existence. He then went straight back to his writing and that was the end of the interview. The Master R. had finished with me for now and someone turned off the lights. For an hour or so afterwards I was in a state of profound concentration and the difference between that and my normal state was marked.

So in that and other contacts it has been made clear to my skeptical mind that I have an association with him and the ultimate purpose of it is being slowly revealed through the Foundation and other activities. While we can read books that outline in great detail how the disciple comes into the aura or Ashram of the Teacher, it is only when a contact occurs that it all becomes real.