Lodge Burroughs Strange No. 87
Vijayawada, India

The real purpose of this degree is to teach the true Nature of God. It is an allegory and a dramatic representation of the Great Initiation of the true mystic and represents the Beatific Vision, the ultimate goal at which he aims. This Vision is the comprehension of the Nature of God within him and the Sublime Union which always exists between Man and God, although, until he has achieved it, he realises it not. It is indeed the at-one-ment (Aikya) of the Jivatma and the Paramathma.

The three Craft degrees clearly correspond with the birth, life and death of man. The Third Degree does not give any clear idea or indication of Resurrection.

The qualifications of a Candidate for exaltation in the Chapter is that he must at least be a Master Mason. In the third degree of the Craft, the Master Mason was raised from the grave, after a figurative death, but he did not get the genuine secrets, for these can only be acquired after real death ; and so instead of returning to the World as does the Master Mason in the Royal Arch, he arrives on the Spirit Plane and is therefore prepared primarily, as he was in the M.M. Degree, but is not restored to his personal comforts.

The examination of the Candidate before the ceremony of exaltation has a symbolic meaning. After death a man's past life rises before him for judgement. In like manner, the earnest seeker, at this stage in the mystic quest, reviews in his mind's eye, his past life and particularly those parts of it which cover his Spiritual Evolution. The person who tests him is the Principal sojourner, who represents Conscience. The Principal Sojourner is regarded as a official candidate, experiencing the same experiences as does the real candidate ; and is accompanied by a shadow, represented by the Assistant Sojourner. In passing it may be pointed out that the three Sojourners, the Principal and Assistant Sojourners, are the Shadows of the Three Principals, who represent the Triune Nature of God. It is for this reason that they sit together, for God, although a Trinity, is a Unity. The three Sojourners represent Man, i.e., body, Soul and Spirit. The second Assistant Sojourner represents the Body and therefore is of no importance at all. The 1st Assistant Sojourner represents the Spirit and does all the important work in the quest, for it is the Spirit, the Divine Spark within us, which really leads us to the conception of God, for the simple reason that it is Divine, a shadow of a Spark from the Supreme Being and it is this Spark alone, which justifies the thought that we are immortal.

In the preparation of the Candidate, the Principal Sojourner meets and interrogates the Candidate alone, outside the door of the Chapter, because it is the Spirit speaking through the voice of Conscience, on his past life. The Candidate receives in turn a password, which means M.P.H.F. me, which links up with the past and points onwards to the future. By this the Conscience says that God is so Merciful that, aware of our frailties and our struggles to overcome them, He grants us Mercy.

The Door of the R. A. Chapter represents the Gateway of Heaven, whether it is regarded as the Heaven whither, in due course, we hope to ascend after our mortal life is ended, or that internal Heaven which lies hidden within a Man's Heart. The knocks emphasise the fact the Body, Soul and Spirit are now one and so correspond with the Trinity in the Unity of God.

The Principals and other Companions are seated in Council and represents the Sanhedrin. The Principal Sojourner and Candidate have been journeying from the mundane world towards Heaven, having passed three veils i.e. the physical World, the World of the Soul and the World of the Spirit, The formless and Divine Spark knocks with R.A. knocks outside the Gate of Heaven.

The Candidate, representing the spiritualised body, stands between Spirit and Soul. The circumambulation is significant. This journey symbolises the return of the Spirit to God, whose emblem is the Circle; and since the Circle is an infinity which has no beginning or end, it shows that by entering therein, the Spirit In Mans is established for ever and achieves immortality.

The Candidate is not in this Degree led but is figuratively pulled, by P.S. Indicating that the Divine Spark draws the Soul and Spiritual (Ethereal) Body (Sukshma Sharira) After it, going up to God.

The Seven steps summarises the conquest by the Candidate of the elements in his nature. The Seven steps represents the Seven Planets. The Twelve Standards of the Tribes represents the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac. The Vault is a Vault of Heaven and is the Emblem of God. The Circle made by the Candidate in darkness before he descends into the Vault indicates the journey of the Sun through the Twelve Signs of Zodiac represented by the Twelve Banners, though in fact the Candidate is not aware of it. Thus without the knowledge of the Candidate, each sign which is part of God casts its influence on Man, in quest for the Spirit or in other words, God unseen by Man is purging and cleaning his Spirit, symbolised by the Sun. As soon as the hoodwink is removed, the Candidate sees the Twelve signs and realises how the process of cleaning him was done by the attributes of God and he sees them as beautiful and resplendent influences, which will aid and assess him on his further journey.

In passing it may be pointed out that in astrology there are only seven main planets viz., Sun, (Surya), Moon (Chandra) Mars (Kuja) Mercury (Budha), Jupiter (Guru), Venus (Sukra) and Saturn (Sani). Apart from the seven main planets, there are two shadowy planets viz. Rahu and Kethu. The Sun is in the centre and as it passes through the zodiac draws with it the planets; and the Sun, Moon and the elements represent Man and his attributes. The Sun is the Spirit, the Divine Spark reflected by the Light of the Spirit. Mars symbolic energy which represents anger and desires on a Lower Plane and also represents force courage. Mercury represents intellectual faculty. Jupiter represents material judgement and discriminatory faculties. Venus represents Love and Human Desires. Saturn represents critical faculties and makes Man gain experience.

The first three steps represent Mars or aspirations, Mercury or reason and Jupiter, or balanced Judgement. The next two represent Venus or Divine Love and Saturn represent the man's fortitude. The Sun, the sixth step represents the Divine Spirit within us. The Moon, the seventh, represents our Soul which unites within it all the five characteristics and yet is a reflection of the Divine Spirit itself.

We are now symbolically about to descend into the Vault, the Underworld, the mystic Hell we are lowered by means of a symbolic rope which again brings to mind the use of a rope, as a symbol of Divine; Grace. It is the P.S. or Divine Spark which lowers us into the vault pointing out that though surrounded by darkness, we are not abandoned. Though Body and Soul have descended into the Inner Recesses, the candidate sees nothing. The candidate can hear and therefore respond to the words of the Divine Message. Thus this representative of the fact that we are penetrating deep into our own hidden nature and we have delved inwards beyonds the needs of the Body and even of the Soul (the two coping stones). But our own efforts cannot enable into enter into the secret hidden chamber of the Spirit. The portion of the scripture that is read deals with God's Wisdom and leads us to turn to His revealed Word - the Scroll or Parchment. But, without the Divine Light to guide us we are unable to read. Thus though we may be able to read it through our physical eyes, we cannot comprehend its inner meaning without that Divine Light which is from above.

Then follows the obligation. We are now about to enter into the symbolism of ascension and to penetrate the profound mystery of the nature of God. We have by the help of God's Grace and His revealed world successfully passed through that period of doubt and difficulty. Out of the darkness of the Vault, we heard the Divine Voice calling us and His arm has drawn us forth into the Light. This new obligation seals our lips to the inner nature of God. When Light is restored to the candidate, he sees the twelve signs of the zodiac as a beautiful emblem of God's Divine Teaching and at the very centre, he sees, though he knows it not, the Divine name. Thus it is at the very beginning of his ascent towards the mystical Triple Tau, a Symbol of the Triune Nature of Man.

The P.S. symbolizing the Divine Spark descends into the dark vault of Man's innermost nature and discovers that it is God himself who manifests in us. But for the Divinity within us our physical bodies cannot exist in the mundane world, which itself is a manifestation of God. It would be seen that when a man dies, his body disintegrates for the reason that the Divine Spark - the Spirit - has withdrawn from the Body and returns back into the formless void from which it came. This is just like the smile, when the pot containing the river water breaks or distinergrates, the river water joins the river, losing its form and merging with he river. This also represents that God manifested in creation is not the whole God and God the unmanifest is represented by the Principals. Therefore after the mystical resurrection, Man must be sent into the void or the Ocean itself in order to comprehend the nature of the Supreme Being.

The questions of Z and the reply of P. S. Point out that the seekers of Truth are sons of God, the King of Kings. The reply of the strangers, "any position to which etc." implies humility, which is only part of the knowledge of God. IN the beginning of the narrative of P.S. We find a reference to the discovery of a pair of Pillars which represents the Gate o Heaven. Further this and the six pair of Pillars referred to in the narrative represents Gate of Heaven. Further this and the six pair of Pillars referred to the narrative represents the seven veils through which the ascending soul must pass before it reaches the Throne of God. In the Jewish and Christian teachings the Seven Heavens are referred to and the Hindu also recognises Seven Worlds or Lokas above. This also refers to the seven stages of Man in the Spiritual Evolution. The main life line is the link which connects the Divine Spark in Man with the Supreme Being. The two lesser life lines represents the Body and the Soul. It would be noted that there is no link of the Body and Soul with the Supreme being. The reference that the P. S. Signal with his left hand for more liberty, represents that the Soul is the means of Inter-communication between the spiritual and the material world and is the link whereby the Spirit in Man is enabled to transmit to the body is discoveries in the realm of the Spirit, while in the physical world the body alone enables us to communicate our discoveries to our fellow mortals. Thus it must be noted that the Body has an Important role to play in the communication of the secrets to other fellow men and instruct them in their ascension to Heavenly abode.

The significance of the sentence discovered on the parchment correlates with the opening verse of the Gospel according to St. John, "In the beginning there was Light and the Light which lighteth every man who cometh into the World."

The hour when this happened is midday, This correspondence to the same hour that H.A.B. met with his tragic experience and it is at this hour that the genuine secrets of a Master Mason was lost.

The object discovered is a plate of gold placed on a double cube stone. The Triangle represents the Triune Nature of God. The Circle is the emblem of infinity and this lies E. G. within a square (on the top of the altar), the emblem of Matter. The whole symbol indicates that Man like God is triune in Nature, is immortal, eternal and divine, although his Body is material. The whole represents Chakra of the Hindu.

The candidate starts from the north-west corner in darkness, the prenatal darkness of physical and also of spiritual birth. He is entrusted with the secrets at the north-east corner.

Thus the Royal Arch is at once the foundation and the keystone of the whole Masonic structure. The Royal Arch is not another degree and might be called another Order. Whereas E. A., F.C., and M. M. are called degrees conferred by the same set of Officers, the R. A. is given by an entirely separate Body with officers whose names do not correspond to Craft Officers.