By George A. Boyd © 2008
Q: Can a woman become a spiritual Master?
A: The answer to this question is yes. Some confusion has arisen in this issue, so it is important to elaborate upon this topic at greater depth.
A woman’s connection to the Logos is predominately through the heart, hence she is innately intuitive, and gravitates easily to the bhakti path of spiritual communion. Her great strength is love, compassion, and nurturing. She may also be attracted to the path of surrender and selfless service, Karma Yoga.
A man’s connection to the Logos is predominately through the brain, hence he excels in volitional, intellectual, and conceptual formulations of spirituality: teaching, moral instruction, and development of self-discipline. Men for this reason often do well in Jnana Yoga (intellectual, discriminative) and Raja Yoga (inner mastery through will) paths.
Over a series of incarnations in both genders, an individual has an opportunity to work on both heart and head connections with the Logos. Typically, by the Third Initiation, the individual has had sufficient experience with both connections to be relatively balanced, so there will be relative facility in all four forms of spiritual work: discipline of attention, mind, and body (Raja Yoga); discrimination of one’s own higher Nature and ability to use abstract contemplation (Jnana Yoga); development of selfless love, devotion, and inner purity (Bhakti Yoga); and expression of selfless service to humanity (Karma Yoga).
The Soul is neither male nor female; hence the Soul’s ability is not affected regardless of the gender of the current incarnation. So when the Soul is revealed in its own unborn Glory in the Fifth Initiation, its illumination is not dependent on whether the individual is male or female. The initiate can minister the Divine Light regardless of gender.
Where the question of gender is included is one of traditional teaching roles propagated at the level of institutions. Some institutions have developed policies that women cannot be ministers or priests, and a similar tradition is upheld in certain spiritual lineages. The impact of this is to maintain a Logoic “brain emphasis,” where will power, philosophical and ethical teaching predominate in these traditions.
So as long as these policies continue within institutions, females will be excluded from expressing the ministerial role within these social vehicles. However, the Divine Spirit does not recognize such boundaries devised by the intellect and imagination of humanity, hence empowers women as Its instruments, as readily as It empowers men. We should understand Grace transcends culture and social institutions: whomever has earned the requisite qualifications and Mastery in Light may become anointed and join into the Hierarchy of Illumined Ones.
