Course XXIV - Teaching 8: Twelve Categories of Lunar Initiates

Lunar Initiates are divided into twelve categories.
Lunar Initiates of First Category are lawgivers. When new inexpert peoples in different human activities appear, these Beings come and give practical and suitable laws and rules. Their characteristic is that their laws remain written and are adopted by the people. Long ago, Moses, lawgiver of the Jewish people was of this group, and also Romulus, first king of Rome, and Solon (sixth century b. C.), a lawgiver of the Greek people. There are great legislators of relatively modern times, but they need the verdict of history to be consecrated as Lunar Initiates.
Prophets are Lunar Initiates of Second Category. They affirm their whole authority on the word, through which they convey to peoples divine messages that are necessary for that time. The authority of their word raises them over the whole existing temporal hierarchy, by dragging the masses and making them follow their guide. Examples of this group are: Isaiah, a prophet of the decadent Jewish kingdom; John the Baptist, a forerunner of Christ; and Peter the Eremite (1050-1115), a preacher and soul of the First Crusade, who dragged behind it a whole people of warriors to liberate the Holy Sepulcher.
Lunar Initiates of Third Category are pontiffs of different religions. Spiritually and materially they enrich their respective religions, by giving them a drive and power that remain for centuries. Of this group are: Aaron, brother of Moses, founder of the Jewish priestly caste; Gregory VII (Hildebrand, about the middle of eleventh century), a defender of ecclesiastical investitures, and Lobsag Gyatso, the fifth Great Lama of Gelukpa sect, a sovereign of Tibet since 1650, recognized as such by the kings of Mongolia and China; he was proclaimed for the first time “tul Kon” or divine incarnation of Chenrezig. Dalai Lamas of Lasa, Tibet, descend from him.
Philosophers are Lunar Initiates of Fifth Category. They propel and renew philosophical ideas. Examples: Plato (423-347 b. C.), creator of abstract philosophy or idealistic philosophy; Aristotle (384-322 b. C.), a philosopher of reasoning and practical philosophies; and Pythagoras, a philosopher of the harmony.
Apostles, propagators of a religious or moral idea are Lunar Initiates of Fifth Category. Such Initiates are: Saint Paul, who disseminates Christian religion among gentiles; Sankaracharya, a distinguished instructor who lived 800 years after Christ, and the greatest postulator and commentator of Vedanta, being the true founder of present Vedantine studies; and Luther (1483-1546), a reformer of the Christian dogma.
Philanthropists are Lunar Initiates of Sixth Category. Saint Camillus of Lellis (1550-1624), was of this group; he ordered his religious to wear a red cross on their habits and so he was the forerunner of the present institution named Red Cross; and also Saint Vincent of Paul (1561-1660), founder of the institution called Sisters of Charity; and Colonel Booth (1829-1912), founder of the Salvation Army. Lunar Initiates of Seventh Category are great organizers in different activities, especially of intellectual kind. Examples: Padma Sambhava that introduced Buddhism in Tibet on the eight century and founded numerous monasteries of Lamas; Gerard Jung of Martigues, First Great Master of the Order of Hospitalarians of Jerusalem; he wrote the statutes of this institution, which later served as a basis for other Orders of Knights; he died in 1118. Saint Francis of Assisi (1161-1226) founded three Franciscan orders and strengthened the spirit of Christendom.
Lunar Initiates of Eight Category are great warriors like Alexander the Great (356-323 b. C.); Hannibal (247-183 b. C.) and Charles the Great (Charlemagne) (782-814).
Great monarchs are Lunar Initiates of Ninth Category. Examples of them are the Bible King Solomon, Amenophis IV (1381-1352 b. C.), last Pharaoh of dynasty XVIII, and Asoka, Buddhist emperor of India, dynasty Maurya, who reigned from 264 to 227 b. C.; of this emperor thirty five inscriptions carved on living rock remain.
Authoritarian rulers are Lunar Initiates of Tenth Category. Examples: Pericles (459-429 b. C.) and Napoleon (1769-1821).
Great sages, inventors and discoverers are Lunar Initiates of Eleventh Category. Among them we could quote Archimedes (287-212 b.C.), Christopher Columbus (1427-1514) and Pierre Curie (1859-1906).
Great writers and artists are Lunar Initiates of Twelfth Category. Examples: Phidias (497-431 b. C.), famous Greek sculptor of antiquity; Dante Alighieri (1236-1321), a genial Italian poet, author of the Divine Comedy; and Wagner (1813-1873), restorer of the music drama.