IN MEMORY OF A TRUE HUMANITARIAN, DISCIPLE AND WORLD SERVER

Sergio Viera De Mello
15 /3/48 - 19/8/03

PERSONAL BACKGROUND

Sergio Viera De Mello, the special representative of the United Nations to Iraq, died in the bombing of the UN Headquarters in Baghdad on August 19th. The same blast killed over twenty others and wounded several dozen. It was another reminder, if the world needed any more, that Baghdad and the rest of Iraq has indeed become a very violent, unsettled place, especially since the "victory" of the U.S. / U.K. / Australian military coalition in April, and the guerrilla war that has resulted since.

De Mello worked for the United Nations for over thirty years. He never got the media attention given to "official" world leaders, prime ministers and presidents, and yet he managed to carve out a niche for himself among those who cared about human rights and international efforts to keep the peace. Especially here in Australia, many may remember De Mello as a key figure working for the U.N. to set up a functioning administration in East Timor after that former colony voted to leave Indonesia in 1999 and become independent. In essence, De Mello became the governor of the territory. He was in charge of the international peacekeeping force that was sent to East Timor to restore law and order after the Indonesian military planned and led some weeks of bloodshed, violence, and lawlessness against the Timorese as a result of their vote for independence. De Mello also administered every aspect of the fledgling government. It was a position of power and influence that no United Nations worker had ever held before in any other country or situation, and De Mello handled the role flawlessly.

De Mello was born in Brazil to a well off family. He was educated at the Sorbonne in France. He joined the U.N. in 1970 or '71, and for over 30 years thereafter, worked tirelessly for this organisation in a variety of roles: Bangladesh in '71, South Sudan, Cyprus in '74, Mozambique in '75. then postings in Lebanon in the early 80s, Vietnam, and Cambodia. He worked for the U.N. in Bosnia in the mid 90s, then Kosovo in the late 90s. De Mello was an activist, always working for positive outcomes and progress wherever he was posted. This made him the natural choice to be appointed the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a post he assumed in September '02. His posting to Iraq was in addition to his duties as High Commissioner, and was supposed to be only temporary, for a period of four months. It was obvious that the prestige, authority, possibly even the existence of the U.N. had taken a severe battering from President Bush and the American government in the months leading up to the Iraqi invasion, and so Kofi Annan, the U.N. Secretary General, wanted the very best man available to take over the Baghdad posting.

THE WORLD MOURNS

His death, as well as that of over twenty other people in the same blast, was another act of senseless violence and stupidity that the world has witnessed all too often during the last few years. It is one thing to wage war against the occupiers of a country, but to target members of an international aid agency working for the reconstruction of a country is quite a different matter. As the Australian Richard Butler, formerly a U.N. envoy himself stated, the perpetrators of the blast killed the wrong people, those who were actually trying to offer help to an Iraq ravaged by decades of dictatorship and recovering from a war. In fact the blast bears all the hallmarks of an al Qaeda strike: a soft target chosen (no military guards at the U.N. Headquarters in Baghdad), a vehicle packed with explosives, and a suicide driver only too willing to die himself in an act of senseless destruction. Although a previously unknown group has taken official responsibility for the blast, most observers feel that al Qaeda was actually behind it. In an ironic twist of fate that points to American hypocrisy, the aftermath of the war against Iraq one justification of which was to stop any links between Saddam and Osama bin Ladin's al-Qaeda has actually opened the door for direct al-Qaeda terrorist operations in Iraq. If there had been any link previously, it was indirect or secret.

De Mello is very much mourned and missed by many around the world who knew him. In the Australian Parliament, some amazing and probably never to be repeated sights unfolded. Such as the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, choking and close to tears as he stated "He was a good man, he was a kind man…." Downer is no softy; in fact in my opinion he can be a hard bitten and sometimes ruthless politician. For instance, he has been quite happy to let another Australian and fellow Adelaideian, David Hicks, rot in an American prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for over 1½ years now (Hicks was captured in Afghanistan and was training with the Taliban there, and possibly even al Qaeda, though we cannot be exactly sure). Downer hasn't seen fit to lift a single finger to help get Hicks returned home or even pushed for the U.S. to give him a fair trial. Downer's emotional response to De Mello's death shows just what a powerful influence the U.N. envoy could exert on people. Ironically, it should be noted that if we can state that the United Nations has "enemies" among governments, surely Australia and the United States head the list of nations often (although not always) showing contempt for what the U.N. represents. Cabinet ministers in the Coalition government of John Howard, the Australian PM, regularly criticise the UN for trying to interfere in Australia's internal affairs (mostly in regard to "imposing" humanitarian standards of conduct for refugees), and in other ways often denigrate the organisation for what it is trying to achieve.

INTERPRETATION OF THE HOROSCOPE

De Mello's birthdate - 15 March 1948 - is recorded, but his time of birth is not known. I have determined through esoteric investigations that his time of birth was 1:13 PM Summer (Daylight) Time, or 12:13 PM Standard Time, in Rio de Janeiro.

His horoscope shows a very strongly-placed Uranus, rising right below the Gemini Ascendant. Uranus is the planet which governs invention, reform, idealism and idealists. It also governs esoteric or unusual thought; for instance astrology as a whole comes under the rulership of this planet. The strong position of Uranus in this chart very much indicates that De Mello was an idealist, a liberal thinker, someone who was very much ahead of his time in that he actually believed in the possibility of a world government, which is what the United Nations has represented in theory, but yet so rarely lived up to in practice. Uranus is forming a beautiful trine aspect (120 degree angle) to the planet Mercury, ruler of the Gemini Ascendant, in the sign of Aquarius. So the strong Uranus / Mercury connection certainly gave De Mello the capacity to think abstractly, to form ideals and hold to them, to dream and to dare to put his dreams of a benevolent international agency into practice.

Yet, this horoscope is not at all easy in its overall structure. Although Uranus is strongly placed and gave him his great optimism and idealism, the planet is also part of a difficult pattern known as a "T-Square", involving Jupiter and the Sun. The 90 degree angle or square aspect in astrology is considered the most difficult of all, followed by the opposition or 180 degree angle aspect. From a higher or more esoteric perspective, planets in square or opposition aspect in any chart indicate the potential of working off of past, negative karma on the part of the individual, through the challenges that these planets present. In his T-square pattern, De Mello's Sun in Pisces formed TWO squares, one to Uranus and one to Jupiter, while the latter planets were themselves in opposition. As all three planets are near what are called the "angles" of a horoscope, their conflicting or internally challenging influence would have been one of the major factors in De Mello's own psychology and personal makeup. Here was an individual who would have had to overcome his own insecurities and self-doubts, his own internal contradictions, while at the same time working for an organisation which most powerful nations regarded with doubt and possibly derision as to its ultimate effectiveness.

De Mello's conjunction of three difficult planets - Pluto, Saturn, and Mars - in the sign of Leo would have provided its own challenges. Saturn is the planet of burdens and obstacles, and necessitates each of us to work hard to overcome negative karma from past lifetimes. Mars is the planet of the masculine principle, enthusiasm, anger and irritation. Pluto is the planet of death and destruction in its lower aspect, and rebirth and regeneration in its higher. To put the three planets together in conjunction, and to see that they were both moving retrograde at the time of birth, would have created extra psychological tension for him. The second house of the chart, ruling money and finance, was where this conjunction would have affected De Mello in a more concrete or material-plane sense. I don't actually know the details of De Mello's financial status, but I am sure that at certain times of his life, this would have been precarious. Certainly the Saturn / Pluto conjunction in the second house would have required fiscal restraint and financial planning for a good part of the time. We can also note that De Mello's Moon was placed in Taurus, and forming a square aspect to the triple Pluto / Saturn / Mars conjunction. This would have meant further problems in financial affairs, and also extra psychological pressure to deal with. Once again, let us note that the square aspect in astrology, from a higher or more esoteric perspective, does give the individual concerned the opportunity to work off a certain amount of negative karma from the past. Because De Mello's Moon squared not just one, but all three of the planets in Leo, he was given a great opportunity to do this. Some individuals would have buckled under the challenges of such an aspect, but it seems to me that De Mello was able to manage and even triumph.

Thus, from a personal perspective, his life represents the overcoming of very many obstacles (both internal or psychological) and thus the negating of a huge chunk of negative karma. From a professional perspective, the life was also a triumph because although De Mello had to deal with situations of aggression, conflict, breakdown and hopelessness over and over, he was always successful in bringing a certain amount of peace, rebuilding, and hope to whatever situation in which he toiled. In so doing, he also restored to the United Nations a certain prestige and reputation for useful, practical results in conflict situations.

DE MELLO'S SOUL AND PERSONALITY RAYS

Through further esoteric research, I have determined that De Mello's Soul is on the Seventh Ray. This divine energy stream brings Law and Order, Ceremonial and Ritual, and right use of Money and Sex among other things. De Mello's Master - for De Mello was indeed a disciple of the great spiritual Hierarchy, sometimes called the Great White Brotherhood or Assembly of Masters - was the great Lord Count of Saint Germaine, also known as the Master R. And as students of the esoteric teachings would know, the Master R. is the head or Chohan of the Seventh Ray (although the Lord Count is also presently training to take over the Chohanship of the Third Ray). The Master R. is particularly concerned with the United Nations as a vehicle for potential world government and an organisation offering practical and humanitarian relief to the problems of the world. Therefore it is not at all surprising that the Lord Count was inspiring De Mello, at least from an internal or inner psychological sense (and De Mello himself may never have actually known that it was the Lord Count that was the actual presence motivating him from within).

De Mello's personality - the lower self, or more immediately apparent but also more fluid and transient aspect of ourselves - was on the Fourth Ray. This is the ray or divine energy stream governing strife and conflict, and its eventual resolution through harmony and beauty. Thus it was very natural that De Mello would have been the ideal person to send to trouble spots around the world, where there was considerable friction, strife, and conflict, as his personality ray was ideally suited to such conditions. In the process, of course, De Mello was able to work off a whole lot of his own negative karma, while at the same time putting the ideals of the United Nations into practical effect. So the combination of Seventh Ray Soul and Fourth Ray Personality explains very much about the man and his mission. In astrological terms, the strong Uranus in his horoscope represents the Seventh Ray, while the Fourth Ray is represented by the Moon (and by the difficult aspects the Moon is making to the three planets in Leo) and Mercury, the secondary ruler.

THE PROBLEM OF THE UNWILLING DISCIPLES

And now some somewhat severe words about disciples. In the esoteric traditions, of which theosophy is a modern or contemporary version, the word refers to those individuals who have taken one or more of the great or major initiations that are open to all humans, as described in the writings of H.P. Blavatsky, Annie Besant, Alice Bailey and many others. Once the first major initiation is taken - the details of which cannot be written here, because of spatial limitations - the individual concerned is officially known as a disciple. This marks a very great step forward on the spiritual path, one in fact which is the result of many, many lifetimes of striving toward this great goal. But with the glory and the success of having taken a major initiation, there also comes a responsibility. The responsibility of disciplining, purifying and opening the personality, the lower self, to receive in some measure the divine energies of the initiation which are experienced in the higher self, the soul. In the old days - until about 50 or 60 years ago, that is - such a responsibility was almost always normally and naturally undertaken by the individual concerned. The responsibility of purifying the personality on the lower planes to receive the divine energies of the soul directed downward from the higher planes, naturally went with the process of initiation itself. It was almost never considered something that the disciple concerned would shirk. Also, it was well known that whatever the personal difficulties of any disciple, the esoteric fact that they were working for the cause of the great and glorious Hierarchy, and that on their way to taking initiation had necessarily attained a close connection with one or other of the Masters, made the difficulties encountered easier to bear. The fact that personal self-sacrifice was required to obtain initiation and to serve the glorious Hierarchy was known by one and all.

Until after WW2, that is. Because of the suffering experienced by many disciples - both those who had taken the lower initiations, as well as some who had taken the higher - during that conflict (often involving death of one sort or another, often in difficult circumstances), certain severe and never before witnessed negative psychological traits began to be witnessed. Before, any disciple would have automatically have taken up the challenge, responsibility, and opportunity of their respective Dharma to spread the teachings of light, love, and wisdom, in whatever way and in whatever circumstances possible, depending upon personal karma and the ray makeup of their inner bodies. In fact often the personal lives of disciples are very challenging, sometimes even chaotic, because they are trying at one and the same time to spread the higher teachings and act as beacons of love, light, and wisdom, while on the other they are struggling to rectify past defects of personality and struggle through old personal karma. But after the war - especially from the 1960s onward - it suddenly became "fashionable" for the disciples to turn their backs on the Hierarchy and upon their Dharma of spreading the light, love, and wisdom, as they understood it.

Today, we have reached a situation in the world that never would have been previously envisaged by the Hierarchy. Only about 1 in 10, or 10% of the disciples in present incarnation, are actually following their Dharma, actually working for the Hierarchy, actually regularly attempting to purify their lower vehicles, their personality, and thus actually spreading the light, the love, and the wisdom which are so desperately needed on earth at the present time. The other 90% have thrown in the towel, so to speak, have quit the ring early, and are attempting to enjoy themselves (or gratify their lower selves, their personalities) by taking "early retirement". And because the actual number of disciples in incarnation at any time is necessarily very a very small percentage of humanity itself - I would estimate about 2 to 3 percent - the unwillingness of this group to commit itself to carrying out the work of the Soul and spreading the light, carries grave implications for humanity itself.

THE SPIRITUAL GLORY OF DE MELLO

If only the majority of disciples presently in incarnation had even half or a quarter of the commitment of De Mello! If only they could be persuaded to make the attempt, any sort of attempt, to follow the Dharma of their Souls and get to work for the Hierarchy! In today's topsy turvy world, De Mello was the disciple who embodied the exception, one who heard the clarion call of his soul and his Master, and who wasted little time in getting on with the job, regardless of the commitment or effort or self-sacrifice or lack of personal recognition that it entailed. Through his life and through his service to his Master, the great Lord Count of St. Germaine, he has made positively huge steps forward on the spiritual path and on the path of discipleship. In doing so, he has left many of his fellow disciples in the dust, as it were.

Sergio de Mello, I salute you in the name of the Lord Christ and His glorious Masters, and look forward to your new embodiment in another incarnation!!

© Zachary Casper