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March 1960 to May 1961

Pages 22-23 – The Theosophical Movement – March 1961 (pp. 193-194)

Do not get despondent because you always fall short of your ideals; who doesn’t? Often I have thought how the Masters themselves must feel, looking at the aspirations on the part of so many and the lack of effort to realize those aspirations. If we did not notice that we are not raising ourselves to our ideals it would be a dangerous thing; that would be self-satisfaction. We know our limitations and we know what we want to become and want to do; between these there is the gap, and the more clearly we recognize it, the more steadily we will be able to go forward in our endeavours. Don’t let a morbid attitude to what you may regard as your own weaknesses overpower you. It is better to note the important factor that within ourselves, in our own egoic nature, we have powers, faculties and moral stamina, which are out of all proportion to the defects which inhere in our lower nature. It will not do for us to give thought overmuch to the defects and the mistakes that we might have made in the past. It is better to take note through self-examination of our limitations and mistakes; but concentrate all the time on the spiritual powers of a moral and metaphysical nature which inhere in the Manasic ego. By thinking of our weaknesses we give them strength without meaning to do so; while, thinking of our own good, we awaken the inner resources and bring them down through a brain made more and more porous by study and reflection.

It is too bad that we mortals seem to get so bound up in our personal trials; but we do. As Theosophists, though, we have more of a chance to right the wrong: for, once we see how we are allowing any little personal fault to interfere either with our physical health or directly with file work, we can turn around and make every effort to counteract the bad effects. It keeps us on a constant watch for every quality or weakness as it shows itself forth.

Do not be pessimistic about yourself. All of us make mistakes of judgment and blunder in discriminating between true and false, spiritual and non-spiritual. As long as we pick ourselves up and go forward, gaining the inner strength through experiences of daily life, we have no need to despair.

If we remain true to ourselves, keep honest our thought-processes and clean and pure our feelings, the inner peace and prosperity work themselves out in our brain and through our life. The personal self is the opponent and enemy of the Soul-self and the former has its own power to copy the method of self-devising which the latter invariably follows. To be on our guard in reference to that personal self, not only in reference to its weaknesses, but also to its virtues, is important.

Hold on, and hold fast, to the Truth and to the Way you have already known. The clouds are bound to lift, and never forget that the very hardness of the Law is but seemingly so and under it are hidden its mercy and compassion. You are not alone. There, are others who are fighting with their lower natures as you are with yours. All of us are in goodly company. Be just and also patient with yourself. Never think that you are without the aid of thoughtful friends; as you remain calm and positive and pure there will come to you the strength and the vitality to live Theosophically and to serve selflessly.

The real panacea and prescription you need will be found in the second half of the second chapter of the Bhagavad-Gita. There you will find the method advocated of doing work, whether dutiful or sacrificial, without looking for the reward of action; a wonderful picture is given of the steadfast man and there is much practical advice in all that is said therein. There are wonderful things in our Philosophy that, I think, you will not have any great difficulty in finding out. The difficulty comes in doing what needs to be done. All of us possess knowledge, but we lack the will to strike the blow hard and heavy at our own personal self.

The higher awakening does not so much increase the foibles of the lower nature as reveal them. By the aid of the higher we see what we did not see, or even suspect, before. We know generally that we have weaknesses, but we do not know or even name them. It is knowledge which is the true awakener, and, brushing away the dust of our illusions, it points out with precision our lower possessions. On a higher spiral, when we begin to apply the deeper sides of knowledge to ourselves, the lower is lashed into fury, so to speak. Faith in the Masters is the ingredient which is not only necessary; it is the only thing that saves. The higher resignation, true patience, and silent and secret dispassion come to birth through our faith in the Masters, who are not merely our Teachers in theoretical knowledge but open our eyes in a highly practical manner. H.P.B. suffered much through her making public the secret fact about Their existence, about the Path to Them. Why did she do it? She sacrificed herself for our sakes, for such as would benefit from the knowledge about Masters and the Way to Them. Sustained faith brings the hidden occult knowledge and both increase and deepen if we maintain the right attitude and sustain that attitude by persistent endeavour. Brahma-like we must create faith by self-knowledge and self-examination — know what is true in us and increase our faith in it. Vishnu-like we must maintain the faith in being and not die. Shiva-like we must change within and make our faith more and more enlightened. Thus we grow within the heart. Because others have done this, it becomes less difficult for us. We see our own links in the Guruparampara chain.

Pages 24-26 – The Theosophical Movement – April 1961 (pp. 232-234)

We have to learn to see the good and the lovely side of beings and things. Nothing can be perfect in this world and we have to build our own complete perfection out of a variety of perfections mixed up with gross imperfections. Of course we must look not only in those we love but everywhere for the good and the beautiful. The Raja-Yoga chapter of the Gita, (the 9th) opens with “Unto thee who findeth no fault. . . .” This is imperative for the esoteric life. Who bothers about your traits which you call undesirable? — and you yourself should not. Just forget about your weaknesses! And who is there who does not feel a hypocrite at times? Our ideals are high, our realizations poor, comparatively speaking. We have to keep on striving and our ideals also ascend higher each time. That is the order of progress. You, like all others, have two natures, but you certainly are not Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Let us be thankful for dismay and some despondency. They are signs that the True is near which we are aspiring to reach. We may throw down our bow and arrows — the Philosophy and its many applications; but we will not, we must not, abandon them. We may, often do, bend like reeds, but we must never break.

Weaknesses leave no void in their departure, nor do we feel frustrated when they depart! Here is a line of thought that needs to be pursued.

Why do we slip into wrongdoing? Well, is not the story explained in the closing portion of the third chapter of the Gita? The foundation of our personal nature (not always evil) is that Rajas which colours the very will to live. Inclinations of the personal soul are a motion in separativeness. Sattva unites, and for that force or motion we are labouring. Rhythm is also motion, but jerks are gone, waywardness is gone, discords are synthesized into chords. We are able to work long and late thus and at long last fatigue must disappear. Is not that the way the Masters work? The crash of kingdoms occurs, but the real Kings go on surviving with a smile, abuilding, abuilding.

What you say about the lower nature is true: animalism becomes an animal. Blood circulates in the living body, congeals in the corpse. Correspondentially, in the animal man conscience is not awake and errors and blunders circulate; but when the discipline of self-examination in the light of the philosophy of the True is practised, our foibles and frailties congeal and solidify and we, so to speak, are able to objectivize them. This is related to the phenomenon of the Dweller on the Threshold. Mental errors and mind sins are a terror, and they are the neophyte’s real enemy. H.P.B.’s statement in the Transactions is terrifying if we take this point of view. (Please see p. 142.) Both the metaphysical and the psychological aspects are important. Now apply this to your own discovery about your own battlefield of mind and you have taken a new step in the Inward Life.

Of course the lower nature is insidious; machination is its second name. Mortification of the mental nature is the starting point. Mind is the base of the personal nature. Mental asceticism needs knowledge and study for “the gentle breezes of soul wisdom” to brush away the dust and the dirt. Physical exercises involving food, breathing, etc., are a snare and a delusion as causes; as natural effects they have their value.

Numerous are the exercises given for separating, even for a few moments, our mind from Kama-Tanha and turning it to higher Manas-Tanha — the will to live higher ideas. We have to think and translate our thought into silent speech. A Being of triple Light is the Self — the Inner Guru, the Real Father, the Elder Brother. It creates, sustains and renovates. It is the True, the Good, the Beautiful. Ever a Triad: metaphysically, Atma-Buddhi-Manas— three in One and One in three. He or It is the comforter, the asylum and the friend. Along these lines you can make a start. One more fact: The S.D. teaches that the Spirit is one and impartite; that Matter-Prakriti is divisible. The One Purusha in the first vehicle of Prakriti is the One Eternal Monad, the Logos, the Ineffable Word, Ishvara. From Ishvara, the Eternal Monad, by the process of emanation (see Glossary) all Monads come forth. Strenuous concentration on that Inner Ruler is not possible at present. We must begin with gentle brooding in a relaxed posture.

It is the mission of Theosophy to arouse the Ego and make him note the defects of his personality. Have you considered the role of Narada, the “Mischief-Maker”? Also, please note, the Kingdom of Heaven is to be taken by violence. One should never even speculate about abandoning the fight. “Hold grimly on,” says Judge; and also, “Press forward.” The peace of the desert is a fiction. Excessive heat, sand-storms, etc., are there and tamas is prolific. We in cities are rajasic, but are now and again attacked by tamas. Sattva’s peace and repose we yearn for and are getting — more indirectly in Sushupti and a little less indirectly in our effort at meditation and the unfoldment of calm and tranquillity. Love for humanity does not suffice; it forces us to pose the question — Why is humanity suffering? Those who are not troubled by that question are not true lovers of their fellow men. Memory-Meditation is necessary for finding the safe spot for the Soul. Without that, real service cannot be rendered. Masters are Servants because They are compassionate and wise.

The causes, or rather the one cause, which led to the development of the inferiority complex in you of which you write are not difficult to understand. Our Eastern psychology teaches the great doctrine of self-reliance and spiritual interdependence and the rejection of all that makes the animal self depend upon its peculiar friends and companions, also animal in nature, which tend to lower our own estimate of ourselves. Theosophy teaches that it is better to know ourselves in our inner nature as we really are and not regard ourselves as a bundle of complexes, which is the mode for the understanding of the human personality which Eastern psychology gives us. It is imperative that you get a clear-cut philosophical concept of what man is in his entire make-up and in his dual nature of the higher and the lower, or, to use technical terms, as a spiritual individuality and a lower personality made up of his animal nature. The psychology offered by Theosophy for the understanding of man’s make-up has two sides, metaphysical and moral. You will have to get at this if you want to help yourself in the right way. I would suggest that you read carefully the fourth chapter of The Ocean of Theosophy and the section of The Key to Theosophy which deals with the human principles, draw your own conclusions as to man’s make-up and then apply that knowledge to your own make- up. Unless you have cleared the ground of this inferiority complex and its causes, you will find that, under the law of cyclic return of impressions, from time to time you will have this inferiority complex creeping on you and disabling you from prosecuting your life-study and life-work.

Pages 27-29 – The Theosophical Movement – May 1961 (p. 273-275)

To benefit mankind knowledge is the first necessity. Without knowledge no practice; without practice no service; without service no knowledge. It is a triangle with three sides. Lopsidedness is almost universal and the Esoteric Philosophy gives the only way of lasting cure. Man’s constitution must be correctly understood if this defect is to be overcome; and, furthermore, man’s identity with the Macrocosm. Man, the small cosmos, will remain lopsided till each of his limbs acts as part of the limbs of Adam Kadmon, the Supreme Man. Much of the genuine application of ethics — Divine Ethics — is intimately connected with the study of Man, as a unit. Therefore the Key and the Ocean devote so many pages to the study of the human constitution.

Without the basis of right study the life cannot be lived. This lack of study is the real weakness of many social-service programs. The repetition of Ram-nam becomes mechanical and farcical without mental study. The development of love and compassion cannot take place. And what about detachment? How can anyone perform action rightly without Vairagya? So also among our students. How many understand the deeper aspects of Karma? How many consider: “This is not only what I deserve but also what I desire”? But the cultivation of that attitude must be undertaken.

Theosophical instruction from others, including books of the recorded message, stops when application of what is acquired falters. The pranic or vital connection between study and application is not understood. People eat but understand next to nothing about digestion and elimination; still less about assimilation. The properties of foods for bone, flesh, blood, nerves and brain are not fully known even to doctors. Would a doctor familiar with occultism give a patient suffering from neurosis meat foods? The same is true of mental-moral food. Our people read, listen, but neither digest, eliminate nor assimilate, for these three have to do with application. Therefore we must insist on application. It is good that they are learning to quote the texts; as a first step it is necessary. They cannot be truly moral without real knowledge.

I do not think you will find it very difficult to handle questions from the platform. What you now need is the background of Theosophical knowledge. This you are now acquiring. Regular methods are: (a) study, (b) making notes, (c) using knowledge in correspondence, in conversation, on the platform and through our periodicals. There is an Esoteric or Occult method and that is enshrined in the word “Application.” Crosbie is a good example of knowledge acquired mainly through application. Now, Judge says, “Through Brotherhood we receive the knowledge of others”; and, again, “It is not high learning that is needed, but solely devotion to humanity, faith in Masters, in the Higher Self, a comprehension of the fundamental truths of Theosophy and a little, only a little, sincere attempt to present those fundamental truths to a people who are in desperate need of them.” So do not be dismayed but just go on studying a little, applying daily, and doing what comes your way of Theosophical service. When you are answering do prepare yourself by the necessary study, but rest your body and have a calm, cool and collected mind. The rest your devotion to the Blessed Holy Ones will bring forth. They will never fail you if you keep your mind-heart collected and your devotion untarnished by personal vibrations.

As the S.D. is the Textbook of the 20^th century, and as you will be working for that and the coming century, we would advise you to make the two volumes your daily companions. Not only is the book informative and instructive; it is written purposely in a style which develops the intuitive faculty.

You request for instruction about your Theosophical study. While you are studying the S.D., which enables the personal mind to reach up to the Higher Manas or the Ego, its full benefit will not come your way unless you add to your study the Voice, Light on the Path, the Gita. and the Dhammapada. Metaphysics and ethics are the two wings we must use to soar upwards. There is, however, a connecting link between the two wings, and that is to be found in the writings of W. Q. Judge. His Letters and articles are priceless for our task. They sound simple and make easy reading. But you will find them illuminating many a passage in Isis and in the S.D. His simplification is for our lower Manas, but it has within it the power to link us up to Buddhi-Manas. Many students of Theosophy miss out on this aspect of Mr. Judge’s writings. So please take note of this point. Then, further, you will find as you study that Crosbie is a real psychologist, and he has been able to explain so lucidly because he made full use of the writings of Mr. Judge, whom he regarded as his own Link with the World of the Masters.

It will help you considerably in shaping your own life in the present, which includes your own mental attitude and behaviour towards those in your environment, and you will derive strength and energy, if you will take to reading carefully every morning The Voice of the Silence and Light on the Path. These two are especially meant for aspirants to the higher life in this century and cycle, and to understand Light on the Path, Through the Gates of Gold is a great aid. I am not recommending these for the purpose of the service of the Great Cause, to which you have dedicated yourself with such insight and perception. I am recommending these readings every morning so that you may prepare yourself for the rendering of adequate service to that Cause. Heart energy comes from practice and from the application of the teachings with which both these books abound. These books are more for individual reading and reflection, individual study and meditation. What is read and applied will bring sweet fruits in the improvement of your own character and especially in deepening your insight into men and things. Then, of course, for intellectual study you can go on with Isis Unveiled, and The Secret Doctrine at your convenience and according to what time you may find. Peace and power always go together, and therefore, you must practice calmness within during the active period of contact with others and work with and for them. I am glad that you have not many commitments.

Your next point is that you do not find yourself capable of applying the great truths. Application always follows study, and practice cannot be undertaken unless the theory is well mastered. Quick appreciation of great ideas, both metaphysical and moral, can only come through a faculty higher than that of the reasoning mind. Intuitive perception can only come when by study we have put in our own mind the seeds of metaphysical and moral principles. Intuition has been sometimes compared to rain which falls from above and fructifies the soil. We cannot have intuition unless in the soil of our consciousness mental seeds are sown. Rain falling on sandy desert or stony ground cannot produce any result in the shape of a sprout or a tree. Even when the soil is fertile, unless seeds are sown no amount of rain falling on the soil will produce the crop needed. The function of study and meditation is primarily the preparation of the soil. When our soil or field is weeded out and prepared and the seeds of mental study are sown, then only we can wait for the rain to fructify the seeds sown. Now here the analogy stops for the bringing down of rain does not depend on man’s volition only. There are natural processes which bring down rain.

In this psychological process above described, it is possible for the human mind to attract to itself the rain of intuition. We gather knowledge and use it in the ordinary world with the help of logic and reason, of course added to what we ordinarily speak of as common sense. But reason is not able to gather the truths which are synthetic and to unify the many branches of knowledge. Therefore occultism and esoteric philosophy advocate the use of another method of study, which is the right use of the law of correspondence and analogy. The celebrated example of Swedenborg who utilized the law of correspondence must be known to you. But note that the use made by Swedenborg of this law was very much vitiated because of the wrong mental seeds due to a wrong philosophy of life that he had. Swedenborg was a mathematician and a psychic, a scientist and a supersensitive. But in the absence of proper knowledge he did not succeed, though he got hold of the faculty to invoke intuition by the use of correspondence; but the use that he made of analogy and correspondence was related to partial truths and even wrong ideas. Therefore in your study you will have to think of meditation along these different lines.