By Magazine
The Adepts are the trustees and guardians of the sacred knowledge and in order to preserve it they cannot mix freely with the world, but must live in seclusion. Their work being largely on inner planes of thought and action, there would be no advantage, but many disadvantages, in publicity; they would be hindered at every point. They have no desire to prove their existence to a skeptical world.
-- Charles J Ryan, WHAT IS THEOSOPHY?, page 68
By B.P. Wadia
[From LIVING THE LIFE, pages 27-32.]
Various motives prompt students to serve the Cause of Theosophy. The nature and extent of that service are according to the motive. The avenues of service are definite and limited just as the motives of service are. Some students are moved to service by the desire of self-growth; others are inspired to be altruistic by the compassionate longing to better the lot of their fellow men. Some serve to work out the surplus energy of their natures; others energize themselves so that service may result.
Whatever the starting point, a little study reveals a supreme fact -- service of Theosophy, irrespective of time, place, circumstance, as well as friends, relatives, and strangers, is imperative, not only for growth, but also for very existence.
Students of Theosophy prepare themselves by study and otherwise to serve humanity; they seriously endeavor to fit themselves to be better able to help and teach others. Theosophists do not make propaganda for the purposes of gaining power, popularity, and prosperity for Theosophy, but for bettering men and women, for enlightening human souls and leading them on to peace and wisdom. Our philosophy discourages proselytism and advocates the inner conversion of each by himself.
When by dint of study an individual has remade himself, he is, in a sense, as one who is newly born. The great Initiations of the Ancient Mysteries have their projections in the hearts of mortals. As we learn to be born repeatedly, we come nearer to the Great Birth of the Dwija, the Twice-Born, the Initiate. Just as daily bathing of the body is the reflection of the Baptism by Water, so is seasonal renovation of the mind and heart a symbol of the Baptism by Fire. For the health of the body, elimination of waste matter is a necessity, and there is a corresponding elimination of the moral and mental dregs of our consciousness.
Service of Theosophy is the avenue whereby students of Theosophy are reborn. It is the great clearinghouse of energies and ideas and the eliminator of false notions and retainer of the true. Thus, students of Theosophy do not confer any benefit on the philosophy or on the Movement by their service; they oblige and benefit themselves. Columbus did not confer any benefit on America by his discovery; he and his fellows have been bettered thereby. America, undiscovered, would have continued to live on, until human necessity compelled some Columbus to discover it. It is the same with Theosophy. Let us rid ourselves of the idea that by our helping the Cause we are obliging Theosophy. We are helping ourselves. Further, that helping is a necessity of our own existence.
All of us have three great possessions: Energy to create, Wealth to sustain, and Time to renew ourselves. These are our three jewels. We make ourselves by work, we preserve ourselves with wealth, and we better ourselves in time. Work, Wealth, and Time are inter-dependent. In time, work begets wealth; wealth in due season energizes us to labor; time compels us to work so that we may enrich ourselves; work whiles away time and time checks the destructive and wearing power of toil. One without the other two, nay, even two without the third would end in man's ruin and annihilation.
In the service of Theosophy, all three of Time, Wealth, and Work are necessary. We must create ourselves by study; we must grow through regeneration in the passage of time. Under the Law of Periodicity as cycles run their rounds, Wisdom and Wise Men work to preserve Themselves in Their Ever-Green Nature by perpetual renovation. Nature labors and is born; her bounties sing of her existence; her ever continuing changes are an indication of her subservience to the God of Time, Kala.
The Theosophical Movement, in all eras and climes, is created by the work of the Masters, is sustained by the Wealth of Their Wisdom, and is regenerated from corruption, century-by-century and cycle by cycle. The Movement never dies because the Great Ones and Their faithful servants keep up this threefold process. The visible and organic incarnation of the Immemorial Movement decays and perishes because its work, wealth, and time through friction come to a close. When those who belong to that visible expression of the Movement cease to work, poverty overtakes them; famished, they cease to exist. When they labor and toil but fail to share their earnings with the body through which they enriched themselves, they perish along with the body. When they create by work and nourish by wealth, they sometimes fail to renew friendship with the Ever-Green Source and suit themselves to the Motion of the Stars. Then they live on, corpses or shells, while the Life creates elsewhere the body of Truth.
Minor cycles are but replicas of major ones. The Law of Correspondence and Analogy works perfectly everywhere and all the time. What is true of previous ages and other bodies is also true of this and the Lodge to which we belong. As a voluntary association of students, we exist not for the glorification of that body, nor of ourselves who belong to it. We exist to serve the Cause and are responsible for keeping it going as the visible incarnation of the Invisible Movement. This can be done by Work, Wealth, and Time and in no other way.
Work that creates for the self is selfish; that which creates for Self is Sacrifice. Wealth that preserves the self causes poverty; that which preserves the Self leads to Wisdom. Time that renews the self begets pain; that which renews the Self is Bliss. Therefore, we must obtain the wherewithal for creative work, preserving wealth, and regenerating time. These consist of the Faculty of Sacrifice, the Possession of Wisdom, and the Energy of Bliss.
We must gain the faculty of sacrifice on the plane of action, labor, and work. This means that we should toil for the Great Sacrifice, exert ourselves by the power of the Great Actor. We must come to possess the wealth of Wisdom on the plane of mind, study, and contemplation. This means that we must teach, instruct, and inspire by the power of the Great Teacher, offer the boon and the blessing of the Great Contemplation. We must obtain the energy of Bliss on the plane of life, heart, and being. This means that we should grow by giving, giving by the power of the Great Renovator, thus bestowing the Joy of the Great Birth. Thus, Sacrifice builds, Wisdom sustains, and Bliss renovates life for ever and ever. The sacrifice of all we have, the wisdom of all we are, the bliss that is our Self -- every student of Theosophy should make this triple offering on the altar of the Sacred Movement.
We create ourselves theosophically by work that is Sacrifice. Egotism is the one source from which spring the many excuses that keep us from being theosophically born. Often the desire to work is wrongly identified with the capacity to serve. The latter really belongs to the second aspect: wealth. Most students fail to work not because of the lack of capacity but the absence of desire to serve and help. The one sure sign of Theosophical birth is the Will to Work, which seeks out "him who knows still less than thou." Ahankara-Egotism manifests sometimes as conceit, at others as mock modesty. This false humility is more subtle and therefore more insidious. It was not through lack of capacity that Arjuna cried, "I shall not fight, Oh Govinda," but because of the lack of Will to serve both the Pandus and the Kurus. He who in the daily affairs of life loves and sacrifices gains the great opportunity to enter the Path of Compassion, the Way of Altruism. To be born is to manifest the power of the Inner Ruler -- however restricted in scope and small in quantity, "Doing the King's work all the dim day long" is dependent on the previous recognition of the King in the Chamber of the Heart.
It is only when we desire to serve and begin working that our lack of knowledge is truly perceived. When people complain of their lack of knowledge or their poor capabilities and refuse to work on that score, they are not aware of either. Only when we begin to teach do we truly find out what we have to learn; only when we lift a weight do we know what burdens we cannot bear; only by expressing what we know do we become aware of what we do not. It is work, the first aspect, which brings to us our wealth of wisdom, by revealing to us how very poor we are. When the spirit of service encounters the fact that we are poverty-stricken, it sets about accumulating wealth.
Everyone possesses, however poor he be, the threefold wealth of Heart, Head, and Hands, the last of which has a double aspect of bodily health and money. If each of us made the right and adequate use of what we have of money, health, knowledge, and devotion, we would get more of these and the Cause of Theosophy would flourish. Spiritual poverty is the cause of all poverty. Poverty and impurity go hand in hand and work side by side. There is a very close connection and interdependence between bodily ill health, vital impurity, emotional deformity, and mental weakness. Once again, we actually know how poor we are only when we have found out how rich we are.
Lack of time is a very general complaint and as an excuse is very commonly offered. But there is a universal saying to the effect that he who is the busiest has time always at hand. Time and laziness are enemies and he who uses time is ever the friend of Time. It is when our time is not used to the best of our strength that stagnation sets in and death results. Time, the third aspect, is the initiating power that brings to birth new and newer aspects of the God within, the Inner Ruler immortal. "Every man is an impossibility, until he is born." By the offering of Time on the altar of Theosophical Service, we manifest the radiance of Joy; we live and multiply ourselves until we find ourselves a loved and loving member of the human family.
Thus, work that is sacrifice creates the wealth that is the capacity to serve wisely, and thus serving all the time, we radiate joy for all, and help in establishing the Kingdom of God, Righteousness, and Theosophy.
THE DA VINCI CODE is a jambalaya of disconnected facts (often not even true) is in fact a most ingenious marketing plan to hypnotize every level of reading public around the world into believing Dan Brown has made a major discovery.
He plays on the religious, philosophical, and scientific minds of the world that for one reason or another wish to destroy the structure of both the Christian Religion as well as Freemasonry. Presented are smatterings of incorrect assumptions, undoubtedly lifted from books and researchers since the 1700's. To hold the reader and book in tact the author with candor laces the search for the grail with mystery and intrigue.
When I read a modern-day book, I always search out the author's intent. Dan Brown was highly skilled in hiding his intent until the last page of the book. Throughout the book, he led the reader to believe he had found the secret of the Holy Grail or was about to discover the actual Holy Grail. When he finally has to reveal his discovery, he chokes. Wirth artistic reluctance, he cloaks his lack of information and discovery in the sham the position of two glass pyramids above and under The Lourve in France. What a marketing plan not only to sell the book to every kind of reader, students, teachers, artists, musicians, philosophers, scientists and religionists, just everyone.
However, is therein a clue as to what is the reality of the marketing plan? How do we decode his plan?
With the economy of France on the downward spiral since September 11, 2001 and that is putting it mildly, is it just a simple as ABC, a master plan to attract unlimited tourism dollars to France? Did France pay Dan Brown to write the book? The book was not marketed well here in the United States but it had unlimited marketing in Europe.
Perhaps, most readers missed the entire discovery of Dan Brown, which as I see it was in fact to write a book carefully framed around a marketing plan to sell as historical fiction.
What an amazing idea. It is glaringly apparent that Dan Brown managed to deceive the entire intellectually disadvantaged world of readers who seemed to lack the curiosity and clarity even to see past his misconceived and incorrect ideation of fact and faction.
[From WIND OF THE SPIRIT, pages 65-70.]
What is the scientific rationale of old age? Disease is disobedience to the laws of nature, the laws of health, of which disobedience we are all guilty more or less. Death is simply the withdrawal of the finer powers from this physical plane in order that the peregrinating ego may journey on in its egoic fullness to other adventures when the call and attraction of this earth have temporarily ceased. Books could be written on just these two points. After all, what is old age? Here is where the difficulty comes. I am going to say things that will sound to some of you, I fear, as if I was talking in Eskimo or in Chinese.
First, let me try to prepare your minds for my thought by asking you if you have ever wondered about a very simple fact, which is that most human beings die more or less within a certain framework or cadre of years. Barring disease and accident, the average lifespan is pretty much the same all over the world. That is what I mean: we do not live to be a thousand years old, and unless accident or disease of some kind takes us away to the other spheres, we live more than ten days or one hundred days.
Why is it that the lifespan for the average human being is something between fifty years and let us say eighty odd? Let us say one hundred if you will. It is still so short. Now why is it? Are you just like sheep that you accept a fact because it happens and do not think about it and ask yourself why it is? Why should the elephant live to be several hundred years old, or the whale, or the turtle some say five to seven hundred years old, whereas the Angel of Death commonly reaps us before we attain our one-hundredth year? So rare is it for a man to go beyond the hundredth year in physical life, that they even keep records of those exceptional cases where human beings have attained 105, 130, or 140 odd years.
I will tell you what it is, and here is where I begin to talk Chinese or Eskimo -- or Occultism. It is the habit that we have of acting and reacting in the evolutionary stage in which the human race presently finds itself. Do you talk about the planets and about how they govern the lifespan of man? Perfectly true; but how is it that the planets allow a man to pass what might be called the critical period and continue living, and only take him when he may pass it again? He may have happened to pass it several times previously in a life. Why does it catch him at a certain time? These are facts, fascinating, interesting, and I ask you why. My answer is that it is a habit of Nature due to our past karma, feelings, thoughts, our past thinking. We have framed for ourselves a framework of psychic and intellectual habit that causes the Angel of Death to call for us more or less within this short span of between one and seventy or a hundred years.
How did this habit arise? Was this habit always so? Will it ever be just this same habit? In other words, did our forebears of let us say 120 millions of years ago live to be only 50, 60, or 70 odd years and then die? They did not. They lived to be several hundred years old; and you have records of this in all the scriptures of antiquity, as for instance in the Jewish Bible when Methuselah lived to be 900 odd. Now I think that is an exaggeration, but it is an illustration and we can pass it. Then the days of men shortened on earth because they sought evil and loved its hot and fetid breath. As evil is an increase of the vital tempo, the vital reservoir is exhausted before its normal time, so the lives of men were shortened.
It is a true explanation, and when the human race through millions of years acquires a habit, a psychic habit, the very atoms of man's body respond to that habit and obey it. It is so with all kinds of habits, such as waking every morning at a certain hour. One can get a habit of over-feeding or starving himself. He can get all sorts of habits; and every thoughtful physician must know perfectly well the physiological habits that every normal human body automatically follows in birth, healing, and even disease.
However, that does not still quite answer our question. Why is it that man lives a life of only 80 to 100 years, which is so short compared with endless time? He is here for just a brief flash, and then is gone! Look at the stars. Consider even the other creatures on the earth, many of them much more long-lived than we humans are. Why should it be just so? Now here is some more occultism, which whatever you may think of it, happens to be true.
We acquired this habit because of our past karma, which means the things we did, the thoughts we had, and the feelings we underwent and followed, or did not follow, in all our past series of lives. In its evolutionary journey towards far greater perfection, the human race is only about the middle point of this evolutionary journey of what we Theosophists call our planetary chain. In other words, it has reached in its series of seven rounds just a little past the central point that is the point farthest down in matter. The call of physical stuff is therefore the strongest.
Now then, if you watch old age, you will notice several things. In the cases of those whose old age is the most beautiful, they never lose their powers until within a few days or a week or so of death. Their powers remain intact, not the bodily ones, because the body is aging rapidly, but I mean the real powers that make a man man. Merely to have a physically strong body is not the mark of a true man. Sometimes gross animals have bodies that are far stronger than are those of the highly intellectual civilized human. It is the powers within a man that make him a man, and it is these powers that the finest old age retains, because these men are the finest of men, the most evolved at the present time. It is as if, because of this fineness of evolutionary status even at the present time, they took tentative steps ahead of the race into the future and its greater glory, and could retain this evolutionary forerunning until death came, forerunners as it were of the racial habit.
Now there is the key to the whole thing. We are at present in what we call the fourth round, just about at its central and lowest point. When we have reached the fifth round, death then will not come so quickly; the human lifespan will be far longer than the three score years and ten that the Hebrew Bible gives us as the normal span of human life. When we shall have reached the sixth round, the lifespan will be still longer. I will tell you why in a moment or two. When we shall have reached the seventh and last round for this planetary embodiment, the span of life will then be at its longest. There will be no old age. There will be no future for that particular planetary chain, no best men as it were who could step a little ahead of the norm. All men will retain their faculties until death comes.
During this seventh round, the human race will have become relatively a race of Buddhas or Christs. Death, as the Christian system has it, the last enemy to overcome, will then have been conquered; disease will be non-existent, for men then will live by a habit that is absolutely in accordance with the laws of Nature; and what we call death will be simply a falling asleep, to awaken in higher realms. There is no wrench as at present, be it kindly or harsh, but simply a falling asleep.
We look forward to the future millions of years hence. Man's life will be several hundred years. Health will be his in relative perfection, because men will automatically obey the laws of Nature. When death comes, it will come like a gentle sleep when there is release into the inner worlds. In those days, men will step out of their bodies at will. They will leave them behind if they are tired. They will take a new body at will or may go onto other spheres for men then will be conquerors of death. There will be no death as we understand it.
That is what evolution has for us in the future -- a wondrous picture! Then, instead of old age, men will be in fullest possession of their faculties, not merely physical powers such as they have at, let us say, forty-five; but their intellect, spirituality, vision, and mind will be at their highest. That happens even today occasionally amongst the finest men of the human race, those who are a little ahead of their evolving brothers trailing along behind them. They have intuitions like a child taking tentative steps towards something still unknown. Nature pushes them ahead so that their old age is a picture of what the future will be for all men, visions of the future casting their shadows back to us here.
We approach old age now as we do because of our past, but in those far distant eons, we can say the older a man grows, the stronger and more powerful he becomes in everything about him, even his body. We have not reached that yet! Our old age is as it were a copying in us in the small of all that the race has attained up to the present time. It has become a racial habit.
I will point out something else: mere physical old age is by no means something to long for. Think about what the old age of so many millions of human beings is. It is pitiful. There is the loss of intellectual power, spirituality, the physical powers, psychological insights, and the mind largely, and yet they live on because the physical vitality is so strong. Who wants that?
The ideal old age that we can strive for even now and gain in proportion to our effort is to face death when it comes with joy. It is the beginning of a marvelous adventure. Until the time comes so to live and from birth until the time of its coming so to think, feel, and aspire that while the body inevitably will become more or less enfeebled as old age comes upon us, the mind remains unimpaired. Spirituality grows and glorifies what we so inadequately call the sunset years. This is the Theosophical ideal of old age: a man increasing in inner power, in inner vision, in mind power, in intellect, in spirituality; so that up to even a few hours of his death, he is with every advancing day a bigger man than he was the day before or the year before. It is no impossible ideal. Live aright. The guerdon is such.
Yet there are karmic things in the lives of many people that bring about disease, disease that can be traced back far into past lives. Therefore, in these things we should do wisely to remember the fine old rule: Judge not your brother lest you be judged. You never know but what your brother may be going through some terrific retribution in this life for a misdeed let us say ten lives back, which, like a seed of trouble lying hid, is now blossoming. Judge him not, he may be far ahead of you -- when once this life is ended have a new body and a new karma far better than anything you could look forward to.
We have many mountain ranges of experience still to climb -- but what joy there is in all this wonderful adventure! Look at the future embodiments in all kinds of races, and in all kinds of lands, some of them to come up above the surface of the waters, as ours then will have sunken or be submerged: new lands, new languages, new experiences, new adventures, always going onwards and upwards, and always-growing better.
Here is a consolation for present conditions: that the race as a whole has passed the central point. From now on, it will go no longer downwards into matter, but will be on the slow climb upwards to the very end of time for this earth. Death will be no more, and the evolutionary habit that the human race is in presently and that limits the lifespan to its ridiculously small number of years will have changed. Death will have vanished; birth will happen in other ways. Human genius will confabulate with the gods. Inspiration will be the common heritage of all men. There will then be no more poverty, no more suffering, no more sorrow; for the Sun of Truth will have risen in men's hearts with healing in its wings!
[From THE ARYAN PATH, June 1931, pages 348-53.]
Akbar, the Great Mogul, singularly combined in himself the religious tendencies of a mystic, the sensitiveness and imagination of an artist, the fighting qualities of a warrior, and the tact and foresight of a statesman. Though he was born in India, he had no Indian blood in his veins. The Turk, Mogul, and Persian strains of blood were responsible for the traits of character in Akbar insofar as they depended upon heredity. Similarly, the distinctive manners and customs of his court were derived from non-Indian sources. The officers and courtiers were mostly Turks and Persians. Hence, Indian influences counted for little in the first period of his life and reign.
In spite of those early foreign surroundings, the religion of Akbar's mature mind was such that Hindus reputed him -- as strange as it may seem -- to be a reincarnation of a Brahman sage. Mohammedans claimed him as a pious Muslim. Jain writers counted him among their devout converts, and others found reasonable ground for affirming him to be a Zoroastrian or a Christian. He was exalted, indeed, to the loftiest rank among religious men. What charm then did Akbar possess that made him the beloved of all seekers after truth? How did he become all in all to every religious community in an empire subjected to furious and frequent religious feuds?
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As a boy, Akbar was brought up under strict Islamic discipline. When he was but five years old, Humayun, his father, sent for celebrated teachers to instruct him in religion and statecraft. Young Akbar was fonder of animals than books, and devoted much of his time to camels, horses, dogs, and pigeons. He resisted all attempts of his father to give him book learning, so much so, that he never mastered the alphabet, and to the time of his death was unable to read or sign his own name. He had, however, a remarkable capacity for listening; he would absorb selected passages in poetry, history, philosophy, and theology as others read for him for hours. Thus, he developed an appreciation of the value of learning, and his royal library is said to have contained some 24,000 volumes. He loved the arts, promoted architecture, encouraged sculpture and painting, and showed an extravagant liking for music and singing.
In spite of the exacting demands made upon him by the affairs of the state, Akbar showed an unusual interest in all matters pertaining to religion. He was brought up in the ways of a devout Muslim. For praying while on tour, he had a lofty tent constructed as a traveling mosque, in which he offered prayer five times a day. At one time, he earnestly desired to go on pilgrimage to Mecca, but later abandoned the plan as his officers opposed it strongly in the interest of the state. However, his zeal and devotion were so great that, since he himself could not go, he issued a proclamation to the effect that any one who wished to go on a pilgrimage would be financed by the state. At another time, when Sultan Khwaja was given a sendoff as leader of the pilgrim caravan, Akbar donned the attire of a pilgrim and followed the Khwaja for some distance on foot as a symbolic pilgrimage.
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He made an exhaustive and critical study of the Koran, and his passionate desire to know more about the different schools of Muslim thought led to the erection of a "House of Worship" in the year 1575. To this place, Akbar invited distinguished Mohammedan scholars to hold debates and discourses on the beliefs of the various Muslim sects. Presiding over these meetings, he kept the peace of the house with much tact and good temper whenever the disputes became heated. As he himself was a strict Muslim at this time, the experts invited to participate in and listen to the discussions confined to the four classes of Muslims: the Shaikhs or holy men, the Syyids or eminent descendants of the Prophet, the Ulama or doctors learned in the law, and lastly the Amirs or nobles of the court.
The debates held every week in the House of Worship began at some time after sunset on Thursday evening that, according to the Mohammedan calendar, is reckoned as part of Friday, and were often continued until noon of that day. The scholarly discourses helped immensely to clarify the issues for Akbar. Besides, they greatly stimulated his thinking and led him to an illumination otherwise impossible. While his belief in Deity became more and more deep-rooted, his rationalistic tendencies made him more and more skeptical about the doctrines of Islam. He resented the claims made for its authority and exclusiveness, and found no adequate ground for affirming the truth of its inspiration. His belief in the resurrection of the body and eternal punishment were also shaken.
With the advance of years, he grew in knowledge and wisdom, and his unsatisfied quest for truth drove him to a critical investigation of other religions. The religious assembly was therefore thrown open to Hindus, Christians, and adherents of diverse other faiths, and they were invited to debate with frankness the relative merits of their respective creeds. Thus, under the hospitality of the Emperor Akbar, the first Parliament of Religions in the history of the world came to be held in India. In this manner, he made an earnest attempt to make a comparative study of religions and evaluate their excellences.
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Even as he roamed among people, Akbar frequently sought intercourse with fakirs and yogins to discuss with them the problems of life and share their religious experiences. Thus, he came under the influence of Mir Abdul Latif, a Persian teacher, who introduced him to the mysticism of the Diwan of Hafiz. To discuss religious matters, Akbar often called upon Amar Das, the third Sikh Guru, offering him costly presents and partaking of his simple fare. His friendly relations with the learned lady Mirabai, wife of the Rana of Udayapur, initiated him into the doctrines of Vaishnavism. With the help of the famous Dastur Meherjee Rana of Nausari, in Gujarat, he acquired an intelligent understanding of the creed, ceremonies, and philosophy of Iran. Eminent Jain scholars, such as Hiravijaya Suri, Vijayasena Suri and Bhanuchandra Upadhyaya, made a profound impression upon Akbar and influenced his mode of life. He invited the wise Fathers of Goa to his court, and received instructions under them in the fundamentals of Christian belief.
From his early youth, Akbar had been deeply interested in the mystery of the relation between God and man, and took delight in discussing the abstruse problems of that relation with men of deep religious insight. Besides such stimulating conversations, the frequent debates, frank and furious, in the Parliament of Religions provided him with ample food for thought. The comparative study of the different faiths of mankind liberated his spacious mind from the bondage of orthodoxy. His diligent search led him finally to the conclusion that different faiths emphasized different aspects of reality, and that no one religion could lay claim to a monopoly of truth. And the conviction that all creeds -- having as founders divinely inspired men -- came from a single source, the Divine Wisdom, grew upon him.
Therefore, much as he admired certain aspects of the four main creeds, he could not bring himself to embrace wholeheartedly any one of them. Their rival claims only drove him desperately to cherish the dream of founding a new and improved religion in his dominions, which, he hoped, would prove to be not only a synthesis of all the clashing creeds but also capable of uniting the various discordant elements of his vast empire. To consider this pressing need carefully, Akbar summoned a General Council of all the masters of learning and the military commandants of the neighboring cities, and after much deliberation, he avowed publicly for the first time in 1582 his project of establishing a universal religion in his kingdom. Akbar's new religion, the Din-i-Illahi, was a synthesis of the material he had gathered from the several religions and systems of philosophy with which he was familiar.
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To Akbar religion was not merely a manner of thinking; it was even more a way of living. He began therefore to conduct his life in the light of what he considered the best teachings of different religions. Islam indoctrinated him in the belief in one God, to which he clung to the last days of his life. In obedience to the teaching of Jainism, he abstained almost wholly from eating flesh, renounced his beloved sport of hunting, and restricted the practice of fishing.
He was drawn to Christianity by its power to change the lives of men. He entertained Jesuit Fathers at his court and made them build a church in the palace, and there he often attended Christian worship. Although their attitude was uncompromising and fanatical, Akbar protected them and asked them to instruct his people in Christian morals. Though the doctrines of the Trinity, of the virgin birth of Jesus, and his death upon the cross were not acceptable to Akbar, the ethical teaching of Christ had a fascination for him. He often subscribed his letters with the sign of the cross, and as symbols of his appreciation of Christianity, he wore round his neck a cross, and a locket containing the portraits of Jesus and the Virgin Mary.
The potent influence of Zoroastrianism on Akbar manifested itself outwardly in his reverence of fire. The sun, according to Hinduism, is the source of the ripening of the grain on the fields, of fruits and vegetables; the illumination of the universe, and the lives of all living creatures are said to depend upon it. Akbar therefore thought it but proper to worship the sun and fire, and began to prostrate himself in public before them. He even required the whole court to rise respectfully when the lamps and candles were lighted. Further, in compliance with the demands of the Zoroastrian ritual, he adopted the Persian names for the months and days and celebrated the fourteen Persian festivals. He wore under his clothes the sacred shirt and girdle of the Parsee.
While he had no use for the idolatrous practices of Hinduism, he adopted readily such doctrines and customs as appealed to his reason. Sometimes he would even appear in public with Hindu religious marks on his forehead. Having become a firm believer in religious tolerance, he allowed freely to others the right to make their own experiments, discover the line of teaching that revealed religion most to them, and then adopt only those beliefs that gave them the best personal satisfaction.
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This new religious movement was followed by the inauguration of many moral and social reforms. Akbar enacted laws to put an end to the cruel custom of Sati. He made regulations permitting widow remarriage and prohibiting child marriage. Through legislation, he sought to control the sale of liquor, to raise the standard of morality, and promote chastity. The general destruction of animals was disallowed and animal food was partially forbidden. Out of respect for the sentiments of the Hindus, the slaughter of cows was prohibited and made a capital offence.
Akbar introduced most of such reforms and innovations for the main purpose of furthering the adoption of Hindu, Jain, Parsee, and Christian practices. The adoption of the best usages of different communities, he believed, would go far towards fostering the spirit of tolerance and mutual sympathy, and minimizing the dissimilarities that make for separatism and national disunity.
This unique attempt of Akbar to establish a universal religion and inculcate a spirit of catholicity is described by a European writer as "a policy of calculated hypocrisy." Akbar certainly was a diplomat of the first rank, but the fact that he often introduced radical changes in the teeth of fanatical opposition, risking grave dangers to the throne and his own life, makes it difficult for a sympathetic critic to doubt the sincerity of his effort in this direction. Further, from his boyhood up he had given evidence of pronounced religious tendencies. A mere following up of the several stages in his spiritual growth clearly shows how the evolution of Akbar's universal religion was the most natural and logical outcome of the development of his religious consciousness. Even from the political point of view, the formulation of a universal religion seemed to him essential for the solution of the problem of disunity.
Akbar perceived that it was politically unsound to have a nation divided up into many religious factions, while the empire is ruled by one head. While religions divide, the true spirit of Religion, he believed, would bind; and there-fore he thought it imperative to bring all the religions into one in such a fashion that they should be both "one" and "all," with the advantage of not losing what is good in any one religion, while gaining whatever is better in another.
The best way of doing honor to God, giving peace to the people and security to the empire, seemed to lie, as he saw it, in a synthesis of the diverse faiths. Hence, Akbar set for himself the stupendous task of realizing unity in diversity, of establishing a synthesis amidst variety. Few have shown so clearly the true way out of our perplexing problems -- religious hatred and national disunity. In view of all he did to promote religious liberality and national solidarity, we may say that Akbar fully justified the name given to him at birth, and that Humayun rightly called his infant son " Jalalu-d din," the Splendor of Religion.
[Based upon email written October 10, 12, and 26, 2004 about recent theosophical travels.]
IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE FOUNDERS
In Galle, Sri Lanka, I was taken to the Wijayanada Buddhist Temple and compound for an interview with the Head Monk. He showed me a number of books from his library about Olcott in both English and Singhalese including Prothero's WHITE BUDDHIST, the Howard Murphet's biography (with its revised title of YANKEE BEACON OF BUDDHIST LIGHT), plus, of course, OLD DIARY LEAVES.
There is a statue of Olcott in the central area of the town. I noticed a feeling of great warmth and affection for the Colonel here.
I was then taken to the hall in the old building (1867) where the Founders of the Theosophical Society, H.P. Blavatsky and H.S. Olcott, took Panchasila and became Buddhists on May 19, 1880. There is a bust of Olcott in an alcove, and below it a reproduction of his own handwriting attesting to have taken Panchasila together with HPB in that hall.
I was also taken to the temple in which there is a large and dignified statue of Lord Buddha. Among the many paintings on its walls, depicting episodes in the Buddha's life as well as some of the Jataka Tales, one caught my eye. It shows HPB and HSO sitting on the floor, with hands joined at their chest, before four Buddhist elders. It depicts the moment in which they actually took Panchasila. It was a tad too much for my South-American heart.
I caught myself saying wordlessly to myself: "The guys were here. The guys were here!"
When the time came for me to leave the compound, I thanked the Head Monk for his kindness and hospitality (we had a sumptuous lunch). As the van I was traveling went through the gates, I left with a lump in the throat.
CONVERSATIONS WITH BUDDHIST MONKS
In Badulla, southeastern Sri Lanka, I had the opportunity of another visit to the senior Buddhist monk I had met last year. He used to be a teacher of monks but is now retired due to health reasons. He lives in a small cottage on the compound of a Buddhist temple.
The subject of our conversation, done through an interpreter, was the stages on the path (marga): sotapatti, sakridagamin, anagamin, and arhat. They are mentioned in theosophical literature. He mentioned the well-known notion of the "fetters" (samyojana) and said that progress from one stage to another is by getting rid of a number of "fetters." One of the central ones is the sense of self (sakkayadhitti). He said this is the most serious impediment to one threading the path.
The monk said the "anagamin" (non-returner) is free from "tanha," the thirst for experience which is the source of suffering ("dukkha"). "There is suffering but no sufferer." Almost incomprehensible to me, he said that even the "anagamin" has fetters to deal with, even when they are necessarily of a subtler nature. One of them is ignorance ("avijja" in Pali or "avidya" in Sanskrit).
I then asked him, "Are there Arhats alive today?"
He answered, "Possibly, but it is very difficult to verify it. It is a universal truth that no Arhat would say that he himself is an Arhat." "An Arhat," he added, "is free from the illusions created by the sense of self (sakkayadhitti)."
My questions became slightly bolder. "When do you think Maitreya-Buddha will manifest himself in the world?"
His answer was quite remarkable. "Maitreya-Buddha will manifest when the present world is 'destroyed' and after a new cycle of life begins, either on this or on another planet."
Was he referring to another Round?
"Is the Bodhisattva Maitreya in physical incarnation now," I ventured to ask. (He differentiated between Maitreya-Buddha and Bodhisattva Maitreya.)
He said, "Yes."
"Do you have any idea of the place where he would be living now," I continued.
"Bharatha" (India), he said. He made clear that these were just his views and he did not claim the authority of any traditional Buddhist text in support of them.
What he said about Maitreya-Buddha reminded me about what Samdhong Rimpoche had told me in a conversation in Sydney, in 2001, during the World Congress of the Adyar Theosophical Society. He said that according the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Maitreya-Buddha would manifest in the world in a million years from now, but that there would be partial manifestations before the full manifestation would take place. These partial manifestations would prepare humanity for the future teaching.
Rimpoche also said that in this age, the Kali Yuga, there is individual clarity and collective darkness, and that in the next age, the Satya Yuga, there will be collective clarity but individual darkness, for these two poles must always be together.
On being asked about the existence of the Mahatmas, he said that Tibetan people are aware that Mahatmas exist, but since they do not attract attention to themselves, it is very difficult to recognize them.
DAWN AT THE GANGES
I am in India on a lecture tour. While in Varanasi, I paid a visit to the Ganges -- for which I had to get up at 4 A.M.!
My guide was a 65 years old worker of the Theosophical Society headquarters in India, Rama Adhar. He walks fast. For the past 27 years, he walks to the Ganges daily.
On the way to the river, we find many people bringing their offerings, entire families sometimes were coming.
When we reach the river, what I saw is very difficult to describe with western eyes, so I will borrow an Indian look and attempt the impossible.
Above the river that flows calmly and effortlessly lies a vast sky. The river reflects the sky, and incredible as it may seem, the sky reflects the river. The sky over the Ganges seems to be a river of pure space (akasha in Sanskrit). River and sky form a complete and indivisible oneness. Seeing this puts an end to all mental chattering.
"Ganges" is the name given to it by the British. The Indians call the river "Ganga," and it is regarded as a Goddess. The river is a living temple. "Ganga is our Mother," one of them tells me. The ritual they perform at its steps (ghats) involves body, soul, and spirit, for they actually dip into it several times. Ganga is a Mother that welcomes all her children, both the living and the death.
It is utterly impossible to describe the feeling one has at its steps. The experience is so overwhelming that it does not seem to leave anything behind to describe. Perhaps holiness could come closer to it. The whole place seems to be completely suffused with a profoundly benign spiritual power.
On the way back, there was little talk. In my heart, I carry the experience that India is an endless love affair with God, who Indians call Brahman, literally meaning "vastness." This Vastness, without beginning and without end, is profoundly Feminine, a Mother that nourishes, heals, inspires, renews, and accepts all unreservedly.
As I walked, I felt small, very small.
[From THE ARYAN PATH, June 1931, pages 353-58.]
Of most great men, it has been said that they were born before their times. Perhaps it would be truer to say of each of them that he was born punctual to his time. The Hour waited, and the Man came. Yet of few is this truer than of the founder of Neo-Platonism, Ammonius Saccas of Alexandria. It is overmuch to say that men looked for his coming, but if he had not come, it would have been necessary to invent him! He not only crowned but he completed the special achievement of Alexandrian philosophy; in the appearance of chaos, he revealed the reality of order.
The religious mentality that prevailed throughout most of the civilized world in the second century A.D. in some respects resembled that with which we are familiar today. The pax Romana brought into contact men of many races and yet more diverse faiths, and the curious regarded the multiplication of the gods and doubted. An easy skepticism bred an equally easy credulity; superstition was rife.
Alexandria in the lifetime of Ammonius presented a microcosm of the Imperial macrocosm. It stood at the peak of its prosperity and pride, second only to Rome and the world's greatest port. It was a cosmopolitan city, long ago fathered by a regnant Greece upon a consort Egypt, and now besides, in the course of the years, become the most virile center of Jewish culture of the day. The produce of Orient and Occident was bartered to and fro across its quays by men of all the nations, permanent colonies of foreign merchants even from far India were settled in the town, and with them came students also to the ancient and famous university of the Museum and Library. East and West met here to exchange not only goods but ideas as well, and though in the wide streets mob passions ran sometimes high and racial and religious tumults and massacres were not unknown, among the wiser students of the lecture rooms a tradition of tolerance and desire for mutual understanding had long been established.
The sustained Alexandrian tendency was indeed towards a liberal eclecticism, philosophical in nature but religious in implication and effect, and even from as early as the second century B.C., men of every school revealed it increasingly. It actually penetrated the Christian Catechetical School, so that one preceptor, the amiable Clement -- himself a converted pagan and ardent Platonist -- openly taught his pupils that truth persisted even in the heathen philosophies and mythologies, though each preserved only an isolated fragment, and all must be considered in conjunction if error were to be avoided.
This attitude -- when all its inalienable implications are allowed -- may be said to represent the final flower of Alexandrian eclecticism before Ammonius. What he did to deserve more than either Philo or Numenius the title of founder of that school from which the term Theosophy dates but that has somewhat obscured its nature under the name of Neo-Platonism was to reverse that half-truth and to reveal t higher verity that every religion, rightly interpreted, possesses all the vital doctrines of true religion, that these doctrines are in every case identical, and that, moreover, they derive from a single source.
Ammonius Saccas was born in Alexandria about the year 160 A. D., and lived and died there. His parents were poor, and Christians. He became in youth a corn-porter at the docks -- whence his distinguishing name of Saccas, the sack-carrier -- but continued to attend the Catechetical School. Yet from childhood, he had revolted against the simpler Christian dogmatism. Even the liberal teachings of Clement and Pantaenus (a converted Stoic who had traveled much in the East) could not satisfy him. Even tireless in seeking knowledge, he became at the same time a pupil of certain non-Christian lecturers, casting the net of his inquiring mind as widely as possible, and drawing strange fish from not only Greek, but also Egyptian, Persian, and Indian streams of wisdom.
He held the balance between them all, for it was said that he had no instructor in philosophy -- that is, he acknowledged no teacher as his master. But such was his wisdom that men could not believe it self-attained, and called him Theodidaktos, or god-taught, saying that divine truth was revealed to him in dreams and visions. How long the preparatory stage of initiation lasted none can say. It is unlikely that he established his own school much before the age of forty, yet by the end of the first decade of the new century, he was already one of the most illustrious teachers in Alexandria, his lectures being attended by the famous Origen, head of the Catechetical School from 203 to 215.
The controversy as to whether Ammonius ever openly renounced Christianity centers about this pupilship of Origen. Would a Christian teacher, ask some, have attended the lectures of an apostate? On the other hand, it must be pointed out that Alexandria was then the one place in the world where Christianity did meet on equal terms with heathen faiths and philosophies, and further it is declared that Origen went to him specifically to study heathen philosophy at its best that he might the more ably combat it. The point is not an important one. Ammonius acknowledged all religions; he revered Jesus preeminently as a great seer, not god-born perhaps, but certainly like himself god-taught.
So far as we may judge by the practice of Plotinus, apparently based upon that of his master, Ammonius was as a teacher no dogmatic instructor. He gave of his wisdom, but knew that understanding must be positive not passive, an imaginative and spiritual process not merely an effort of the memory. His method was to read some wise passage, and then to make his pupils follow him in commenting upon it; he encouraged them to question him freely. All his instruction was given by word of mouth, and though various works on the Gospels and on Aristotle have been ascribed to him, it seems certain that he wrote nothing.
At no time did he lack pupils, and in fact received the admiration and support of some of the most eminent Christian, Jewish, Greek, and other Alexandrian teachers of the day. Among his most intimate disciples were numbered Longinus the critic, Erennius, another Origen (a pagan), and, of course, Plotinus, who had come to the university at the age of twenty-seven to study philosophy, and for a year sought saddened and discouraged for a worthy instructor until at last a friend brought him to Ammonius. He heard his future master speak but once, and exclaimed, "This was the man I was looking for." Thenceforward for eleven years -- until the death of Ammonius in 243 -- he continued the most steadfast and devoted of all the small inner circle of students.
The principal effort of Ammonius as a public teacher was to reconcile to the Platonic system the tenets of every school and sect, whether of Greece, or Egypt, or the East. This demonstrated the basic teachings of all the great sages from Buddha and Pythagoras to Plato and Jesus, however superficially cast into the language of their times and places, to be essentially one, fruit of a single tree of Divine Wisdom and revelation. He sought earnestly to purge the prevailing polytheisms of their vulgar superstitions by revealing their sacred legends as allegories expressive of spiritual truths.
Opinion ascribes to him a primary if not a sole part in the final fusion of the Platonic creative World-Spirit, the Aristotelian Intelligence, and the Pythagorean Monad into the Neo-Platonic Trinity. It was (1) the One, absolute, incomprehensible, infinite, indefinable, and supreme; (2) the Universal Mind or Intellectual Principle that contains the Thoughts or Ideas of all things, and by thinking creates; and (3) the Universal Soul, that having radiated down through the hierarchies of the gods, angels, demons, men, animals, plants, and minerals to the lowest point of matter is the universe we perceive.
He achieved both the final definition of the One as, in the phrase of Plotinus, "beyond all being in majesty and power," and the essential identification of the Ideas with the Intelligence of God, a dual accomplishment declared by one Christian critic to "form the bridge between ancient and modern metaphysics." All, he taught, flowed from the One; all partook of the Nature of the One; all sought to return to the One -- and his highest teaching in fact promised mystic communion with the One.
This was a teaching only for the few, demanding as it did a purity equal to that for which he himself was noted. (Plotinus wrote on this point: "If the eye that ventures the vision be dimmed by vice, impure, or weak, then it sees nothing even though another point to what lies plain before it. To any vision must be brought an eye adapted to what is to be seen, and having some resemblance to it.") To the many, he advised with the sanity that always characterized him, a natural life in accordance with the laws and customs of their land and faith; only before his own disciples did he set up the ideal of "a God-like life," a severe but wholesome asceticism. And only to these disciples, and under an injunction of secrecy, did he teach the more sublime doctrines and mystical practices, the Wisdom said to have been handed down by Initiates in many countries of the East, and to have been brought by Hermes from India to Egypt. To them alone he revealed the theurgical -- the so-called magical -- attainments that the more ignorant would certainly have regarded as miraculous.
When at last Ammonius died, his school was scattered: there remained in Alexandria not one pupil able to carry on the tradition of his teaching. Plotinus might have done so, but he, released at last from his discipleship, desired to study the wisdom of Persia and India at first hand, and traveled eastward with the Emperor Gordian's expedition against the Parthians. But Gordian was murdered, and Plotinus retraced his tracks not to Alexandria but to Rome. There he lived privately for some years, bound by the vow of secrecy Ammonius had laid upon his followers.
The pact was broken by Erennius and the pagan Origen, and Plotinus found himself free to teach, though for ten more years he did so orally only, and would commit nothing to writing. Towards his last years, however, he relented -- fortunately, for his works are indeed the main source of our knowledge of the exoteric teachings of Ammonius. (The few hundred words on the immateriality of the soul, and again on the relation of soul and body, quoted by Nemesius in his treatise ON HUMAN NATURE a hundred and fifty years after their supposed author's death, deal with limited though important aspects, and are in any case not certainly authentic.)
Through the influence of Plotinus, these teachings became for three hundred years the primary philosophical influence throughout the Empire, and when at last dogmatic Christianity conquered, they had so permeated the very thought of the Church that they were carried onward as a heritage to the world by the very power which desired to extinguish them. Yet the death of the Neo-Platonist Hypatia, barbarously killed by a Christian mob, was the death also of Alexandrian philosophy.
Of the esoteric doctrines who shall say? Such figures as Iamblichus and Maximus more than hint at the active practice of theurgical powers, but in general, one suspects a tendency to degradation and misuse. One of the pupils of Ammonius himself, it is recorded, sought to bewitch Plotinus, and there are other instances wherein the black magic blots ominously across the white. With the victory of the orthodox faith, Theosophy exoteric and esoteric sank into obscurity, persistent perhaps but secret. The effort was not wasted, but the world was blind. Perhaps in one sense, Ammonius Saccas was before his time, but only in that sense that is itself the condition of his importance. It is the fate of greatness always to be a torch that feeds upon itself to light the surrounding darkness. In broad daylight, it would be merely superfluous.
[From LUCIFER, October 15, 1888, pages 133-36.]
It has been wisely remarked that the old adage, "The truth lies between two extremes," does not necessarily imply that it lies exactly in the middle. That can only be the case where the exaggerating and the underrating have been precisely equal, which can very seldom occur, if ever. The truth will generally be found to lie much nearer to one extreme than to the other, according to the preponderance of abuse over disuse or the reverse.
Regarding the subject of this paper, there are two diametrically opposed schools of thought. At present in the heyday of popularity, one asserts that man is in the most absolute sense the creature of his surroundings, that character is merely a mechanical product of circumstance. Comprising most of the mystics and enthusiasts of all ages, the other declares that by subtle but invariable laws, man is the creator of his surroundings, that circumstance is merely the fruit of character. The truth lies between the two extremes, but much nearer to the latter than to the former.
Undoubtedly we are influenced, and that most powerfully, by our environment. Until we begin to think in earnest, we have no idea of the extent to which our thoughts, feelings, and likes and dislikes are colored by the conditions of our birth, training, and position in the world. Not one man in a million is able even by the most strenuous and prolonged effort to free himself entirely from these invisible chains, or so to "purge the eyes with euphrasy and rue" that he can see Truth in what Bacon calls a "dry light." On the mists of our passions and affections, the white rays of the absolute break and disintegrate, and we see, not the pure Eternal Light, but rather see the rainbow. It is beautiful, indeed, but partial.
(I do not forget or ignore the action of karma. The environment with which each one starts in every fresh incarnation is determined by the net product of acquired tendencies, by "character," only modified by the national and cyclic karma. The self-causation of our position in the world does not affect the fact that circumstances have a powerful influence in the further development of "character," which is all for which I am contending.)
Nevertheless, that character molds circumstance is equally patent. Books of "Good Advice to Young Men" (who are somewhat advised to distraction, by the way) abound in instances. It would be a waste of precious space to quote. Everyone knows of scores of such cases.
Are then the two forces equal? Natural Philosophy teaches that when two opposed forces are equal the result is a deadlock. One of the two must be the stronger. The Higher Wisdom asserts most positively that the power of aspiration excels the power of environment. The former is of the spirit, Divine; the latter of the body, Human. The one has the force of inertia of dead matter ("dead," that is, relatively to our normal perceptions), the other has the creative energy of the One-Life.
Very subtly does the higher force work, as is evidenced by the fact of its mere existence being so often denied; but so, for that matter, does the law of electrical affinity, which no one dreams of doubting. That the magnet, plunged into a heap of mingled sawdust and iron filings, should draw to itself the latter, is as mysterious every whit as that the spirit should draw to itself those material surroundings that best suit its present state. There are modes of action of which our physical senses can take no cognizance, but they are nonetheless real.
Observe that this force is what we call "moral" rather than what we call "mental." It is Aspiration that influences environment, rather than Intellectuality. A man's surroundings will be shaped more by his character than by his abilities. Doubtless, the latter have much to do with the matter; they exert an influence analogous to the power of his muscles on a lower plane. The former is the chief factor in the equation of life.
"Like unto Like" is the law of the universe. Our desires, impulses, longings, and aspirations, if they do not influence the material world directly, do so indirectly, by constantly generating a stream of psychic or soul forces, which act upon the objects of the bodily senses. Too abstruse in its undercurrents to be easily traced, it can be seen at work plainly enough in some of its phases. That we seize or let slip this or that opportunity as it comes, depends very largely upon the frame of mind in which we are at the time. To the soul that aspires, circumstances are stepping-stones; to the soul that creeps, they are hindrances.
The application of this truth to the social life must for brevity's sake is left untouched, beyond the remark that the paramount aim of all reformers should be the inspiring of a better spirit. (Note it is the paramount aim, but not, of course, the only aim.) It is true that little higher development is possible for those whose lives are one long time of drudgery, whose homes are kennels, and whose bodies are mere machines. Material progress and moral or spiritual development must advance with equal steps. Regard the material improvements as a means, not as an end. Never forget that the strongest incentive to a change of surroundings is a change of spirit.
It is in its application to the individual life that this truth is of special interest and value. How common is dissatisfaction with one's lot, not because it is particularly hard, but because of the limitations that it imposes (or seems to impose) on one's aspirations! How frequent the cry, "Oh that I had more leisure, more wealth, a different station, more congenial occupations and surroundings! Oh, had I room to spread my wings! How I would then develop myself and grow liker to the unattainable Ideal!" Aye? That depends.
It is sad but common to see someone's aspirations wither away in the very atmosphere for which he craved. Longing for wealth that he might have opportunities of unfolding his higher nature, a poor man becomes rich and then forget his dreams, becoming like Bunyan's man with the muckrake. "Set a beggar on horseback and he will!" Why is this? It is because he is still a "beggar" at heart. Only the clothes are changed; the man remains the same.
Those with little self-knowledge and understanding of the meaning of Life sigh idly for an Eldorado. Having made up their minds that they cannot grow where they are, they long for an ideal environment in which they might be greater. They will not know how to use that for which they long, if Fortune were cruel enough to answer their prayers.
This is beginning at the wrong end. "FIRST DESERVE, THEN DESIRE." Though the restrictions inseparable from material conditions, though the injustice of others may surround us with barriers in which the aspirations cannot burst into glorious fruition, at any rate they can as a rule put forth the first tender shoots. Do not fear that the growing tree cannot shatter its prison-walls! A seed lodged in the crevice between two blocks of hugest and most firmly cemented masonry can force them apart by sheer force of growth. For they are dead, and it is alive.
Is there not many a Theosophist who longs to enter with full consecration upon the Path, but is prevented by sheer force of his environment from gaining admittance into even the lowest rank of Chelas? Let such a one be wise. If the hindrance is indeed real and not merely apparent, there could be no clearer proof, given that he is not yet ripe for Chelaship. If his longing is genuine and pure, and not an emotional flash of ambition or curiosity, he will steadily set himself so to live that upon his next return to earth he may find himself environed suitably for the solemn initiation.
He who is wise will not long for better environment; he will strive rather to "better himself" in the true sense of those terribly misused words, knowing that the fitter environment will come of itself. He will leave to children the desire for that for which he is not fitted. The baby would clutch at and cut himself with the razor; the modest youth leaves it alone until he needs it, by which time, hopefully, he will know how to use it.
Aspire! Aspire! Only aspire! Believe that matter is but the shadow of spirit; it is the truth. If you are not in that condition of life where you want to be, it is strong presumptive evidence that you are not fit for it; and if not fit, its attainment would be a curse and not a blessing. Promotion is sure, when earned; but it must be earned first. The promotion, however, may not be rapid. It seldom is. It is only by hairbreadths at a time that we can raise ourselves -- our Selves -- perhaps not enough in one short lifetime to bring about any very appreciable change in environment. Nevertheless, making every allowance and deduction, the truth of the matter may be summed up in one sentence. If you are dissatisfied with your lot in life, and would change it, change yourself.
By D.G. Londhe
[From THE ARYAN PATH, March 1943, pages 100-5.]
THE AIM
It is now a quarter of a century since the BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY of Mrs. Rhys Davids appeared in the "Quest Series." The Editor's Note opened with the words:
One of the most marked signs of the times is the close attention paid to psychological research, the results of which are being followed with the greatest interest by an intelligent public and the continued advance of which promises to be one of the most hopeful activities of modern science. The observation, analysis, and classification of mental phenomena are being pursued with untiring energy, and the problems of mind attacked on all sides with refreshing vigor. In brief, the new science of Psychology seems to promise at no distant date to become one of the most fruitful, if not the most fruitful, field of human tillage.
These prophetic words are significant even at the present time when the prophecy in the last sentence has been fulfilled.
When Patanjali compiled the YOGA SUTRAS, he laid down a unique technique of mind culture and thus paved a Path for all those who are intent upon disciplining their minds and sublimating their souls. He started with normal healthy individuals and set up a system of streamlining the soul and perfecting the psyche. He did not set out to diagnose and cure the disorders of neurotics and the maladjustments of morbid minds, as the modern psychoanalysts do, seeking to save their souls.
His was not the modern method of medical consultation and clinical practice, but rather the time-hallowed method of personal spiritual guidance. The psychoanalytical method has to employ "all the devices of the animal tamer to make the defiant barbarian and the savage in us in some measure tractable" but the Yogic method aims at awakening the slumbering divine spirit in man and at developing and evolving the Superman in him.
The Yoga system contains a vast mine of psychological material. A constructive and comparative study of the system of psychology implied in it is a great desideratum. The psychological outlook dominates Indian philosophy, religion, ethics, and culture in general. Yet it is to Yoga that one has to look for a systematic and coherent treatment of the nature, working, conditions, and interrelations of the mental processes. Yoga is the blossom of a culture that is essentially psychological. European culture starting from Greek science shows a marked preference for physics and mechanics. Indian culture, ever since the period of the Upanishads, shows a remarkable inwardization of spirit. Bergson indulged in very penetrating and sagacious musing on the genius of the comparative cultures of the East and West in his Address to the Psychical Research Society in 1913. He writes:
I have sometimes asked myself what would have happened in modern science, if it had started the reverse way: with the consideration of mind (esprit) instead of matter: if Kepler, Galileo, and Newton, for instance, had been psychologists.
Following this reverse way, that is, "with the consideration of mind, instead of matter," India could produce a wonderful system of psychological theory and practice in what we call Yoga. We may follow Bergson's suggestion and style Patanjali a "Newton of Psychology." Mrs. Rhys Davids, writing on "The Birth of Indian Psychology and Its Development in Buddhism," complains that
India is still a home for mysteries of rddhi or psychic will-force, but she is far from being a home for an intelligent investigation of it.
It is high time that our vastly increased psychological knowledge and the newly discovered methods of investigation be brought to bear upon truths intuitively discovered by Patanjali and other illustrious teachers of the Yogic tradition and continuously kept alive and enriched through the centuries.
Psychology as a separate science is of comparatively recent origin. Psychology as pursued in the West is only "Mentology." It is, strictly speaking, a science of the mind, rather than a science of the psyche, which has obviously a much wider significance. The English word "mind" is too generic and vague and is positively confusing when employed as an equivalent of the Sanskrit word "Manas." It is only in the early Vedic usage that Manas is equivalent to soul or spirit. In the SHIVA SANKALPA SUKTA (YAJURVEDA, 34) mind is praised in the sense of an all-pervading spirit, the description of mind being analogous to that of the Atman in the sense of the Upanishads. The all-pervading mind later came to be degraded and limited as a mere "Inner Sense" (Antahkaran). The term "Chitta" becomes more prominent in Buddhism and in the Yoga Psychology, as an empirical science divorced from metaphysics would naturally require a suitable terminology divested of all metaphysical associations.
Yoga represents a dualistic psychology. Patanjali posits a psyche distinct from the body. Human life as it is actually lived is a partnership between the psyche and the body. We are familiar with these two different trends of thought in Western psychology. According to Monism, man, as a concrete being, is a unity of body and mind. However clearly we may distinguish conceptually between body and mind, the concrete evident existence of man is as an organic, undifferentiated whole. Mind, soul, or self is an abstraction for which there is no ontological counterpart in real nature.
Aristotle had advocated such a monistic view of man. He regarded the soul as a mere function of the body. Thinking, judging, etc. are to the body what cutting is to the axe or seeing is to the eye. Materialists supported the monistic view from a very different standpoint. Karl Vogt held that "thought stands in the same relation to the brain as bile to the liver." Buchner regarded psychical activity as "nothing but a radiation through the cells of the grey substance of the brain, of a motion setup by external stimuli." Haeckel considers soul as a function of all substances. He attributes tissue souls to plants, nerve-souls to animals, cell souls to ova, and germ-soul to the impregnated ovum wherein man's body and soul are born together.
The line of dualists starts with Descartes, who postulates two substances, soul and body or spirit and matter, and thus leaves a problem for all future generations of philosophers and psychologists to struggle with. He regarded the pineal gland as the seat of the soul and as a medium of interaction between the soul and the body. In modern times, Henri Bergson, Hans Driesch, and William McDougall are the outstanding exponents of psychological dualism.
Yoga, as said, implies a dualistic conception of the constitution of man. Body is regarded as an instrument of the soul. Health and efficiency of the bodily part of man, though deemed desirable, are not so over-emphasized as to be allowed to jeopardize the well-being of the soul. Psychological dualism is a necessary presupposition of the recognition of former lives. Patanjali undoubtedly recognizes a series of births prior to the present one and suggests the possibility of recalling them to memory through a revitalizing of the Sanskaras. Even a direct sallying forth of the psyche is sometimes suggested (See YOGA SUTRAS, 3, 43 and 19). As Yoga believes in extra-sensuous perception, it virtually recognizes the capacity of the mind to function independently of the senses and thus supports a dualistic psychology.
In our experience, we meet with facts of two kinds: mental and material. This dualism may not be hastily dubbed ultimate, metaphysical, and mysterious and yet there can be no gainsaying that experience is either mental or material. The mental is what is directly and immediately experienced; the material, on the other hand, is what is indirectly and immediately known. Our first acquaintance is with the mental. The mental occurs as perception, feeling, emotion, belief, judgment, memory, and dream.
What we term mind or self is not experienced in its integrality at any particular time. Mind may be understood as a general name, a class-concept, or a universal of which the perceptions and feelings are the particulars, just as man is a general name, a universal to which such individuals as Socrates and Shakespeare correspond. Mind is not a mere abstraction, as it is capable of taking the form of a concrete passing perception. We may conceive a particular passing perception, feeling, or belief as an incarnation of the mind, if the secular use of a religious term were permitted. It is not the mind but only its "mindings" (or workings -- Vrittis) with which we are immediately concerned.
Patanjali in his Yoga system aims at developing a definite scientific method of controlling and mastering the "mindings." He defines the ideal of Yoga as "control of the modifications of the mind." (YOGA SUTRAS, I, 2) A question might be raised. What is the exact nature of this control? The original Sanskrit word "Nirodha," primarily connoting inhibition, is prima facie a negative concept. It means withholding, not allowing something to go forward, so to say. The "mindings" betray a natural tendency to go forth to objects and to identify themselves with them.
Yoga implies that it is desirable to check this extravagant outflow of mental energy that dissipates itself upon objects. The aim of Patanjali's unique method of mastering the mind is to retain the contents of the Vrittis on the subject itself. The control of the modifications of the mind, then, which is laid down as the ultimate objective of the Yoga system is nothing but conservation of the mental energy. Thus, in spite of the apparently negative connotation of the term, "Nirodha" is found on closer consideration to carry the positive significance of retention and conservation.
The conservation of the energy content of the "mindings" should not be understood in a mere passive receptive sense. Control as conservation of mental energy will ultimately take the form of transformation and sublimation of mental energy. Patanjali conceives the human psyche as being essentially a dynamic entity. Yoga psychology in the last resort turns out to be a species of Spiritual Dynamism.
Modern Western psychology has only recently come to recognize the existence of psychic energy. Freud misinterprets psychic energy as being sexual in character. McDougall has rightly insisted that psychology must postulate general psychic energy if it is to avoid being merely descriptive. The hypothesis of energy, being so very serviceable in physics and biology, should be equally serviceable in psychology also, if psychology is to deal satisfactorily with the problem of innervation of human activity. In McDougall's view, this energy must be conceived as being different in character from energy as postulated in physics. It should be understood as being psychophysical, or hormic, as he chooses to term it.
The physiological basis of a mental process consists in a neural process of enormous complexity involving inter-neuronic connections between any number out of those nine billion cells that inhabit the cerebral cortex. Our knowledge of the exact nature of the neural process accompanying and conditioning a mental process is still meager, yet we may conjecture that it is probable that the stimulation of a nerve results in the discharge of stored-up energy contained in a neuron.
The brain activity is sustained by these streams of energy that keep it charged with neurokyme at a varying tension or potential and this charge of free energy is constantly being worked off by thought or mental activity of any other kind; for all mental activity involves the discharge of neurokyme from the sensory to the motor side of the brain, according to James's Law of Forward Conduction.
-- McDougall, OUTLINE OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY, page 104 and ENERGIES OF MEN, page 9
The value of controlling the mental modifications is being increasingly recognized with the progress of neurology. Intense brainwork sustained for some time should convince us in a general and non-technical way of the probable loss of mental energy caused by mental activity. The most outstanding mark of an untrained and undisciplined mind is unsteadiness. The "monkey" mind is a wandering mind. Now it thinks of one thing and then suddenly and unexpectedly it thinks of quite another thing absolutely disconnected with the first. The unsteadiness in the last analysis amounts to lack of adequate attention and application to the object in the focus of consciousness for the time being.
The evil of unsteadiness that it is sought to remedy by the Yogic method is the excessive speed, the mere movement that overshoots the mark, the velocity that is valueless because it defeats its own purpose. The mere passage of the mind from one object to another is a movement of thought that does not help the understanding of a particular object, as it fails to open up different perspectives for looking at the same object or situation. Unsteadiness in its extreme form expresses itself in a miserable lack of logical and coherent thinking. A flickering mind is like a flickering flame: unreliable, treacherous, and good for nothing. Unsteadiness beyond a certain measure is a symptom of insanity. In the manic form of insanity, a man's mind betrays absolute incapacity to fix itself on a particular object. Yoga leaves out this abnormal state of unsteadiness, and takes up unsteadiness only in its normal aspect, seeking to control it by a definite method and technique. Jung has rightly grasped the high value and significance of this method. He writes:
We Occidentals had learnt to tame and subject the psyche, but we know nothing about its methodical development and its functions. Our civilization is still young and we therefore require all the devices of the animal tamer to make the defiant barbarian and the savage in us in some measure tractable. When we reach a higher cultural level, we must forego compulsion and turn to self-development. For this, we must have the knowledge of a way or method and so far, we know of none.
-- MODERN MAN IN SEARCH OF A SOUL, pages 61-2
Patanjali provided a "way or method of self-development" two thousand years before the birth of modern psychology, which is still groping in the dark to find such a way.
[This talk comes from the second part of the tape recording entitled "Winter Solstice 1/2" made of a private class on FUNDAMENTALS OF THE ESOTERIC PHILOSOPHY held on December 21, 1955.]
What we have said is but a bird's eye view of certain recondite facts of nature. Our ultimate spiritual growth bases itself upon these spiritual dynamics. We do not have time to go into many details. We could do it some other time. Yet our minds, intuitive as they are, can supplement these studies a great deal. The various stories of the time of the Winter Solstice flow out from these facts of nature upon which we have lightly touched. These included the virgin birth, the birth of the child in a stable, and the animals surrounding the child (the animals symbolizing the powers within the neophyte's constitution). If we put our minds to it, we can see how the Christian symbolism of Christmas derives from esoteric facts clustering around the season.
The tree is one of the most beautiful symbols coming down from antiquity. This is not the Christmas tree, which is not very old a symbol, but rather a tree in general. The symbol of the World Tree comes from antiquity, invariably connected with the Winter Solstice. Curiously, its roots are above and its branches spread downward. This tree of cosmic life branches out of a spiritual seed and it has roots forever hidden in the planes of spiritual, divine life at the heart of the universe. The manifested forms of life flow from it. They branch out through the circulations of the cosmos and spread downwards into worlds of matter. There are seeds of the various worlds -- cosmic systems, galaxies, solar systems, and planets. They are the whirlpools of force that form at times from this tree as it branches out.
We want lights on our trees, which symbolize cosmic worlds. Likewise, we find centers of spiritual light strung upon the branches of the cosmic tree that the Hindus call ashvattha and the Druids worshipped in their oaks. The Christmas tree illustrates the ancient symbol of life coming from that everlasting and incognizable Root in the inner worlds. The cosmic tree bears innumerable worlds upon its branches, each a manifestation of that life.
HPB points out that in that endless plane of world-manifestation there are always worlds coming into birth. There are always worlds in full evolutionary unfoldment. There are always worlds just coming to fruition and going out like lights. Some are going out, here and there, and others are coming into manifestation elsewhere.
No matter what the outer conditions in which we live, those curious and sometimes strange changes upon the karmic stage of life, the spiritual realities endure. They cannot pass away. Their forms change, but their spiritual content remains valid. Their spiritual integrity remains, because back of these thoughts is universal law. Back of all of it is the universality of divine life. All is well as long as we keep the ancient fires burning upon the altars of our homes and the Christmas spirit sings in our hearts, prevailing in its deeper meaning. We have not lost sight of the vision; there is always hope and courage. In the light of that greater spiritual vision, humanity forges ahead towards those heights of human perfection when a new Sun will shine upon a regenerated human race. There will always be Christmas in the deeper sense of its meaning, always.
In addition to the tree, its branches, and its lights, there are Christmas presents, an ancient Roman custom. The French word for these presents is "etrennes," coming from the Latin word "strenae." In ancient Rome, it denoted the giving of Christmas or Winter Solstice presents at the start of a new year. The Saturnalia began in early December and culminated around the 25th with great festivities and the giving of presents.
In those pre-Christian days, people exchanged eggs just as we do now at Easter. We find another esoteric fact behind the exchange of presents, particularly obvious with the giving of eggs. The idea was, "Here I am, bringing a portion of myself, the best in me, with a loving thought to you." This is more apparent with eggs because from time immemorial they were the symbol of the initiant life, life in its inception. The egg symbolized the solar system within the encompassing range of its consciousness. It was a seed of future life.
The idea refers to all gifts. We should not exchange gifts out of habit. It is of greater value to give a flower to a friend with love than to indifferently buy a thousand dollar present just because it is Christmas. The gift is the feeling behind the giving, the spiritual thought of sympathy, compassion, and loving kindness. The physical gift only embodies that feeling. Our Christian civilization inherited this from Rome; they had it for untold centuries.
Rome had its great periods and it had its periods of commercialism and decadence. When religion declined and money meant too much, Romans were as bad as we are in commercializing their festivals. Certainly, we are not the first to lose the spirit of giving. In both Europe and here in America, we have so many characteristics of ancient Rome that I wonder if many of us may have had a recent incarnation in the Roman Empire.
There is occult significance to the Christian story of gold, frankincense, and myrrh brought to the birthplace of Christ. The gifts are under the respective rulership of the Sun, Mercury, and Venus. The story of the Three Kings who came to worship the holy babe symbolizes the Sun, Mercury, and Venus coming into juxtaposition at the neophyte's initiation. The legends have not come down through the ages in their purity; many things have changed; we do not have clear, original versions. The nature of the Magi and their gifts show that initiates of that time hid facts pertaining to initiation in the story.
Can we tell when there are special juxtapositions of the planets? Astronomically, it requires far greater knowledge than mine. Personally, I cannot, because I do not know enough about occult mathematics. Using a planetarium, would it be possible to find when the planets come together this particular way? If a planetarium were revolved back two thousand years, the cumulative error would make the answer unreliable. We are dealing with things that might take place but once in 100,000 years. Obviously, no mechanical device is perfect enough to tell it to us.
Only those of far greater knowledge of occult numerical relations, the teachers, could answer this question. I mean the Masters, the teachers of HPB, those whom have been terribly reluctant to share anything pertaining to actual numbers. They have given out little. I do not know why. Apparently, numbers are an easy way whereby we can wreck ourselves. So far, they have withheld much. The knowledge exists. The mathematics for the calculation of these things exists. We could determine the initiatory dates with absolute reliability if we knew more, if occult mathematics supplemented our calculations. Even though some specialists, astronomers or mathematicians among us Theosophists, might come much closer than I might, they still would be uncertain.
It is not difficult to find how often a New Moon happens at the Winter Solstice. It is not difficult to find how often there may be, let us say, a conjunction of Venus at the Winter Solstice, without the slightest reference to the Moon. It is not difficult to find when the conjunctions of one body occur. When you take two, the difficulty is enormously increased. When you bring three, the difficulty is immense. You bring four, and you stipulate that the position must take place around December 21, which means that the Sun must be entering Capricorn and not something else, and you have five unknowns, which would tax the mind of the greatest mathematicians. I would not be surprised if our mechanical brains might one day solve it. Someday one of us might ask a scientist to work this out with a mechanical brain.
Many are reluctant to give up their Christian stories. Aside from the position of the planets and the story of the Wise Men, some think it possible that the Wise Men did come. This is childish, but I would not say so to any Christian to whom it means a lot. Most stories are symbolic tales from the crypts of initiation.
This is, however, just one meaning. True symbols have seven meanings of which we may grasp one, two, or three at most. The story also alludes to the threefold nature of an Avatara. First is the God-like being that comes from higher spheres. Second is the loaned psychological apparatus of a Bodhisattva. Finally is the pure physical-astral vehicle, born the usual way. The three combine by a feat of supreme magic to function together over a short period. These are the Three Kings bringing their gifts.
The "star" may actually mean a certain planetary configuration. I do not mean the conjunctions of which we have spoken. Various signs heralded the appearance of any Avatara or Buddha to the initiates that knew how to interpret them. Certain positions of the planets and Sun foreshadowed it as well as other things like possibly the appearance of a great comet. For the initiates who know these things, a star in the story might symbolize all of this, a generalization that indicated the appearance of a great teacher.
Some people have tried to identify that "star" with a conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter. Approximately 2,100 years ago, there was such a conjunction. It is possible that is what the story meant. I feel it meant something much more important. The conjunction has taken place several times since then; it is not so rare. There are many ways to interpret the symbol of the "star." A symbol could mean several things at once. There have been many strange manifestations of light, even in recent times. I would not preclude the possibility of some earthly phenomenon connected with the appearance of a great initiate. It could be.
Everything that we see around us goes through a stage of preparation before reaching usefulness. The skepticism so many people feel about worthwhile things is regrettable. We wish they would move faster and accept what we understand to be true. Yet, their skepticism often protects them from falling headlong into all sorts of byways or illusory approaches with lots of additional confusion. It acts as a protecting veil, stopping them from moving too fast into unknown territory.
This even applies to theosophical students. When you hear some teaching that sounds entirely new, do not swallow it wholesale. Do not be overly skeptical, but weigh it carefully. Accept it only when it has awakened a responsive note inside your heart and mind, back of all possible skepticism on your part.
Everything goes through stages of preparation. It has its point of inception, growth, and unfoldment. This is true even of a mechanical structure, because that structure is the outward exemplification of an idea in the mind of the discoverer or engineer. Even a manufacturer brings his product into fruition, from which its life cycle begins. The things we manufacture have a portion of our mind in them. To the extent they are the product of a brain functioning in that direction, they are animated. Nothing in nature is inanimate. Everything has a degree of life and of consciousness, however rudimentary that consciousness may be.
Open a book on physics and read the definitions of light, matter, and energy. Light, in modern physics, does not mean illumination. The entire electromagnetic spectrum is light, but most is invisible. The definition of light is practically identical with the one in THE SECRET DOCTRINE, which plainly states that the fundamental substance of the universe is light. This is not light in the sense of illumination, but rather the energy behind the vibratory rates with which we deal.
Stories that are dear to us cannot lose meaning when lifted to higher levels. Fairy tales are beautiful to those knowing they are not real. The beauty stays and makes them dearer. This applies even to some church doctrines. It applies to some of the most dogmatic church creeds. They too have esoteric meaning. Beginning as an esoteric teaching, they have become what they are today.
Many theosophical students unfortunately want to break apart the rigid thinking in another person's mind. They want to break up the creeds and dogmas with which someone has ties himself up. No! Do not break anything. Why break it? Why do violence of any type? Awaken him to understand the inner meaning of the ideas. Today we find these ideas crystallized in various churches. Give the ideas a turn or two with the mystic key and perhaps you can awaken in that person the understanding of what this thing came from. It is much more constructive than to try to break it up. Realizing the inner truth, a Christian would not have to give up his or her outer shell of religion, even if that eventually may be the result.
Although you can tell people that Christmas is a story symbolic of something greater, they may cling to their literal ideas. They may still think three Magi came to see a baby born with a light leading their way. They believe there was Jesus, he lived around two thousand years ago, he was born at a certain time, and we commemorate his birth. People cling to ideas they learned while growing up. You outgrow that literal view, coming to see it as symbolic.
Considering the fact that we are complex beings, we can be intensely aware of certain realities in the higher part of our mind, less intensely aware of the same realities in the lesser mind, and have sediments from former beliefs because of heredity and education in the personal astral-mental makeup. To coordinate these three and to harmonize them and align them is a long process. We have to watch out for these sediments; when we encounter them, they are sometimes difficult to handle.
We have now considered many interesting subjects. We have touched upon truths that play an important part at this time of the year. We do not need to consider these realities in merely an academic way. We have come together as students are coming together today in other parts of the world. In considering these teachings, we become close, attuning our minds and hearts to certain spiritual realities of supreme importance to the neophytes. These events are actually taking place, perhaps even at this very moment.
The birth of a neophyte into a greater life is a gigantic spiritual event for humanity as a whole. When new seers and sages are born, it produces a tremendous effect upon all kingdoms of life. The effect is on inner lines, not outer. The neophyte undergoes a spiritual birth, unifies his consciousness with his inner God, and becomes a master of life. In an event of such grandeur, a spiritual, dynamic wake follows it. It has a vibratory that we can feel if attuned. As it happens, however far we may be from it, we can partake of its influence. This is a solemn idea to bear in mind. We can partake in consciousness in events far from our personal and individual cognition.
Remember that wherever we stand in life is the place that belongs to us. It is our own. We are not here by chance. Every one of us occupies in life a certain position of consciousness, a karmic stage setting distinctly our own. We cannot complain of our trials. We are where we have placed ourselves. We cannot complain of not being something else because we have not made ourselves to be that yet. We cannot shirk our circumstances, however pleasant or unpleasant they may be, because what is coming to us is our own. Our trials and tribulations are our own. Our happiness, so-called good luck, prosperity, and good fortune are our own. We have sown the seeds for them, and they have now come to fruition.
Accept the negative and the positive with equanimity. Do not be shaken by adversity or elated by good fortune. Try to remain in that serene condition of consciousness that contemplates sorrow and happiness with equal-mindedness, realizing both conditions are essentially illusory. They are only a stage setting for the growth of the soul through misfortune and fortune, sorrow and joy, and difficult and easy times. It is easier to learn from tests of sorrow and bereavement than of joy, happiness, and fortune. The latter is the greater and more difficult to handle.
Carry home some of these teachings, realizing that we are all on the way. We all belong to the same mystic pilgrimage that stretches from the very lowly ones up to the greatest divinity in the universe. In that endless pilgrimage or procession of evolving life, each helps the other. Everyone strives to become something greater. Everyone follows some guiding star. See that our own star is high in heaven and that we securely hitch our soul to that star.
Friends, let us all rise for a moment and close our meeting with a few moments of silence in which we can rededicate ourselves, as it were, each one of us in his own way, to whatever may be his highest ideal and objective in life.