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New Era Community (1926) - 232:
232. You know that the conditions of Our Community are not easy, but their fulfillment is facilitated by participation in all the other communities. Many social organisms pay no attention to the inner make-up of their members. After acquiring Our discipline, you cannot recognize a community there where only certain external signs of it are preserved. Agni Yoga (1929) - 107:
107. The steps of acquiring Knowledge are: alarmed, inquiring, knocking, harkening, remembering, transforming, sword-carrying, puissant, lamp of the desert, lion of the desert, co-worker of the Creative Principles, creator. Agni Yoga (1929) - 204:
204. Many dream of acquiring the shield of the yogi, while finding it too troublesome to forge the needed sword. But the ability to strike cannot come through watching another wield his sword. Agni Yoga (1929) - 402:
How offensive it is to see petty, grey distrust, with not even a sign of daring! Distrust thrives upon refuse. We always insist that knowledge be gained through experience. We affirm how slowly abilities grow and positive results accumulate. But We consider it inadmissible that a rational person would discard opportunities for gaining knowledge. How often people base the acquiring of knowledge upon material rewards! This is the way little children under seven tend to act. Agni Yoga (1929) - 427:
427. As little as people have gained from changing their clothing styles, so little have they gained from acquiring the comforts of life. The basic requirements for comfort necessitate an improvement of physical conditions and a simplification of the details of everyday life. But quite the contrary, people try to complicate things and reject each possibility of expanding the consciousness. It is no exaggeration to say that society does not tolerate any growth of consciousness. Families are destroyed and kingdoms perish when consciousnesses expand and manifest themselves. The Teaching of Life, like an orphan, seeks shelter in some out-of-the-way place, while the parades of death thunder in the public squares. Agni Yoga (1929) - 534:
When people are united in the acquiring of knowledge their thoughts gain a special significance. Unity in thought is stronger than any physical unity. Agni Yoga (1929) - 548:
One can review a complete chain of events and evaluate their sequence. In this also do we differ from animals, who cannot connect the separate moments. The teaching about comparing events provides a new way of acquiring psychic energy. If people would learn to understand the events of their lives according to their consciousness at the time, they would be able to progress from the level at which they have been stalled. Infinity - Book 1 (1930) - 75:
75. When the development of a variety of forms is predestined by Cosmos, how is it possible not to apply this law to the higher spheres? The beauty of life is in the affirmation of multiformity. Cosmos does not favor uniformity. Cosmos is diffused in the consciousness of billions of forms. Eject from life the fear of acquiring varied currents. The law of manifoldness provides for all forms of Be-ness. Do not create for yourself the karma which results from repelling the joy of multiformity from the existing life. Accepting in consciousness the principle of multiformity, humanity will be enabled to accept new forms in the comprehension of the far-off worlds. New worlds are built with new forms. Renovate the concept of the new worlds, realizing that they will be unlike yourself and your issue. Construct a new stronghold upon better principles. Infinity - Book 2 (1930) - 494:
494. All laws which lead to confirmation of the shifting are based upon the Common Good. Each new energy is projected into space for the acquiring of a creative quality. Energies are thus propelled from chaos, and each cosmic current can bestow creativeness. The shifting is confirmed only by the principle of the Cosmic Magnet. There where the power of the Cosmic Magnet functions, goal-fitness is at work. Hence, it may be affirmed that when the old is being replaced by the new the cosmic goal-fitness applies vital laws. Heart (1932) - 171:
171. The heart may hear the call of victory even while the battle is raging. Such a heart is worth acquiring, and the labor of refining one's consciousness will be the most beneficial action. Fiery World - Book 1 (1933) - 112:
112. It has been correctly observed that in order for the organism to adapt itself to a vegetable diet after a meat diet three years are needed. But if, for purely physical conditions, such a period is necessary, no less a period is required for the transformation of consciousness, unless karmic conditions induce special possibilities. To transform the consciousness means to enter a special world; it means to acquire a special evaluation of all that occurs; it means going forward without glancing back; it means leaving behind all complaints and acquiring good will. Does it not seem strange that alongside a period for a diet one must put the ethical concept of benevolence? But, fortunately, every physician will support us in this, because benevolence is the best expedient for the digestion. People like to have the spiritual foundations supported by dietetic advice. Fiery World - Book 1 (1933) - 428:
428. Slander is especially harmful for the slanderers themselves. This truth should be remembered by people who have bad habits. A thought corresponding to reality forms a vehicle for an elemental. Everything worthy, austere, vital, gravitates toward creative thought, and will beneficently sustain its creator. But the devices of slander will attract brooding elementals, who, failing to find a vital foundation, will precipitate themselves upon the slanderer. Therefore, when I warn people not to succumb to the vileness of slander, again I do not advance a moral precept but point to very painful consequences. It is most disagreeable to find oneself in the Subtle World in the midst of raging elementals. Terrible is such a maelstrom filled with the fragments of one's own malicious thoughts. All these creatures clutch at one and hang on, acquiring an actual physical weight. Thought, like drops of energy, attract small elementals. The character of these germs of the spirit is most varied depending upon their substance, almost imperceptible embryos can achieve, under the nurture of thought, diverse manifestations. They can form the basis of minerals and even of plants. But one can imagine quite clearly how those thoughts that are void of any vital bases litter the lower strata of Earth. Meteoric dust is imperceptible to the eye, but it results in very substantial sediments. Hence, one can imagine how vast the dust of thought is and, being the effect of energy, how very substantial! The consequences of this debris of thought causes the illness of the planet. Fiery World - Book 1 (1933) - 458:
458. If people could only realize how much they lose mentally, when they could be continuously acquiring! But darkness does not permit the imagination to flourish. However, it is difficult to remember about imagination when we are already in the Subtle World. There we must apply it, not generate it. Fiery World - Book 1 (1933) - 632:
632. In the acquisition of qualities one cannot keep to one system or one order of sequence. Whoever feels at heart the need of acquiring patience, let him set himself this task. Whoever strives to develop courage, let him gather this experience. One cannot forbid him who wishes to think of compassion or express himself in cooperation. Still worse are conventional coercive methods which force the disciple to strive for the quality farthest from him, which cannot yet be assimilated. With all the discipline of the Greek schools of philosophy, imposition on a pupil's free will was forbidden. For example, all abusive words were forbidden by mutual agreement, without coercion, otherwise a man could send mentally still worse abuse. One should definitely indicate to the beginners the need for improving their qualities, but in the sequence of predilection. The fires of the heart kindle the centers according to the individuality. Thus one should appreciate these fiery guideposts. It must be understood why We so insist upon a natural transformation of life. It is because otherwise the effects of deviation from the very nature of striving will result in a violation of all foundations. AUM (1936) - 370:
One should educate oneself in the realization of the qualities of psychic energy. If someone says that he has already read enough about the properties of psychic energy, pity the ignoramus. Of course, nowhere, up to the present, could one acquaint oneself with the study of the actual basis of existence. Observations were isolated, and the observers sometimes even subjected to persecution. Many precious conclusions have not been published and have perished in scattered manuscripts. You act rightly in referring to the acquiring of knowledge with benevolence. AUM (1936) - 392:
It may be observed that we know far more than we imagine. The process of acquiring direct knowledge from the depths of the consciousness will be aided by psychic energy. Brotherhood (1937) - 301:
Not only is knowledge precious, but equally valuable is the process of acquiring knowledge. At one time philosophers compared such a process to a higher enjoyment. The more deeply it can be felt, the greater the joy. But if in the accumulation of knowledge there enters the bondage of egoism, then not joy but rancor boils up. Conflict is inseparable from the accumulation of knowledge, but it also should be a treasure trove. None of the paths will be misanthropic. Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 1 (1938) - 220:
According to a certain kind of person, nothing worthwhile exists for him here on Earth and therefore he has no reason to live. However, if he carries such thoughts with him into the Subtle World, he will continue the same idle existence there. If people limit their idea of the Subtle World by their earthly experience, they will prevent themselves from acquiring new experiences. Few think about the higher worlds, and most would be afraid of the radiance of Materia Lucida. The possibility that thinking will become keener frightens the limited mind. While still on Earth, people should suggest to themselves where precisely they would like to continue their progress. They must concentrate their free will and direct their minds toward consciously chosen subtle experiences. Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 2 (1938) - 367:
367. Urusvati knows how physical and psychic phenomena are intimately linked. For example, because of extreme physical exertion a person may see sparks of light that are similar to psychic phenomena. Therefore We advise calm and concentration of the mind in order to prevent sudden physical shocks. Thought should be directed to Us, but in a state of mental equilibrium. We even advise a partial realization of the Infinite, for nothing contributes so much to one's balance as the sense of Infinity. There are many different methods of acquiring calm, but awareness of the Infinite is the most effective.
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