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Agni Yoga (1929) - 73:
73. You know that at an altitude of eleven thousand feet the astral body acquires a special quality. Each altitude has its specific effect on each body. You may have observed that at an altitude of seven thousand feet man can decrease his intake of food. The need for food gradually decreases as one ascends until at an altitude of sixteen thousand feet the decrease is substantial. Above an altitude of nine thousand feet I do not advise the use of wine, coffee, pepper or other spices. Above seventeen thousand feet even strong tea is inadvisable. With the decreasing need for food there is a parallel decrease in the need for sleep; one can consider sleeping for no more than six hours, and at twenty thousand feet four is quite enough. Thus one can understand that at great altitudes one can remain almost without sleep, or food. Agni Yoga (1929) - 73:
At the high altitudes, one should not take valerian - which has been recommended to you - with spices, and it is harmful to consume food in the same quantities as at lower levels. The mountains are important, since they lead one out of the lower earthly conditions. On the heights one feels that one has been freed from ordinary earthly demands. Certainly, if an altitude of eleven thousand feet has a significant effect upon the astral body, then each added thousand feet has an even greater effect upon the physical body. It would be an irreparable error to try to artificially reduce the conditions on mountains to fit our lower earthly habits. Remember and apply. Agni Yoga (1929) - 206:
206. You have received the signs of Yoga on the heights. You saw for yourself that neither the cold nor the altitude injured your health. How then can one who has not conquered the cold endure the supreme tremor? How can one contemplate the far-off worlds when fearing even the heights on Earth? How can one think himself a freed spirit if any passing sensation of hunger is not conquered? An overfull stomach is a sign of the cessation of ascent, though a right measure of involvement in earthly life must be maintained. Agni Yoga (1929) - 571:
571. Pay attention to sites at high altitudes, exposed to the winds from snowy peaks. At an altitude of 24,000 feet one can observe deposits of meteoric dust. Under the power of the wind and the rays of the sun, this dust settles into the lower recesses, and changes the properties of both the snow and the soil. It is especially instructive to observe this in places where the ground is rich with metals. The metalization from within and without produces unusual magnetic combinations. Not only psychic energy but also many other energies acquire unique properties in such places. One should value those places in which so many different conditions are united. Observations of the quality of the snow, soil, and plants are not difficult, even with ordinary apparatuses. Fiery World - Book 1 (1933) - 385:
385. An aviator, having attained a record altitude, is still filled with dissatisfaction. He then resolves to try for greater heights. Dissatisfaction is the gateway to Infinity. Dissatisfaction should be valued to the full extent. Pleasure is neighbor to contentment, whereas joy is wings to Infinity. The fiery Teaching must preserve each kindling of the fires and guard against all extinguishers. Satisfaction is the sign of mediocrity and ignorance. Not satisfaction, but joy in eternal labor is the destiny of the great and ascending one. Nowadays fools may laugh when We speak of eternal ascent. Even the grave will not spare the fool from Eternity. Only a puerile brain could fail to understand that the earthly garment is not consummation. The fires summon to the uncognized, and even the blind see these lights. Do not fail to ask the blind about the fires. Some of them see fiery signs and understand their connection with the heart. Thus, the calls of dissatisfaction lead to the Fiery World. Fiery World - Book 1 (1933) - 485:
485. Testing the quality of thought in relation to various physical circumstances will give one a fiery understanding of may things. If we compare the thinking of a miner in a deep shaft with that of an aviator at the highest altitude of his flight, we will find a remarkable difference in the trend of thought, in both method and intensity. It would be worthwhile to observe the thinking of a bent reaper and that of a horseman. Thoughts of one and the same order are reflected quite differently in them. Physical conditions act like an accompaniment to the melody of the spirit. During construction, one must exercise one's entire imagination in order to find the consonances of so many diverse conditions. The fiery collective consciousness of peoples presents an instructive spectacle. Brotherhood (1937) - 310:
310. Do not consider absurd the testimony of the three aviators who saw horses at a great altitude. Such a vision is possible for several reasons. Motion itself can call forth forms connected with it; then, too, speed can concur with manifestations from the Subtle World. As before, it is needful to advise noticing such signs. One should not inevitably consider them as omens, but one should accept them as facts from the spheres of the Subtle World. There are not a few such manifestations, but extremes of attitude toward them are not permissible. People refer to them either with contempt or with absurd exaggeration; rational observation is rarely encountered. Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 1 (1938) - 24:
24. Urusvati understands the correlation between the sleeping and waking states. For some, sleep is the opposite of the waking state, but for Us sleep is a continuation of labor, although in a different state. Sleep should not be understood otherwise. That it is a necessity cannot be denied. Some conditions may reduce the need for sleep, but do not remove the need for it. On the heights four hours of sleep may suffice, but this is only possible at a certain altitude.
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