Leaves of Morya's Garden - Book 2 - Illumination (1925) - 3.6.7: 3.6.7. In communal occupations, do not indulge in thoughts about the recent past; think either about the future or the wisdom of the ages. The fragments and dust of the husks of the past fill space too much. Attracted by the magnet of thought, they weave unclean phantoms which are difficult to drive away. Expelled from one corner, they camp in another, until they are again reduced to dust by a conscious stroke of the will. New Era Community (1926) - 94: Why turn over to a lying buffoon the best corner of the fireside? Precisely, bad books litter up the consciousness of children. The problem of the book must be dealt with! New Era Community (1926) - 125: The most unusual problems of knowledge, the most audacious forms of beauty, should force you out of your musty corner. Understand, I wish to see you, at least for a while, particular and able to absorb. These seeds of cooperative thinking will give you the perseverance for attainments. Not only resolve but also persistence is needed. Agni Yoga (1929) - 158: It would seem, then, that a true striving toward realization of supreme possibilities should fill the greater part of human life as a most essential and engrossing occupation. But in reality the light of knowledge has been replaced by the conventional dogma of religion; and man, meant to be a thinker, worships his dark corner of idols, hanging amulets upon himself without even understanding the meaning of their symbols. Repeat this to all those who sleep in the darkness of the ordinary. Agni Yoga (1929) - 196: I also wish you to keep one room, or even a corner of a room, in absolute purity, dedicated to the Teacher. You can keep near the window an armchair, in which no one is permitted to sit. Also, do not admit the curious. For them, you should behave in a most ordinary way, so that their intrusiveness will pass lightly over your aura. All these counsels are salutary for Yoga. Agni Yoga (1929) - 217: 217. Do not be too hasty in choosing disciples. Apply three tests to the approaching ones, so that they may reveal themselves unsuspectingly. Let the first test be the affirmation of the General Good; let the second be the defense of the Name of the Teacher; let the third be the demonstration of independence of action. If one, during a task, begins to threaten - reject him. If one whispers around the corner - reject him. If one thinks that he is overburdened - reject him. I do not speak about traitors. By the ways in which their tasks are performed, you will know the tested ones. Freedom of will abides in all, and the planet itself is in the power of the human spirit. Agni Yoga (1929) - 670: 670. Give these notes anonymously, lest someone, from some dark corner, make accusations about a self-interested motive. We shall continue Agni Yoga when the Indications already offered have been applied. Infinity - Book 1 (1930) - 34: 34. Yes, yes, yes! Cosmic dates and planetary movements can coincide. This combination provides the better formula of Existence. You are right in calling the spirit the creator of Cosmos. Subservience to the elements of nature puts man in a corner, like one in ambush awaiting an enemy. True understanding of the elements is not yet alive in the consciousness. The so-called "chastisement by the Lord" reveals itself as a vivid evidence of the great defamation of the Cosmic Fire. Sacrifices are not needed. Evolution needs only quickened steps, The unforeseen factor of unbridled elements is not a chastisement, but only an unutilized afflux of the gigantic forces of Cosmos. As in the small so in the great. Means for the lesser and greater bridlings of the elements are found. How insignificant are these checks! Still, they clearly reveal a direction. Why, then, not move in the opposite direction? The result would be valuable. The manifestation of loss will be replaced by a revealed propulsion of the consciousness. This law is immutable and is one with the universal process. Infinity - Book 1 (1930) - 57: How is it possible to annihilate the power of motion, and how can one not acknowledge this wise and eternal cause of the entire Cosmic Fire! The evidence of the Cosmic Fire permeates every corner of the human dwelling, but as an extraneous manifestation. Man has detached himself from the best part of the creative impulse. The finding of Materia Lucida on the earthly sphere is possible only in spiritual consciousness. Clumsy hands may not touch the veil of the Mother of the World. A crude consciousness may not formulate the manifestation of cosmic energy. Only the yearning to perceive provides the access to higher matter. Infinity - Book 1 (1930) - 116: 116. Upon the far-off worlds, transmutation is at the highest tensity. One may attain there the most fiery results and seemingly unattainable transmutations for all the highest manifestations of new elements. Only in the most aspiring manifestations of fusion are the highest transmutations successful. Humanity is ill with repulsion, and the earthly sphere is satiated with these suffocating horrors. When humanity ejected the concept of the most sacred principle, the reign of repulsion was established. There is no corner on the planet where there is not repulsion. Infinity - Book 1 (1930) - 359: 359. The planetary focus, as a manifestation of the Magnet, is shifting. When the change of energies occurs, not only are the parts shifted but the entire orbit is involved in this shifting. Each acting force is subject to this shifting, and all spheres are strained in a saturation by the Magnet. The visible and invisible energies are drawn toward the shifting spiral. The Spatial fire encompasses all vital energies, and the lower spheres as well as the higher ones are permeated with this Fire. Verily, there is no corner where it would be possible to escape these shiftings, and the potential of Fire can affirm a new step. Therefore, when the earthly orbit unites with the Spatial fire, the Cosmic Magnet begins the shifting. Heart (1932) - 236: 236. If we take a deodar tree - the highest and most powerful - how many marks we find on the trunk of former branches which have fallen away. This did not weaken the deodar; on the contrary, the places where these branches fell off became the strongest; even steel will break against them. No Teaching is terrified at those who fall away. It knows that the lower branches must fall aside. Thus, those which fall away, carried by the wind, may fulfill their designation. They may even generate new deodars. And in any case their resin will be curative. Later, when set together to support the corner of a house, they will join unitedly in bearing the general stress. Therefore do not be terrified at those who fall away. They cannot go far from the resin of the heart. And if you observe the mass of crossroads from above, you will even smile at the travelers who meet. When the length of the infinite path is realized, you will also apply different measures. Wandering is not terrifying - immobility alone is chilling. Heart (1932) - 490: 490. When a house is for rent, even the crudest people will inspect every corner and express their feelings. Could We, then, place our disciples in uninspected dwellings? One must be aware of everything that surrounds one. One must sense all stratifications of the past before striving into the future. But when the decision about the future comes, the past falls away like the shadow of the passing sunset; and it is only the glow of sunrise that illumines the brow. Some people suspect Us without cause of insufficient cooperation. Our care about them is far greater than is their thought about Us. If one were to enumerate the great number of wasted counsels and incomplete structures, one could imagine how difficult it is to fill the abysses! Thus, even now beautiful strongholds can be erected! Fiery World - Book 3 (1935) - 135: 135. The Living Ethics discerns all the concepts which are the Fundamentals of Life. In order to apply the Living Ethics to life it is first of all needful to find in oneself the quality of true Service to Hierarchy. Precisely all bigots are the first to depart from the Living Ethics. No standing before an Object, symbolizing the Loftiest of Images, can help, if there is no true reverence. We know bigots who can pray with words but are silent in heart. Indeed, these bigots love to talk about a sacred Image hanging near them in a corner or standing close by on a table. The Living Ethics must first of all be expressed in ethics of daily actions. The Living Ethics helps to preserve the image of man. These fiery laws will give the spirit understanding of Hierarchy. Service can be a miraculous bridge between Worlds, for the Subtle World cannot help a spirit to become surrounded with subtle energies if infections of the spirit are not outlived on the Earth. Useless are all assurances of devotion, useless are professed understandings of the Teacher, useless are honors to the Lord where there is no understanding of the Living Ethics. In the Subtle World one does not depart from one's experiences. As one's own light illumines the surroundings, so too does one's own darkness choke all space. On the path to the Fiery World one must ponder about the threatening consequences if the Living Ethics has not been applied in life. AUM (1936) - 9: 9. Very few people remain unterrified if told what actually surrounds them. Let us enumerate the rays and all the chemical influences, both from the far-off worlds and from Earth itself. Indeed, reflected and refracted rays differ greatly from the basic ones. When, however, man hears that instead of his being surrounded merely by air in the earthly sense he is surrounded by crystals of granulations and even by continuous explosions, then many hearts become terrified. Of course the air is blue and empty, Earth firm and immovable, and the sun plays the part of a lantern! Ask the shopkeeper on the corner - his conception will be not very far from these beliefs. Only a minority of people attempt to think about their surroundings.
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