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Agni Yoga (1929) - 158:
You may call this the Yoga of Life. But the most precise name will be Agni Yoga. It is precisely the element of fire that gives its name to this Yoga of self-sacrifice. While in other Yogas the dangers are diminished through practices, in the Yoga of Fire the perils are increased, because fire, as an all-binding element, manifests itself everywhere. But it also permits mastery of the subtlest energies. Fire will not lead away from life; it will act as a trustworthy guide to the far-off worlds. For what but fire saturates immeasurable space? Agni Yoga (1929) - 208:
208. The laws of energy awakened while one follows the path of Agni Yoga act inevitably and with precision. No one who has stepped onto the path of Yoga can deny that his life was fundamentally changed by it. His life was either expanded broadly or was diminished, depending upon the qualities of his spirit. Agni Yoga (1929) - 331:
Only to Urusvati can I entrust the Teaching, without fear that it will be distorted or diminished. Only centuries-long experience provides the needed degree of devotion together with the understanding of the essence. I can entrust to Fu. the earthly deeds, because through him I can act. Agni Yoga (1929) - 335:
335. One should not think that one's work can be measured by one's earthly dwellings. If Ramakrishna's bed burns up, is the truth of his word diminished? Infinity - Book 1 (1930) - 6:
Has it been ordained by the Lords that the concept of cosmos should be diminished into your human understanding of a short cycle? The span of understanding will define the outline of possibilities. Everything gains substantial nourishment from the same source, Prana, the manifested power of Cosmos. You accept the affirmation of this need quite simply; with equal simplicity accept the fact of psychic influence of the rays. When you will accept the wisdom of the ages according to Our Indications with your entire being, then the whirlwind of calamities will break against a wall of light. The scope of your possibilities depends on your acceptance or rejection of the Shield. Hierarchy (1931) - 356:
356. As the words imply, the evolutionary spiral expands and the involutionary spiral contracts. The very same may be observed not only in personal aspects but also in ideas. It is very instructive to discern how ideas are generated and how they complete their circle. Often they seem to disappear completely, but if they are of an evolutionary nature they appear again in an expanded form. For evolutionary thinking, one should study the spiral of the root of an idea. The task of the gradual containment of an idea can afford a progression toward a higher understanding. One may take for instance the idea of religions and examine it spirally; precisely, not comparatively, but evolutionally, spirally. Thus one can see the one root. Likewise one can study how the ideas of religions expanded through evolution. Thus, the prognosis of the future will not be diminished. Positive signs must be gathered. Heart (1932) - 435:
435. One may legitimately ask whether psychic experiments are greatly impeded by the resistance of the will. We answer that this is very much so; not only a resisting will but also a deadness of the heart impedes them. Even the most successfully molded phenomena are diminished through the counterresistance of those who oppose them. One cannot acquire the power of levitation or walking on the water if counteracting forces are present. Even walking through fire or the death-bearing eye will not be completely effective if there is an opposing will. Therefore, My counsels for unity have a special meaning. This is not only an indication concerning ethics but also a practical condition. Even a minute counteraction already injures the web. Hence, one must preserve solemnity, because this feeling will not allow small and futile irritations and decay. Fiery World - Book 2 (1934) - 247:
247. Those uninformed in Great Service may even complain of the difficulty of such an achievement. But those in contact with it already cannot conceive of existence without it. A frightful emptiness appears, it seems, when there is no application of one's forces for Common Good. Without communion with Hierarchy a terrible darkness closes in from all sides. Without Great Service, life itself, like a wilting blossom, loses its meaning. The Fiery World is intangible, and the very concept of it, instead of being attractive, appears menacing. Equilibrium is established by great measures, but affirmation of the Shield of Hierarchy comes after the dedication of oneself to Great Service. The spirit decides its own fate. Without any stipulations the spirit itself determines its sacrifice. The dimension of the sacrifice is decided in the heart. No one can force an enlargement of the offering, but much joy is felt from a sacrifice which is not diminished. The Teacher advises to recognize one's potentialities according to the sacrifice voluntarily accepted by the heart. How great is the law of such good-will! It determines the future, from small to big, and up to great events! Fiery World - Book 3 (1935) - 531:
531. For what reason then are people being tormented here? Why are sufferings not diminished? Why is hatred so strongly in possession of hearts? The shield of the spirit has been forgotten. There is nothing supernatural in a reminder about the Fiery World, where the coarse knags are being burned away. People consider bodily cleanliness necessary, but after ablution by water there is need of one by Fire. One may understand that water pertains to subtle ingress, but further along Fire is needed. AUM (1936) - 351:
351. Exercising the energy is useful; each testing awakens in it a new quality. It is especially necessary to keep this in mind, for not so long ago I spoke about fatigue under the pressure of the energy. But one should not deduce from the possibility of fatigue that experiments are undesirable. It is possible to exercise the energy without falling into a state of weariness. It also needs exercising as does all that exists. Through rational exercise fatigue is diminished. Each energy must be tested in action. Even muscles must be exercised; thus people can continually awaken forces dormant in themselves. One should understand such an awakening as the duty of man before the higher worlds. The reasons are many why energies can remain in a somnolent state. They can be enumerated beginning with karmic effects. But usually people's consciousness slumbers through indolence. Such a quality is called the featherbed of evil. The best possibilities are not transformed into life when the gaze is heavy laden with the veil of laziness. One need search for no excuse when body and spirit droop from indolence. AUM (1936) - 421:
421. Woman may be judge as well as legal adviser, for injustice will be diminished when the tribunals themselves shall repel the malign principle. Such a distinction will transform the whole way of life. Brotherhood (1937) - 260:
260. Let us not be astonished that after an indicated date the tension, as it were, increases. Let us not forget that this is an effect of what has gone before. But the sowing of causes may already be diminished. Brotherhood (1937) - 607:
607. Captives were formerly considered the indispensable attribute of the conqueror. Later it was realized that such barbaric customs are incompatible with the dignity of man. But let us see, has the number of captives really diminished? On the contrary, it has increased in all walks of life. Such abasement particularly strikes one's eye when one observes the prisoners of ignorance. It is hard to picture the throngs of those bound by superstition and various prejudices! The most demeaned slaves could not have been in a more bestial state than those bipeds shackled in ignorance. Only the most urgent measures of knowledge can prevent mass madness. Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 1 (1938) - 29:
There were times when people knew how to express the concept of the Highest in the finest way, but now the Great Service is not understood. One would think that this could not be so, with the Subtle World coming closer, and We being spoken of so often. Yet the abyss of darkness has not diminished when the concept of the Teacher is doubted. You have heard many times that it is those who know about the Brotherhood who still speak of it with irreverence, and such utterances contain ruination. Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 2 (1938) - 285:
285. Urusvati knows that the danger of psychic epidemics is increasing. In the Puranas it was predicted that toward the end of Kali Yuga humanity would be driven to acts of madness. It is very dangerous that people do not recognize this state, for while it is possible to cure a patient who does not resist treatment, if he struggles against it the beneficial effects of the medicine will be diminished. Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 2 (1938) - 450:
Some people misunderstand Us completely when We discuss the importance of sleep, and even think that it is not at all necessary. It is true that in certain illnesses one cannot sleep, but such a state is tormenting and ruinous. In the highest mountains one's need for sleep is diminished, but even there it is never entirely lost.
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