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New Era Community (1926) - 151:
Indeed, a spark of light is the first to hit the target. The knowledge of how to sway the crowd lies not in eloquence but in the understanding of the nodes of the crowd and in the timely sending thither of a light-bearing thought. The lack of understanding as to how to address oneself into space and the fixation on a single listener are equally harmful. Likewise We advise making use of the phonograph for scientific data. But one cannot expect to kindle emotions by means of mechanical transmission. New Era Community (1926) - 223:
223. The methods of West and East in thought transmission differ. For suggestion the West has tried to apply direct aggressive action touch, fixation with the eye, loud murmuring of a command, which in their primitiveness remind one of the lower conjurers of southern India. At best such a command is distinguished by temporal brevity, and usually involves the consciousness in only one definite action. The East, first of all, seeks an inner contact with the state of consciousness, which allows the consciousness to be filled more firmly and lastingly. The Westerner tries to pierce one with his gaze, but the Easterner, in sending a thought, will actually not look at one, because the effect of a glance would be to diminish the sharpness of the command. Indeed, the eyes of the sender will be open but he will form a picture of his correspondent, and in that mental image he can more fully encompass his essence. No tension will strengthen the effect, but only immutability of consciousness and trueness of tone of the psychic sounding. A rock splits from a detonation, not only from a blow. It is easy to achieve the most difficult if the consciousness is adequate and tranquility is not disturbed. The trouble is in the fact that people regard tranquility as inaction. Agni Yoga (1929) - 64:
64. Our Brothers may sometimes be seen by you with Their faces not clearly visible. If the face is somewhat misty, you may be assured that that Person is immersed in a lengthy experiment that requires a fixation of the gaze in one direction. If a woman's figure is seen with a veiled face, this manifestation relates to the Mother of the World. Agni Yoga (1929) - 545:
The cultivation of straight-knowledge requires careful striving; therefore both the best and the simplest ones will achieve an equal ease of understanding. But the more ordinary consciousness is obstructed by its own preconceived ideas, unable to separate the phantom from the real. It is intoxicated, not by narcotics, but by its own way of thinking. The fixation of ideas, inculcated in childhood by the conventions of daily life, weakens attempts at sensible thinking.
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