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Agni Yoga Series - Master Index > FL > FLESH (29)

Leaves of Morya's Garden - Book 1 - The Call (1924) - 329:
329. Why suffer mortification of the flesh? Why destroy what has been bestowed upon you by the Creator? Seek new paths! Find your way amidst the difficulties of life. But do not let them drown you. I am here - your Teacher speaks. Be open to Us.

Agni Yoga (1929) - 468:
468. Multicolored sparks connect us with the spatial consciousness. But the Fire of Cosmos cannot be manifested in its full power, for the human essence would then be reduced to ashes - except in the case of one who has consecrated himself to Fire, passing in his own flesh through all the stages of approach to the fiery element.

Heart (1932) - 72:
All Teachings repeat about the burden of the flesh in order to direct attention to the supremacy of spirit. The Teaching should be accepted as the inception of true privileges, which are inalienable. One should value how the Teaching deepens the consciousness and provides the true opportunities of life if these are not rejected. This simple aspect is so rarely given consideration. People prefer to send their complaints into space, evoking upon themselves a shower of stones. But We do not wish to frighten them, lest they speak of a lack of love. People ascribe to the manifestation of love such peculiar conditions that it would seem that their love was coined in a mint! But love is necessary for the path into the Infinite. A guide is so urgently needed; when in the ultimate tension upon the slippery rocks we seek the saving thread, the Guiding Hand will touch us.

Heart (1932) - 124:
124. One should pay attention to the characteristic spasmodic sign which accompanies known spiritual exaltations. The sensation seemingly of goose flesh upon different parts of one's body during communions with Us is also sufficiently characteristic. During the process of experimentation for the discovery of psychic energy, the significance of both sensations will be found.

Heart (1932) - 131:
131. Now, I advise that scientists pay attention to the sensitivity of the organism to various inexplicable manifestations, for instance, the sensation of goose flesh on one's body. Of course, this can be explained as a nervous contraction. Yet it is instructive to pay attention to whether or not there is something alien in the surrounding atmosphere. These observations are so useful during the investigation of psychic energy. Something intensifies the physical atmosphere and reacts on the surface of the skin and nerves. The physical reaction ought to be investigated chemically as something that precipitates the nervous contractions. Rays and currents are verily so close to the Subtle World! But for these investigations one should learn primarily to pay attention to sensations. Physicians themselves pay less attention than others to the variety of sensations. They divide complex organisms into primitive sections which impede them in making their observations more subtle.

Fiery World - Book 1 (1933) - 380:
380. Since Hatha Yoga demands certain bodily exercises, the question may be raised as to whether such exercises are also needed for other Yogas? Neither Arhats nor Great Spiritual Toilers practiced these. Verily, theirs are the trials of the spirit, which not only subdue the body but take the place of all exercises of the flesh. Only the avowal of spirit can replace all else.

Fiery World - Book 1 (1933) - 447:
447. The chakras, the fiery wheels, call to mind the countless circles of conception and completion. One can picture how the equilibrium of the worlds is founded upon fiery chakras. They contact and interpenetrate each other, and form inseverable links. Similarly, one can imagine how the chakras of man determine his fiery nature and bring the human entity into the totality of other fiery formations. People already have at their disposal rays that are not recorded upon the flesh; so, also, rays will be discovered that can capture the fiery centers on a film. This will demonstrate how the chakras of man correspond to the fiery formations of space. The figure of the fiery man merges into the rhythm of space. Thus, it can be physically demonstrated to what a great extent is everything that exists subject to the one law of rhythm. Of course, to succeed in such instructive experiments it is necessary to develop the fiery chakras in oneself. They exist in every organism, potentially, but soulless beings cannot project on a screen even a faint glimmer from the extinguished fires.

Fiery World - Book 1 (1933) - 448:
448. One should not think that actions as such are lower than the feeling of love. One should sharply divide rhythmic actions from egoistic actions, which do not respond to the rhythm of cosmos. Egoism is self-isolation or revolt against cooperation. Even great minds often failed to discern where was the egoism of flesh and where the action of lofty cooperation. How can the chakras grow in the presence of egoism of flesh?

Fiery World - Book 1 (1933) - 469:
469. The beauty, light, and splendor, of the Fiery World are affirmed by each approach to it. Moreover, a special rapture is awakened by the feeling of unity. The fiery light leads to a mutual attraction, in other words to a true unity. The flesh, on the contrary, gives the impulse for each disunity. This property of the physical world impedes the embracing of the transport of unity upon this dusty and foggy surface. Therefore, one should direct one's thoughts the more to the Fiery World, in order to reinoculate oneself with the feeling of unity, already depleted. One should recharge, as it were, the magnet that has remained unused. The knowledge of how to utilize a magnet is necessary even in daily life. Likewise, the potency of fire that has been left unused merges into the depths and becomes inaccessible. One must call it back by all the best recollections of it and by the worthiest imagination. Verily, for the fiery splendor a purified imagination is needed. One should understand that the dense forms cannot give any idea of the Fiery World. But an instantaneous illumination can remain forever as an ineffable feeling based upon unity.

Fiery World - Book 1 (1933) - 471:
471. When, after brilliant epochs, people fell into the horrors of flesh, the best terms were forgotten or were transferred to other concepts. One should not forget the earthly vicissitudes, and one should profit by these examples. The mechanical concepts are basically so ineffectual that one should prayerfully turn to the seed of the spirit, which glows brighter than all the electric lamps. One should not regard the reminder about Fire as a mere fairy tale. Many among you will think of Fire only as a torment of the conscience. But the Fiery World is cognized through joy!

Fiery World - Book 1 (1933) - 482:
482. In Tibet horses are fed on leopard flesh in order to make them fierce. The Kshatniyas of Rajputana depend upon a meat diet to maintain their warlike spirit. These two examples alone show the significance of meat-eating. People do not slaughter a vast number of cattle from a sense of refinement. Like troglodytes, they are ready to devour bears. One must realize that the mass slaughter of animals is carried on in full consciousness. People know that vegetables or fruit give more vital energy than a cup of blood, yet they prefer being served with bloody meat, greatly relishing this coarseness. There is no other name for the frenzy of blood consumption. People are perfectly aware that a handful of wheat or barley is sufficient to sustain life, but their animal instinct tries to drag their minds back to a bestial state. Do not beasts try to tear each other's throats? Does not darkness impel people to the lowest actions? Let us not forget that mass killings, whether in war or in the slaughterhouse, equally pollute the atmosphere and violate the Subtle World. It must be realized that every conscious killing shakes the entire surrounding atmosphere. Moreover, these actions strengthen the forces of darkness and chaos, breaking the rhythm. One must avoid disturbing the Subtle World in any way. We can allow a diet of vegetables, farinaceous food, and milk, also eggs, the very freshest and in a liquid state. You know how repulsive the very sight of meat becomes to the organism accustomed to a vegetable diet. Thus, in practice one must accustom oneself to refinement and remember that even an elephant increases his strength through plants alone. One should not think that people eat meat because of poverty. With the least effort one can obtain a vegetable diet; besides, many nourishing herbs and roots are not utilized. One could learn much from certain animals, they know far more about natural foods than man, the meat-eater. Do not be concerned if the lover of blood scoffs at vegetable food; only remember him, because he is from darkness. Many are indifferent to meat and are compelled to it only by ugly home conditions. We do not mean them. We deplore the conscious vampires and necrophagi. Hence, be simpler and more refined in your diet.

Fiery World - Book 2 (1934) - 357:
357. Constructiveness, striving for victory, is already a bond with the rhythm of Higher Worlds. Victory is inherent in each seed. The seed in its essence is eternal. It is transposed from one form into another, but it preserves an ineradicable essence. Guard and honor greatly each grain, each seed of life; in it is contained the highest fiery energy. Even in the finest scientific investigations people will not discover it. It is measurable by fiery measures, and only the fiery heart can sometimes grasp the pulse of the seed of life. But speaking about the impossibility of discovering the seed of life by means of earthly measures, let us not, for all that, distress the scientists; for they still can observe much. The science of the seed can give great benefit. Also one should be reconciled by the fact that the discovery of the seed of life in dense form would lead to the destruction of the World. Correlations of equilibrium would be violated, and no earthly forces could restore them. But when people will apprehend the Subtle World and assimilate the Teaching about the Fiery World, they will advance many steps toward victory over the flesh.

Fiery World - Book 3 (1935) - 453:
453. People often do not understand the necessity of imagination. But how otherwise to represent to oneself the imminence of Fiery Images? All is born in Fire and cools down in flesh. One must be able to imagine the path to fiery germination out of the dense World. Only such a fearless representation makes Fire non-consuming.

Fiery World - Book 3 (1935) - 501:
501. You already know that objects can be made to change place by thought or psychic energy. The ignorant ask - why is not the fiery energy of thought subject to everyone and at all times? Ignorance can even reach the extent of such nonsense. A child asks help of an adult where his own strength is inadequate, but ignoramuses are not ashamed to ask such silly questions. In the Subtle World everything is moved by thought, but the dense World only rarely admits subtle qualities. The laws of such admissions are complex and not always are such invasions into the Subtle World admitted. Apparatus which can confirm the physical reaction to thought can be only very primitive, because the nature of employment of fiery energy lies not in the domain of the will but in that of the heart. The heart does not admit evil, but the will can occasion calamities. When the World will come to realize the value of the heart life, then will the flesh be transformed and draw near to the laws of the Subtle World.

Fiery World - Book 3 (1935) - 593:
593. Around the place of manufacture of high explosives people do not smoke, they wear special soft footwear, they avoid any metallic objects, they do not even speak loudly, and they do not breathe in the ordinary manner. There, where danger threatens their flesh, people are ready to renounce habits, but it never enters their heads that thought can result in a far more dangerous explosion, invisible yet irreparable. Terror helps people to guard themselves against bodily dangers. But the entire spatial life does not exist for them. They can blaspheme at the Great Forces and rejoice at the misfortunes of others, if their own ruin is not immediately visible to them. The loss of spatial co-measurement in Infinity consumes all the better possibilities. Whereas, the present time is precisely the last chance to join the dense with the subtle and even with the fiery. One should begin to think persistently and clearly in the direction of the merging of Worlds.

Fiery World - Book 3 (1935) - 603:
603. Thought is sometimes compared with the ocean - the comparison is plausible. Each man has three basic currents of thought. A superficial one - from the flesh, connected with muscular reflections, obvious in the external life. The second already concerns the heart, and contributes to improvement and progress in the subtle feelings. And finally, in the depths of the consciousness is being conceived the achievement of self-renunciation - here the Fiery World will be near. Each man can touch all Worlds; even in the routine of his everyday life he can choose the type of thinking he desires. In order to harken to the voice of the heart it is not necessary to be poor or rich, lofty or lowly; it is not even necessary to be very learned. Verily, thought is an ocean with all its currents.

Fiery World - Book 3 (1935) - 604:
604. People are inquisitive as to why fiery manifestations are so rare. Let us reply that it is because the heart of the dense world cannot endure such fiery vortexes. Ask those very rare individuals who have had such manifestations. They will tell you that they were almost dead after the fiery Visitations. Through the training of right thinking one can accustom oneself to the possibility of such Communion. But it is a long way from the flesh to fiery vision. Only most uncommon hearts can undergo them.

AUM (1936) - 18:
18. Do many concern themselves with spatial thought? It is distressing to realize how few. Is it possible to pass one's entire life with never a thought about the Highest? Examples of such vegetative existence are before our eyes. But no one, under any circumstances, should ever place himself on a level with the lowest. Let us recognize what man receives from even one approach to the far-off worlds. Such an approach separates man from all that is law. A single vision of the distant worlds is enough to transform one's entire life. To understand even a particle of life in the other worlds is to acquire a vivid remembrance forever. Such an approach is already an illumination of the consciousness. Aum is the power of Grace, and help is at hand for each one ready to set sail from the shore of the flesh. Even the smallest approaches to spatial thought should be valued.

AUM (1936) - 83:
All signs must be attentively watched. Do not overlook those larger manifestations which you may consider, in the delusion of the flesh, unworthy of attention. The flesh is crude, and only the heart beats in the name of the Higher World. Aum!

AUM (1936) - 124:
124. In the face of danger human forces are multiplied in tension, likewise the state of ecstasy produces an influx of superearthly forces. If such a tension has been established, it is then possible to prolong this moment, in other words, man may receive a continuous increase of forces. It is only necessary that the Source of Forces become constant and near for him. Thus, the question of realization of the Higher World becomes urgent, and science itself will approach it as the impelling force of evolution. One may not only dream about such a bond of closeness but it is also possible to approach the Higher World by earthly measures. Each rapprochement of the worlds is already a victory over the flesh.

AUM (1936) - 154:
154. People can refine earthly conditions. The way lies not through riches nor power, but through the tremor of solemnity that is within reach of those chosen sensitive ones. Each such higher tremor is in itself a victory over the flesh.

AUM (1936) - 240:
240. It may be asked why people do not, in the material world, remember their subtle sojourns. One of the reasons why it is impossible to recall everything of the Subtle World is the impossibility of its being assimilated by our physical envelope. Indeed, the spirit could not undertake physical evolution if it could preserve within itself a recollection of the expanses of the Subtle World. Of course, it is sometimes possible to catch from the Subtle World a glimpse of the fiery grandeur which the world of flesh can realize only in the rarest cases. Only at times can even the best spirits recall their earthly existence, and extremely rarely do they remember their conditions in the Subtle World. Sometimes the projection of the subtle body brings back a certain realization of life in the Subtle World. But to remember subtle existences is very difficult and it is incompatible with earthly conditions.

Brotherhood (1937) - 39:
39. People fear tests. They are afraid of experiments, but they cannot even imagine all the possible means of learning. Again physical fear, terror of the flesh, shackles rational actions. Therefore, in disciplinary training terror, first of all, has to be conquered.

Brotherhood (1937) - 384:
384. Sometimes it may be noticed that the process of thought ceases, as it were. One should not assume a decline of energy. On the contrary, an outflow of energy is taking place, and it is so strong that the energy is working from within. Such circumstances must be taken into consideration. Of course, not only does the outflow of energy take place consciously but it also flows independently, bringing succor or raising a defense. Many conditions enter in during thought-sendings and processes. One must have a very open eye in order to perceive a sort of vortical cloud being carried along. Likewise, let us not forget that our consciousness is striving inwardly to render help to such an extent that the flesh is not even aware of this benefaction.

Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 1 (1938) - 102:
We have already discussed the densification of the astral body. Conversely, the material essence of flesh is considerably refined by the energy of thought. This means that between the subtle and the physical worlds there are new forms that are not quite visible to human eyes. New forms have their origin between the Subtle and the Fiery Worlds. These transitions evoke the striving for perfection. There can be no doubt that such limitless intensification is possible in Infinity.

Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 1 (1938) - 156:
And He also taught, "Do not partake of flesh if you can avoid it."

Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 2 (1938) - 299:
We know that a transformation of consciousness cannot take place at once. We do not refuse to provide a remedy, but when given it must be accepted in full measure. Do not be surprised when you meet with misunderstanding and ingratitude, which indicates that the consciousness of the one you help has still not been awakened. How often a person understands his tasks in the Subtle World, yet when incarnated in the flesh is once more as though turned to stone!

 


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