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Agni Yoga (1929) - 574:
All but one hired someone to listen to the Teaching for them, while they themselves went to the bazaar, regretting their wasted time. One had missed collecting his debts; one had missed his chance to marry; one had forgotten to convict an offender; one had failed to gather his profits; one had missed bargains; one had lost the favor of the rajah. In short, the Teaching had apparently caused losses to each one. Hierarchy (1931) - 287:
287. Let us turn to devotion. This concept is also subject to many distortions. Devotion does not resemble a windmill, or a hired singer of praises. Rather, it resembles a firm tower upon a summit, which the enemies avoid in awe, but in whose chambers a shelter is ever prepared for a friend. Devotion is the opposite of doubt, which is nothing but ignorance. It means that devotion rests upon enlightenment. Thus, validity of learning is akin to devotion. It is not credulity, not levity, but firmness and steadfastness. Truly, the tower of devotion is not constructed by haphazard toil or by petty decisiveness; and devotion can be violated only by perfidy, which is the same as betrayal. But valuable are the towers of devotion! Such ashrams, like magnets, attract powerful hearts; they are nurseries of spirituality. Even material nature is transformed in the proximity of these towers. Fiery World - Book 1 (1933) - 323:
323. Your judgment is correct in regard to the need for an exodus from the festering cities and for a proportionate distribution of the population of the planet. If humanity is fundamentally a fire-bearer, is it possible not to understand how very necessary is the wise distribution of this element? It must be understood that the illness of the planet depends to a great extent upon human balance. One should not abandon vast spaces and gather in fratricidal congestion on infected and blood-soaked sites. Not by accident did the ancient chieftains found their camps on virgin sites. Today, science itself favors the normal peopling of free spaces. None will be forgotten or excluded, and the very forces of nature, called into cooperation, will render healthful Earth's diseased condition. Then only may one hope that labor will be valued, and that, instead of hired laborers, co-workers will be born. People's thinking will also undergo a reformation when the focus of thought is directed to an even distribution of labor over the entire face of Earth. One should regard this as a guarantee of the only solution. Otherwise people will only shake off the yoke, not finding the Truth that dwells in their hearts. Fiery is this Truth! Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 1 (1938) - 244:
The Thinker opposed instantly the slightest trace of hypocrisy in his disciples. He would say, "In this case, go to the priests and pay them with gold for their prayers. They assume that the gods will accept hired prayers." Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 2 (1938) - 264:
264. Urusvati knows that prayer is often hypocritical. We have already spoken about the significance of prayer, but it is necessary to mention the harm of hypocritical or hired prayer. People do not realize the extreme harm in any kind of falsehood, but hypocrisy and bribery are its grossest expressions. One should realize how pervasively each false thought spreads. It is indeed blasphemous to hire someone for prayer. It is criminal to try to deceive Him who is considered by people as the Most High. Monstrous examples can be cited of people who mumbled prayers and at the same time plotted murder.
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