Agni Yoga (1929) - 166: You may ask Me what physical exercises are useful in Agni Yoga. I advise a short period of pranayama in the morning, no longer than five minutes. One should abstain from meat, except smoked meats. Vegetables, fruit, milk, and cereals are always beneficial. All alcohol is barred, except for curative purposes. Narcotics, such as opium, are inimical to Agni Yoga. Cloudy skies are burdensome for an Agni Yogi. I advise insulating one's footwear with rubber and taking morning walks, avoiding smoky air. With courage must all events of life be faced, for it is impossible to decide where is the good and where the bad. He who brings the true Yoga into life fulfills his greatest mission. Thus, before us is the foundation of Agni Yoga. Agni Yoga (1929) - 220: How can one be cured of these fiery illnesses? The inner fires must be utilized as a useful, psychically active force. How can one cure the pains in the spine that are caused by the awakening of Kundalini? He who knows will welcome the pains and relieve them by rubbing in mint. How can we stop the burning of the third eye when it begins to function? Is it not wiser to help its development by shielding it from the sun? Long ago people knotted their hair on the crowns of their heads in order to protect this channel. Can one stop the movement of the solar plexus when it begins to rotate? Any forcing of the solar serpent can result in injury to the brain. Equally dangerous is any interruption of the functioning of the center of the Chalice. Of course, any poisoning by narcotics, such as opium, will stop the movement of the centers; but then, decapitation would be even simpler! Fiery World - Book 1 (1933) - 120: 120. The use of alcohol and opium are ugly attempts to approach the Fiery World. If Samadhi is a natural manifestation of Higher Fire, then the flame of alcohol is a destroyer of Fire. True, narcotics evoke illusions of a fiery approach, but actually they will remain for a long time as obstacles to the mastery of the true energy of Agni. Nothing brings such misery later, in the Subtle World, as do these unnatural attempts to evoke Fire without a fitting purification. One may imagine that in the Subtle World a drunkard not only is tormented by craving for alcohol but suffers still more from unnaturally manifested Fire, which, instead of strengthening him, consumes the tissues prematurely. The combustion of the subtle body is accomplished quite differently during its transition into the Fiery World; it bursts into flame like an outworn envelope, accompanied by a feeling of liberation. But, like everything in nature, this must be accomplished only in accordance with the basic law, and it does not tolerate violation. Brotherhood (1937) - 294: 294. One should make rational use of external energies. It is criminal to subject human organisms to the reaction of insufficiently investigated energies. Thus, it is easily possible to condemn multitudes to degeneration. Such degeneration takes place imperceptibly, nevertheless its effects are horrible. Man loses this best accumulations, and there results, as it were, a paralysis of brain similar to opium poisoning. The appearance of opium smokers sometimes resembles poisoning by charcoal fumes or benzine. Humanity should be urged to take measures so that cities be not poisoned by benzine and petroleum. The danger of insanity is growing.
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