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Leaves of Morya's Garden - Book 1 - The Call (1924) - 93:
93. The rebellious spirit shatters the bolts of the prison doors. You may teach others to read the Book of Wisdom as disclosed in the happenings of life. The wonder of Our Participation in the manifestations of life will not elude you. Shun the imperfections of your spirit, and ascend with a sense of spiritual freedom. Be firm in your assertion of happiness in life, and the thread of the path will not break. Leaves of Morya's Garden - Book 1 - The Call (1924) - 145:
145. On pure soil do you begin My Manifestations. I shall point out the time for every pure beginning. Need will not afflict you. Outer laws will not violate your inner order. Deem it a blessing to bring light amidst the dark and inimical hosts. We have determined to reveal the ways of enlightening cruel hearts - to soften them with the balm of Beauty. But the iron of the dark spirit is colder and stronger than the words of Bliss. Only with great travail can the Hand of Truth bend the prison bars. From Above rain words of Truth, and men have unfurled umbrellas to shield themselves from the downpour of God's Clouds. But the shower will reach even their dry hearts. We strike evil blind, and by lightning illumine the path of Good. We send the gift of understanding to the manifested hearts. Only the blind will doubt - have patience for the future steps. Leaves of Morya's Garden - Book 1 - The Call (1924) - 272:
To learn all the outpourings of nature's manifestations and to realize them as Beauty, means to accord wings to mankind. A key is needed to unlock a prison cell, But wings alone can transport you to the light. Every key implies a locked cell. But the time approaches when mankind will abhor keys. Leaves of Morya's Garden - Book 1 - The Call (1924) - 399:
399. Wisdom grows not by centuries but by hours. When countries merge in an instant, When prison walls crumble, remain steadfast. Leaves of Morya's Garden - Book 1 - The Call (1924) - 443:
443. Why consider Us as a volcano of passions, When the freesia is Our favorite flower? Leave to the enemy the crimson ardor; More close to Us are the diamonds of the peaks. Already you see his stratagems. Ah, how he toils! How can he be convinced that his building is no more than a prison? And prisoners are constantly dreaming of escape. What joy is there in dragging prisoners after oneself? However, in this argument he is of a different opinion. The obvious Alberichs have accepted his teaching. Leaves of Morya's Garden - Book 1 - The Call (1924) - 452:
My daughter, thou hast been terrified, as if behind a prison door; It seemed to thee impossible that the iron door would ever be opened. Yet here I give thee the key. Learn to turn it just as many times as indicated; No more and no less than is necessary. Leaves of Morya's Garden - Book 2 - Illumination (1925) :
One must manifest discipline of spirit; without it one cannot become free. To the slave discipline of spirit will be a prison; to the liberated one it will be a wondrous healing garden. So long as the discipline of spirit is as fetters the doors are closed, for in fetters one cannot ascend the steps. Leaves of Morya's Garden - Book 2 - Illumination (1925) - 2.7.13:
A man who had withheld the confession of a crime sat in prison. At home he had left riches which had come to him unexpectedly. The noise of every step outside suggested to him a pardon. He sent couriers to deliver the riches to the judge. But a simple confession would have freed him and preserved his wealth. Leaves of Morya's Garden - Book 2 - Illumination (1925) - 2.7.13:
It is easier for a man to sit in prison than to pronounce the saving confession. When the judge is about to free one he must hear the redeeming "yes" - the desire to give up. New Era Community (1926) - 93:
93. I speak about the quality of travels. It is necessary to assimilate the knowledge of how to travel! It is necessary not only to break away from home, but also to conquer the very concept of home. It would be more precise to say that one should broaden the concept of home. Where we are - there is home. Evolution casts off the meaning of home as a prison. Progress in liberating the consciousness will yield the possibility of becoming flexible. And not achievement, not privation, not exaltation, but quality of consciousness enables one to break away from a long occupied place. In a long-occupied place there is so much smokiness, so much sourness and dust. We are opposed to the solitary life of hermitage, but small cottages with moldy atmosphere are worse than caves. We summon those who can give expanse to thought. New Era Community (1926) - 119:
Extinguishers of fires, haters of the Light, are you not all alike, from whatever side you come crawling! You wish to put out the flame of knowledge; but the ignorant community is a prison, because community and ignorance are incompatible. It is necessary to know. Believe not, but know! New Era Community (1926) - 236:
We see indeed how the structure of the community wipes away the attributes of death; how the very process of crossing becomes generally imperceptible. How cemeteries are destroyed and prisons are done away with. Is not the prison the brother of the cemetery? Labor opens the prisons. Fire purifies the cemeteries. Labor and fire - the cause and effect of energy. Agni Yoga (1929) - 49:
Daring! Should one understand it as an unheard-of achievement? Shall not daring be one's daily repast, and the garment of one's every thought? Will not the prison walls become transparent? And will not the seal of the secret scroll melt away for the one who dares? Agni Yoga (1929) - 645:
645. Some ask how one should regard daily routine. Most people are quite afraid of it. It is considered to be the death of creativity, and the demeaning of dignity. But We say that you should learn to see in each day's labor the pranayama that uplifts your consciousness. Prana descends from the higher spheres; but any labor produces energy, which in its essence is similar to the spatial energy. Thus, the one who knows the common essence of energies can sew shoes, or beat rhythms on a drum, or gather fruit. In all these the higher energy is generated, since it is born out of the rhythm of Cosmos. Only a low consciousness dreads the rhythm of labor and thus builds its own prison. It is difficult for humanity to understand that a king and a shoemaker are comparable in every respect. Heart (1932) - 472:
472. Prejudice - whether negative or positive - is wrong. It is opposed to every Yoga; it cuts off the phenomenal aspect of ascent. One often confuses prejudice with straight-knowledge, yet these qualities are directly opposed to each other. Prejudice is an offspring of the mind, whereas the abode of straight-knowledge is in the heart. Thus, one cannot compare the offspring of the mind with those of the heart. The acceptance of such a thing is not only erroneous but also harmful, disparaging the activity of the heart. It can be observed how strata of prejudice are accumulated until the entire life is turned into a self-erected prison. But straight-knowledge concerns cosmic truth, hence, in itself it does not contain anything disparaging. The self-development of straight-knowledge induces solemnity of feeling. Thus, through different gates we approach the Abode of Solemnity. Fiery World - Book 1 (1933) - 228:
228. During the investigation of loss of weight, the laying on of hands is used, just as during increase of weight; this means that the hands transmit certain fiery energy. But this will be only a certain fiery step, the next one will be transmission of the same energy by means of the glance, in which the question of distance will be secondary. Thus it is possible to increase or diminish the weight of an object at a distance. In truth, would it not be a pleasing occupation for a merchant! Therefore it is well that the manifestation of such energies is not common in the present state of humanity. It is possible to point out many experiments that can alleviate everyday earthly life; but, actually, people would make use of them for increasing the number of killings. Meanwhile the fiery energies are knocking at their prison doors. The date is coming when they will either be applied intelligently or they will pour forth as fiery sicknesses or cosmic cataclysms. Three alternatives lie before humanity. It remains for it to choose one according to the state of its consciousness. Freedom of choice is always given. No one can deny that before the disaster of a world war a great number of warnings were given. Even not very far-sighted people observed them, but madness blinded the majority. This manifestation was before the eyes of the living generations, yet their circumspection was not increased. Ten million victims crowded the strata of the Subtle World. People prayed for killing but did not think about atonement for the violation of the law of Existence! Instead of intelligent understanding, people are ready for new killings; they do not reflect that fiery energies will flood the planet as a natural effect of the law of nature. Thus, in the "Fiery Book" it is necessary to write for those few who are willing to think about the future. Fiery World - Book 2 (1934) - 136:
136. Blessings to those who even once have reflected over the fact that possibilities are being given them for Service. One such thought already opens the initial Gates to the Fiery World. Whoever thinks in his pride - "Only I myself will attain," makes use of possibilities of serving his own ego. What an isolation resounds in boasting to oneself! What solitude is the prison of egoism! But it is joyful to think - "Yet I can bring to Thee, Lord!" There are no limits to such heart offerings! Is not the heart being exalted in trying to find the treasure of the offerings? The subtlest thoughts surround such supplications. Of course, the offering of the heart is really a prayer. It opens many gates. Not the consciousness of one's merits, but the offering of oneself in all entirely, helps one to pass over the threshold. When the gift is complete it leads past all frightening manifestations. One may say to the dwellers on the thresholds - "I've no time to gaze at you!" Thus, the offering brings ease. Fiery World - Book 2 (1934) - 292:
292. In primitive religions the fear of God was taught first of all. Thus was suggested a feeling which usually ends in rebellion. Certainly, each one who contacts the Higher World experiences a trembling, but this unavoidable sensation has nothing in common with fear. Fear is cessation of creative energy. Fear is ossification and submission to darkness. Whereas turning to the Higher World must evoke ecstasy and expansion of one's forces for the expression of the beautiful. Such qualities are born not of fear but through love. Therefore higher religion teaches not fear but love. Only by such a path can people become attached to the Higher World. The chains of fear are peculiar to slavery. But the creation of beauty is not slavery, but is reverence with love. Let us compare that done in fear with that done in love. The treasure of the spirit is not from the prison of fear; therefore let us counsel people to love and to be strengthened by the feeling of devotion. No one can defend a place that is fearful to him, but achievement is accomplished in the name of love. Apply this measure to the Gates of the Fiery World. Fiery World - Book 3 (1935) - 481:
481. Nothing ever turns back, but all is impelled infinitely. Happiness is indeed in infinity. Each limitation is already a wrong against higher creativeness. Limitation is a prison, but flight into Infinity already creates the swan wings. Thus, not without reason has been used the name - Swan. Brotherhood (1937) - 511:
511. Does man know the dimensions of his actions? Can man determine the inception of good or evil caused by his actions, so long as human thinking remains in earthly shackles? Verily, man does not know the scope of what he creates. Only thought about supermundane, infinite Existence can lead the consciousness out of its prison, but it is difficult to correlate the supermundane with the earthly in human understanding. Brotherhood (1937) - 531:
531. Since the worlds are on trial, each particle of them is being tested. One may foresee that someone will be terrified at such a supposition. But only injudicious thought can stand in the way of welcoming the law of evolution. Through expansion of consciousness one grows to love this incessant motion; would it be better to remain in the unchanging prison of errors and delusions? On the contrary, it is much more joyous to sense the constant testing, which engenders the feeling of responsibility. Brotherhood (1937) - 536:
536. It is inadmissible to imitate the dark inquisitors who strove to confine the Universe in a prison of immobility. Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 1 (1938) - 14:
14. Urusvati, can you name even one Sister or Brother who was not subjected to tortures and persecutions in earthly life? Truly, none can be named. Each heroic act invites persecution. Combat with darkness is unavoidable, and the waves of chaos will engulf bold fighters. Yet such touchstones only testify to the invincibility of the spirit. There were Those who were burned at the stake, crucified, beheaded, strangled, killed by beasts, sold into slavery, poisoned, or cast into prison; in short, They endured all tortures so that Their strength could be tested. Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 1 (1938) - 196:
The Thinker also said, "The Guides are concerned about the preservation of Beauty. Phidias was cast into prison, and by this act humanity cast itself into darkness. People are amazed at their cruel fate, but have they not earned it themselves? Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 2 (1938) - 261:
What should people do to protect themselves from such invisible corrupters? First of all, they should accept the constant proximity of these malicious neighbors. Do not think that this suggestion is unimportant. On the lower astral strata good feelings are rare, there is a prevailing envy toward everything that lives on Earth, and every breath of earthly life is pleasing and attractive to these dark, dissatisfied spirits. It is almost impossible to convince them that they should focus their attention not on Earth, but on how to free themselves from their prison. Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 2 (1938) - 383:
Despite everything, sparks of Truth penetrate the human consciousness. Today the average person would not sneer at some ideas that were rejected half a century ago, but this acceptance has come at such sacrifice, and with so little progress! The sad fact is that the losses sometimes exceed the achievements. How then should the aspirant defend Truth? If he is slandered, thrown into prison, or killed, who will hear his last words? Therefore, a special wisdom must be applied in proclaiming and defending the Truth. Complete co-measurement must be applied.
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