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Leaves of Morya's Garden - Book 2 - Illumination (1925) - 3.4.6:
One should point out that millions of people await the opening of the Gates. The shackles of hardships should not be replaced by the fetters of fear. Fear can be compared to leprosy; both cover the man with a rime of repulsiveness. New Era Community (1926) - 274:
274. Can there be in the community associations of women, men, and children? Assuredly there can. True associations can be formed following many categories - of age, sex, occupation, and of thought. It is necessary that such branches grow healthy; and not only should they not impede the strivings of people, but they should help each other - and this assistance should be voluntary. One should contribute to the success of each sensible act of unification. Indeed, when cooperations are of varied nature, then blossoming becomes especially possible. We do not put on shackles, but broaden the horizon. Let children take up the most introspective problems. Let women carry aloft the ordained Banner. Let men give Us joy by constructing the City. Thus, above the transitory will stand out the signs of Eternity Agni Yoga (1929) - 10:
When a child plays with a newborn kitten, his mother rejoices at his courage, loathe to note that the kitten is still blind. When a youth toys with the soul of his comrade, the spectators marvel at his daring, not seeing the shackles binding the wretched soul. When a man denounces an assembly of judges, the witnesses admire his courage, not knowing that the daring of his threat has been bought with the jingle of gold. When an aged man comforts himself by deriding death, his friends delight, unmindful that fear has fashioned his mask of derision. Agni Yoga (1929) - 223:
"Lord, take my weapons, my shield and my smiting sword. How weighty seems my helmet, which in the battle was lighter than a feather! My anklets fetter my steps and my gauntlets are like shackles on my wrists." Brotherhood (1937) - 24:
24. Hypocrisy, bigotry, and superstition are three of the dark qualities which must be rejected on the path to Brotherhood. Let each one reflect whence have been born these minions of ignorance. Whole books can be written about such paths of darkness. One should ponder upon how these pernicious corrupters have grown up. They grow imperceptibly. But there has never been a time when they were more numerous than at present. Notwithstanding the spiritualization of science, and in spite of conditions of rational investigation of the manifestations of the Subtle World, still the growth of crimes due to ignorance is unprecedented. People cannot understand that spatial thought can free them from their shackles. 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) - 105:
105. In ancient treatises can be found the expression "crippled souls." And it is explained that such crippling can be done only by oneself. As soon as a man imagines that no further path remains for him, he shackles his own primary energy. In such fetters there can be no advance. By cutting short the path, the man takes upon himself a grave responsibility. This cannot be justified by despair, for of course this dark phantom is engendered by one's own weak will. Having lodged in the spirit, this specter actually injures the health. The phantom has nothing in it of reality. If people will investigate the true causes of despair, the invalidity of these causes will become amazingly clear. If the concept of Brotherhood were near to people, how many such groundless despairs would be dispelled! Yet people would rather cut short their own progress than reflect about the healing fundamentals. The writers of the ancient treatises about crippled souls had good grounds for this expression. Brotherhood (1937) - 283:
283. Whoever in speaking attributes the Teaching of Life to himself falls into falsehood. The Sources of the Teaching are beyond human limits. The Truth has been written down in Infinity, but each day it reveals a new hieroglyph of its eternalness. Mad is he who while on earth arrogates to himself the Teaching of Life. The loftiest sage considers himself a messenger. Not the new is proclaimed, but what is needed for the hour. The steward summons to the meal; this is not new, but for the hungry it is extremely important. So much the worse if someone obstructs the call to a meal. He who hinders forges shackles for himself. 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) - 572:
He who rejects cooperation inevitably falls into slavery. There are different aspects of bondage which should be recognized, otherwise the branded slave will think himself free and will even become so used to his shackles that he will regard them as a chain of honor. It must be understood that in human society there can be either free cooperation or slavery in all its aspects.
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