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Leaves of Morya's Garden - Book 1 - The Call (1924) - 202:
202. Sacrifices have been made upon M.'s Mountain. It is difficult to pray when the mind is filled with worldly thoughts. Your will must guard the place of prayer. It is better to truly know people than to be charmed by their masks. If human hearts were filled with beauty, no sacrifices would be needed. But many are the unillumined ones. Therefore, it is a thorny way that leads to each truth. Leaves of Morya's Garden - Book 1 - The Call (1924) - 324:
All Bodhisattvas, all Holy Ones, all Martyrs, strove along this Path. Remember the legend of the Seven Gates. Not for all is the thorny way a hardship. There are souls to whom a crown of thorns is sweeter than a kingly one, And a coarse garment more precious than the royal purple. New Era Community (1926) - 252:
Understand, it is necessary to put oneself wholly into the conquest of the fundamentals of liberation. Be able to look courageously into a shallow well - how quickly the surface grows scummy, and there is a thorny growth above the stagnant water. Let us deepen what has been started. Agni Yoga (1929) - 45:
In observing the history of humanity's development, entire periods of growth in consciousness can be seen. Let us not conceal that precisely now a book of discoveries and of the light of daring is being opened before humanity. This ripened fruit of the thorny travail of the community is ready to burst with seed. Can one split this fruit with a sword, or crush it through fright or through cringing cowardice, or usurp it through treacherous cunning? No, only unity of consciousness and the gaining of knowledge will bestow on humanity the gift of a new race. The impetus toward this will be afforded not by cosmic phenomena, but by the current of thought. Hierarchy (1931) - 94:
We never know when the good seeds sprout and how long the harvest of poisoned thoughts ripens. They also require time to ripen, therefore beware of poisonous thoughts; none will disappear without a trace. But where is that country, when is that hour when the ear of poison will ripen? Even though small but thorny, there will be no piece of thread which will not tear one's throat. Fiery World - Book 3 (1935) - 43:
43. The heart of a hero knows self-sacrifice in the name of Common Good. It knows self-renunciation and Great Service. The path of the hero is not always strewn with wreaths of human gratitude. The path of the hero proceeds by thorny ways. Therefore, one should always revere the path of self-renunciation, because each advancement upon the face of the Earth which affirms heroism of the spirit guarantees a new beginning. How many heroes of the spirit could have been seen upon mankind's path as torchbearers! But these fires of the spirit are unnoticeable to the eye of ignorance. Thus, on the path to the Fiery World one should revere the heroes of everyday life who saturate life with an achievement in each hour. The community of labor should cultivate these heroes, because the pillars of a nation stand erect only on the qualities of heroism of the spirit and the heart. He who knows the heroism of self-renunciation will not be a chance hero of an hour - the records of space will mark forever the labors of the hero of the spirit. Supermundane - The Inner Life - Book 1 (1938) - 173:
We have said that one should give according to people's consciousnesses. But what can one do if, instead of consciousness, there is only a wavering, ignorant mind? The Teacher is then obliged to constantly repeat simple ideas, and therein lies the tragedy for Teachers in all ages. Only a consciousness tempered through many lives can safely tread the thorny human paths.
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