Exercise to overcome depression

1. Sit relaxed.
2. Take seven deep breaths.
3. Visualize an orange light, and let it turn into a door.
4. Approach the door and open it, and see a path leading through the forests to the summit of a mountain.
5. Follow the path as realistically as possible, passing through the forest and discovering the path toward the summit.
6. Climb to the summit.
7. Enjoy the view, the beauty, the space, for at least twenty minutes. Make it a very exciting view.
8. Take seven deep breaths.
9. Come down form the mountain summit, and on the path through the forest find a wounded deer. Try to help him as much as possible.
10. Bring the deer to your home. Give every assistance possible to heal the deer.
11. When the healing is completed, open your eyes. Sit relaxed for a few minutes.

Note: Do this exercise thirty-five to fifty minutes every day for a week, and see if any trace of depression still exists within you.

-Torkom Saraydarian

Self-concern, self-preoccupation and neglect of others

Our exaggerated sense of self and our compulsion to find happiness for this larger-than-life self we have fabricated cause us to ignore, neglect and harm others. Of course, it is our right to love and take care of ourselves, but not at the expense of others. While "As long as I'm alright" is our motto, we have no hesitation in acting with total disregard for others.

We may find this description of self-concern altogether too crass to apply to us. "I'm not like that," we object, but though we may not consciously think in this way, when self-concern is operating, our behaviour shows a cold indifference to others. Conflicts between partners, parents and children and with other family members, conflicts between students and teachers and on a larger scale within and between countries have their source in personal and collective self-concern.

..Buddhas and Bodhisattvas see clearly that our neglect of others, our self-preoccupation and our disregard for the connection between actions and their effects are responsible for all our miseries.

-Geshe Sonam Rinchen

Harmlessness

If the value of harmlessness is learned, you can understand exactly how the Law of Karma works. It will be impossible to progress on the path of perfection until you live according to the requirements of this law. Neither your thoughts nor your words nor your actions must be directed by the motive to harm. To be harmless means to be completely beneficent to all forms of life. This achievement requires a conscious control upon all your actions.

-Torkom Saraydarian

The sun, the best representative of God

The sun is the most perfect image of God. In spite of this perfection, however, it is only a form, and in seeking God we must go beyond it. We must always look for God beyond forms. When looking at the sun, do your utmost to feel you are in the presence of the best representative of God on earth. This sensation will help raise all the vibrations of your being. All the elements within you will be exalted, and you will be projected into the upper regions of space. Even the notion of time will be abolished, for, like God, you will live in eternity.

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

A spiritual person should be a normal person

A spiritual person should be a normal person, a sound person. In order to reach God, a spiritual person has to be divinely practical in his day-to-day activities. In divine practicality, we share our inner wealth. We feel the divine motivation behind each action and share the result with others. Spirituality does not negate the outer life. The outer life should be the manifestation of the divine life within us.

-Sri Chinmoy

Reign of love over sexuality

How can we distinguish love from sexuality when in amorous relationships one never goes without the other? Sexuality is a purely egocentric tendency which incites human beings to seek their own pleasure, even to the detriment of their partner. Love, on the contrary, thinks first and foremost of the other's happiness. It is based on sacrifice: the sacrifice of time, energy or money, if necessary, in order to help the other, to enable the other to blossom and develop all his or her qualities.

Nothing is more beautiful than love, when men and women are ready to accept deprivation, to wrest something from themselves in order to give it. And you who walk on the spiritual path know that spirituality begins in fact with the reign of love over sexuality. Only when you are able to sacrifice for the good of the other are you capable of love.

Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

Does God exist?

"Does God exist?" said the Master one day.

"Yes," said the disciples in chorus.

"Wrong," said the Master.

"No," said the disciples.

"Wrong again," said the Master.

"What's the answer?" asked the disciples.

"There is no answer."

"Why ever not?"

"Because there is no question," said the Master.

Later he explained: "If you cannot say anything about Him who is beyond thoughts and words, how can you ask anything about Him?"

-Anthony de Mello, SJ

Stay with this sort of sage

Regard him as one who points out treasure, the wise one who seeing your faults rebukes you.

Stay with this sort of sage. For the one who stays with a sage of this sort, things get better, not worse.

-Buddha, Dhammapada

The mechanics of yogism are no longer suitable

Illumination, II:III:7. The purification of religions predicates a new direct relation with the spiritual world. Christ, Buddha and their closest coworkers did not use magic formulae but acted and created in full blending with the spirit. Therefore, in the new evolution the former artificial methods must be abandoned. Remember cause and effect. The mechanics of yogism are no longer suitable for the regeneration of the world.

-Agni Yoga

The cost of pleasures

Provided that we wrong no one, each of us is free in theory to do whatever we want, even to indulge ourselves. Why not? The problem is that by engaging in extravagances, in satisfying all our desires, we sign a pact with inferior entities, and later we are at their mercy and are unable to extricate ourselves. You have had a good time, you have eaten and drunk, symbolically speaking, and now you have to pay. This is precisely the meaning of the famous pact between Faust and Mephistopheles.

Of course, entertainment and pleasures are enjoyable; you have new experiences, you live! Yes, but this is very costly. Human beings are never short of ideas when it comes to amusing themselves and savouring pleasures, but they are blind when it comes to foreseeing the consequences. They focus on pleasure alone, and pleasure is rarely a good counsellor. Nothing comes without a price. How many have ruined their health and destroyed their psychic equilibrium in exchange for a few pleasures!

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

Astral body and desires

Jesus said: 'It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.' Although seemingly exaggerated, this comparison corresponds to a psychic reality. It is not the physical body of the rich man that is enormous and keeps him outside the gates of heaven, but his astral body, his body of desires. The astral body is insatiable by nature, and in their attempt to satisfy it, the rich seek to accumulate more and more possessions. As for the camel, because of its way of life it has become the symbol of sobriety, of the ability to control one's appetites.

In the human being, appetites can take a variety of forms: ambition, power, sensuality, and so on. Jesus takes the rich man as a symbol of those who attempt to satisfy all the desires inspired by their astral body. It is the astral body which obstructs the door to the Kingdom of God, where only those who have learned sobriety, selflessness and sacrifice are welcomed.

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

Buddha on miracles

One of his followers urged the Buddha to perform a miracle in order to attract some nonbelievers. The Buddha replied:

"I detest and will not undertake the so-called miracles of magic power and divination. I and my followers attract non-believers only by the miracle of truth."

- Digha Nikaya

Worrying about the future

More often than not, the future is a source of worry for human beings. They are forever asking themselves whether they will have enough money, whether they will have enough to eat, a place to live, and so on. So taken are they with these preoccupations that they neglect far more important matters. They make mistakes which should be rectified, but they fail to address them. And as everything snowballs, they are eventually overwhelmed and crushed.

In order to avoid this, you must meditate on the words of Jesus: 'Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own.' If you see to it each day that your conduct is impeccable, the following day will be completely clear, and you will be free to carry out your plans, always vigilant that you leave no loose ends. In this way, each new day will find you free and well disposed. You will be ready to work, to study and to enjoy yourself, and all life will take on an extraordinary colour of contentment and blessedness! By seeing to it that all is in order today, you take care of tomorrow.

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

Initiations are the result of victory over fear

Initiations are the result of victory over fear. Fear is the sign that you are attached to matter. No one can advance while he is controlled by matter. Fear is hidden in matter; fear is hidden in objects. Whoever identifies with matter identifies with fear. Each victory over fear is an initiation.

A fearless person has the following qualities:

• He liberates
• He sacrifices
• He uplifts
• He expands
• He destroys the obstacles on his path
• He protects people from dark attacks
• He risks his life
• He sacrifices his possessions
• He acts under the Divine Will
  

Initiation – The Path of Living Service
-Torkom Saraydarian

Drugs and spiritual food

Each of us possesses a soul and a spirit, and this soul and spirit have needs. If so many human beings are unconscious of these needs, it is because they have stifled them by leading a life without ideals. But these needs are there, and sometimes they manifest in people but they do not understand the language.

All these dangerous experiments - like drugs for example - that today tempt young people as well as adults, are expressions of something they are lacking, a call of the soul hungry for the infinite and demanding to be nourished. For what is left for the soul in a society in which all belief in a divine world has been destroyed and in which political rivalries and economic and social success are held up as ideals?

Since we deprive the soul of the spiritual foods it needs to be able to soar into space, it looks for these elements in the material realm, in substances such as tobacco, alcohol and drugs. Yes, when the soul is not given the nourishment it needs, it seeks to satisfy itself by means of material foods. However it is these foods which destroy us.

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

Following the Inner Guidance

There is mystery in man. There is a Presence beside him which is the path leading to the jewel. The shortest way to find that Presence is to watch, to observe your behavior, your emotional and mental actions, reactions and activities. You must always remind yourself that these activities do not originate in your real Self, but have two different origins. One originates in your lower vehicles mechanically. The other comes from a higher source, which is your Guardian. If you practice observation enough, you will discriminate between these two. One is mostly selfish, negative, separative, materialistic, narrow and limiting. The other is selfless, joy-giving, courageous, fearless, sacrificial, all-embracing, group-conscious, spiritual, progressive, enlightening; leading to service, dedication and gratitude.

Once you are able to discriminate between these two, the next step will be to tune yourself to the higher one, and express the impressions that you receive from that Inner Presence, which eventually will lead you to know Self, to the Jewel.

I followed his advice, and the first thing I saw in myself was a duality. Besides this duality there was a deep, misty point of awareness, which I was not able to identify, but which I knew to be there.

I found a level of consciousness in myself which was receiving special impressions from a source within, encouraging me to change the way I was living, reacting emotionally and mentally. There was also a resistance in me which was laughing at these suggestions, and making me feel at ease with my way of daily living. Sometimes I was following the deeper guidance. Sometimes I was rejecting it and listening to the voice of my mechanical self, of my body, emotions and superficial thinking.

When I was obeying the deeper guidance, my joy, my energy, my creativity were increasing, and I was feeling closer to the beauties of nature. When I was obeying the mechanical calls of my nature, my worries were increasing. I was feeling less secure, less joyous, even depressed, and my creative energy was nil.

Then the most crucial questions came to my mind. Who is the Guiding One? What is It? Is It ‘me’? The more I thought about this Guiding One, the clearer became my understanding of It, and I knew him to be different from the ‘me’ I had always known. The choice was mine; to reject Its suggestions and act mechanically, or to accept these suggestions and adapt them to my own level of consciousness and the point in time.

-Torkom Saraydarian

True poetry should help you rediscover the paradise of your soul

What most people, even the very cultivated, call poetry often only amounts to a series of vague, bizarre and disconnected expressions or images which have no real correspondence to the symbolic language of nature. Because these people themselves lack any real criteria and tend to live in the misty regions of the astral plane, they are dazzled by it and sink even deeper into these regions.

It is the Word, the divine Word, that is true poetry, in which all the elements are invisibly linked. True poetry awakens within human beings the sense that they have already lived a divine life on high and sets their spiritual chords vibrating. If a poem merely offers you a few vague sensations, read it if you wish, but know that this is not true poetry. True poetry should help you rediscover the paradise of your soul.

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

*Mate*

Passion is but a prelude to
Years of gradual unfolding.

Some people mate for life. Perhaps their love affair starts with infatuation, passion, and eroticism. Eventually it gives way to a more stable companionship. Not all couples pass this transition period intact, but those who do find a new mode of relating to one another. Devoted lovers find that minor faults can be accepted. At the same time, they find acceptance in spite of their own inherent shortcomings and insecurities.

Mature love is patient, selfless, generous, and kind. The lover becomes more important than the self. In love, we find transcendence and a unity that is unattainable alone.

Many sages speak out against romantic love. Can it be that they have never felt it or that they have been bitterly disappointed themselves? Individuals should know themselves well. If they are meant for love, they will know.

Ultimately, the other is divine and divinity dwells in the other. Through love, one can come to know the beauty of unity and wholeness. Without the female, the male element is static and sterile. Without the male element, the female is boundless potential without a catalyst. Through unification, we find selflessness, purity, and divinity.

-Deng Ming-Dao

Change of Race and cosmic cataclysms - Helena Roerich

Letters Of Helena Roerich I, 7 June 1934. The time which humanity is now experiencing is one of transition from the evolution of the intellect to the evolution of spirituality. This period will be marked by the achievement of the predominance of the spirit over the intellect. This transition will be completed during the change of races. Thus, the sixth race is now taking its rightful place. As you know, each change of races is accompanied by cosmic cataclysms. Such purification is necessary for the development of the new race. These cosmic cataclysms will take place as a result of the shifting of the earth's axis. The scientists of today most emphatically point to this shifting, which has been happening for some time and may result in catastrophes.

Letters Of Helena Roerich I, 7 June 1934. At the time of the change of races, there always comes a Great Revelation, and, as usual, only those whose consciousness belongs to the next degree of development, i.e., to the new coming race, can assimilate it fully. The rest will benefit insofar as they are able. It is wrong, however, to think that the remaining races will be exterminated. The best will be saved, and some may even flourish. Only the refuse, those who are unable to proceed with evolution, will die out or will entirely degenerate; we can see examples of such degeneration among many primitive peoples. Thus, the aborigines of Australia are the degenerated descendants of sub-races who at one time belonged to the great third race; this race was superior to us in its achievements, for the Great Sons of Reason were incarnated in it.

Letters Of Helena Roerich I, 10 October 1934. Quite correctly, you have stated that "the fact that the books of Living Ethics are given in such numbers and with such revelations indicates the seriousness of the time." Precisely, we are approaching the decisive decennaries - "to be or not to be" for the welfare of our planet. The change of race, all displacements and reconstructions may be ended at this time far more tragically than in the days of Lemuria and Atlantis. Verily, man can become the exploder of the planet.

Letters Of Helena Roerich I, 6 December 1934. And now, about your significant dream. No doubt this dream comes from a High Source. Our planet is going through a most dangerous time, indeed the most critical period. If humanity refuses to be spiritually resurrected before the approach of the fiery cosmic energies, the cataclysms which always accompany a change of race may result in the total explosion and destruction of our Earth. But before this final catastrophe of our planet happens, many children will have time to grow old. Undoubtedly, partial cataclysms20will occur during the next coming decades. Therefore, the Lords of Light more than ever call humanity to the spiritual awakening, to the realization of the gravity of the approaching fiery reconstruction. All people of pure, unprejudiced consciousness shall be saved and led away into safe places, just as in the last days of Atlantis. Of course, each reconstruction of the world brings great possibilities as well, and although our time is threatening, it nevertheless can be beautiful and constructive. One should try most intensely to help lay the foundation for the coming luminous constructive age that is so near - in fact much nearer than many think, surrounded as they are with destruction and decay.

'Know Thyself' and soulmate

Consciously or unconsciously, every human being seeks his soul mate. In fact, our soul mate is ourself, the other pole of ourselves which lives on high close to God in perfection and fulfilment. This is why in all the initiations the disciples were taught how to rediscover themselves.

In India, the methods of Jnani-yoga enable the yogi to unite with his higher Self, for by uniting with our higher Self we become united with God Himself. In Greece we find the same idea expressed in the formula inscribed on the front of the temple at Delphi: 'Know Thyself'. This phrase, in fact, does not have the meaning usually attributed to it: accept that you are a human being and that as such you are limited. True knowledge is a fusion of the two principles.

This is the meaning of the words in Genesis: 'And Adam knew Eve' or 'Abraham knew Sarah'. 'Know Thyself' thus means: find the other pole in yourself, your complementary half. If you are a man, the other pole within you is the feminine principle and, if you are a woman, it is the masculine principle, with which you unite in purity and light.

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

Emotions constantly changing

Observe the flow of emotions. Up and down. There is constant movement, change. Don't attach to the emotions of the moment. Attach to the real behind the movement. Observe the movement, watch the emotion disappear. A new one takes its place. This is maya. That which is temporary, changes frequently, is maya. Don't attach to maya. This is all temporary. The body, emotions, relationships, wealth, power, knowledge...always changing, temporary. Understand?

This body I am in is temporary. It too has emotions constantly changing. I observe the movement of thought from its creation to its destruction.

Now listen carefully. The movement of thought is time. Learn to observe thought and time becomes what it is. Maya. Created by thought, divided by thought. When the higher self observes, there is no movement, no time. There is the eternal now where the ground of being exists. The place of no-thing. This is where I, who am no-body, come out of. Do what your heart advises and all will be well.

-Babaji

What is spiritual, what is evil - Alice Bailey

Everything is spiritual which tends towards understanding, towards kindness, towards that which is productive of beauty and which can lead man on to a fuller expression of his divine potentialities. All is evil which drives man deeper into materialism, which omits the higher values of living, which endorses selfishness, which sets up barriers to the establishing of right human relations, and which feeds the spirit of separateness, of fear, of revenge.

-The Externalization of the Hierarchy, 187 - Alice Bailey / DK

"Abnormality"

Human beings are so influenced by the way things are in the world that if they were transported to the Kingdom of God, they would start criticising everything: 'Oh, but it is so strange here; it is different at home. It is better.' Exactly like the story of the man who belonged to a tribe whose members had only one eye. He went travelling and one day came across a nation where everyone had two eyes. On his return home he said to his compatriots: 'I saw monsters, awful people: they did not have one eye like us, but two. We must attack them and take out their second eye!'

Well, this mentality can be found everywhere. As soon as people notice that someone has faculties or virtues that are a little different, they unite against him, saying: 'This one is abnormal, we have to attack him'. Because the majority rule. This means that if most people behave like animals, we must descend to their level and be like animals. Observe this mentality, because sometimes it is your own.

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

Alice Bailey DK - The problem of sex

One thing I will say, sad though it may seem to you to be. There is no immediate solution of the problem of sex with which we are at this time confronted. For ages men have misused and wrongly employed a God-given function; they have prostituted their birthright, and through their laxity and license, and through their lack of control, they have inaugurated an era of disease, both mental and physical, of wrong attitudes and illusory relations which it will take several centuries to eradicate; they have also brought too rapidly into incarnation myriads of human beings who were not yet ready for the experience of this incarnation, and who needed longer interludes between births wherein to assimilate experience. Those souls who are unevolved come into incarnation with rapidity; but older souls need longer periods wherein to garner the fruits of experience. They are however open to the magnetic attractive power of those who are alive on the physical plane, and it is these souls who can be brought prematurely into incarnation.

-Alice Bailey
Esoteric Psychology I , 273

Yogananda - Sense Slave

Only a sense slave finds it torture to eat moderately, to control the sex urges, to abstain from intoxicants. Even a well-balanced worldly man, not to mention a saint, knows from practical experience how necessary for well-being is a discipline of the senses. The sense slave eats to satisfy his palate and ultimately finds himself the victim of disease. The soul urges man to discipline the palate; after a short period of demonstrations of outraged dignity, the palate gives no further trouble! Like a good servant, the sense of taste learns to be satisfied with the wholesome decisions of its master, the soul.

The senses disregard the bliss of the soul and try to be happy by making the soul miserable. The soul, on the other hand does not seek to torture the senses, but to relegate them to their true station of man's servant, not master.

-Paramahansa Yogananda
God Talks with Arjuna: The Bhagavad Gita

T.Saraydarian - Sacrifice

Sometimes a disciple sacrifices all his time and energy with self-forgetfulness to help others, but in so doing he does not slow down his own spiritual progress. When he dies, special Teachers take care of him, teach him, and help him assimilate in just a few years all that he would have learned and assimilated in the life span that he sacrificed for humanity. Total righteousness exists in the Higher Worlds, and you are paid back for a cup of water given to a thirsty soul.

-Torkom Saraydarian

True self-consciousness

AAB-DK: "...the note of individuality and of true self-consciousness. Many people are convinced that they are self-conscious when they are only swayed by desire and are oriented towards the satisfaction of that desire or when they recognize themselves as the dramatic center of their universe. Yet the only truly self-conscious person is the man who is aware of purpose, of a self-directed life and of a developed and definite life plan and program. Where these are present, the inference is that there is mental perception and some measure of integration.

To be motivated only by emotion and actuated by desire is no indication of true self-consciousness. In the undeveloped man, it is far more instinctual than is self-awareness. In the truly developed self-conscious man not only is direction, purpose and plan present, but also a consciousness of the active agent of the plan and action. Ponder on this."

-Alice Bailey

Believing only in what you can see and touch?

A person who falls in love has no doubts about what he feels, even though he cannot see or touch his love, for it is something impalpable. Can someone who holds an opinion and has convictions see them or touch them? No, and yet sometimes he is willing to fight and die for them. And someone who says: 'Upon my soul and conscience, I condemn this man', passes a sentence heavy with consequences in the name of something that he too has never seen. Why does he suddenly attach such importance to this invisible soul and conscience?

Without realising it, the whole world believes only in what is invisible and impalpable: everyone feels, loves, suffers, cries and celebrates for reasons that are invisible. And then they claim to believe only in what they can see and touch! What a contradiction!

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

Politics and esotericism

There is a tendency among esoteric students, particularly those in the older Piscean groups, to regard any interest in the energies producing world events or which concern governments and politics as antagonistic to esoteric and spiritual endeavour. But the newer esotericism which the more modern groups and the more mental types will sponsor sees all events and world movements and national governments, plus all political circumstances, as expressions of the energies to be found in the inner world of esoteric research; therefore they see no sound reason for excluding such an important aspect of human affairs from their reasoning and thinking and from the discovery of those new truths and techniques which may bring about the new era of right human relations.

They ask: Why omit political research from the spiritual curriculum? They deem it to be of equal if not of greater importance than the activity of the churches; governments condition people and aid in the production of any current civilisation, forcing the masses of men into certain needed lines of thought.

The churches and men everywhere need to learn that there is nothing in the entire world of phenomena, of forces and of energies, which cannot be brought under the control of that which is spiritual. All that exists is, in reality, spirit in manifestation. The masses today are becoming politically-minded, and this is viewed by the Masters as a great step forward. When the spiritually-minded people of the world include this relatively new area of human thought and its international activity within the field of their esoteric research, very great progress will be made.

-Alice Bailey
Education in the New Age

In the spiritual life you will find the greatest adventures

More and more, we see young people launching themselves into all sorts of risky adventures, which they justify by claiming that the instruction and example of their elders is old-fashioned: it not only has nothing to teach them but is boring as well. And, besides, you should sample everything life has to offer. I agree, but is this a good reason for them to go and get their wings scorched, guided as they are by their desire for independence and pleasure? Why don't they try to meditate, to pray, to link themselves to the world of light, to grow in love and wisdom?

Would you like to leave behind the banality of everyday life and taste something new, something extraordinary? Well, know that it is in the spiritual life that you will find the greatest adventures.

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

Stamped with the seal of detachment

As long as you have an "I"
you won't be allowed in.
Once you are annihilated
you will be treasured like the apple of the eye;
Once you are purified from the two worlds,
you will be stamped with the seal of detachment.

- Rumi

Clothe yourself in Beauty

Seek beauty, love beauty, for it is beauty that will save you. Obviously, I am speaking to you here of spiritual beauty. Through meditation and contemplation, try to sense this beauty, to clothe yourself in it, to become imbued with it, for it will protect you from the beauty that deceives.

If you dress children in new clothes, they are intelligent enough to understand that they must not go out and play in the gutter. So what lesson should we draw from this example? If you are like someone who dresses in overalls and mucks about in mud, dung or dirty grease, you will not recoil from any kind of filth. But one day when you succeed in reaching the world of true beauty, which is pure light, and your aura becomes impregnated with this light, you will no longer feel the desire to dive in just anywhere and soil this magnificent garment.

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

Seek to ce cooked by the Fire

If your knowledge of fire has been turned
to certainty by words alone,
then seek to be cooked by the fire itself.
Don't abide in borrowed certainty.
There is no real certainty until you burn;
if you wish for this, sit down in the fire.

- Rumi

Relationships as apprenticeship

Most men and women are so careless when they enter a relationship or marriage! They imagine that everything will be easy, light and pleasant, since their partner is there, of course, merely to satisfy their needs. But gradually they begin to feel stuck, and then come the arguments and confrontations, until they understand that, in order to restore the situation, they must each strive to forget themselves a little and think of the other.

What they mistook for recreation is in fact a school where they begin what for every human being is the most important apprenticeship: the expansion of consciousness. Perhaps you are wondering what this expansion of consciousness means. It means leaving one's small, limited self in order to enter the vast community of humanity and, for many, this apprenticeship inevitably begins with the experience called 'falling in love'.

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

The correct measure of giving

Heart, 573. The correct measure of giving is the criterion of love and responsibility. To give too little is contrary to love, but it is no better to give too much. Niggardliness is unworthy, but generosity that leads even to treason is not goal-fitting. As insufficient food leads to hunger, so excessive food leads to poisoning. It can be stated without exaggeration that the extent of treason has increased considerably due to excessive giving.

The Teacher who gives and trusts must take into consideration a great number of conditions. He must take into consideration not only the personal merits of the one who receives but also the qualities of his immediate surroundings and karmic and astrological conditions as well. The subtle heart prompts one how to discriminate in this complex current of conditions. Therefore We value so much this criterion of the heart. The path of the Bodhisattva contains this essence of measure. No logic will safeguard the giving one from excess, but the heart knows this heavenly balance.

-Agni Yoga

Alice Bailey-DK on homosexuality

AAB-DK: "One of the major problems today to the psychologist and in a lesser degree to the medical man, is the growth of homosexuality, both female and male. Specious arguments are brought forth in order to prove that this abnormal development (and the consequent interest in this morbid tendency) is due to the fact that the race is slowly becoming androgynous in its development, and that the future hermaphroditic man or woman is gradually making its appearance. This, again, is not true. Homosexuality is what you call a "left-over" from the sexual excesses of Lemurian times, an inherited taint, if you like. Egos who individualised and incarnated in that vast period of time are the ones who today demonstrate homosexual tendencies. In those days, so urgent was the sexual appetite, the normal processes of human intercourse did not satisfy the insatiable desire of the advanced man of the period. Soul force, flowing in through the processes of individualisation, served to stimulate the lowest centres. Hence, forbidden methods were practiced. Those who thus practiced them are today, in great numbers, in incarnation, and the ancient habits are too strong for them. They are now far enough advanced upon the evolutionary path so that the cure lies ready at this time-if they choose to employ it. They can, with relative ease, transfer the sex impulse to the throat centre, and thus become creative in the higher sense, employing the energy [Page 63] sensed and circulating in right and constructive ways. Many of them are beginning automatically to do this. However, it is well known that, among the so-called artistic types, homosexuality is very prevalent. I say "so-called" for the truly creative artist is not the victim of these ancient evil predisposing habits.

It might be pointed out here that homosexuality is of three kinds:

1. That which is the result of ancient evil habits. This is the major cause today and indicates: a. Individualisation upon this planet; for those who individualised upon the moon chain are not susceptible to these dangerous characteristics. b. A relatively advanced stage upon the evolutionary path which was achieved by the Lemurian egos who succumbed to this desire-satisfaction. c. A consequent study of sex magic, plus a constant insatiable physical and sexual urge.

2. Imitative homosexuality. A number of persons of all classes imitated their betters (if I might use so paradoxical a term) and so developed evil habits in sexual intercourse from which they might otherwise have remained free. This is one of the prevalent reasons today, among many men and women, and is based upon a too active imagination, plus a powerful physical or sex nature, and a prurient curiosity. This I say with advisement. This category accounts for many of our Sodomites and Lesbians.

3. A few rare, very rare, cases of hermaphroditism. These people, combining in themselves both aspects of the sex life, are faced with a very real problem. It is a problem which is greatly increased by human ignorance, human refusal to face facts, wrong early training and teaching, [Page 64] and a widespread misunderstanding. These cases are to be found in small numbers everywhere, even though their numbers, in relation to the world population, is still negligible. But that they exist is of real interest to the medical profession and a subject of deep pity and commiseration to the humanitarian and the understanding psychologist. They face a difficult situation.

I have somewhat elaborated this matter as it is of use for you to know such facts and the information is of value to you. It serves to throw light upon a problem which an increasingly large number of people are called upon to face. Psychologists, social workers, physicians, and all those occupied with group training constantly meet with this problem, and it is just as well that some distinction is made between the types which must be considered, thus clarifying the issue."

-Alice Bailey, Esoteric Healing

Speaking of others' faults

Speaking of others' faults can also be a way to distract ourselves from acknowledging our own painful emotions. For example, if we feel hurt or rejected because a dear one hasn't called us in a long time, rather than feel the suffering nature of our attachment, we criticize our loved one for being unreliable and inconsiderate.

-Thubten Chodron

How to begin - Agni Yoga

AUM (1936) - 584. A disciple asked his Teacher, "Tell me, how shall I apply the Teaching in life?" The Teacher advised him, "To begin with, become kinder. Do not consider good as a supernatural gift. Let it be the foundation of your hearth; upon it build your fire, and on such a ground the flame will not be scorching." Thus asked the disciples, and the Teacher was amazed that after all the Teaching a question as to how to begin was necessary.

-Agni Yoga

Psychic torpor

Everyday we see human beings running here and there, dynamic and enterprising. But, in fact, many are asleep. Yes, psychically, spiritually, they are in a deep sleep, which can be compared to sleep on the physical plane.

Deep states of sleep are necessary on the physical plane because human beings have accumulated too many toxins, or else they have greatly weakened their organism through disorderly activities. This is why they not only need much more time to recuperate but why, when they wake up, they are still groggy and sluggish.

In the same way, when people accumulate impurities in their hearts and minds, when they exhaust their energies in passionate emotions, they remain for a long time in a kind of psychic torpor. And it is this torpor of consciousness that prevents them from experiencing the beauty and meaning of life.

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

Seeking personal gain in spiritual teachings

26. People will come and assert that even the highest Teaching does not satisfy them. They still desire something else. Ask them what personal benefit they desire-you will make no mistake by this inquiry.

Their dissatisfactions springs too often from a desire for personal gain. Infinity itself has no lure for such hypocrites. They are interested only in an ardent quest of physical delights. They will not linger long near the Teaching; they will depart as soon as they sense the spiritual, not the physical.

It is precisely such people who, failing to find pieces of silver, become the most dreadful traitors. Thus, neither the power of Grace nor Aum will affect or illumine them-the coal black heart remains black and is reduced to ashes.

-Agni Yoga

By degrading woman, man degrades himself

The universal disorganization which we see today, the threatening degeneration of many countries, is the result of this continuing imbalance through the subservience and oppression of woman. By degrading woman, man degrades himself; and without the revival of true chivalry and gentleness the spirit cannot rise.

It is also said: "As the Teacher creates through his disciples, even so woman creates through the masculine principle. Therefore woman uplifts man." Hence, woman must raise herself to such a degree, spiritually, morally and intellectually, that it will enable her to carry man with her. Remember the painting by N. K., "She who Leads." Thus woman must occupy the place destined for her. She must become not only an equal cooperator in the management of the whole life, but also an inspirer. The greatest task is to spiritualize and to restore the health of humanity by filling it with aspiration toward great deeds and beauty. But woman must first of all change herself! Therefore, the call to woman must be primarily the call to self-perfection, for the realization of her dignity and her great destiny and to lay the foundation of Be-ness and for the awakening of the impulse toward creativeness and beauty.

It is said: "The Equilibrium of the world cannot be established without true understanding of the First Causes.... Therefore, let us be affirmed in consciousness upon the power of Equilibrium, as the stimulus of Existence, of the First Causes, and of Beauty. Hence it is so indispensable to affirm in the spirit the Feminine Principle." LHR I

-Helena Roerich

Nothing wrong with the senses, it is your imagination that misleads

You see yourself in the world, while I see the world in myself. To you, you get born and die, while to me the world appears and disappears. Our world is real, but your view of it is not. There is no wall between us, except the one built by you.

There is nothing wrong with the senses, it is your imagination that misleads you. It covers up the world as it is with what you imagine it to be - something existing independently of you and yet closely following your inherited or acquired patterns.

-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Licence is not freedom, it leads to illness

So many people are convinced they will find fulfillment only if they are able to do what they want! And in order to do so, they are ready to break all the rules - all the 'taboos', as they call them - because they want to be free. And what is this freedom? The freedom to do foolish things, to bind themselves hand and foot, to become ill, and even to destroy themselves, for when we separate ourselves from light, wisdom and reason, it is inevitable that we will suffer and eventually become physically ill. Yes, because illness is nothing other than the manifestation in the physical realm of disorders we have allowed to take hold in the psychic realm.

The desire to overturn prejudices and the rules of a narrow morality in order eventually to be oneself is not a bad thing, quite the contrary. But we must know that beyond the laws of human morality lie eternal laws which were established by Cosmic Intelligence. Like it or not, when we transgress these laws, we pay for it through physical or psychic suffering, or both.

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

All blessings flow from attention

Do not undervalue attention. It means interest and also love.
To know, to do, to discover, or to create you must give your heart to it - which means attention.
All the blessings flow from it.

- Nisargadatta Maharaj

Distance, for love to last

Men and women who fall in love want their love to last forever. This is possible, but only if they understand certain rules and apply them. If you genuinely wish your love for another to last, do not be in a hurry to become physically involved for, once the great passion is over, you will quickly tire of each other and will begin to see each other's failings. To protect your inspiration, try to keep some distance between you.

Those who wish to know and taste everything quickly are soon no longer curious about each other. They do not even want to meet, because they have seen too much and 'eaten' too much; they are saturated, and it is finished. This love which brought them all kinds of blessings, which brought them heaven, has been sacrificed for a few moments of pleasure. Why did they not try to be more vigilant? Why did they deprive themselves so quickly of those subtle, poetic sensations which would have allowed their love to last?

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

Repetition of experiences through incarnations

On departing this earth, it is not only their material possessions that human beings must leave behind. Everything that has come to them in the realms of intelligence and feeling from other people, books, works of art and so on also disappears, unless they have profoundly lived it and verified it. And if they have not done so, when they return in the next incarnation, they must learn everything again, and with a great deal of difficulty. Just because someone can speak or write on a variety of subjects is no proof that he truly understands them, and he must start all over again from the beginning.

Let us look further: people get married and have children, and many of them are as helpless and lost in this situation as if they were experiencing it for the first time. Yet they have experienced it many times in previous incarnations, but as they have never truly sought to deepen their role and their responsibilities as husband, wife, or parent, it is always as if they were discovering them for the first time. As a result, they make mistakes and suffer. Therefore you must exert yourselves so that you do not find yourself at such a loss in a future incarnation."

-Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

Angels - Torkom Saraydarian

Angels affect people through their presence, even if they do not talk. Their invisible influence spreads like a fragrance. Psychic energy is also transmitted by angels. They are powerful transmitters or even sources of psychic energy. When a person is charged with psychic energy, he turns into a source of creative, healing, and enlightening energy.

Angels & Devas, P. 11 by Torkom Saraydarian

To know what a man believes, watch how he acts

Recorded religions are mere heaps of verbiage. Religions show their true face in action, in silent action. To know what a man believes, watch how he acts. For most of the people, service of their bodies and their minds is their religion. They may have religious ideas, but they do not act on them.

-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

If truth is alive, nothing can hurt it and slander will be its advertisement

Supermundane II: 335. Urusvati knows that encounters with the servants of darkness are frequent, and that one should be aware of their versatility. There are manifestations that are clearly ugly, but there are others that are luminous, and only an expanded consciousness can determine the true essence of these entities.

The question may arise whether We ever encounter these enemies. Certainly, and We must not only constantly battle with them, but sometimes even converse with them. They miss no opportunity to approach Us during Our journeys, and attempt to sap Our energy for their own use. It is fair to say that the dark forces do not spare themselves. They courageously endure the pain caused by contact with Our energy, and are quite prepared to sacrifice themselves. It is lamentable that the so-called servants of Good are not nearly so devoted to their cause.

Indeed, it is not those who ferociously reject Truth who are dangerous, nor those who distort it, but the indifferent ones, the living corpses who remain unmoved by the word of Truth. We can only smile at the blasphemers and deniers, who do not suspect that by attracting attention to the truth they deny, they serve a certain purpose. Some force compels them to direct their energy into loudly denying the truth, while so many servants of Good whisper. Judge for yourself who is of more use, the one who whispers the Truth timidly and inaudibly, or the one who boldly and loudly attacks it.

Let us look to the past and we shall see that the brightest achievements were the result of ferocious opposition. If truth does not exist, to what purpose does this enemy exhaust itself? But if truth is alive, nothing can hurt it and slander will be its advertisement. We have often told Our adversaries that there is a law that turns their evil efforts into glorifications of truth.

In the same way, false prophets serve a purpose in attempting to give the multitudes their message. Therefore, let them continue to proclaim, in ignorance of the result. Let the empty shell of untruth fall away; the water of truth will continue to flow.

The Thinker, after meeting with a stranger, said, "He is not a good man, but he spoke much to Me about truth. Blessed be the Truth

-Agni Yoga

The best way to hold on to your joy is to share it

When the spiritual life brings you moments of peace, joy and wonder, you must not keep them for yourself. Devote at least a few minutes to sharing something of these privileged states by means of your thoughts. Think of all the beings in the world who are in anguish and despair. Focus your thoughts on them and say: 'Dear brothers and sisters throughout the world, what I possess is so beautiful, so luminous, that I want to share it with you. Receive some of this beauty; take some of this light!'

Since you know that your state of mind generates waves that spread out into the world, do not keep your happiness for yourself; share it with others. Not only will you be doing them good, you will also amplify these states in yourself. Yes, this is a magical phenomenon. The best way to hold on to your joy is to share it.

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

For a romantic relationship to survive

For a romantic relationship to survive, more than romantic love is needed. We need to love the other person as a human being and as a friend. The sexual attraction that feeds romantic love is an insufficient basis on which to establish a long-term relationship. Deeper care and affection, as well as responsibility and trust, must be cultivated.

In addition, we do not fully understand ourselves and are a mystery to ourselves. Needless to say, other people are even more of a mystery to us. Therefore, we should never presuppose, with a bored attitude that craves excitement, that we know everything about our partner because we have been together so long. If we have the awareness of the other person being a mystery, we will continue to pay attention and be interested in him or her. Such interest is one key to a long-lasting relationship.

-Thubten Chodron

No compulsion to be reborn

There is no compulsion [to be reborn]. You get what you want. You make your own plans and you carry them out. We grow through investigation, and to investigate we need experience. We tend to repeat what we have not understood.

-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

The common denominator of all religions

A labor of servers is to make humanity realize that the Teaching of Wisdom all over the world is given from One Source. All religions, myths, cosmogonies, and traditions have one common source. In the beginning this common Teaching was clear, but as ages came and passed, and cataclysms wiped out precious records and interrupted the lives of Teachers, the Teachings became distorted and mixed-up by personal, inadequate observation, as well as illusions and mistranslations. This is what we have now all over the world, seemingly contradictory religions, myths, traditions and cosmogonies.

The student of the Ageless Wisdom is one who intuitively senses such conditions and tries to see the original Teaching behind such distortions.

H.P.Blavatsky did an enormous job to show us the common denominator of all religions. The Great Teacher D.K. gave twenty-four volumes to lead people to the original Teaching. Agni Yoga gave the purest essence of the Teaching. Also, in various countries dedicated talents paved the way of unity of various traditions, myths, and religions.

The world fanaticism and ignorance contributed to the chaos existing between religions - old and new. It is now the age for the search for the Common Source and restoring it by searching for the common denominator existing in all traditions.

-Torkom Saraydarian

Attempts to prove the existence of God are a waste of time

Any attempt to prove the existence of God through argument is a fruitless undertaking. By means of reasoning, we can argue certain points to prove His existence but, by using the same methods, we can also prove His non-existence! The more we try to prove the existence of God, the more we risk introducing doubt in others. If people are not ready to accept what you tell them, it is no good. They must open their own minds; it is not you who can do it for them.

You will say: 'Oh, but if someone were to perform miracles before all these non-believers, they would have to believe all the great truths that religion and the sacred books teach us.' Do you really think so? At the most, they would be impressed for a few moments, as if though they were in the presence of a conjuring trick, and then they would forget. Attempts to prove the existence of God are a waste of time. There is really only one thing to do: lead human beings to that level of consciousness where the question of God's existence is no longer even asked.

-Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

Astral fog around earth

The sphere surrounding Earth is dense with humanity's passions. No external forces will disperse this fog fabricated by humanity itself. Therefore, consonance and color and the best thoughts provide the antitoxin against the infection of chaos. AUM 291.

The average man is often the victim of his own thought forms. He constructs them, but is neither strong enough to send them out to do their work, nor wise enough to dissipate them when required. This has brought about the thick swirling fog of half-formed, semi-vitalized forms in which eighty five percent of the human race is surrounded. TCF 957.

Mental fog results only from lack of respect for consciousness. These words should be inscribed in each school. Heart 507.

These forms, which scarce merit the prefix "thought," being largely kamic with an admixture of the lowest grade of mental matter, are responsible for the heavy, slow vibrating or pulsating fog or cloak which envelops the human family, and which produces much of the present evil, crime and mental lethargy. TCF 937.

Although for Them no astral plane exists and glamor is entirely non-existent, They have to learn to do a most peculiar thing: to work on the astral plane (because it exists for humanity and for the animal kingdom), to traverse this region of glamor and then to "demonstrate light in dissipating fog" in a manner for which there has hitherto been no call. EXT 531.

-Agni Yoga

It is a grievous error to think that it is natural to err

Many feel that it is human to err and that Bhagavan should forgive their lapses. In fact, if they were truly human, they should not commit mistakes at all. Even if sometimes a mistake is committed, willingly or unwillingly, it should not be repeated again.

It is a grievous error to think that it is natural to err. You should realise that you are not weak, and you are not an animal. Nor are you a demon; you are a human being.

-Sai Baba

Self will or divine will?

So many people mistake their own will for the divine will! An idea, a passing desire, a conviction propels them in one direction or another and they are convinced they are carrying out the will of God! As if it were that easy! And as if God had to appeal to all these highly imperfect instruments in order to make His wishes known! To know the will of God and to become an instrument of this will, you must work tirelessly to free yourself of your weaknesses and limitations, because human beings can only enter into relationship with those entities and forces which correspond to their inner lives. This explains why many, thinking they are doing the will of God, are in fact serving entities of darkness.

-Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

The boundary between the personal good and the Common Good

Supermundane III, 472. Urusvati knows of those moments when one is unable to discern the boundary between the personal good and the Common Good. The mind whispers that personal gain is in conflict with general welfare, but the heart says otherwise. Disharmony will cause a contradiction between the personal good and the Common Good, but it is possible to imagine a point at which the Common Good becomes the personal. It is a harmonious state that requires an equal harmony of all surrounding conditions.

Some may object that such a state is unattainable during earthly life. But who can tell what is attainable and what is not? Such an arbitrary distinction may relate only to a fleeting moment in the present but is of no value for the future. If, in the course of a single human life one can observe how much the conditions of life change, what then can one say about centuries?

Of course, those who like contradictions will point out that in many respects human character does not change at all, but more discriminating observers realize that human psychology changes, and that in this flexibility is hidden the guarantee of future achievements. The time will come when people will understand that Good is one and cannot be divided into the personal and the common.

There is great perplexity about thought and the concept of the cementing of space. People think wrongly that all personal thoughts are selfish ones, and wonder how good thoughts can emerge from the darkness of selfishness. Of course, if someone prays for something harmful to humanity, those prayers will pollute space. But every benevolent thought is good, both for the one who sends it and for all others. These are the thoughts that should "cement" space.

The Thinker said, "Let everybody find thoughts that are good both for himself and for humanity, because then his ego will be equal to the heart of humanity."

-Agni Yoga

How to bring out the best from others

How can we help others bring out the best in themselves? By demonstrating that we trust them. For example, you notice that someone is not dealing with you honestly: he smiles at you and congratulates you, but he criticises you unjustly behind your back. If you want to resolve this problem in a harmonious way, continue to show that you trust him, as if you suspected nothing.

Even when feigned, trust can have very beneficial effects. You will say that this is putting on an act, but that depends on what we call an act. I myself call it 'education'. It is a matter of addressing the noble part of a person, unbeknownst to him, and leading him to an awareness of his responsibilities and duties. This is not a question of lying to him, of betraying him or doing him harm; on the contrary, it is a matter of helping to awaken his true nature, his divine nature, by giving him the conditions in which to manifest it. It is not putting on an act. In order to do this, however, you must have worked on yourself over a long period of time; you must have learned to control yourself, so that you do not allow yourself to give in to the instinctive reactions of anger, retaliation and wounded pride.

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

Whenever you need guidance

Do you have the profound sense that you have found the right path? Well then, follow it without asking anyone else's opinion. If you absolutely must ask questions, ask them of your soul, of your spirit, of your inner God. You will object that you have never received the slightest response from them. Well, you are mistaken: every time you ask a question of the divine Principle within you, you receive a reply. If you cannot hear it, it is because the walls of your consciousness are too thick. Reduce the thickness of these walls, and you will see that you are given a response every time.

Whenever you need guidance, address your question to heaven, and do so sincerely and ardently. Once you have made your request, think no more about it. The reply will come sooner or later, through an animal, an object, a written or spoken phrase, a person you meet, a dream. Of course, you must know how to pay attention. If you succeed in doing so, you will be astonished to see how the invisible world goes about answering you.

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov

Heart intelligence

By the scientific medical researches human heart is not only a motor. In the last ten years, new evidence has accumulated for the function of what is being described as the "little brain in the heart." This "little brain" has the capacity to process sensory information arising from within the heart and this information is then sent to the brain. The information the heart sends can have profound effects on brain activity and function. This studies are a step ahead towards integration of science and spirituality.

Heart intelligence is the intelligent flow of awareness and intuition that we experience once the mind and emotions are brought into coherent alignment with the heart. It can be activated through self-initiated practice. Heart intelligence underlies cellular organization and guides and evolves organisms towards increased order, awareness and systems coherence.

-Sai Baba

Tribulation

"Calamities can bring growth and Enlightenment," said the Master.

And he explained it thus:

"Each day a bird would shelter in the withered branches of a tree that stood in the middle of a vast deserted plain. One day a whirlwind uprooted the tree, forcing the poor bird to fly a hundred miles in search of shelter -- till it finally came to a forest of fruit-laden trees."

And he concluded: "If the withered tree had survived, nothing would have induced the bird to give up its security and fly."

-Anthony de Mello, SJ

Preserve the personality but be freed of egoism

Heart 55: Spatial thinking is not so easy for the majority of people. For this, it is necessary primarily to preserve the personality but be freed of egoism. To many, such an antithesis will seem absurd; for them egoism is personality. The manifestation of a powerful personality devoted to the General Good is beyond the imagination of many, but without personality thinking would not have potency. The tendency of thought when egoistic adds one more portion of poison to the infested aura of the planet. It is also difficult for many to realize that the substance of thought is indestructible and is not bound to the strata of space, which means that the responsibility for each thought is great. A bird of prey can be reached by an arrow, but what can destroy a loathsome thought?

-Agni Yoga

All your preoccupations with yourself are only during waking hours

All your preoccupations with yourself are only during waking hours and partly in your dreams; in sleep all is put aside and forgotten. It shows how little important is your waking life, even to yourself, that merely lying down and closing the eyes can end it. Each time you go to sleep, you do so without the least certainty of waking up and yet you accept the risk.

-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Self-pity

Brotherhood, 392. The man who feels himself unlucky has been called an obscurer of the heavens. He has collected gloom around himself and has infected the distant space. He has harmed himself, but still more all that exists. He has proved himself to be an egoist, forgetting about his surroundings. Depriving himself of good fortune, he has become a breeding ground of afflictions. As the self-satisfied one loses the thread of advance, so does he who is filled with self-pity cut away his own success.

It is not fitting for man to doom himself to calamities. Long-sown wails and groans turn into a ruinous vortex. The itch of envy changes into leprosy; from malice the tongue grows numb. A whole hotbed of disasters is built by the man who gives himself over to the illusion of bad luck. Such poisoners are intolerable in the Brotherhood. Yet many dream about Brotherhood without thinking what a burden They bear! How strong is the man who realizes the good fortune of being a man!

-Agni Yoga

Work and Activity

There is a difference between work and mere activity. All nature works. Work is nature, nature is work. On the other hand, activity is based on desire and fear, on longing to possess and enjoy, on fear of pain and annihilation. Work is by the whole for the whole, activity is by oneself for oneself.

-Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Aimless bustling

499. Let us talk about motion. Misunderstandings continue to be piled around this concept. Hearing about motion and mobility, people turn into restless runners. But can bustle be fitting for higher manifestations? Similarly, people do not distinguish outer from inner movement, yet such a distinction is quite essential; it saves one from bustle, which unavoidably leads to falsehood.

Likewise, understanding of inner motion will bestow dignity of movement. Gestures and movement itself are not easily acquired by people; often they do not know how to handle their hands, feet, and even their heads. The head shakes, the hands wave about, the feet stumble-really, must one even teach them how to walk? However, all these blunderings are due to disorderliness of consciousness. Aimless bustling is an expression of a lack of adaptability to life. It is not fitting to be a buffoon on the path to Brotherhood.

Thus, let us learn to distinguish an inner movement from an outer one.

-Agni Yoga

The pleasure of no desire

There is pleasure when a sore is scratched,
But to be without sores is more pleasurable still.
Just so, there are pleasures in worldly desires,
But to be without desires is more pleasurable still.

-Nagarjuna

Four kinds of potentialities in humans

In every human being, there are four kinds of potentialities, namely, animal, demonic, human and Divine.

The one with the Divine quality will be a Brahma-Nishtha or one engaged in the contemplation of the Atma within and will enjoy Atmic bliss and sanctify every moment of life by doing good deeds. Such individual is a Brahma Jnani or Atma Jnani, a realised soul, who is aware of the truth that revering others is revering the Lord and hurting others is hurting the Lord. Such persons radiate divinity though they are in a human body.

The "human" type of persons follow the path of Truth and Righteousness. They are engaged in activities in strict accordance with Sathya and Dharma (Truth and Righteousness), using their sense of discrimination in the fight manner. They discharge their responsibilities without craving for position, power, pelf or fame. Such a person lives in harmony with his fellow beings and discharges his duties with firm belief in the three precepts: fear of sin, love of God and morality in society.

The next type is the demonic person. Such a person does not care for the code of conduct for human beings, indulges in the shameless pursuit of sensual pleasures, is filled with ego and pride, and does not hesitate to hurt others for selfish purposes.

One who lacks wisdom is like an animal. Such a person's life is centered only on sense gratification. Such person deems the transient earthly pleasures as heavenly bliss and lives in delusion devoid of discrimination.

Spirituality involves total extinction of the animal and demonic qualifies in human and the manifestation of his/her inherent divinity.

-Sai Baba

*Celibacy*

In winter, animals do not mate.
Preserve your Tao
By preserving your essence.

We follow the Tao of the universe with great effort, but Tao is within us too. It is not something abstract, not something conceptual. Our personal Tao is our very life force. This energy begins with the physical and extends into the spiritual.

The source of this energy is partly chemical: our hormones, nutrition from food, and genetics. Whatever we have that is spiritual arises from these substances. Followers of Tao call this the essence. Preservation of this essence through sexual conservation is crucial. This doesn't mean suppression of sexuality, for the impulse to make love is natural and irrepressible; it means to harmonize sexuality with spirituality.

The follower of Tao makes love according to the seasons. In winter, it should be less or not at all; in spring, it may be at its most frequent. The young should restrict themselves to about once every three days, while the middle-aged should reduce to once a week, and the elderly even less than that. The secret is not to indulge too much, without killing one's sexuality altogether. Overindulgence is to waste one's resources. Suppression kills the body on its most basic level. Find the proper balance, and you will have a happy life and full spirituality.

-Deng Ming-Dao

Return to the Source

Where does the whole of samsara, all animals and plants, all concepts, trees, and birds come from? There is only one Source: return to it, merge in it. Know what it is and everything is It itself. There is no difference between you and what you call other! Know this and you will speak to all beings; every rock, tree, and animal at the same time because time does not exist here.

- Papaji

The end and the sum total of all mysticism, philosophy, and meditation

The end and the sum total of all mysticism, philosophy, and meditation, of everything one learns and develops, is to be a better servant to humanity. Everything from the beginning to the end in the spiritual path is a training to be able to serve mankind better, and if one does not do it with that intention, one will find in the end that one has accomplished nothing.

-Hazrat Inayat Khan

"Brother, can you contain eternal dissatisfaction?"

Agni Yoga, 484. The most base of all feelings is that of self-satisfaction. Any feeling has its consequences, but self-satisfaction brings only death. It is not easy to think of self-criticism as a blessing, but one can train oneself to persevere on this endless road to achievement.

If you imagine your highest attainment, even it will be ugly when compared with perfection. Our labors primarily have dissatisfaction at their base, it is the impetus for Our searching. But to the newcomer the most difficult question will be, "Brother, can you contain eternal dissatisfaction?"

-Agni Yoga

Prayer is not a matter of expressing our grievances to God

Contrary to the ideas of so many believers, prayer is not a matter of expressing our grievances to God. The Creator has given us all the means necessary, both material and spiritual, to look after our own needs and even those of others, and prayer should simply serve to help us rise in ourselves to discover those means.

-Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov