201. Even when the consciousness is being notably deepened, there can be difficult hours. It may seem that the bond with the Teacher does not exist, and that the Teacher does not exist, but he who knows says: "Maya, begone! I know my bond with the Teacher." A great deal may appear in the way of personal ideas apart from the Teaching, and he who knows will say: "Maya, begone! I know the foundations of the Teaching." It may seem that one is deprived of all coworkers while obliged to try to take up the burden, and he who knows will say: "Maya, begone! I know that true coworkers are scattered over the face of the Earth!"
Maya of all ages knows when to touch the brain. From the depths of former experiences Maya evokes a fine thread of waverings, covers reality with evidence, and sweeps away the furrow of attainments. Multi-colored Maya, it is time to know thee, and to say with full authority: "Maya, begone!"
202. Often the community is accused of doing violence to the freedom of individuality. This charge is applicable to any compromise state but not to the community. In a conscious community there is a place for every labor. Each one may select his task at will, for every labor is sharpened by new attainments. There is not the tedium of mechanical performance, for the worker is at the same time an experimenter. He understands the significance of the problem of introducing perfectionment of work without disturbing the general complex of rhythm.
Let Us cite the example of Our Community. Our Friend, the chemist V., wishes to occupy himself with a new analysis of rays — no one prevents him. Our Friend K. wishes to improve the radio by applying pew light waves — no one hinders him. Our Sister P. is occupied with the social problem of a neighboring country — no one interferes with her. Our Sister U. is occupied with agriculture and introduces many adaptations — no one hinders her. Sister 0. loves medicinal plants and problems of education — no one hampers her. Brother H. has devised a remarkable loom, and also works on the reorganization of communities. Brother M. is occupied with historical researches. Our shoemaker writes remarkable philosophical treatises. Each one decisively finds work to suit Himself and can change it at will. Thus, necessary is both the desire to work and the open consciousness through which each labor becomes attractive. For the labor is performed for the future, and each one carries his best stone. Here and now, before the face of the mountains. We are speaking for the future. And you shall transmit these words to the valley dwellers, and once again they will remember about the possibility of the existence of the Community.
203. You have already heard from reliable travelers how guides refuse to lead them in certain directions. They would rather let themselves be killed than lead you forward. So it is. The guides have been psychologized by Us. But it a reckless traveler nevertheless goes forward, a mountain landslide begins to rumble before him. If the traveler surmounts this obstacle, then a shower of stones will carry him away, for the unwelcome one shall not attain his destination.
204. Secrecy is a sign of lack of knowledge. At times Our Community is accused of reclusion and of unwillingness to help people. You yourselves know and have seen Us in various places and have seen Our agents.
Our material sendings have not been small. You know that Our letters reach swiftly and Our messengers are not late. Tell this to the young friends.
If a material bond is hardly noticeable, the cause must be sought in the discord of consciousness. If We do not hasten with some manifestation, it means We do not wish to injure anything by prematureness. We never waste a stroke amid lack of will. We never put in a word the meaning of which is not understood. We always abstain from mad expenditure of energy, for through experience We know how precious is an arrow of energy. Have no doubts that beyond the limits of ponderable matter we are submerged in the interaction of the subtlest energies, and the expenditure of a single grain of these precious treasures must be a rational one. For centuries We have been filling Our libraries, and it would be only reasonable to guard them against fire. On certain symbols there are two spirals, and as it is possible to ascend by the one, it is equally possible to descend by the other. Let those remember who do not hesitate to say: "We have already achieved." But those who suspect Our Community of inaction simply are uninformed.
205. Not needed to Us are well-meaning Nico-demuses who come by night and keep silent by day in the Sanhedrin. Each one must guard the secret entrusted to him, yet he must have ready a word about Us. Firm words can stun the adversaries. Say that it is curious to see one speaking about that which he knows not. If they speak against the hidden treasures, say that even the sea is full of sealed bottles. It they speak against the Community, say that he who reveres Christ, Buddha or Moses does not dare to speak against the Community of Good. The worst thing is to bring false accusation, for in it is falsehood, and slander, and betrayal, and ignorance. Say:
"Since the Teacher exists, why not make use of His wise counsels? You do not make use of them for you know not how to receive them. Hasten to become aware of the Mahatmas not in history but in life, and in the meantime keep your ignorance to yourselves."
206. Indeed, the battle is against the evident. Reality is not the obvious. The evidence presented by outward signs does not represent actuality. The old teachings of positivism replaced authenticity with evidence, and for them there is only one excuse: they had no microscopes nor telescopes — neither downward nor upward. But the inquiring mind is not concerned with the conventional evidence; it wants reality in the setting of cosmic laws. It understands that the pearl is invisible in the depths and that layers of air can conceal a flock of eagles.
Not long ago We spoke about the defense of reality. Remember that it is not the illiterate people who will be furious against reality, but these little "literates" will violently defend their short-sighted evidence. They will think that the world enclosed within their horizon is the actual one, and that all else remaining invisible to them is a harmful fiction. What lies at the base of this beggarly narrowness? In an altered aspect it is that very same idea of personal ownership. This is my own pigpen and therefore everything outside of it is not necessary and pernicious. This is what is apparent to me and therefore nothing outside of it exists. The well-known fable about the elephant and the seven blind people is sufficient as an example.
Indeed, as We say, the Community battles for reality. You have another kind of ally: those who strive for the truth, for whom evidence is nothing but an unclean glass. If chemical and biological evidence is complicated, then still more complex is the evidence of the planes of structure of life and actions. Without the development of consciousness we shall dwell in a continuous mirage; as in catalepsis, we shall be twisted in frozen terror.
Begone, Maya! We wish and shall know reality!
207. Do not encourage cosmogonic discussions until the consciousness is affirmed. Follow goalfitness of instruction in schools. Provide the hastening ones with. opportunity for speediest advancement. If a lively ship must reduce sail in order to even up a formation, will this not be a killing of possibilities?
Do you know how the harmony in the ship's sailing effort has been created? And has it not been constructed for resisting the utmost peril? How to make use of it for conveying frozen vegetables? Always preserve a possibility of responsible advancement. From the first year of school let not slow pace be a handicap for rapid pace. Let the teacher keenly discern those able to proceed swiftly. It is not necessary to praise them, but one should clear the path for them. One should create intermediate courses; the fleet ones can run up these steps. Do not conceal difficulties from them. For a certain type of consciousness every movement leading to achievement is already a light and a joy.
The teacher must also be depended upon to determine quickly the direction of thinking of a pupil, because erroneous equipping is a heavy offense and by it the best workers may be lost. Each inflexible program is a corpse which is intolerable under the sun of knowledge. It is necessary as quickly as possible to stabilize the school by examining the consciousness of the teacher. Create for him a better situation in order to repose in him a responsibility for the consciousness of the community workers.
It will be inexcusable if schools of the future, like those in which recent generations have been maimed, are reminiscent of the stockyards. Fanaticism and forbiddances are replaced by possibilities.
Introduce the study of handicrafts, allow freedom of choice, and demand quality of work. For this every teacher must understand the meaning of quality.
208. It is desirable to widely gather young coworkers. The Teacher would prefer to see an intense searching rather than petty gossip. Darkness lies over those who are afraid; real harm is less noticeable to them than one new hair on the head of a neighbor. Is it possible to think about the community when occupied with gossip? But the difficulty is lessened when we know that the soldiers of slander may be kept beyond the walk of the new cities.
Let slanderers look over the list of everything slandered by them. Will not this be a list of human evolutionary discoveries? No slander has any influence on the effect of evolution. But slander is a devourer of vital fuel, and from the standpoint of goalfitness must be destroyed. An absurd abusive word is not often accompanied by clear-cut thought, but slander, by nature, is akin to everything reared in darkness, and thought carries it inaudibly like an owl in flight.
Someone asks, "Why pay so much attention to slander?" The inquirer does not know about economy of energy.
It is not necessary to grieve about the road's being littered, but woe to those who strew the rubbish!
209. You have already seen how I put questions to a newcomer. From the replies it was possible to form an opinion about the qualities of the newcomer. Each one of you will be obliged to teach those who come to you. If they begin with a question, reply with a question of your own. You know how the quality of a question gives direction to the next question. It is inadmissible to allow inexactness to creep into the essence of the question. Often this first diffusiveness lies like a grease spot on a coverlet and becomes indelible. The hour will approach when you will tenaciously insist on questions on the part of the one with whom you speak. But the first question must come from you. And first of all ask what has drawn him to you. And then ask him to tell when for the first time he felt the worthlessness of contemporary life; and then let him relate how the first conception of the Teacher arose in his consciousness. Let him tell how he understands achievement. Does he feel the difference between the evidence and the reality; and can he realize the community within his consciousness? Thus, it is necessary to get at the weeds of desires and dreams. Be not afraid to appear stern; certainly tar worse are soft, rumpled cushions. Sternness will produce roots, and if there be also an indication of intensity, then will be created the manifestation of the bridge.
You must exclude all questions about former family life. By one such question it is possible to sink into commonplaceness, whereas it is necessary by all means to preserve the unusualness of reality.
Reality prepares the path in a flash of lightning.
210. Our Community cannot be accused of scholasticism. Rather, the inexperienced may be stunned by the intensity of tempo and by apparent sudden-ness. Life itself gives agility to the Community. New combinations are engendered, requiring immediate departure or hurried return.
In Our old letters you have read how true Our prognosis of social events has been. Even today you have confirmation about the state of consciousness in the World. The sensitiveness of Our apparatus permits reading the waves of incautious thoughts of the world. It is exactly like an editorial room.
It is a mistake to picture Our Community as sitting in the shade, singing praises to an invisible Creator. Each construction must be commensurate with the conditions of the step of evolution. We realize what a tensed rhythm the present requires.
He can come to Us who seeks harmonious order in labor. He can come if he finds the way.
211. Gratitude is the setting for justice. The community must know the essence of gratitude. Each goalfitted action is not reduced to nothing but carries along gratitude. The essence of gratitude will be adjoined with the closest harmony of consciousness.
Affirmation of cooperation is not the result of a formal examination. Only through action and resoluteness is it possible to approach the heart of the Community. Teach not to let possibilities slip by. If resoluteness and action lead to gratitude, then imprudence and negligence create an obstacle difficult to remove. The coworker who neglects action through immobility is left to his own devices. This is not a penalty, but a practical means for showing him his failure. Rarely, it is true, one does recognize his own failure, and then a small independent exercise is put to him: something goes with difficulty, something creaks and does not come off. One should not suspect magical measures; the attention of the Community has simply flown away temporarily, and the stilts of inexperience sway in the wind. In any case, the reaction of the collective, which represents the Community, will be a strong one, and without this concentration it is difficult for one to proceed who has already once tried the path of good of the Community.
It is in the very nature of humanity to listen to each bit of news about the Community. Some may attempt to talk about the impossibility of community, but no one dares make affirmation about its being harmful. We summon to the absolute. We propose incontestable actions. We wish to see will and independence. Nothing of doubt must penetrate the consciousness of the workers. We have assembled great stores of knowledge and We make use of them not for self but for Truth. And the crude "I" has already been replaced by the creative "We."
Teach to understand the Community as a seething source of possibilities!
212. He who affirms the Community contributes to the hastening of the evolution of the planet. Each and every petrifaction and immobility signifies a return to primitive forms.
Pay attention to the history of the past; you will perceive clear jolts of progress, you will see graphically that these jolts coincide with manifestations of the idea of community — cooperation. Despotic states have been destroyed, attainments of science have been secured, new ways of labor have arisen, benevolent boldness has shone forth, when the banner of cooperation was unfurled.
If humanity had thought more often about cooperation, it already long ago would have entered into universal understanding of the Common Good.
213. Say to the hypocritical contemplators that if contemplation is a tension of energy and accumulation for a leap, then from the "Lion" comes ordainment of such action. But if contemplation is indolence and indifference, then it is impossible to represent this shameful pastime as a great Covenant.
A great deal must be removed from the path. It is necessary to examine everything imbedded. We have become accustomed to accept occasional stumps as guiding landmarks, but, as worthy members of a rational society, all are responsible for each foolish survival. One should not consider oneself the victim of the general senselessness.
One should not reconcile oneself to the thought that someone else is at fault. It were better to calculate soberly one's own feelings. It were better, without a crooked smile, to consider that it is possible to reform beginning with today, and to examine the quality of each of one's actions. In this, one should begin checking the most trivial matters. Have you slept too long? How have you spoken with those around you? Have you deferred an urgent task? Have you told false dates? Have you forgotten solicitude about the Common Good? Thus question yourself without hypocrisy.
214. Examining one's own actions, it is easier to observe clearly the conduct of others. You know well enough how much We are opposed to prejudices and survivals. Indeed, with this viewpoint We advise to regard cautiously alien customs. Often in their basis lies mature knowledge, and while as realists we must wash away all alluvia, to break up the significance of the rational basis would be unwarranted.
If an architect sees a firm foundation, he makes use of it for a new construction. Needed is a world economy of resources. The luxury of destruction has departed into the pages of history. The world is not in need of new elements but of new combinations. And the path of the new conqueror is illuminated not by the red glow of fires but by sparks of re-attracted energy. The currents of possibilities are unified inseparably. Great danger lies in disturbing the current of energy. Caution has been spoken about, not only for economizing on energy but also for avoiding danger. It is easy to sever an underground conduit and deprive an entire city of light. One could easily destroy a useful foundation and bring for a long time a harmful confusion. Therefore We commend a resolute prudence and deplore the luxury of destruction.
215. The solar ray withers and destroys, but light restores. Needed is saturation but not a sharp blow. The builders should know how to saturate the atmosphere. The pledge of success lies in saturation of the atmosphere, which restores all that exists.
Thus, it is necessary to build so that all the past conforms with the future.
All that is erroneous and fortuitous is destroyed, but the thread of knowledge must remain inviolate. This is not a concession to the past but the current of eternity.
If people would learn to sense the wave of "santana," they could receive the consciousness of the Cosmos.
When a traveler stands on a summit, does he not feel that his body is being raised as if he were a unifier of worlds? Indeed, not breaking away from the Earth, but containment of the capacity for unifying is what makes man a creator.
An alien teaching insists upon manifestation of subservience, but the community is so saturated with possibilities that the Sole Hierarchy will be the step of knowledge. No one designates the Hierarch, but those who listen and realize thus recognize this step. The Teacher will be the natural leader.
In Asia the Teacher is manifested as a lawful concept. By the covenant of Buddha each future Teacher is especially reverenced. In this revelation of possibility is the whole pledge of the future.
Saturation of the atmosphere will raise up the coming solution of the world.
216. Beware of those who have no time. Being falsely busy indicates first of all inability to make use of the treasure of time and space, and such people can execute only the primitive forms of labor. It is impossible to attract them to construction. We have already spoken about the falsifiers of dates, who steal someone else's time; now let us speak about paltry idlers and dullards, who clutter up the path of life. They are busy as a pepper-box; they always have a bitterness against labor; they are as puffed-up as turkey-cocks; they account for a quantity of stench from smoking; they bring the place of labor into a state of stupefaction. They think up a hundred pretexts to fill in the cracks of rotten work. They cannot find an hour for the most urgent. In their stupidity they are ready to become arrogant and to deny that which is most essential for them. They are as unproductive as are the thieves of another's time. They must be excluded from the new structures. For them can remain the carrying of bricks.
We know many workers who find an hour for the most important; it does not seem to them that they are too occupied. Whoever is not grudging in his work will receive bounteously. This quality of containment of labor is indispensable for the expansion of consciousness. Can anything replace the joy of the growth of consciousness?
In Our Hindu writings you have encountered the expression "play" applied to cosmic concepts. The play of the Great Mother of the World — is it not visible to the illumined consciousness? And the drama of blood — is it not changed in the light of radiant matter? Yet for the radiant play it is necessary to have a prepared hour.
217. There are two kinds of skepticism: one benevolent, as in him who seeks confirmation; the other fainthearted, as in a proprietor resisting innovations. The manifestation of the second is customary in circles of poor education. Never begin a dispute with people of this kind. Propose to them to read and to add to their education. The first kind of skeptics represent for Us an agreeable manifestation, for out of their ranks are obtained useful coworkers. Indeed, they are usually far more cultured and their former experiences are richer. Thus, they can more easily compare data of different domains of knowledge. In fact, they are already prepared for acceptance of the community, and for them comparisons will be only a removal of temporary cataract.
As realists We know reality, and We rejoice when someone searches by the path of reality. This reality does not allow one to attach significance to ignorance. Snow carried away by the spring sun does not occupy attention, but if it creates a swamp we pitch our camp on a higher spot.
218. A certain state of matter composes the human individual calling up into life a conscious individualization, and from this moment is begun the conflict against the community. When, as is said, the beast in man awakens, precisely then individualization, without any nourishment by the consciousness, turns into a cruel egoism. Then begins a campaign against enlightenment and cooperation. Such egoism docs not become a noble realization of personality, but returns to the animal state, at the same time losing the group values of animals. Such a man is worse than a beast. Is it possible to build a community out of these beast-like people who have no common language? Then the builders must reexamine the bases of human individuality. Each framework, each conventional program must be verified, but only courageous people who depart from the fetters of conventionalities can make the examination. Thus, it is necessary to safeguard the achievement of human personality.
There will be found conquerors of the beast, but seek them without old formulas. If your surroundings turn you to worn-out thinking, then it were better for you to burn up this milieu than become its servants.
We have known such builders in old armchairs; We have seen such prophets with checkbooks, and noisy leaders at public dinners. No old walls, nor even bank sanctuaries, will strengthen the consciousness of the community. If the community member dreams of resembling the capitalist even in an external way, it means the foundation of his community is rotten.
Destroy the beast-man. Men with tails, and centaurs, do not enter into evolution. Needed is active realization of the community.
219. All compulsion is condemned. Compulsory slavery, compulsory marriage, compulsory labor, incite rebellion and condemnation. But of all the forms of compulsion the most culpable and ugly is the compulsory community. Each compulsion is doomed to a reaction, and the worst form of compulsion is doomed to the worst reaction.
Yet the world community is ordained — it means that elements which do not hold the concept of the community must be convinced of its immutability. Is not one persuaded through words? Yet it is not the words but the thought that convinces and regenerates the consciousness. Thought can be sharpened only by psychic energy. The development of this energy will provide an outlet for the builders of the community. If they themselves are convinced of the immutability of the community, no one can prevent them from sending powerful thought for the purpose of convincing the opponents.
It is necessary to understand the significance of psychic energy in the approaching evolution, and to study scientifically its manifestations. There is no need to test it by the method of spectacular tricks. With all solicitude and responsibility should one approach the discovery of humanity's treasure. There is not much time for turning many opponents into useful coworkers. True, if you approach them with frightening warnings, this will be crude and unworthy of true community members.
Luminous, all-conquering thought will fully conform to the conditions of the coming New Era of cooperation.
Do you think that the above is Utopia? Then reach Us, and become convinced as to how the conscious human thought operates!
220. When We speak about the beauty of the coming evolution, We are called Utopian optimists. When We speak about the terrors of contemporary life. We are called visionary pessimists. But We can be neither optimists nor pessimists. We are realists — actualists.
You can imagine the number of people who are striving toward Our Community. So many testimonies, so many approving attitudes, but into the basis of judgments only reality is placed. Thus comport yourselves in the founding of new communities. See that family ties have no significance. See that former friendship and enmity be carefully examined; that no testimonies bend a resolution — personal examination, personal testing, personal responsibility, I advise you to begin the testing with a proposal to rest, not to work. Each one who is glad not to work is no coworker of yours. You may ask whether the services of the newcomer are recognized by ungrateful humanity. Each complainer is no coworker of yours. You may ask whether he himself is responsible for the past or others are. Your coworker will not impose responsibility for his past on others. Furthermore, note that, left alone, he does not move objects about. The man who is imbued with the importance of what is around him, does not disturb any process unknown to him. The man who knows something of the essence of objects, displays care with reference to your arrangement. Look after the silent ones especially sharply.
It may be known that at present many are ready to accept the community, and many can cultivate their psychic energy. Be able to point out to them that first of all they should learn to recognize the presence of this energy. One can cultivate and increase only that which is realized.
Not right are those who wish to test their psychic energy without sensing its presence. This will not be realistic.
221. When We speak about the formation of psychic energy into a conscious weapon, it may be asked, "With what to begin?" One must begin with realization of its presence. For this realization it is necessary to begin with one of the most fundamental concepts. Sometimes this unfittingly has been called faith, but it is better to call it trust. Faith corresponds to self-hypnosis. Trust conforms to self-analysis. Faith is indefinite in its essence. Trust confirms infallibility. We proceed by the path of infallibility. It is no superstition to cognize the power of the human apparatus. It is enough to ponder upon the processes of thinking or of a reflex, or even of digestion. One could easily note the action of the nerve centers, yet something unifies their activity consciously, without entering the boundaries of the reason. This organ has been called the spirit, but again this definition is not clear, as in it there is no striving.
The great "Aum" is psychic energy fed with prana. It may be regarded as a physical organ, for it is subject to changes. Perception of this all-connecting organ must fill each community member with joy. Such cooperation permits thinking in universal dimensions. With this realization there begins a perception of the possibility to master psychic energy.
Affirmation will assist the desire in bringing into action the discovered organ. Through realization of responsibility, the desire will lead to the discovery of the Teacher. The entire matter is in the quality and breadth of consciousness.
I have said, "It is possible," but never have I forbidden. If you will search for the nearest correlate of psychic energy, you will find it to be action.
222. Even during a meal people are hesitant with unfamiliar tableware. It would be an irreparable error to send a thought without considering the quality of the recipient. Long since has the necessity of an intelligible language for each listener been spoken about, but in life this is very rarely applied.
For convincing by means of application of psychic energy, one should make use of the language of the one who is being persuaded. Many times you could have noticed that the language of the Teacher conformed to the expressions of the disciples. From this there have been derived absurd suspicions about counterfeitings, for to some it has seemed strange that the characteristic expressions of the disciple were passed on by the speech of the Teacher. But few have reflected that in such manner assimilation was made easier. It is also necessary to understand that during joint labor the modes of expression are generalized — the hieroglyph of understanding is deepened. But the ignorant continue to slander about counterfeiting, and do not wish to look at themselves and remember the difference in their expressions when dealing with different people. We merely broaden that very same principle. We propose to adopt the language of the listener in all its characteristics. It is no concern of Ours if the average-minded accuse Us; all We need is a good result. Even if you have to use the strangest expression in order to save from danger, you do not tarry in doing so. This condition is indispensable for perfectionment in thought transmission.
First of all you must test your resourcefulness and adaptability in the most diverse conditions. Ease of methods of thinking will create the wings of your thought. You may begin with the most characteristic expression of your listener. The habitual word becomes easily fastened in his consciousness, but for this one should observe sympathetically everything characteristic. One has to have a thousand eyes!
223. The methods of West and East in thought transmission differ. For suggestion the West has tried to apply direct aggressive action: touch, fixation with the eye, loud murmuring of a command, which in their primitiveness remind one of the lower conjurers of southern India. At best such a command is distinguished by temporal brevity, and usually involves the consciousness in only one definite action. The East, first of all, seeks an inner contact with the state of consciousness, which allows the consciousness to be filled more firmly and lastingly. The Westerner tries to pierce one with his gaze, but the Easterner, in sending a thought, will actually not look at one, because the effect of a glance would be to diminish the sharpness of the command. Indeed, the eyes of the sender will be open but he will form a picture of his correspondent, and in that mental image he can more fully encompass his essence. No tension will strengthen the effect, but only immutability of consciousness and trueness of tone of the psychic sounding. A rock splits from a detonation, not only from a blow. It is easy to achieve the most difficult it the consciousness is adequate and tranquillity is not disturbed. The trouble is in the fact that people regard tranquillity as inaction.
Action — energy — light!
224. It has been repeated again and again — know how to find joy in eternal labor and in eternal vigilance. You have heard music and singing in Our Community. These must be looked upon as a part of the labor. Usually, under the influence of sounds people fall into psychic inaction and are even incapable of creating forms. This results from the custom of understanding repose as torpor. One can become accustomed to making use of art as a condensation of forces. A work of beauty can produce not only a heightening of activity but also a sharpening of forces. But one should accept this fact consciously and learn to make use of emanations of creativeness.
Could a structure of a community be conceived without crystals of sound and color? Verily, tills would be a mole's hole! The bearers of sound and color must bring into the community an unspilled vessel. Knowledge and creativeness will he the Amrita of the Community.
It is impossible to glut oneself with knowledge; incalculable are the ascents of creativeness. In this infinity lies the stimulus of eternal labor. The worker may be saturated, and the watch is for him just the joy of conscious vigilance. One's being quivers in spirals of light, and light rings out.
Indeed, creativeness is diffused throughout all labor, and some sparks of great "Aum" direct the current of life. That manifestation of creative power forms the nodes of evolution, and through it is fastened the thread of the Mother of the World, fastened in a labor of eternal action.
One need not smile at Our language of the symbols of the East. The symbols embody a complex description of the properties of matter. We see no need of revoking a brief hieroglyph intelligible to hundreds of millions of people; the more so since these brief signs are beautiful. And you, people of the West, have the right to make from the lengthy also only the beautiful.
Color and sound will be the Amrita of the Community. Knowledge will manifest an eternity of labor. Action surrounds great Aum.
225. The study of psychic energy is facilitated by the identicalness of basic laws. As with the external-physical conditions, so too the psychic are subject to the analogical process of formations and effects. Let us take the simplest example: a man goes with the wind or the current and preserves much energy. When the man enters the right current of evolution, he passes over obstacles with miraculous ease. The whole matter is simply one of judiciously determining the construction of evolution.
To proceed in the direction of evolution does not at all mean to be dragged along in the tail of the majority. The whole history of humanity indicates that it is the minority that has divined evolution. And these few have drawn from somewhere the strength to surmount the obstacles.
"Cosmic transformation in contact with the psychic energy creates the condition of a current of good fortune." Thus spoke Buddha. He pointed out the distinction between evidence and reality. His likening of evidence to a mirage is applicable for any contemporary discourse whatever.
Is it possible to discern the real current of evolution if a blinding evidence screens reality and prejudice reigns as the established opinion? When will people realize the mirage of prejudice! In every prejudice is contained an evil design upon the human essence. This is not a moral but a practical warning. What sort of an idea about the community can be conceived by prejudiced people! It is absurd to speak with them about free broadening of consciousness; they have no conception of freedom, yet without freedom there is no finding the channel of the current of success.
Ponder the laws of psychic energy.
226. When a man finds himself in an imperfect community, in his fright he turns to opposition — this is wrong. He who understands imperfection must enter upon perfectionment. Let new communities arise as new springs in the desert. Around each spring tender grass will become green and the streams from the springs will eventually flow together in one current. The failure of one community must be grounds for new communal structures. Thus think about new possibilities.
We are realists and can freely manage space. Great Aum summons to action!
Tenaciously we keep aware of our new places and for us there is no long journey. Through the coils of the serpent we are climbing to the top of the hill. We have safeguarded our store of psychic energy and nothing can dissuade us.
An invited guest finding one door bolted does not leave but goes all around the house and examines all the entrances.
Be able to discover possibilities in imperfection!
227. A dead consciousness is as the husk of a lost seed. The concept of complete dissolution, that is, death, pertains to the products of psychic energy. One may imagine the atrophy of the consciousness which is not nourished by striving and imperceptibly disintegrates into the current of the subtlest energies — imperceptibly and irrecoverably.
People speak about the necessity of feeding the mind with books — this will be an external manifestation. But without aspiration the feeding of the mind will be a formal and fruitless process. Striving must come from within, without external causes. The obstacles of life cannot influence the quality of aspiration. The fundamental impulse, which has brought the human species out of the mineral cell, must not subside when the stone cell has gotten up on stilts. Then must follow a surfeit of everything that was, and irrepressible striving takes its place. Losing aspiration, man ceases to be a conscious being.
Moments of disintegration of the consciousness are characteristically reflected on the physical radiation. There can be seen something like puffs of gray vapor drifting downward from the solar plexus; this confirms the fact that we have to do with an energy — briefly stated, great Aum has turned to ashes. Already in childhood we see how aspiration is reduced to ashes.
Gardener, approach and remove with a smile the dust from the petal. A smile is like a wing of great Aum. Gardener, you have chosen the care of flowers. The blossom of the dawn resounds in the joy of the sounds of space. It is possible to think about the far-off words.
228. The time has come when We shall say to each worker: "You belong to Us!" The time has come when we shall reexamine the paths and signs, starting from the stellar ones; when we shall abbreviate languages and expressions of thought; when we shall reread the verses of antiquity for the last time.
Life has been divided according to periods and to styles, paying tribute to the measures of imperfect days. Who apportioned the constellations? Who apportioned the dialects? Has anyone called to mind the inheritances of all peoples? Style has determined the peculiarities of the age. The external notches of a design bear the prejudices and conventionalities of falsehood. It is time to divide inheritances only according to the inner potential. It is necessary to know the accruements of life. Coffin shapes must be left to the dead. True, one should sense the steps of culture, but disregard the zigzags of effeminateness. Faint-heartedness shut up in awkward armor did not lead to pan-human joy, but the retort of a modest alchemist has often been illumined by the Common Good. Without superstition must we examine the milestones of the growth of humanity under the sign of the community. We must examine how the victory of the community grew, in the kindling fires of knowledge and beauty. True knowledge and beauty contain in themselves the best community.
We shall choose all the best and affirm that he who cognizes the best becomes a community member.
229. Firmness, calmness, resourcefulness, quickness — thus inquire of each one professing devotion to the community. Yet calmness may appear during sleep, firmness in inaction, resourcefulness at mealtime, and quickness in the obtaining of money.
Testing is applied continually in the community. The newest forms of life are not excluded from testing. You know that We are opposed to school tests announced beforehand. Likewise We are against announcing in advance the testing periods. These superficial acquisitions of knowledge and hypocritical lines of conduct do not hasten but delay development. I do not recall any outstanding public figure whose training was subjected to these hypocritical conditions.
Begin to build the community as a home of knowledge and beauty. There will be no conventional measuring sticks in this house. Each one will strive to know and to express his knowledge. Only unceasing cognition will be of assistance, only saturated labor will prevent from turning back into dark corners. But We wait for those who strive to abandon the old life. There is nothing worse than to bring along dried up crumbs. Such crumbs take away joy.
The new structure must stand apart from dwelling houses, so that everyday functions do not touch the building where the future of humanity is being forged. We agree that the community members do not set great store on life; thus they confirm the continuity of existence. But the quality of consciousness must be intensified by the solicitude of the community members. One is obliged to reiterate about consciousness, for people have not been accustomed to sense it.
Sentimentality is often taken for compassion, anger for indignation, and self-preservation for courage.
It must be understood how acutely necessary it is to purify one's concepts not in thought alone but in action.
230. It would seem that an end has been put forever to the two Western inventions, mysticism and metaphysics. Any laboratory, moderately fitted out, tells enough about the properties of the one matter. But as soon as people go beyond the limits of yesterday's experiment, they begin to cover up their helplessness with indefinite dusty nomenclature. They rise in opposition, covering with the bugbears "metaphysics" and "mysticism" all the scientific possibilities of the coming day. The metaphysics of yesterday has turned into the scientific knowledge of an average literate man. Mysticism has proved to be a historic fact, and the walls of the tomb have convinced many more, those of broadest consciousness.
And so, We shall ask: "Why then does the skeptical man in the street unceasingly spin legends and weave myths?" A thousand years suffice to polish a most exquisite myth, and a man of social standing is lauded onto a paper Olympus. And new-born skeptics hang upon the edge of his mantle, persuading their comrades to enthrone the new heaven-dwellers. A new tailor recuts the mantle and the myth is born. We are not speaking about these phoenixes just for a smile. It is necessary at last to assimilate the manifestation of reality. And any manifestation of ignorance must be realistically uncovered and thrust out of the community. Common myth-building is not inherent to the community.
With Our Community can proceed those who apprehend reality and true materialism. It is impossible to imagine a mystic or a metaphysician within Our enclosure. The metaphysician, receiving a blow, cries out, "I am stricken physically!" The mystic, upon perceiving the radiance of life, rubs his eyes.
Why are you living? In order to cognize and to perfect yourselves. Nothing misty should satisfy you.
231. Evidence is a hen's reality. Only through intensified perfectionment can you approach reality.
Pertectionment may appear to be a clerical concept, but We understand perfectionment as the improvement of a real apparatus. Improvement of the apparatus in all its entirety is worthy of humanity.
Through understanding of the physical apparatus people must strive toward improved forms.
232. You know that the conditions of Our Community are not easy, but their fulfillment is facilitated by participation in all the other communities. Many social organisms pay no attention to the inner make-up of their members. After acquiring Our discipline, you cannot recognize a community there where only certain external signs of it are preserved.
We permit certain of Our discourses to be written down, not to draw reproach or opposition but for the consciousness of those who have at some time heard about Our Community — who have learned something about an unrealized dream which somewhere has been brought into life. In the night hours someone was tormented with thoughts and forthwith enhanced the legend. To them is it needful to transmit Our discourses.
The geographer can be set at ease. We do occupy a definite place on the Earth. The conspirator can be comforted; in various parts of the world We have a sufficient quantity of coworkers. The dissatisfied community member can be affirmed in the realization of the practical existence of Our Community.
You have encountered in various countries Our evident, material, members and coworkers. Our discourses contain in themselves nothing abstract. We are at work along the line of great evolution. Each one approaching Our Community becomes an activist. Work for actuality.
