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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780835621564 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Quest Books |
| Publication date: | 01/01/1972 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 151 |
| File size: | 996 KB |
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CHAPTER 1
SELF-REALIZATION
THE whole process of evolution, for the Spirit, is an awakening to the truths, and the means of implementation of those truths, that are eternally present in itself. What was implicit has to become explicit.
* * *
To know the not-Self in one's nature is the pathway to knowledge of the Self.
* * *
When you discover for yourself, however dimly, that you are rooted in something that is infinitely vast and potential, you have found the soil wherein you grow unconsciously into a most wonderful tree, the tree of life blended with knowledge.
* * *
Long not for anything which will give a greater conceit of self, but for a truer realization of that selfless Self which is the center and origin of every being.
* * *
Man has to discover for himself that what he thinks as being himself, what he calls "myself," is an illusion, a maya, which is but a cloak of many colors like those that appear on a bubble in the sunlight.
* * *
Since all truths pertaining to oneself are realizations in oneself, they must be part of ourselves, our realized being.
* * *
We have to achieve the true and perfect expression of that which is inmost in ourselves — which is the release of ourselves from our prison-house.
* * *
The way of Self-Realization, as shown in the ancient books, is the way of repudiation, a withdrawal from all things external to the Self.
* * *
Man begins to unfold that which he eternally is only through reliance on himself. The uniqueness that is each individual being is the true separation of self from Self, of the individual center from the universal Manas.
* * *
Man is more than his environment. It is from the innate quality of the Spirit in him, his inner storehouse, that he draws those ideas, his intuitions, which unify his perceptions of the external world instantaneously with a value which is qualitative and not quantitative, and which he embodies in the works of his culture — those achievements which belong not only to one particular time but to all times, and mark the path of his upward progress.
* * *
You can never realize anything with the mind, unless you have already realized it intuitively in a passive state. What is first known within, in the region that to us is dark, is later brought into light.
* * *
He who becomes the master of himself can become master over all that is related to himself. Self-mastery implies self-knowledge and that self-sufficiency which is only in love.
* * *
Remember that the whole sense of one's importance is merely an evaluation of self by self.
* * *
It is only when man realizes that there is in himself no center around which he can build permanently, that he will begin to seek and can find that true center, which is everywhere and nowhere.
* * *
Know for yourself the way along which you should go — do not depend upon others.
* * *
It is I alone who frame on those other lips the words that may hurt me.
* * *
Our growth consists not merely in an increase of ideas, but also in a capacity to feel in a million and one ways.
* * *
The Alone is the unity, and the "flight of the alone to the Alone" is a process of realization, which is achieved in perfect stillness. When you are alone in the pure spiritual sense, which is a withdrawal from all that in yourself has been moulded from without, you find yourself in that other Alone which is the uncreated Unity.
* * *
Each must discover the heavenliness, the expanding universe of his own being.
* * *
Before we can transcend limitations, whether in our own nature or in the circumstances around us, we must try to understand what it is that they are meant to teach.
* * *
Each must discover his own way in life, and that way lies in his heart. Let him delve deeply into the depths of his being; his true center is not far from there.
* * *
Every premature withdrawal from the battle of life, merely because it involves stress and strain which we think is toe much for us, fails to fulfil the object with which we have entered that battle.
* * *
No one can gain a true knowledge of himself without facing adversity and overcoming difficulties. But in developing the dynamism to overcome, there must be naught of the spirit of aggression or aggrandisement.
* * *
The moment we are aware of a hindrance in our nature to that fulfilment which all Life unconsciously seeks, aware of it as a fetter upon ourselves, that moment we are on the way to its abolition.
* * *
It is the direction of our progress that matters — not where we stand at present.
* * *
I am no more — and no less — than a law of Life's expression.
* * *
I struggle with myself; I cannot escape from myself; let me re-shape myself in terms of that which is Universal.
* * *
No individual can ultimately fail. The Divinity which descends into humanity is bound to regain its original state.
* * *
It is only when there is self-knowledge, resulting in perfect control over and unification of ourselves, that we can offer our will to be part of the one Spiritual Will, which in reality is in ourselves and is ourselves.
CHAPTER 2
WILL
THERE is nothing in the whole of Nature except the Will of the Divine. It is the Will of the one Center of every circle of life.
* * *
Will is not the focusing of diverse energies at a superficial point, but the focusing of yourself at your center. Since that center has no space or location, its consciousness can act at any point.
* * *
What we call "willing" is often but an inflation of ourselves, attended by a hardening.
* * *
Desire is but will inverted. It is a pull of matter, instead of the free movement of the Spirit.
* * *
Action and understanding are unified in the Will. An act of will that does not carry within itself understanding is no true will at all.
* * *
In the Spiritual Will there is no coercion of an unwilling self, for the Will is one and moves as a whole.
* * *
True self-determination takes its rise from a dimensionless point. It is not to be confused with any personal reaction. To arise and take place, it needs a heart and mind emptied of all predilections and prejudices.
* * *
The will is a product of integrity, not a child of contradictions.
* * *
To will spiritually, originally and fundamentally; ever to give that will vibrant, creative and multiplying expression; let that be our constant aim.
* * *
Self-initiative is will in the true sense.
* * *
The true will never strains; it is born in silence. It includes both thought and feeling. It is immovable by anything external to itself. When I have no will of my own, I can act with 'the strongest will in the world. When I know that the one Will is in all, all conflict is abolished.
* * *
The will must move on a path of its own, self-isolated. Obstacles may check action, but they cannot check the will behind the possible action.
* * *
We must bring the body, emotions and mind into the state of a completely obedient and flexible instrument of the Spiritual Will, in which there is only motion, no obstinacy, no insistence.
* * *
The will of God is in all things. But the self-will of man obscures it, as a plate might obscure the distant sun, while man and God are apart.
* * *
Will is not obstinacy, not autocracy, but self-direction.
* * *
To will the perfect end is also to will the means, for perfection starts from now. In the one true Will, end and means are unified.
* * *
We must will to dare all and challenge everything, be bursting with initiative, yet remain within the bounds of an eternal harmony and synthesis.
* * *
Let your courage mount with difficulties. There would be no will if there were no resistance.
* * *
Determine to solve all problems created by the play of opposites and overcome all difficulties; will to attempt any precipice or fall into any abyss, in the unshaken conviction that while every vesture of manifestation may be splintered into its atoms, the invincible, eternal You will remain and arise.
* * *
When once the true Will is awakened, it can never again be put to sleep. When once the connection is formed between the apex of a man's true nature and its foundation in the realm of matter, that connection cannot, ordinarily, cease to exist. It is by the power of the Atman, the Godhead within, that he achieves what would otherwise be a seeming miracle.
CHAPTER 3
TRUTH
WHAT is Truth? Is it an object of knowledge; an object of love and of the knowledge which is at the fountain-head of love? Or does it consist, even more than these, in a universal self-identification, giving rise to the incorporation of the essence of every other being in oneself, and the living of a life that is at each point a perfect consummation of oneself? In this last view, Truth is a becoming but with a quality of finality, a progressive attainment yet a realization. Truth is Life in its highest, most evolved state, the fullest revelation of its essence.
* * *
Before we can receive in our hearts the Truth which springs from the deepest part of ourselves, we have to be prepared by a cleansing, a baptism, not merely with water but also with fire.
* * *
Truth is one and the same at all times, though it is infinite in its manifestation. But each must find it by the realization of it within himself. And he can realize it only as he seeks to embody it in his life, so that all he is and does becomes more and more beautiful each day.
* * *
All virtues are forms of Truth; each is an effect proceeding from the very nature of the thing.
* * *
The motion of the Spirit, its action, projects Truth from within, and speaks in accents of wisdom, using a language which is the very language of Truth.
* * *
All ideals are heaven-inspired dreams, visions of Truth, which resides in its fullness in the Divine or spiritual Self. When the ideal and the real are one, thought and life coincide.
* * *
Every spritual Truth, being living, has a dynamism of its own, which translates it into action.
* * *
The Truth which we seek must be the Truth of direct experience, in which the distinction between subject and object has ceased to exist. Only a disinterested search can result in Truth, for every form of self-interest will lead only to a creation which will serve that self-interest.
* * *
Truth belongs to Life, as facts belong to form. When the essential nature of Life isperfectly expressed in the form with which it is clothed, the form becomes the form of Truth.
* * *
Truth leans neither to this side nor to that. It is balanced, impartial and just.
* * *
Truth is a "pathless land," because intuition is pathless.
* * *
Truth recedes into the background when the speaker about Truth is very much in the foreground.
* * *
A truth which does not emerge in the form of its appropriate expression is a truth which is devoid of power.
* * *
Truth, beauty and goodness stand or fall together. One test of Truth, therefore, is goodness; another is beauty.
* * *
Truth is intrinsic. What is intrinsic is important, whether in a grain of wood or the heart of a sage.
* * *
The Truth is within us, but we have to become aware of that Truth; it is involved in our being, and has to be evolved out of it, which evolution is as objective as it is subjective.
* * *
When Truth is the center of one's being and Love radiates therefrom, all things are comprehended and achieved, for the rays of Truth are then carried everywhere.
* * *
Truth is no one's property. It cannot be possessed, it belongs to no one, or rather, it belongs to everyone and everything.
* * *
Truth is infinite, and as we delve more deeply into it, we shall find yet greater depths, wider latitudes, and ever-new dimensions.
* * *
The Truth we seek must completely fill our being and pour through every expression of ourselves in thought, feeling and action.
* * *
What you are deep within yourself is the Truth of your being. What you seem and do must flow from that Truth and be patterned upon it.
* * *
Some day we will project the rays of the Truth within us, to which nothing is impenetrable, so that we shall know the nature of each thing as it is, see it in that clear light which reveals all its hidden riches.
* * *
Happy the man who can say: The self in me has vanished, and Truth has taken its place.
* * *
It is only when self has disappeared that the Truth which is in the heart of being, in the heart of each individual, can manifest itself in its purity, its essentialness and all its charm and beauty.
CHAPTER 4
WISDOM
WISDOM is an aspect of God, which shines through the creative Spirit. Hence, His Wisdom is in all things, in their being as well as their becoming, in each separate thing as well as in the totality.
* * *
In the light of God's Wisdom, all human knowledge is but ignorance.
* * *
Wisdom is not a question of learning facts with the mind; it can only be acquired through perfection of living.
* * *
Wisdom is a root-principle in man, which has to flower in right thought, right action and right living from every point of view.
* * *
He is the wise man who is able to distinguish between his limited wisdom and his unlimited ignorance.
* * *
There is no Wisdom without love. The heart of Love, embedded in knowledge, is transformed into Wisdom.
* * *
Wisdom implies knowledge of life, in addition to knowledge of form; a knowledge not only of particulars, but also of that which binds the particulars, the unity in them.
* * *
To discover the law of one's own being and live it is Wisdom.
* * *
To know ourselves, at least to the extent we are able to see ourselves, is the first step to Wisdom, and such knowledge will increasingly bring both clarity and charity.
* * *
Wisdom is not knowledge, but lies in the use we make of knowledge. It arises from knowledge guided by love. To use knowledge with goodness is to make it shine with a value which reflects Eternity in time.
* * *
We cannot separate one aspect of Wisdom from another, neither the philosophic from the scientific, nor the wisdom that is in the heart from the wisdom that issues from the hands, in other words, the ideal from the practical.
* * *
Wisdom shines with a dual quality of courage and caution.
* * *
When Wisdom is absolute, the reason can extend indefinitely in all directions, binding all things in a perfect order.
* * *
Wisdom in an individual is the capacity to react to any person or any given situation in the light of a knowledge of the true nature of each; it is a principle that embodies itself and operates in any set of circumstances.
* * *
To be conscious of one's ignorance is the beginning of wisdom, and an ignorance of parts will not trouble the man who has achieved a happy sense of relationship with the whole. All truth will come to him who has a living relation to things, since to live is to grow and progress.
* * *
Wisdom is not a matter of study, but a matter of living, and of sure action which rises above opposites.
* * *
Wisdom cannot be communicated by another, for it is the incommunicable source, which must be discovered by yourself, from which you gather nectar as from an unseen flower.
* * *
Wisdom is that nature which blossoms like a rose, when the time comes, in the spiritually barren desert of life in ignorance.
* * *
To be wise is to live in an inner harmony that eventually overcomes all outer discords.
* * *
We need not head-learning, of which we have plenty, but Soul-Wisdom, the ability to discern the truth behind every mask of self-deception and falsehood. One can carry a vast load of learning, yet be foolish; also, it is possible with a little knowledge to be greatly wise.
* * *
To be truly wise is to be truly free. For Wisdom does not lie in prejudice, in a conditioned approach, in seeing things of the present through ideas of the past.
* * *
He is the wise man who knows how to use his knowledge, who, while planning to discharge all his responsibilities, lives in a state of essential unconcern as to the future. He is then light-hearted as a bird; without being irresponsible, he can recapture the adventurousness of life.
* * *
When Wisdom rules the world, all things in it will be rearranged so as to cause that light which is in each thing and in all men to shine.
* * *
Wisdom lies in the search for and discovery of the true ends of life, all of which are comprised in one end, conceive it as perfect happiness, perfect beauty or perfect action.
* * *
Wisdom is always the blossoming of the quality of life, revealing life's deep meanings. It is the unity of the all, reflected in the unity of a part. It is a movement of life which shows life in its superlativeness and at its best. It is thought released from every tether, formed by a direct impulse from heaven. It is a divine ray which penetrates both heart and mind and unifies them. It is the breath of God of which the heat is life, and the light is love and beauty.
* * *
He is the wise man who has by perfect living gained the instinct of rightness by which he guides himself, whether in thought or action who has found that center of balance which is always over his point of contact with circumstances. He is the man into whom Nature pours the riches of all her instincts.
CHAPTER 5
LOVE
LOVE is the light of the Soul, in which all that is perceived is truth — also the fire of the Spirit by which all that is base is transformed into good.
* * *
Love is a basic state in which there is the possibility of both understanding and wisdom.
* * *
To be one with another is to love him, and to love him is to act from within him and through him, and not upon him from without, with a contrary effect.
* * *
Nothing in the world is self-sufficient, except that which is rooted in a condition of love.
* * *
The state of love is the state of grace. The development of that state and the unlocking of its mysteries brings one to the condition where there is no separation between oneself and others.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Thoughts For Aspirants"
by .
Copyright © 1972 Theosophical Publishing House.
Excerpted by permission of Theosophical Publishing House.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Section,
I. Self-Realization,
II. Will,
III. Truth,
IV. Wisdom,
V. Love,
VI. Beauty,
VII. Unity,
VIII. Individuality,
IX. Freedom,
X. Reality,
XI. Harmony,
XII. Happiness,
XIII. Peace,
XIV. Helpfulness and Service,
XV. Humility and Simplicity,
XVI. Sympathy and Kindness,
XVII. Giving and Receiving,
XVIII. Brotherhood,
XIX. Spirituality,
XX. The Art of Living,
XXI. Toward the Stars,
XXII. The Master,