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Theos-Talk : Selfishness

Dec 22, 1997 02:31 PM
by Sophia TenBroeck


Mark wrote :

M:
>I disagree. It may be a current opposed to the goal and intent
of>evolution, ultimately, but for the time being, it's in, through and
all>around us if we are only honest with ourselves. It is Natural that
it be>so. I want to stress the fact that I believe it is
psychologically>healthier to understand the cause of "selfishness" and
"ego," >(theosophically speaking) etc., than to react with fear
and>self-loathing against it.

The following quotation may be of some help.

"Voice of the Silence"  p. 12-14

	"When the six * are slain and at the Master’s feet are laid, then is
the pupil merged into
the ONE, † becomes that ONE and lives there-in.

	"Before that path is entered, thou must destroy thy lunar body, ‡
cleanse thy mind-
body, # and make clean thy heart.

	"Eternal life’s pure waters, clear and crystal, with the monsoon
tempest’s muddy torrents
cannot mingle.

	"Heaven’s dew-drop glittering in the morn’s first sunbeam within the
bosom of the lotus,
when dropped on earth becomes a piece of clay ; behold, the pearl is now
a speck of mire.

   "Strive with thy thoughts unclean before they overpower thee. Use
them as they  will thee, for
if thou sparest them and they take root and grow, know well, these
thoughts will overpower and
kill thee.  Bewares, Disciple, suffer not, e’en though it be their
shadow, to approach.  For it will
grow, increase in size and power, and  then this thing of darkness will
absorb thy being before thou
hast well realized the black foul monster’s presence.

	"Before the "mystic Power" * can make of thee a God, Lanoo, thou must
have gained the faculty
to slay thy lunar form at will.

	"The Self of Matter, and the SELF of Spirit can never meet.  One of the
twain must disappear ;
there is no place for both."

[Footnotes
†  The disciple is one with Brahman or ATMAN.
‡  The astral form produced by the Kamic principle, the Kama-rupa, or
body of desire.
#  Manasa-rupa.  The first refers to the astral or personal Self ;the
second to the individuality, or the
 reincarnating Ego, whose consciousness on our plane, or the lower
Manas, has to be paralyzed.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~
again "Voice of the Silence p. 39-40

	"Act thou for them 'to-day,' and they will act for thee 'to-morrow.'

	"‘Tis from the bud of Renunciation of the Self, that springeth the
sweet fruit of final
Liberation.

	"To perish doomed is he, who out of fear of Mara refrains from helping
man, lest he should
act for Self.  The pilgrim who would cool his weary limbs in running
waters, yet dares not
plunge for terror of the stream, risks to succumb from heat.  Inaction
based on selfish
fear can bear but evil fruit.

	"The selfish devotee lives to no purpose.  The man who does not go
through his appointed,
work in life—has lived in vain.

	"Follow the wheel of life ;  follow the wheel of duty to race and kin,
to friend and foe, and
close thy mind to pleasures as to pain.  Exhaust the law of Karmic
retribution.  Gain Siddhis
for thy future birth."
~~~~~~~~~~~




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