Various

“ These are but the seed of larger life, the bird of promise. The unfolded flower shall be thy highest aspiration, thy holiest wish, and its ripened fruit shall bear thee to the garden of the gods, with knowledge and power as thy servants. Ask but thine own soul, counsel with thy better self, and if thou findest not within the silence the answering voice, then return to thy wallowing in the mire, and the husks which the swine do eat, rather than to thy father’s house which thou hast made, and will henceforth continue to make a den of thieves, at best, a whited sepulchre. ”

“ It is the distinctive mark of modern Civilization that the harmonies of truth and beauty, of Science and Art are perceived and openly recognized by all, while the harmony of Holiness is passed over, in silence and oblivion. It is the object of Theosophy, rightly understood, to arouse the world to a renewed sense of the harmony of Righteousness.
So much for the higher nature. Confronting it stands the Egotism. For where the moral sense dictates peace and goodwill to all men, the Egotism raises a selfish claim for a monopoly of all good things, all pleasures, all enjoyments. ”

“ It may be ushered in for one through the sense of sight, when the most beautiful scenery of earth, and the most perfect combinations of mountain wood and water only accentuate by their faint reflex the passionate desire for that land which no eye hath seen, that land which no eye can see. Or the symphonies of earthly music which once enthralled the soul may raise the longing for the song of the celestial choir to that ecstatic point where it becomes unrecognisable from pain. ”

“ But to return from this long digression, take Christianity, I say, in its loftiest ideal, as taught and practiced by its founder—and it certainly is a very lofty one—altruism in its most sublimated form—self-sacrifice incarnate upon Earth—giving of its life-blood to raise the sons of men, and drawing all to Him by the sheer force of divine love, until the believer’s heart is set on flame, and nothing seems worthy in his eyes short of absolute union with this divine personality who is at once his Saviour, his brother and his God. ”

“ Tell them that the Spirit does have a real existence here in matter—does exercise absolute philanthropy, divine goodness—supreme self sacrifice; does know the power it possesses. Return to your duty refreshed. Let the sunlight now breaking over the hills and the mountains of Himavat radiate through your transparent spirit. Drink of the dew of the morning and feed upon the honey of wisdom that flows in upon your hungry Soul. Thus will you be strengthened to meet the conflict in the plain of action wherein you are constrained by your weakness to work. ”

“ Fight the unknown force within you—it is evil. The good that is in you is written without, and is apparent.
Inquire of the stranger the earthly road you seek, but ask your higher self for the torch that will light you on your way. In the silence of one’s own being, is lighted the candle of will and aspiration. No wind can put it out, no heat can melt it. The flame is of the spirit’s quality—pure and of even temperature.
There is no vacillation in the mind of the initiated. Half-knowledge is the pitfall of the student. ”

“ In each heart stands this shrouded altar to an unknown God. “Whom ye therefore ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you.” He has created the physical man hundreds of times, for His mission is unfulfilled until through Evolution, He shall have made “one higher than the angels.” In that illimitable future which evades the mind, my soul sees ultimate beings in their glory, raise the swelling tide of Being higher still. So Divinity raises Itself by Itself and man expands God. Here is the adhesion of Jesus to the destiny latent in Humanity. ”

“ There, hemmed about by the light of the semi-material soul, is the dusky centre, where the spirit may awaken and breathe. “The self is smaller than small, greater than great, hidden in the heart of the creature.” Air is breathed by the lungs; the soul breathes the astral light. As that spiritual monad who is your own Augoides, breathed first upon the plastic Akasa and drew together the principles of a man, so It must again breathe upon this silent centre to create the spiritual man. It does not inhabit him, It overshadows him. ”

“ What is the relation of Karma to the life of the individual? Is there nothing for man to do but to weave the chequered warp and woof of each earthly existence with the stained and discolored threads of past actions? Good resolves and evil tendencies sweep with resistless tide over the nature of man and we are told:
“Whatever action he performs, whether good or bad, every thing done in a former body must necessarily be enjoyed or suffered.” ”

“ To realise when we have reached this point is the first step on the path of self-knowledge: to strive to expand our boundaries by incessant study and observation, carries us leagues further on our way. Those who journey thus have neither time nor desire for complaint. We enter into this life through our parents, subject to law. From one mystery we pass, ignorant of the future, into another mystery: lessons are learned in each. So is the soul born into the higher life and becomes by degrees acquainted with its mysteries. ”

“ When you re-enter the world of mortals again, let it be without the three disqualifications for enlightenment, fear, passion and selfishness: the sea of rebirths is half crossed already by the man who has overcome these three drawbacks.
Meat for the thoughtless, wine for the weak, but devotion for him who has overcome the appetites.
To be lord of self is to be selfless, a condition of perfect tranquility.
Forget not this lesson—that every one is so placed in this world as to exhibit his worst qualities. The purpose of this life is to strengthen the weak places of the spiritual man. ”

“ The flow was cadenced and welled from a mysterious Centre of blackness at the edges of which spouted cataracts of flame. My thought shrank with awe of the Darkness, but an unknown grasp of Might expanded within me and drew me to that flaming verge. On the knees of the soul I fall and am not. I become one with the All, and consciously resting in Omniscience I know the whole. Yet what forever dwells, wakeful and brooding with that dark pavillion, nor man nor angel may discover. ”

“ Occultism declares with the poet, that the heart is a mystic scroll; it is a veritable field also, in which are sown many seeds that may lie unnoticed, not only during one life, but often for many many incarnations, but sure to blossom forth one day under favoring circumstances. And as they begin to grow, they evoke the phantoms of the deeds that sowed them, and those ghostly hosts sweep round the soul in its prison house. ”

“ The soul develops like the flower, in God’s sunlight, and unconsciously to the soil in which it grows. Shut out the light and the soil grows damp and sterile, the flower withers or grows pale and sickly. Each and every one is here for a good and wise reason. ”

“ We draw to us the attention of the Mahatma by a purified heart and a right development of will. From his heights he sees the valleys below and reaches out to give to him who is straining every faculty to receive.
Agitation that comes from mortal qualities affects the physical body alone: this deep unrest is not felt by the Atma, for the Atma is Spirit or pure bliss. But the ocean of matter, which includes the Soul, feels these waves of trouble and thus is the soul bewildered, ignorantly imagining that the spirit is affected. ”

“ If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought pain follows him as the wheel follows the foot of him who draws the carriage.
All that we are is the result of what we have thought; it is founded on our thoughts; it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him like a shadow that never leaves him.—Dhammapada.
Receive this law, young men; keep, read, fathom, teach, promulgate and preach it to all beings. I am not avaricious nor narrow minded; I am confident and willing to impart Buddha knowledge, or knowledge of the self-born. ”

“ But when the heart is not free from impurity, or when, on waking, it busies itself with things of sense, the side towards the tablet will be obscured, and it can view nothing. For, although in sleep the senses are blunted, the image-making faculty is not, but preserves the forms reflected upon the mirror of the heart.
—In death, the senses are completely separated and the veil of the body is removed, the heart can contemplate the invisible world and its hidden mysteries, without a veil, just as lightning or the celestial rays impress the external eye. ”

“ As the great orator or actor sees one face grow towards his from out the vast field of faces, and concentrating his burning purpose into that focus, sees streaming thence the homogeneous force which electrifies the throng,—so I would have each writer among you address his thought to some especial comrade within his mind, that you may drop this mantle of remoteness, and let us feel you tense and vibrant with helpfulness, pressing close to our side. The West needs a more ringing note than the mystic Orient mind. ”

“ It is Karma that sends you into this world—to which you come alone—that leaves you alone in it and which takes you out of it alone. The law of Karma is the law of the conservation of energy on the moral and spiritual planes of nature.
The body is the mind’s portrait. The artist seeing its inharmonies regrets his failure, but knows not how to improve upon it. This is the spirit’s work, which, accomplished, leaves the outward a reflection of the indwelling Soul. ”

“ In every effort you make to lighten the mind of another and open it to Truth, you help yourself. “Those pearls you find for another and give to him, you really retain for yourself in the act of benevolence. Never lose, then, that altitude of mind. Never, never desire to get knowledge or power for any other purpose than to give it on the altar, for thus alone can it be saved to you. When you open any door, beyond it you find others standing there who had passed you long ago, but now, unable to proceed, they are there waiting; others are there waiting for you! ”

“ Truth is, and needs no concern of ours. Do nut think either that the Wisdom-Religion is only for the strong or the intellectual; it is for all. Food is meant to sustain life, and Love to develop it, but excess in either may kill. So those whose nature is morbid, exaggerate the aspect of Truth and go mad of their own phantasms. Every Science, every Art, every Religion has its list of these moral suicides and those who confront you with it are like the old nurses who scare children from the jam closet with “bogies.” ”

“ In one thing only we have succeeded to be considered higher than our Christian Brothers, who, according to Lawrence Oliphant’s graphic expression “Kill one another for Brotherhood’s sake and fight as devils for the love of God”—and this is that we have made away with every dogma and are now justly and wisely trying to make away with the last vestige of even nominal authority. But in every other respect we are as bad as they are: backbiting, slander, uncharitableness, criticism, incessant war-cry and ding of mutual rebukes that Christian Hell itself might be proud of! ”

“ The Soul of the World has its central Sun whose life throbs pulsate throughout immensity. If we study the phenomena and conditions of either crystallization or organization we shall find that every atom in the vast universe is set to music. There is the pean of life, and the dirge of death, the major and the minor key. The rythm is the same whether282 in the ebb or flow of life, but the serried columns march in opposite directions. The Unity lies back of all phenomena in the infinite ocean, the universal solvent, as the crystal lies latent, potential, unmanifested, in the solution of salt. ”

“ It is, firstly, the identification of yourself with the highest consciousness accessible on your present plane, the engrafting upon your entire life of the best ideal attainable, so that you may act upon it in every thought and word. If you can do no more, select in your own mind the most unselfish and pure-hearted person in your horizon, and study the workings of such gracious aspirations and deeds. Noble ideals will soon spring up within you, and by this lodestone similar minds will swiftly be attracted, until you shall collectively form a nucleus of persons identical in aim and influence. ”

“ The Ineffable Light will not stream out upon you every time you may think you have turned up the wick, nor will you find yourself sailing about in an astral body, to the delight of yourself and the astonishment of the rest of the world, simply because you are making the effort to find wisdom.
He who is bound in any way—he who is narrow in his thoughts—finds it doubly difficult to pass onward. You may equally as well gain wisdom and light in a church as by sitting upon a post while your nails grow through your hands. ”