Spiritual-Development-Important-Principles-of-the-Esoteric-Philosophy-Class-6
well come friends to add hope with you Sophie we are exploring this book by Jeffrey farting deity cosmos and Men this is our sixth meeting and we are going to have one more and then finish this series we have not been able to explore all the chapters or even all the material within the subjects so if you are interested in what we have studied you can either buy the book or the book is also available online if you just search for the title you will go to some some of the pages I have the book or I can send it I can send a link to it isn't there some audio on the TSSAA it's possible that this is the same there is on the tsa website a series of classes by farting and it's possible that this is the same so we'll note this happen and send you a link this time or in the last class all right so we can start with our subject for today which is spiritual development in this chapter an attempt is made to review the vast and marvelous process described in esoteric science process implies purpose and it becomes evident that the purpose of the grand scheme is epitomized in the words of the title spiritual development the unfoldment of the potentialities of spirit humanity is a crib humanity is a critical stage and in this process for it is in the humor kingdom that the process becomes self-conscious so he defines spiritual development as the unfoldment of the potentialities of spirit and we are going to see what he means by this as we saw in the previous class the human stage is a particular stage neither the highest nor the lowest but is a stage in which the what we call self-consciousness is developed the self-consciousness is different from consciousness consciousness is the perception of the environment or whatever is out there animals are conscious plants are conscious because they can perceive where the Sun is or the temperature in the Theosophical viewers we have said even minerals are conscious in a very basic kind of consciousness that we in science we just call it chemistry but in the according to the esoteric science the same principle for chemistry is the or the principle that is behind chemistry is the seed for what is going to develop us as consciousness as we know it as evolution goes on so this is consciousness but self-consciousness is the ability to perceive oneself as the subject of the experience not only to perceive the experience but also to realize that I am perceiving or going through this experience the life that is the very being of the universe and of the infinite number of lives that compose it is the lone end it is the one man staying in countless host of lives and every stage of development in instructing the students who gathered around her in London in the late 1880s Madame Blavatsky emphasised the absolute necessity of understanding that existence is one thing that one thing the source in essence of all is called by the Hindus parabrahman or I so he starts again as he did most of the chapters referring to unity he is following what HPB said that when exploring on this we should always keep the idea of unity in mind and see everything that we discussed from the point of view from the point of view of differentiation diversity but only as different aspects from of this unity now when we talk about unity we are talking about a radical unity sometimes we could say that a team is playing as a unity or that the the body and the collection of cells are form like as the you or work as a unity or an army works as a unity the idea of unity is not a close connection and harmony between different parts it is that actually there is only as he says one thing there is only one being one source of consciousness in forming everything and everything is just an expression of this one consciousness so you and me and everyone of us are simply different aspects of the one being we are this one being experienced the experience in the world from different points of view that is what we call people so the this is what this one existence is in Hinduism they call parabrahman or Paramatma and we are going to see a little more about this the Tirana is also applied to the spark of eternity that is seen as the individual pilgrim when an association with the single form that is one related to man but this must always remain inseparable from the one moaning so in the previous slide we saw that this one life is the one mana but then you will find it in terms of in a literature that this term monad is also applied to the spiritual unit that that is the essence of each one of us and that is experienced in the world now this spiritual unit this pilgrim as he says or the spark of it Germany is not different from the one mana this and the human what we could call the human mana is the one moment acting through the human vehicles of consciousness so there is no real difference between the one mana and what seems to be our human monads this is what in hinduism they define us the the identity between admin and param admin admin param admin is this one existence and admin is the reflection of that one existence in each one of us so admin in me or harmony you it is experienced in an individual sense away but the what what I feel like my admin and the admin means itself is no different from the universal self it's only my experience of the universal self so this is what what means that admin and param admin are the same or the one monitor and each one of our monads are the same the evolutionary process leads to the consummation of human life in the individuals realization of identity with the one that which is neither spirit nor matter neither light nor darkness but is verily the container and the root of these that thou art but thou knowest it not he says here that the the aim of human life of human evolution is the realization of the identity with the one and the quote that he takes from lebowski and says that we are the one but we don't know it what this means is that in the process of evolution it's not that we have to create the unity it's not that we have to change something in ourselves so that we can become a unity it's not that we are really separate from the unity we are always disunity the problem is a problem of realization of knowing it of perceiving it we don't know that we are the unit the unity so all the spiritual work is not to produce something that is not there is it's mainly or or simply to realize what is actually there the problem as we are going to see is that the vehicles of expression of the one consciousness blind that that awareness of unity so all the work in evolution is work on the vehicles of consciousness so that they can become an expression of the without blinding that that consciousness of of oneness so it's all a question of realization Tavarez does this mean that the one is experience my life or other lives as we experience it this means that you are the one and you are experiencing through deborah is one of your experiences but you are the same that is experiencing through me or through anybody else this is of course difficult to understand from him from an intellectual point of view but there is only one thing one being so when when mystics have their experience their mystical experience of unity they say at that moment I was the tree I was the stone I was the air I was me and the people who were around there is this realization that what we really are is the whole of consciousness now that one consciousness expressing through this that people called Pablo is one of the expressions of the expressions of the same being when we break the identification with this particular expression we can feel that we are this Pablo or that Deborah or or Michele it depends on where we focus our attention or where were that one life focuses its attention may be with I have given this example before if you touch your two fingers if you focus your attention on the thumb for example you kind of feel the index if you place your attention on the index you feel feel your thumb but you are both who is the subject and who is the object of perception depends on where you focus your attention so this is not that the the way that the question is framed that is how we always frame these questions it looks like the one is different from myself what I'm trying to point out is that the one is yourself you are the one it may be argued that there is some contradiction in the term spiritual development for spirit is the one life present in all things perfect from the beginning it cannot therefore be said to develop if by development we mean the emergence of new qualities only the busters the vehicles through which it manifests can properly be said to develop in the sense that is to become increasingly responsive to the potentialities of spirit so whatever is eternal is perfect it's immutable that cannot change because change means that there is something new added therefore whatever it was it was not complete if something can be added so the term spiritual development doesn't mean so much that the spirit developed it means that the vehicles of expression of the spirit develop so that the spirit can shine through in a more and more in a freer way in a more accurate way in a full in a fuller way if we want to put it that way so we must always realize that when we talk about evolution and change and growth we are not talking about the essence of what we are we are only talking about the means of expression of that essence with the expansion of consciousness comes an ever-widening field of perception which will result ultimately insofar as one can speak of an end in nature in self-realization that is the realization of the self the direct knowledge of the identity of one's life with the one light so this is coming back to the beginning after we we've seen these concepts the idea is the the ultimate aim of nature and ultimate relatively speaking he says is this realization of the oneself and this happens with the ever widening field of perception so far we are perceiving only in relationship with this particular personality with this particular set of feeling sensations thoughts memories but in the process of evolution we can expand that that awareness we can break the vocalization of consciousness so that eventually we can perceive through anything in the universe remember that matter and consciousness are always the two aspects of the same reality of the ultimate reality wherever there is matter there is a possibility of consciousness wherever there is consciousness there is some kind of material basis even if by mother we mean spiritual matter not a physical one so consciousness is able to perceive through any form in nature and this is what the Mystics as I mentioned experience the process through the lower Kingdom's of nature the monastic life has passed in virtual unconsciousness to the point where in the animal there begins to emerge a sense of self and other nassif and the possession of lower and higher mind bestows self-consciousness the lair enables him to be aware of his subjective reactions to the physical environment by way of the thoughts and feelings provoked by them the kind of consciousness for lack of a better word that is intrinsic in the one love is a kind of consciousness that we cannot really understand all we understand by consciousness is normally something that is conditioned I am aware of things that I am not that that I am aware of things that are outside of myself and when I say myself I don't mean my body but I mean my center of consciousness consciousness as we know it always implies duality now the the intrinsic state of the one is something that is beyond I mean that somehow is conscious but it is not consciousness as we know it Blavatsky used to to use the term conscious non consciousness which of course we don't know what it means but at least gives you a hint that is not simply unconsciousness but it is not the consciousness that we know now when the consciousness consciousness is expressing through the lower kingdoms of nature there is not this this kind of consciousness that we know as human beings there we we call these unconsciousness but of course it is a relative term which has said at the beginning that everything is conscious what we really mean is that when the one life is expressing through the lower kingdoms of of nature then we don't they don't have the state of self consciousness it is only as we said in the human beings that have this mind that can can condemn the concept of I am myself this is the ring yes I'm below the human Kingdom self realization is unattainable for any animal the mental principle is dorm and man there is a dual mind principle the outward turned consciousness functioning through the senses and the ads yet unconscious higher mind the nature of future progress is based on the increasing responsiveness of the merely human element to the pressure from within as the higher or spiritual consciousness seeks to manifest through the birth vehicles with which karma has endowed him so then as this is what we have been discussing in human being that is the principle of mind the higher mind at the beginning of human evolution is not active this is a way of saying the higher mind is that kind of perception that is closer to the realization of unity of connections of universality and the lower mind is a concrete mind that is self centered self concerned so at the beginning of human evolution this higher perspective is not developed it's not available but the very presence of the mana of this one life as we explained in the previous classes exert a kind of pressure that pushes the whole human Constitution the physical body the emotional and mental nature's it pushes the whole human Constitution to become more and more in tune with the this higher perception so he says that the future of this this process of development depends on whether the vehicles of consciousness these these lower vehicles of consciousness can be receptive and manifest the higher or spiritual conch the purpose of human life is nothing less than the unfoldment of the dirac powers that reside within each man the goal as States before is the realization of the unity of all life not only of the family of man but of all living things the intellectual appreciation of this fact is itself an emergent faculty but then assisted by the ethical precepts of religion the individual eventually has the actual experience of unity he knows his identity with the one and he therefore accept accepts his responsibility and bond of duty towards the whole and see the necessity for altruism so this recognition of unity begins by an intellectual appreciation of the the concept of unity of the idea of unity most people today humanity are not really ready to accept unity people are constantly trying to separate themselves from the rest by means of nationality of religion of social class there is not that most people in humanity are looking for these two to nurture this sense of unity and connection so as he says the appreciation even the the intellectual appreciation of the fact of unity in itself is the result of some higher faculty that begins to emerge that begins to to be active and as I said most people in humanity at this point or in most people this faculty is dormant now the concept is only the first step eventually by actually working on one self by as he is going to explain by working on the on the moral aspect not only a delivered of attaining knowledge we can come to an actual experience of unity where we really know by direct experience not by concept that we are one with everything and that of course produces a transformation of our relationship with the with the world and with everything around the vehicle of the personal line serves the Faculty of objective knowing but to actually experience the unity of life another faculty is required and for this another principle must be called into activity this is booty always present but beyond the conscious reach of the personal line until a bridge between higher and the lower function between the higher and the lower function of the mind has been developed this bridge which connects the divine ego and the personal soul of man is known as the anti-prom so the the vehicle of consciousness that we call mind has the ability to perceive the experiment but it perceives forms and not they enjoyed in life therefore as he says to perceive the unity of life there is something more that is necessary not only our mind this is very important because at this point in evolution in humanity most of us have developed our our mental consciousness to some degree we when we are aware of personal sensations bodily sensations we are aware of the emotions and we are aware of our thoughts and we can work by using our think in our reasoning and then when we come to spirituality we try to approach it with the tools that we already have meaning the mind the emotions sensations or our body but to really perceive anything that is spiritual the mind is not enough the mind is the mind falls short when we are talking about spiritual realities and many people don't realize that and they are approach to spirituality is only conceptual they think that the aim of the spiritual life or the means for spiritual realization is the accumulation of knowledge and that is not the case of course knowledge may be very useful but in and of itself is not enough what is required for a true perception of the spiritual aspect is a different faculty another faculty that he calls here building and this is how you will find it in the philosophical literature as he says body is this possibility of perceiving unity that is always with us it is intrinsically a part of what we are but normally our mind is unconscious of it there is this this example that many people know or or have heard about of a doctor that she had a stroke in one part of the brain and suddenly she started perceiving everything in terms of unity when they bring healed then she little by little lost that perception of unity of course the perception of unity was such that she it was there but she had lost the ability to see also the differentiation the variety that exists within unity now how is it possible that this perception of unity was produced by a malfunctioning the brain he said then that unity is something that is just wrong that is the result of of the brain working wrong in the Theosophical view the idea that the perception of unity is always available but the brain acts as a filter the brain in the way that it that it is developed at the moment it filters out that perception of unity why partly because of what happened to this doctor because the the brain was unable to interpret or to to be a vehicle for this perception of unity and retain the ability to relate to different things so the brain and not only our brain but also our emotional body our mental body they all have to be and the whole nervous system have to be reshaped or or evolved or developed in a way in which they begin to be receptive to this buddhic consciousness that is always there without losing the other functions that they have a choir in the course of evolution so this buddhic consciousness is always there always available that is what we really are but we are unaware of it so this is again coming to the beginning of the class what we need to do is not to create something that is not there it is to work on our nature so that we can realize what was always there so this anta karana is the bridge between the higher on the lower mind this in the Theosophical view is is that kind of consciousness that can bring together the two it can bring together the universal view along with the view of the particulates either I see a question here if it is the Rainbow Bridge I am not familiar with that terminology as far as I as long as or as far as I know it's not very frequently used in Theosophical literature I haven't seen it so I don't know to what tradition that belongs but the the idea is that the entire onna is an aspect of the mind that tries to bring together or that is able to bring together the personal and impersonal and regarding the the role of the ethical precepts we are going to see that in the in the as for yeah in this in the following us in parts of the its lights its function is described thus in the Theosophical glossary it serves as a medium of communication between the two and conveys from the lower to the higher ed oh all those personal impressions and thoughts of men which can by their very nature be assimilated and stored by the undying entity and be thus made in law immortal with it these being the only elements of the evanescent personality that survives death and time it does stands to reason that only that which is noble spiritual and divine and man can testify in eternity to his having lived the idea behind this is that whatever so the entire Quran is is a state of consciousness as I said is that state of consciousness that can bring the two perspective together this is a way of of looking at and a Quran and whenever we have feelings or thoughts that are of a universal nature it is said that those feelings and thoughts are building up the Khurana and also they are being communicated through the Santa karana to the soul so the other Parana is like a means of communication between the soul and the personality now only those kind of feelings and thoughts on even actions that are in tune with the soul which is a spiritual entity which survived after death the soul will retain the experience of anytime that an action or an emotion or a thought that had to do with with with unity or with compassion with coming together or love and the soul which takes only those experiences experiences related to this so after death what what becomes part of the soul from the personality are those experiences the efforts or the in in this direction and this doesn't mean that is something only those things that we may imagine our spiritual like meditating or reading about spiritual things when you are if you raise your kids with a spirit spiritual intent in the sense of not to satisfy yourself but to me to try to help that soul to be the best person that it can there is a spiritual activity if you work and you try to do your best because you try for your your work to be of service to others that is a spiritual aspect that that we will be communicated to the soul through the anti karana and will become part of the soul so anything that has to do with with unity with others with with the greater good in on any level will be absorbed and retained by the soul and this is these are the aspects of the personality that are eternal this may be what Jesus meant in one of the according to one of the Gospels when he said try to accumulate treasures in heaven which are eternal don't worry about the treasures of of Earth because they are impermanent so all the states of consciousness I have to do it with the spiritual in a white sense are the only things that will survive of our personality the virtual is inculcated by most religions and more specifically set out for aspirants to the higher life are the means by which one may break through the limitations of the personal self-centered mind and experience the unity of all life apart from these ethical constraints the mechanism by which the bridge is built is meditation a practice which by stilling the restlessness of the personal mind makes it possible for the influence of the ever-present spiritual nature to be felt in daily life if you look at the virtues that are proposed in most religions especially in religions that were started by somebody that that was in touch with the divine wisdom you know today anybody can start their religion and the person may be completely ignorant but the the true religions they if you see the virtuous or the commandments that they propose they all are related to in some way or the other to the perception of unity or to actions that are in tune with unity or to actions that will lead you beyond the self-centered mind so it is said that when our our consciousness is is start in the personal nature Janka karana this bridge to the higher mind is dormant simply because that state of consciousness the state of consciousness of self-centeredness is not receptive to anything higher and is is not able to see anything from a higher perspective so by trying to practice the virtues of religions we begin to pay attention to these more universal aims universal concepts at the beginning still in a very quite selfish way you try to be good because you want to go to heaven and enjoy heaven but nevertheless you start paying attention to goodness and they as as the soul grows and evolves then that the virtue becomes more and more purified and refined and then one begins to recognize the value of goodness in itself and not because of what it may bring to me so all these these virtues are a way to build the anta karana a way to stimulate that that state of consciousness that is receptive to the higher consciousness and as he says not only the the ethical life the life that is trying to perceive the world from their bright perspective let's say but also the the practice of meditation is something that helps in the building of this and the karana because when the the true practice of meditation consists of stealing of quieting that aspect of the mind that is constantly making us think that we are different from the rest that aspect of the mind that is constantly pushing our our view our concerns our plans in the direction of the self of the personal self so by stealing that aspect of the mind we give the opportunity we give some some rooms and space to the the other aspect of the mind the universal aspect of the mind to flourish to begin to be expressed spiritual development then is the development of the teas or powers in each being that are necessary to give expression to the qualities and powers of spirit how those faculties are to be developed is the subject of many works of spiritual counsel and instruction these were written by advanced individuals for the helping of those in whom has awakened a sense of direction but as yet little knowledge as to how to proceed so he is the finding here spiritual development as the development of the ability to give expression to to the spirit you know to the to the true consciousness or the the one life so the all the instructions in genuine spiritual traditions are guidelines for this purpose this particular purpose has how to develop an emotional nature that can be in tune with the spiritual how to develop a physical life also that can be in tune with the spiritual how to develop in mind that can be receptive to the spiritual and this is the the purpose of spiritual development lead the life necessary for the acquisition of such knowledge and powers wrote one of the Mahatma's to la jolla and wisdom will come to you naturally this is also an interesting quote because it it talks about the flourishing of wisdom not so much as something that we have to act actively pursue but as the result of the right way of living if we live in the right way wisdom will naturally express itself this is again because wisdom is our true nature in our inherent nature so it's not that we need to build wisdom we may may build knowledge but the divine wisdom is part of our nature is this buddhic nature from body that we have seen in a few slides before so what we need to do is not to to generate wisdom we need to live in a way that will allow that wisdom to manifest so we wisdom will come to us naturally and this is like the Sun is always behind the clouds when when you don't see that the Sun is not because the Sun is not there it's not that you have to somehow generate the Sun all you have to do is to remove the clouds in a similar way we need to remove the obstacles and then the wisdom will naturally Express the conditions for this development are everywhere the same one only inflexible rule has been ever binding upon the neophyte as it is binding now the complete subjugation of the lower nature by the higher through the bible's of every race and cult we find but one way one only way hard painful troublesome by which man can gain the true spiritual insight so there are two aspects to this quote the first one in the first paragraph is that according to Blavatsky there is one thing in which all true traditions agree and is the what she says the complete subjugation of the lower nature by the higher now the this the way this is phrased is meaningful because the subjugation of the lower nature has to be accomplished by the higher nature and the common mistake that is that normally happens in spirituality is that we star an inner war war of the lower nature against the lower nature the the work with the lower nature by lower nature in theosophy now it normally it refers to our body our emotions our desires our lower mind mind are' self-centered so the what can put order what can let's say control the lower nature is not the lower mind is not our thinking is not our desire now I want to this I desire to be good and I will fight the other desires all this at some point in evolution in many cases seems to be inevitable because the person has no access to anything higher so all that happens is an inner war on the same level with the lower by the lower but this should be a passing stage what we really need to do is to begin to pay attention to the higher in ourselves so it is the the presence of the higher which naturally subdues the lower we are going to talk a little about this but this is the first aspect that all traditions according to HPB agree on this need the need that the higher subdues the lower that the this universal perception overcomes the personal perception and then she says that this this happened this way or this path is experience has been hard painful and troublesome and we see why why this is soul but we got in the first paragraph he says a major element in spiritual instruction is that designed to preconscious nests from the imprisoning facts of personal selfish life real teaching aids this real teaching aids the aspirant to transcend these limitations by the elevation of consciousness to egoic or divine levels a way to judge whether a teaching is spiritual or not is this is to see if they are stimulating the identification with a personal or if they are helping the person to to transcend the personal to attain a transpersonal state so many of the teachings in the New Age for example where you are taught to use the thought power to get more pleasure for yourself more possessions a better position in life they are all obviously self-centered teachings obviously they have nothing to do with true spirituality they are different attempts different approaches to bliss in the personal self this is why the Buddhist teacher chögyam trungpa would say that modern spirituality is a lot about to to a large extent is a spiritual materialism is not really spirituality but if a teaching is giving you tools to elevate your consciousness to begin to perceive beyond the personal self then it is a spiritual teaching no matter what language or what particular conceptual model they use as long as they are they are pointing in the direction of transcending the personal self then they are spiritual teachings now regarding to why this is experienced by most people especially at certain point in the spiritual development has been hard Blonsky says the pain and inevitably the process of growth through evolution is largely due to the mistake of perpetually seeking the prominent in the impermanent and not only seeking but acting as if we had already found the unchangeable in a world of which the one certain quality we can't predict predicate is constant change and always just as we fancy we have taken a firm hold upon the prominent it changes within our very grasp and pain results so this is something that is is quite deep and if we look at our life I think we can agree that many times the pain experience is because of our inability to let go now it's not very easy to let go we the personal self is always afraid the personal self because it is not a real entity because the personal self the lower ego is a it's a mental construct it is always in in danger of being dissolved there is no real solid entity will be behind the personal self so the personal self is always afraid and the personal self is always trying to control to to protect to build and the the pain that we feel is in one way or the other related to this fact related to the fact that we just cannot let go I when talking about this I always remember the the example that I was given once I am not really sure if this is true but it stood as a metaphor that and they say that in India one of the ways that they catch monkeys the hunters is by placing an apple inside the hole of a tree and he says it is a rather small hole that the it's just you know the Apple goes just through it so the monkey puts his hand through the hole grabs the Apple but then he cannot take the Apple from the hole so he grabs the Apple and he sees that the the hunters are coming and he starts screaming and yelling and trying to get get away from there but he doesn't let go of the Apple if he would let go of the Apple of course he could run way but it is the very clinging to the Apple that keeps him prisoner and to a large extent that's something that happens to us but it's not so easy to let go it requires wisdom it's not something that we can just push ourselves or bully ourselves into doing and the wisdom many times requires experience we go through the situation's hopefully we can go through the situations with open eyes see what is going on and then after a while after going through the situation enough we can realize what they did there is a maturity that brings a realization and then only we can they go but this this part is many times painful because it's a path of letting go of dying to the past or of letting the personal self behind warnings there are in abundance against mere intellectual development the accumulation of knowledge or the neglect of the intuitive faculty warnings against reliance on either external practice practices such as religious observance or the cultivation of psychic powers warnings against seeking by any the advantage or enhancement of the personality or placing the goal of attainment in some future time it is because of the dangers that await the pilgrim in later stages of the journey that in the earlier stages there is great emphasis on the necessity for purity in life and the observance of the higher ethics so let us see two things here he mentions a series of warnings that you can find in spiritual literature as he says warning against mere intellectual development these are all pitfalls that are they are as would be tread the spiritual path as we mentioned it's very easy to get confused and think near knowledge is enough that knowing that we are one equals the realization of oneness when a person begins to study and to understand there is a pleasure that is accompanied by that and there then the study may become just another way of pleasing oneself eating an ice cream or studying the secret doctrine may both be means just to generate pleasure - to the personal self of course there is nothing wrong in the in the pleasure itself that may result from the study but when we turn the means into an end then that is that that defeats the purpose so there are warnings about the mere intellectual development or accumulation of knowledge and the neglect of the intuitive faculty there are warnings or warnings also against the realize reliance on anything external that's also a pitfall when we start developing devotion and surrender then it's easy to fall into the idea that we have to be rescued that somebody from the outside will come and rescue us and that is not how this works or the cultivation of psychic powers many times as we go through the spiritual path we become more sensitive we begin to be able to see or to do certain things that we were not able to and that again is a trap that's again the possibility of empowerment of the lower self of the ego and the ego comes back in a renewed way so this is this is something we have to keep an eye on or seeking seeking anything what I talked about like for example then many times what happens in the New Age the enhancement of the personality or even placing the goal of attainment in some future time saying okay I will get liberated in the future we see that the process is gradual then we can say well liberation will come in the future for the time being I will just be what I am and just you know how I cannot do this I would just have a good life so many times the idea of the future attainment is a way to live to let go of the necessary parents nest so all these are things that we have to keep in mind as we go through this this process of spiritual development and because some of them may may become quite dangerous it is necessary that we work on purifying the lower self there have been some you know knowledge is power the more able you become on any level intellectual or psychic or emotional if you if you are not pure you may studies you know that to manipulate people situations to get whatever you want so because of all these reasons there is normally an emphasis in spiritual teachings on the need for purity the warning of the voice of the sign it's severe well then to the disciple if there is one single vise now hast not left behind for then the latter will give way and overthrow thee beware least thou should set a foot still soiled upon the ladders lowest rung the voice of the silence here is talking more specifically of the occult path where the the disciple begins to develop certain powers in order to be able to help humanity but if that person as the voice of the silences here has not left behind all devices then the advice will become a deadly weapon which before it was not so dangerous because the person had no power but now with the power that the person may obtain that becomes far more dangerous for this reason it is necessary the practice of virtue the purification of the the personal self the effort in the earlier stages is described as a purification a process by which the personal nature must be disciplined to loosen its hold on the real man the disciple must get rid at first gradually but later more drastically of all the attitudes and desires that are the result of identification with the personal man approving the giant and prolific weed of selfishness this is what we we have been discussing hence the necessity for an ethical code that will initiate the process of purification the Eightfold system of yoga likewise begins with Yama and niyama so Yama and niyama the like if you want to compare them like the Commandments in the in the yoga philosophy Yama means death or that which has to be killed Nehemiah is the see that which has to be encouraged so we could translate them as restraints and observances and there are five things we should gain restraint about and then fight things or virtues we should observe these are also similar to the acquisitions and the deprivation in Madame Blavatsky's diagram of meditation mm-hmm do you want to read them yes restraints restraints from violence from line from stealing from dissipation from possessiveness the fourth one from dissipation it it means the the wasting of energy traditionally it is interpreted especially for the moms for the Swami's in Hinduism chastity or abstinence so that the sexual energy is not dissipated but also more importantly because that that's just one aspect of our life is not to dissipate energies in futile desires in worries and expectations you know in other things that we waste our energy so the idea is to start working in that direction to start working in conserving our energy by disengaging psychologically from the world not physically psychologically we can be very engaged very committed to many things in the world while psychologically we disengaged this is sometimes expressed in this phrase we can be in the world without being of the world so that's the idea of this restrained from dissipation and then the observance is purity contentment austerity self study and surrender mmm-hmm then edy says he notices service and compassion is missing could service be the way to obtain these and compassion be the result yes but it is true that he in Hinduism and that's one of the one of the things that Buddhism brought into the Hindu means you know the Buddha was a Hindu just as Jesus was a Jew and one of the things that the Buddha brought is the idea of compassion that in Hinduism is not so much emphasized if you see these qualities they are all qualities I have to do more with self-realization they have not so much to do with others so compassion and service oldc is missing if a person becomes or if a person really does this and he or she begins to free himself fro from the personal self then that person will naturally become compassionate and loving however it is good to to mention the need for compassion and service this is one of the the things of the Blavatsky made a lot of emphasis at the beginning of the tears when the Mahayana Buddhism was well most Buddhism was quite unknown unknown in the West and the leader that scholars knew because normal people didn't know anything about Eastern traditions but the leader got scholars or intellectuals knew about Buddhism was normally the Theravada that again doesn't have a lot of emphasis on compassion and service so lavake emphasized a lot this idea of compassion and service and the idea that liberation is not for a personal attainment but is in order to save humanity which is the bodhisattva vow in Tibetan Buddhism for example that was to become later well known in the West Susan says she thinks they would be part of purity and contentment yeah certainly anywhere to can has this seed for any other virtues because these virtues are different expressions of one single state that we could call of spiritual consciousness however when you put it this way people who follow this may not necessarily get the the idea of unity from this it's easier to see to look at this as personal improvement as personal attainment and in fact in most you know exoteric approaches to religions not only to Hinduism the the aim of this the religious life is personal salvation whether it is heaven it is nirvana it is moksha is the personal salvation so that is a that is a problem which in the exoteric religions the the only one that emphasizes quite clearly the the opposite is Mahayana Buddhism and as I said before that theosophy pointed that out but these are examples of different virtues that we can take in our life and again the idea here is not to try to force ourselves into any of these is to work with this so you say ok let's work on contentment start looking at your mind I read an article not too long ago that in some scientists and neurobiologist began to see how important contentment is for high productivity again here what why are they proposing content not for any spiritual reason or reasons of you know compassion or unity but so that you can be highly productive so even though they talk about contentment that is a materialistic teaching different from a spiritual teaching of contentment but anyway the results are interesting because they see that the brain changes the structure when it tries to accept reality our cities so they would propose a nets and exercises they would say for example and try to use a journal okay we are we are finishing so maybe we can leave it like this but the the idea that you can use a journal and during the day try to see five things that you appreciate that you are are happy about or or grateful about and what they say is that but in that way you begin to train your mind to focus on the positive and and change the pattern of focusing on the negative so do you see how we can work with these any of these virtues not trying to fight ourselves but trying to to play with it as we as I many times say so this is the end of is there any other question or comments you can use the mic if you if you want if any of you have a mic you know just press on there and yeah raising your hand and then I can give you the mic yes go ahead you know I think one of the most difficult problems is not using the lower self to battle the lower self especially when you're not very familiar with what the higher self feels like yeah but yeah like what yes that's why I think it's inevitable at some points you know it seems to be how we start the the problem is if we are following disciplines that that are constantly pointing in the in the same direction in the direction of fighting with the lower self then it's harder to go beyond and this happens you know even in in Christianity many approaches in Christianity were wearing that way and it ends up producing repression and frustration and you know some kind of self violence which sometimes manifested even physically be violent to one's body of course in Christianity there are also there were always higher approaches to but they were not so well known so even though it seems to be inevitable it is good to have a philosophy that can point out how to take the next step so that we can do it as soon as possible yes what else any other comment or question go ahead there brother okay well I guess just what you said about the letting go of certain things that is hard for me but I am figuring it out and so one of the ways I'm trying to do it is to see that those difficulties are in a way a gift and and so that that's not easy but but it's starting to come and so at some points in what you were talking about here it's kind of sad to read it but yet at the same time it's really hopeful and that's that's what I like about it it gives me a path and sort of shines a light ahead that I can see it so in that way I like it just one other quick question I know I've asked this before but I think just for Jeannette and and certainly for myself none of this can fail right we're all eventually going to get there I mean yes it takes hard work and and that but we're all gonna do it right over so of course we are all going to do it because that's what we really are is you know even if the the cycle of evolution finishes and you weren't able to purify your vehicle so of consciousness so that you as the one being could express yourself in a better way you are always the one being you were always the one being and you will always be the one being so from that point of view there's there's nothing that can happen the problem is that the process of purifying the vehicles of consciousness especially at certain you know in the middle part of the process is unpleasant and we we experience suffering in life because we don't understand life because we perceive it in the wrong way so we it's good to to work on this as earnestly as possible so that we can step beyond suffering as soon as possible and we can help others to do so but that is the only reason why you you would want to hurry it's not that you know that what you are you is going to cease or you are going to fail in that sense it's not it's simply not possible regarding the first the first part of your question it is very important to recognize that fact that you said you were saying that you are trying to work on accepting the difficulties and the suffering that may come and that is important because we naturally feel unpleasant sensations or suffering or pain or difficulties we feel them as an attack if something is life that is attacking us where a person dies a tightness or fate or we feel it as an attack and as long as we feel this as some kind of aberration something dangerous something unwanted something that should not happen as long as we feel in that way we would tend to protect ourselves now of course the one that is protecting himself or herself is a personal self it's not our true self our true self cannot be affected on the contrary most of the things that we call suffering are the breaking down of the prison of what we really are so we as the true self cannot have any problem with this personal suffering the one that has the problem is the personal self which is being dissolved by this so as soon as as deep as we can realize this fact and we can begin to cooperate with all circumstances life but the police and circumstances are easy so we talked about the negative circumstances as soon as we can cooperate with the negative circumstances the bear is better because we can you know use everything in life to wake up to let go to be purified to be transformed so that is an important an important aspect and what what Junaid is saying about the trouble finding contentment if many times it's not an easy an easy virtue and also spiritual people tend to be sensitive there is a natural tendency when one is sensitive to try to protect oneself there is also a its spiritual people many times have less external stimulus for example one a person that is not interested in spirituality and that is still in love with the world thinking about the barbeque that he will have on the weekend may bring some happiness to him and all these little things may make him happy even though we know that those things are superficial for the consciousness that is not really perceiving much further having a barbeque and going out and drinking and or doing this or that it does bring some happiness because happiness is completely relative happiness is - or what we call happiness is just giving to the mind what the mind wants and a small mind will be able to be happy with small things but as we grow in the spiritual path the world becomes lesser is fine in many ways or at least during certain period of our growth and the work becomes also because we are sensitive we begin to to be more affected by the world and that tends to produce a habit in our minds of focusing on the negativities and this is something that we we have to to try to work if that is our case we have to do a very specific work to change that habit because they have it of seeing the negative aspects of things seems to be a byproduct of beginning to realize that the world as we used to consider it is an illusion so I think what we could do is the this exercise that I that I mentioned which was proposed by religious traditions you know in the past in many different ways and if you want to develop contentment begin to stimulate your mind to focus on the positive things so do what these scientists were doing were saying try to see everyday five things for which you could be grateful or you know not necessarily that you feel grateful because many times we take things for granted but five things that are worth our gratefulness or five things that are positive five things that are you know that produced wonder in doing that what you are doing is forcing your mind not to be looking at the like the half glass empty glass but looking at the other half the fuller part I mean in doing so you can begin to change the groove of perception that we generate and change what we call the skanda and develop the ability to appreciate also the positive things like for example you know the ability to eat too so I know the situation of Janet Channing for example is she lives in a place where there is not a lodge she's by herself and that that I'm sure is a source of you know sadness but instead of focusing on that you can try to focus on the fact that you can participate in this kind of of activities and you see so that is that would be the idea see if you can find five things or ten things or whatever you know every day that you find positive so Susan says when we see the beauty in life then the suffering that keeps others from seeing it becomes the motivation yes because at some point when when we grow past that stage of disappointment you know in Spanish we have a world for disappointment which i think is also in English but it was used in the past in English not not so much right now but this solution to be disillusioned which comes from the illusion you you break the illusion so this is exactly what happens disappointment is the breaking of a certain illusion and we don't like our illusions to be broken we feel disappointed disillusioned but that is necessary now once we grow past this this process of disillusionment disenchantment then we can start appreciating the beauty and the joy of simple things and not only the the negative aspect and then the negative aspect begins to disappear more and more from our consciousness and we begin to be able to appreciate the the positive things that are beyond the illusion all right anything else any other question or comment alright then thank you for joining us Thank You Michelle for your help and we'll see you next week it will be the last class of this series have a happy fourth of July and a great week bye