AGNI YOGA WEB TV
SERIES
„INTRODUCTION TO AGNI YOGA“
BROADCASTING 2
The Significance of Consciousness
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am glad to
welcome you to Broadcasting 2 of
our Series “Introduction to Agni Yoga”!
Our subject today is
the significance of consciousness. This brings us to
one of the main topics of Agni Yoga: Next to “psychic energy”, “expansion of consciousness” is probably the most frequently used term of the Teaching.
Let us now inquire why our consciousness is so important.
1. Material Conditions of no Significance
When I ask you, who are sitting here in front of me: “What is important for you and your life?”, you will probably list up a large number of
so-called “objective” circumstances, such as:
The place where you are living, the house in which you are dwelling, the nation and the state to which you
belong, your profession, your
family, relatives, friends and acquaintances,
the events of life with which you are confronted,
the people you meet,
luck or misfortune in the everyday affairs,
poverty or wealth, success or failure,
war or peace, the weather, the growth
of the gross national product, the
development of your career, the amount of your last salary increase, a change
of the government and numerous other outer events more,
such as birth and death, sickness and health,
etc.
*****
You may be surprised to hear: For
an Agni Yogi, all these external circumstances are of no importance. We
have realized: They are in reality without
any significance of their own: They gain importance for our life only after we have
viewed them through the spectacles
of a system of values. According
to these values, we classify the material
facts as good or bad, useful or
harmful, luck or misfortune.
All misery as well as
all happiness is within us. (Helena Roerich Letters Vol I, letter of 12.12.1934)
Therefore, these values are crucial, not the
external events.
Take for example death: For people who are
caught up in a materialistic
world view, it is
the greatest misfortune. You are understandably afraid of your death, because you see it as the end of your existence, the complete destruction of your entire
personality. The death of a beloved
person throws some of you in
despair for years
and even drives them to the fringe of suicide.
Man falls into the darkness of a prison built by himself. (Supermundane
774)
As opposed to that, for us immortals, death
means the transition to a higher, more comfortable level of existence, the return to our homeland
and the reunion with our true spiritual relatives.
Therefore, we actually rejoice at our
death!
*****
Or think of the needs,
worries, sufferings, obstacles and difficulties that are allotted to everyone abundantly during his earthly life: Materialistically minded people threaten to be broken by these blows. We
disciples of Agni Yoga, however, understand
them as tests of our progress
and opportunities to continue our spiritual ascent.
Therefore, we welcome them
joyfully like our spiritual brother Seneca, who actually
advised:
Long for a difficult life instead of an easy one in
order to practice your spiritual powers
and to put the strength of your
spirit to the test.
You see: The external conditions are really insignificant.
One can gather facts
from various fields to prove that among the decisive factors the physical are
the least important. (Fiery World I, 297)
Think through the film
of events, and comprehend how unimportant is the exterior;
only the inner significance is vital. (Community 75)
The thoughts, the ideas that we harbour about
death, God, sin, the consequences of sin, the meaning of life, the meaning of
suffering, and other existential questions more, determine our life to an incomparably
higher degree than death or the apparent suffering itself.
Not the things
themselves are troubling us, but the opinion that we form about them. For it is
not death or misfortune, which is terrible, but the fear of death and of
misfortune. (Epiktet)
The same apparently “objective”
circumstances gain a completely different
meaning for your life, depending upon
what kind of consciousness you have! Happiness turns
into unhappiness, unhappiness into
happiness – solely according to the point of view which you take with respect to
the events.
The life of the spirit
shapes the everyday circumstances. (Agni Yoga 446)
2. Consciousness creates the World
The reality, the world in which you live, is
created and influenced only slightly by the outward circumstances, but mainly by
your own consciousness.
The material conditions are ultimately Maja – illusion.
They are transient and thus a subordinate factor of existence for a wanderer on
an eternal path.
Our consciousness, the way we see things and the
position we take with regard to them, is the true reality. For you, real is what
you think that is real – that tiny part of the immeasurable reality which you are
able to perceive.
Until a student of
life can accept the fact, at least tentatively, that consciousness is the one
eternal reality, and that all else is illusion – reflection –, he can never
rest in the certainty of attainment in any field of true philosophy. It is by
no means easy to retain in mind the fact that it is consciousness – identity –,
which creates and moves through all fields of life. (Teachings of the Temple
Vol. I, Lesson 182 “Some Mysteries of Light”.)
That what we cannot grasp does not exist for
us, even if it is as real as anything. A dim consciousness recognizes only very
little of the world in which it lives, despite of its perfect reality.
All the worlds are
real in so far as our consciousness is able to grasp them.
(Helena Roerich Letters Vol. I, letter of 08.08.1934)
What really matters is not the external,
material, but the inner, spiritual world in which you live. According to the
latter you determine yourself whether you live in a beautiful or in an ugly sphere.
One of the most important teachings of Agni
Yoga is:
Each spirit creates
his own world, and the beauty or ugliness of the created world depends upon the
quality of consciousness. (Infinity II, 719 [319])
Similarly, Schopenhauer
says aptly:
In the same environment everyone lives in a different world.
Or a popular wisdom runs:
If you do not create heaven
within your own heart, you will not be able to find it anywhere else.
Let us hear an example:
Two sailors were shipwrecked and cast away on a desert island. Both
nearly perished from hunger and terror, for they considered themselves forever
cut off from the world. A ship picked them up.
And later there was erected on the
island a strong light-house. These same two sailors remained at the light-house, to save other perishing ones. Now their frame
of mind was altered. They were happy, directing the
light of rescue and no longer feeling themselves cut off from the world. (Gem
267)
That is to say: In the same external situation –
in exile on a lonely island – one man lives in a beautiful world and the other
in an ugly one, depending upon how they look at the circumstances and on the
consciousness which they form in their situation.
*****
Whether the world that you create yourself and
in which you live is sublime and great or low and mean, depends solely on the
height and width of your own consciousness: A man with a high level of consciousness
always lives in a beautiful world:
When you are able to accept misery and death
with equanimity, you have already risen to a higher level. When you have
learned to smile at them, you inhabit the highest possible sphere – namely a
world in which reigns everlasting joy!
We will discuss in detail in later Broadcastings
how you can create and constantly live in your own personal heaven, regardless
of the outward circumstances.
The old world and the
New World are distinguished through consciousness, not
by outer evidence. Age and circumstance bear no importance. The New World is
born everywhere, but beyond boundaries and conditions. (Agni Yoga 55)
3. Consciousness creates Man
Albrecht Dürer "Charles the Great"
Not only the world in which you live, but also that
what you yourself are is determined solely by your own consciousness:
Consciousness is the
real man. (Helena Roerich Letters Vol. I, letter of 08.08.1934)
Whether the conditions finish you off or whether
you master them with a smile is a question of your thinking, your mental
attitude:
It is our own consciousness which determines the wellbeing that we
deserve. (Heart 572)
The one is a slave who is pushed to and fro by the circumstances like a leaf in the wind, breaks
down upon resistance, and finally sinks into the swamp of chaos.
The other is a king of the spirit who sits
sovereign on the throne of his higher self, above every situation, unswervingly
walks his path, how ever the
external conditions may be set out, and even grows through the difficulties of everyday
life.
The difference between the two lies solely in
the quality of their consciousness: A king is not a king because he never encounters
difficulties, but on the contrary, because he preserves a royal attitude even in
the most miserable situation.
*****
We are now hearing for the first time, and will
see and inquire into more deeply again and again: That what you are – an
immortal or a mortal, a spiritual disciple, a teacher, a spiritual warrior or
healer, a great or a small soul – is determined solely by your consciousness,
by the attitude which you take towards the circumstances.
He who is a great teacher by his inner nature,
is always a teacher, in whatever situation he finds himself; even if he, like Jakob Boehme, is only a shoemaker, or like Plato is sold into slavery, or like Jesus has to earn his bread as a
carpenter and is finally nailed to the cross.
*****
We can actually say, following Buddha:
Man is what he thinks!
By uplifting and refining your thinking, you uplift
and refine yourself.
We are exactly what we
think, not what we appear. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. III, Lesson “A
Brotherhood of Souls”)
A man’s nature is created by his thought. (Br II, 392)
You do not have to sit on a throne in order to
be a king according to your inner nature. Royal thinking and a royal attitude
lend you royal emanations, a high, luminous aura – and these must prove themselves
precisely in adverse circumstances.
You have already seen quite simple
people in the lowest social position (a fisherman in Greece, a Chinese
craftsman, a peasant in the mountains of Tyrol), who behaved in such a
dignified manner that you involuntarily thought: In another world, on a
different planet, this man would be – and that means: he actually is, according
to his inner nature – a king.
4. Example Plato
Let us never stay in the abstract. Let us look
at two examples:
One of the most important quotations from the
books of Agni Yoga is:
A wise philosopher,
having been sold into slavery, exclaimed: "Thanks!
Evidently I can pay back some old debts." (Br I, 273)
This relates to Plato, who was indeed once for
sale on a slave market. You cannot imagine vividly enough the
humiliating position of one of the greatest thinkers in world history: There he
was touched by unclean hands, his body examined for fitness, perhaps by checking
his teeth, there was bargaining for his price, there he was threatened with the
lowest work and the worst possible living conditions, perhaps as an oarsman on
a galley.
*****
Who among you would not despair in such a
situation? Many would complain to God and lament: “Why
me?” Plato, however, even thanked the higher powers.
Why? Because he knew the law of Karma (of which we shall speak in one of the upcoming Broadcastings).
Because he knew: It had a deep meaning that precisely he
was put into this situation. Maybe he was offered an
opportunity to settle some old debts: This is an ascent, a relief – and thus indeed
a reason for gratitude and joy!
Plato proved to be a dignified, spiritually
powerful and joyful man – even as a slave!
5. Example ???
Or another example of the present time:
Do you know this man?
How would you assess him? Apparently a fairly coarse fellow. Someone whom you would not want to
meet in the moonlight. Maybe a gangster boss from Chicago?
Here you see the same man – and recognize him immediately:
Nelson Mandela!
Do you know what lies between these pictures?
Over 25 years of imprisonment on Robben Island, one of the most horrible places
in the world! Most others would have perished in this ordeal. Mandela, however,
knew very well that one was trying to break him. He designed a counter strategy
for himself and his fellow prisoners that proved to be stronger than the
terrible circumstances.
*****
Nelson Mandela recognized and seized an opportunity.
He consciously used the most dreadful conditions in order to grow spiritually.
He entered the prison as a relatively crude
fellow. He developed there to a great, wise man with always a superior smile on
his lips.
Thus, from the point of view of a high
consciousness, even a quarter of a century in prison may be a blessing, a
reason for gratitude and joy.
To rejoice is good,
but in this let us not be like the animals. In what lies the difference? Only
in consciousness. Animals do not know why they rejoice; but we know why. (Agni Yoga
548)
We find confirmed: Our thinking creates the
world in which we live: A man with a high level of consciousness, who thinks
sublime, turns all suffering to joy and therefore lives in a beautiful world –
even in prison!
We find confirmed: Man is what he thinks. A man
with a high level of consciousness, who thinks sublime, transforms into a Great
Soul (a Mahatma).
If Nelson Mandela thinks like a king and manifests
a corresponding attitude, he is a king – even in prison!
If, on the other hand, he thinks, feels, speaks
and acts in an unkingly manner, he is, according to
his true inner nature, not a king – even if he should happen to sit on a
throne.
6. Consciousness as true Wealth
The body dies. All intellectual knowledge is
lost with death.
Your consciousness, however, is part of your Eternal
Individuality and thus preserved beyond death for your further everlasting way.
If you have acquired a royal aura, this is a property that does not adhere to your mortal body, but to
your immortal soul. This achievement belongs to your true spiritual self.
As opposed to outer titles, you do not lose
this (inner) dignity when you die. You take it with you to your next incarnation
on earth, even if you should then appear, like Jesus, not as a king, but “only” as a carpenter.
What treasures a pure,
free, and dauntless consciousness can give to humanity! (Agni Yoga 524)
We see: The consciousness is the real wealth of
man. A true treasure that we can expand further and further from one
incarnation to the other and let grow more and more from life to life.
Unlimited growth is possible on the spiritual level only.
This is what Jesus was talking about when he said:
Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through
and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not
break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also. (Matthew 6, 19-21)
That means: We should accumulate treasures of
the spiritual plane, which cannot be taken away from us, rather than riches of
the material world, which we will have to abandon sooner or
later, at the latest at death.
7. Saving the World through a new Consciousness
Today, when people want to improve the world, they
have almost exclusively money in mind: Schools, health care, the various conditions
of life: We tend to believe that we only have to pump more and more money into
the system, and then everything will be better soon.
This is a grave error. Agni Yoga teaches: First comes the expansion of consciousness. Only a new
way of thinking will renew the world.
Success lies in
expanded consciousness. (Leaves of Morya’s Garden II,
349 [353])
An example: A really good
teacher requires hardly any material means. Crucial for a good education of his
pupils is the spirit, which prevails at a school, not its financial resources.
*****
Another example: The fight against the
destruction of our planet will only be successful if people put off their
selfishness and make use of
the treasures of nature responsibly. This requires a change in mental attitude,
which cannot be bought with any money in the world.
The problems of life can be solved only by an expansion of consciousness. (Fiery World
I, 349)
Finally, we shall show in the Broadcasting on
the New World: Poverty and unemployment can only be overcome
if man changes his thinking, his consciousness, discards his egotism and
develops a new attitude that reads:
I am anxious to put more into the pot of the
community than to take out of it for myself. I am prepared to share with my
fellow men the necessary work as well as the income arising from it.
One can say that the
World will be saved by regenerating the consciousness.
(Fiery World III, 335)
We are living exactly in that world which
corresponds to our relatively low, above all selfish consciousness.
The external
conditions of life are a reflection of the consciousness. (Agni Yoga 604)
If our thinking does not change, nothing will
change on the material level either. Let us listen to Albert Einstein:
If you think the way you always thought,
you will act the way you always acted.
If you act the way you always acted,
you will produce, what you always produced.
The crucial change in the condition of mankind is not caused by external, technical measures.
The true progress consists in the expansion of consciousness, which leads to a
new way of thinking, which in turn brings about better deeds, and thus a better
world.
Thought is the mover
of evolution. (Infinity II, 795 [395])
Every condition is created by the consciousness. Therefore, the growth of
consciousness is the essential foundation for progress. (AY 406)
Therefore, evolution means above all expansion
of consciousness.
The shifting of
consciousness carries one onto the path of evolution. The improvement of life
upon the planet depends so greatly upon the shifting of consciousness that
progress will be expressed chiefly in the way of
thinking. Hence, humanity’s greatest care lies in the progress of thought. (Infinity
II, 517 [117])
Every expansion of
consciousness is cooperation with evolution. Every manifestation that obstructs
the expansion of consciousness is antagonistic to evolution. (Infinity II, 828
[428])
Regrettably, the consciousness of humanity
leaves much to be desired. Its present state remains
far behind of what would be necessary to meet the requirements of the time.
The trouble is that
while certain precise cosmic dates draw near, human consciousness lags far
behind. (Fiery World I, 362)
Measurement of the
degrees of consciousness over the extent of the last centuries places man now
near the zero point. (Fiery World III, 371)
The material evolution has provided us with
means for which we are not yet ripe according to our spiritual development. Only
think of atomic energy, which is being used for atomic
bombs.
The spiritual
consciousness is lagging behind the physical. (Fiery World II, 262)
Therefore, the most important service you can render
to humanity is: Elevate, expand your own consciousness
and that of your fellow human beings. Awaken the sense that a better world is
the one in which truth, justice, beauty and love reign. Only in this way can
you really improve the life on earth.
Only by a renewal of thinking can humanity attain the new planetary step. (Hierarchy 412)
He who does not help
the regeneration of thought is no friend of the New World. (Fiery World I, 60)
We have reached the end of this Broadcasting. If you would like to go more deeply into the subject matter, we recommend to read Booklet 2 "Significance and Expansion of Consciousness" of our Series "Introduction to Agni Yoga", which you find in the internet at
www.lebendige-ethik-schule.de/hefte.htm