AGNI YOGA WEB TV

SERIES

„INTRODUCTION TO AGNI YOGA“

BROADCASTING 21

Sexuality

Dear Agni Yogis,

we are going to tackle a rather delicate subject today. In accordance with the needs of the New World, Agni Yoga offers hints and suggests rules of conduct for all areas of daily life, including of course sexuality. Since this question has acquired such a vastly exaggerated importance for people of today’s time, we cannot help addressing it as well.

About sexual temperance it is necessary to speak in more detail; too much space has been allotted this subject by contemporary thinking. (Leaves of Morya’s Garden II, 329 [333])

In order to adequately treat this highly intimate topic, let us not ask how we ourselves feel about it. Instead, I suggest: Let us put aside personal concern. Better let us ponder: What is the ideal way for people to deal with it?

How would parents - or grandparents grown wise through a lot of life experience - wish their children or grandchildren to cope with sexuality?

The disciple interjects: I know how that works, especially in this area; now we may expect commands and prohibitions that no normal person is able to observe. (Gudrun Stiasny „The Wanderer through the Zodiac“)

No, better look at it from a different point of view: What Agni Yoga teaches everywhere applies here as well:

Only an ideal can give us orientation!

Without an ideal, you do not know the direction. It alone shows us the path we have to go. Though everyone approaches the goal in his own way and at his own pace.

*****

As in all our Broadcastings, above all the Mahatmas themselves have the floor. He who does not like what I say needs not heed me. He may nevertheless derive great benefit from only listening to or reading the quotations from Agni Yoga and the Teachings of the Temple, contained in this Broadcasting, through which the Masters of Wisdom speak to him.

1. Biological Foundations

“What is the driving force behind sexuality? What brings people to have sexual intercourse? "

Women like to think: love. Unfortunately, it is not that simple.

The motor of sexuality is the fact that a young, healthy man produces well over 100 million sperm - not in his entire life, not in a decade, not in a year - but every single day!

To put it bluntly: This unimaginable quantity of microorganisms at some point has somehow to get out of the body. A man is under a tremendous pressure which is increasing every day. For him at least, sexuality is first of all nothing else than a real necessity, just like hunger; an unavoidable physical need that simply has got to be satisfied.

*****

Of course, there is the in the long run unworthy possibility of masturbation, and seldom the pressure is released at night during sexual dreams. Normally, however, a man is dependent on finding a woman: Not to gratify his lust, as it is contemptuously called, but to satisfy his physical need.

Of course, this is no excuse for anything, but it should be borne in mind when women complain that all men want is just this one thing.

So when a man woos a woman, it is not just for love. Of course, he experiences that sexuality without love is disgusting and pollutes him. But that in no way does away with the physical necessity. Due to it, some are ready accept to some things - like a starving person who at some point no longer looks too closely and takes whatever he can get.

*****

When men get “lazy” in this respect in old age (which now the women are complaining about!), it is because not as much sperm is produced any more and the pressure decreases. Some find this a relief or even a deliverance from a yoke.

Like the Greek poet Sophocles, who sighed at the age of 80: "At last I am free from a cruel, insane master!"

2. Holy Act

Arnold Böcklin „Holy Grove“

"Is the coupling of man and woman a sin?"

No, do not listen to the fanatics! The intercourse is an evolutionary necessity. It has an important function.

Sexual desire was originally implanted in man for one specific purpose, namely, production of offspring. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. I, Lesson 86 “Law”)

From a spiritual point of view, the creation of new life is a sacred act.

The fact of conception is so wondrous that it is impossible to deal with it by ordinary measures. (Leaves of Morya's Garden II, 329 [333])

If you want to draw to earth high, noble souls, you should perform the act of procreation in a pure and holy manner like a sacrament, not under the influence of alcohol or in other unworthy circumstances.

If men and women would acknowledge the fact of spiritual kinship and marry properly, procreation would become a sacred act that should only be performed after high spiritual elevation, meditation, and thanksgiving. Only under these circumstances can the monads of the seventh race appear and play their part in the development of the race. The result will be a perfect race. (Teachings of the Temple Series I, pp. 10, 11)

Humanity has never been so greatly poisoned as it is now. People do not want to understand that all kinds of alcoholic drinks, smoking, and so many other poisons, decompose the human nature. They do not want to realize that in the midst of such poisoning they are unable to procreate healthy offspring. (Supermundane 888)

That nature makes procreation a pleasure is a trick aiming at ensuring the reproduction of life – often against all reason!

3. No Fun

Rubens “Boreas abducts Oreithyia”

"Most people think that sex is above all great fun!"

Sexuality, however, is not for pleasure. Those who exploit it for personal enjoyment misuse this creative force.

The man or woman who drags down to the use and pleasure of the physical senses the divine creative fire, against the behests of conscience, against the teachings of the Masters of the White Brotherhood, blots out his or her name from the book of discipleship. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. I, Lesson 95 “To My Daughters”)

Sensation sought for sensation’s ends, even in the guise of love, is but lust, and lust is evil, whatever form it seeks. (From the Mountain Top Vol. II, Lesson “The pure in Heart”)

Ideally - I repeat: not normally, ideally! - you only have sexual intercourse with one partner throughout your life and only if you really want to have children.

One day man will reach the point of development where the functions of sex will be employed for procreation primarily and not alone for mere sensual enjoyment. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. I, Lesson 173 “Sex”)

The much praised and wrongly so-called “free love” has nothing to do with freedom but is a hostile to the spirit aberration.

A human being which wastes his or her strength in promiscuity, so devitalizes the cells which form the seed of human life for the mere gratification of sexual desire. No amount of argument can make what is commonly termed "sex freedom" anything else but license for gratification of lower desire. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. I, Lesson 86 “Law”)

Here is the sin that all religions condemn:

To demean the sacred act of love to the satisfaction of merely physical needs.

Those who dare to degrade the ideal of Divine Love by prostituting it to low sense gratification come close to committing the unforgivable sin. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. I, Lesson 173 “Sex”)

4. No Desire of the Soul

Leonardo da Vinci „Archangel Uriel“ (Detail from „Madonna of the Rocks“)

It is only the body that feels desire for sexuality, not the soul. Recognize: Your true self, your real, spiritual being, your Eternal Individuality is dispassionate and angelic.

Your soul is asexual because it incarnates as both a man and a woman.

The spirit has no sex, the latter belongs to the realm of forms. (Helena Roerich Letters Vol. II, letter of 09.08.1937)

Having once attained this common universal consciousness, the attraction of the phenomena of the physical plane loses its powers to a great extent. The individual Soul then knows it is one of the sexless spiritual beings which came from higher spheres to redeem gross matter. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. II, Lesson “Twin Souls”)

Your soul asks for spiritual closeness. Only the body demands physical union.

"Doesn't the soul long for its missing half?"

No, there is no “dual” or “twin soul” in the sense of a “missing half”: Our Eternal Individuality, consisting of female and male aspects, is complete. There are only soulmates.

There is no sex in Divine Soul substance, therefore there can be no twin souls in the sense in which the word twin is commonly used. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. I, Lesson 201 “The Separation of the Sexes and the modern Theory of Twin Souls”)

In truth, the missing half is the invisible half of our being.

A spiritually awakened person does not look for it outside him, with the opposite sex, but within himself: If he is always conscious of his higher, Eternal Self, he has regained the union of the spiritual and the material aspect of his being. Then the body's sexual desire comes to an end.

When love is fully expressed by a human being, sex attraction disappears. The sexless Lord has no preference for either sex. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. I, Lesson 86 “Law”)

The physical union only gratifies the desire of the body, it leaves the longing of the soul unsatisfied. Already the ancient Romans knew:

Post coitum omne animal triste est. After intercourse all beings are sad.

Nature employs the soul's longing for unity to provide for physical reproduction. You should not allow yourself be misled!

5. The Soul is looking for spiritual Community

Nicholas Roerich „Zvenigorod“

"Does not the soul also long for closeness, for connection with other souls?"

Yes, of course, but that is the need for real, spiritual communion with its true, eternal relatives, its soulmates, as it so wonderfully exists before and after the earthly incarnation in the Other World.

Do not satisfy your desire for community by uniting bodies, but by spiritual communion!

Look for people who are spiritually close to you! If you cannot find them on earth, get in touch with them in meditation, because they certainly exist in the Upper World, and there you will meet them again at the latest after death.

True spiritual sexless attraction between individual souls whether in or out of physical embodiment arises from the knowledge that they are all reflections of the Over Soul, and they bear no resemblance to sex instincts or to any grade of matter pertaining to the physical plane. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. II, Lesson “Twin Souls”)

Unfortunately, most of the time people are seeking the connection of the bodies, which is why what they call "love" so often fails.

Unfortunately, the desire for union of physical bodies is far in excess of the desire for union on the spiritual plane, and those particular operations of the principle of desire must be reversed. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. II, Lesson “The spiritual creative Will”)

Make no mistake: Passion, the physical attraction between the sexes has nothing to do with the selfless, spiritual love of the soul.

Human passion, taking upon itself the semblance of Divine (selfless) Love, deceives the lower self into the belief that that which is in fact the effect of passion is of the nature of the Soul, which is passionless. Therefore the average person in the throes of what is believed to be Spiritual Love, is not willing to admit that the attraction between the opposite sexes is the action of polarity – matter. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. II, Lesson “Twin Souls”)

Lust was given to the worm,

And the cherub stands before God. (Schiller, Ode "To Joy")

You have got to choose. You cannot serve both spirit (the soul) and matter (the body).

Every step of the way of conscious at-one-ment with Divinity is renunciation. Spirit and matter cannot meet; one must disappear in the face of the other. You cannot reach the height of attainment with your back weighted with the heavy load which self-indulgence makes. You cannot gain purity by means of passion. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. II, Lesson “Attainment”)

While students have been repeatedly told that attainment of the spiritual creative power is altogether impossible save by one method, as a rule they are continually seeking some other method of combining the action of the lower creative functions with those of the higher or spiritual plane, while in reality the gulf between the two is impassable.

Man is continually seeking some method by which he can adjust or overcome the difficulties in the way of his belief in the unity in action of two or more spiritual counterparts, and at the same time make it possible for him to seek and find the physical bodies of those counterparts, and justify to his conscience what he knows in reality is purely sexual attraction between such partners. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. II, Lesson “The spiritual creative Will”)

The spiritual man recognizes: His desire for the opposite sex is in truth a longing for redemption, for the salvation of his soul, which man seeks above all with women.

Die düstre Glut, die hier ich fühle brennen,

sollt’ ich Unseliger sie Liebe nennen?

Ach nein! Die Sehnsucht ist es nach dem Heil:

Würd’ es durch solchen Engel mir zuteil!

The dull glow I feel burning,

shall I in my misery call it love?

Ah, no! It is the yearning for redemption:

would that through such an angel it came true!

(Richard Wagner, “The Flying Dutchman”)

6. No Dissipation of valuable Energy

Agni Yoga does not set up pointless prohibitions.

Religion began to prohibit something without knowing exactly why. (Leaves of Morya's Garden II, 329 [333])

If we approach our topic scientifically, we see: Male semen is a treasure, a precious energy that needs to be handled with care.

One may weigh, one may analyse the semen up to the most minute particles, but still there remains an imperceptible and inscrutable substance, as irreplaceable as the vital force of a seed. Such an extraordinary substance must be very precious and must have some extremely important qualities—even a fool will comprehend this. (Leaves of Morya's Garden II, 329 [333])

We should spend this creative power on spiritual matters rather than on physical ones.

Experiment provides certainly the best proof. If we compare two individuals, of whom one dissipates the vital substance while the other consciously conserves it, we will be amazed at how much more sensitive the spiritual apparatus of the second becomes. The quality of his labours becomes entirely different, and the quantity of his projects and ideas multiplies. That is why temperance is not a pathological renunciation but a sensible action. To bestow life does not mean to cast away the entire supply of vital substance. (Leaves of Morya's Garden II, 329 [333])

We cannot use the same force twice: We can direct it either into the sexual organs or into the higher centres, but not into both at the same time.

By copulation the spiritual creative energy is no longer available on the spiritual plane. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. II, Lesson “Sex and Self Responsibility”)

We can transform the energy so that it flows into high channels instead of into low ones.

This is the real secret of the crucifixion, the secret of why passion, greed and hate must be killed out. Spiritual energy cannot awaken to action those atrophied centres while the same energy is used up in gratification of lower desire. To use a homely metaphor, "You cannot eat your cake and keep it too." As I have said before, the gulf between Spirit and Matter is impassable. The substance constituting those centres must be transmuted i.e., raised to higher vibration. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. II, Lesson “The spiritual creative Will”)

Our spiritual creativity grows through physical temperance!

An irreplaceable treasure must be preserved. Thus, let us picture temperance as wings! (Leaves of Morya's Garden II, 329 [333])

7. Suffering through Sexuality

The sex drive is responsible for a tremendous amount of suffering. Each of us has either experienced this already himself or is aware of countless examples from his environment:

The purely physical attraction between man and woman or the sexual distress of the man chain together people who actually do not belong to each other at all. As a consequence, children are born who are unwelcome and accordingly treated unkindly; who completely muddle up an entire life plan or overstrain the mothers to such an extent that in the end only an abortion remains as a last resort.

"Is abortion that bad?"

It means the killing of a living human being. Let there be no mistake about that.

To suppress the conception of children is worse than murder. (Leaves of Morya's Garden I, 358 [421]

Abortion is most definitely murder. Therefore, only in cases where the mother’s life is in danger should it take place. (Helena Roerich Letters Vol. I, letter of 17.04.1934)

Some who look back at their lives may find that suffering outweighs joy.

8. Future Races without Sexuality

Nicholas Roerich „Lama“

In essence, man’s excessive production of sperm is an erroneous development of nature.

It makes no sense that pressure should force a healthy man to have intercourse with a woman so often, about once a week. The earth cannot support that many children and nobody can take care of them.

Basically, it would be much more appropriate if, as with some animals, the mating season were only once a year. Even that is still too much for humanity.

*****

I would like to state this without condemnation and without accusing the natural order or even God. Perhaps the fault lies with ourselves: Maybe we have enjoyed the sexual pleasures in earlier existences to such an extent that this drive multiplied more and more from incarnation to incarnation and from generation to generation far beyond the natural, appropriate measure.

The blood of the masses of humanity is even now tainted by the sexual sins of earlier races. (Teachings of the Temple Vol II, Lesson “The Ten Commandments of Jehova”)

The sexually creative power ofman is not natural, or rather was not at the beginning. It was an abnormal diversion from the course of human or divine nature, and all tends to make away with it. (Helena Blavatsky, Collected Writings Vol. XII, p. 701, Instruction No. V "The Sympathetic System")

“A wrong development of nature? That seems doubtful to me. Isn't sexuality a natural expression of man, even willed by God? "

Well, we can put it another way: Sexuality is a rather primitive, coarse, outdated method of providing a soul with a vehicle with which it can appear on the material plane. Like walking on four legs, it can and must be replaced over time by a higher stage of development. Passion numbs, coarsens our subtle centres which are meant for spiritual sensations. As we ascend and refine, we will find a finer, more spiritual way of creating new life.

"What do you find so primitive about the union of man and woman?"

Well, the physical functions related to conception, pregnancy and childbirth are rather repugnant to a spiritual person, unless he is in the frenzy of passion.

Furthermore, it is not very pleasant to face the need of being born again as a small, helpless baby in unclean diapers; of having to learn over many years to walk, speak, mathematics, English and everything else that defines a mature person; of suffering again the confusions of puberty, the trials and tribulations of approaching the opposite sex, and so on.

In the process of evolution Nature will remove the imperfections of physical conception, birth and helpless babyhood, this eventually will depart into the realm of the legendary. (Helena Roerich Letters Vol. I, letter of 31.05.1935)

*****

A higher stage of evolution will do without sexuality, physical conception and birth.

The man of the future will create offspring through his spiritual power!

In the more highly developed of the present race there is an intuitive perception of a future race and a period when the two aspects of sex will again be reunited and a sexless, a highly developed race, will be evolved. The era of physical generation will be over for these souls. The power of creation by will and yoga – will and mind – will be possessed by each such unit. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. I, Lesson 201 “The Separation of the Sexes and the modern Theory of Twin Souls”)

For the formation of the body of the incarnating spirit the [spiritual] forces of both mother and father will be necessary and will participate in this process of formation, and nourishment in general will not require a smoky hearth. (Helena Roerich Letters Vol. I, letter of 31.05.1935)

We should slowly begin to adapt to and prepare for this scenario by advancing our spiritual growth! When we progress on the ascending arc of evolution, when we refine and spiritualize ourselves, the sex drive will naturally subside.

The greater the soul grows, the more the physical recedes.

When these centres through which both the masculine and feminine principles primarily operate are equalized sex as you know it will disappear: the sexual passion will be raised. Where the two are equal sexual desire no longer controls – the divine Hermaphrodite is created, in whom exists the power of creation by Will and Yoga. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. II, Lesson “Sex and Self Responsibility”)

Man in the end of the Sixth and Seventh Races will not have sexual organs. (Helena Blavatsky, Collected Writings Vol. XII, p. 701, Instruction No. V "The Sympathetic System")

9. Mastering the sexual Drive

Ernst Barlach "The Spiritual Warrior"

For today's human beings, propelled by their sex drive, contraception is the biggest problem: Under no circumstances must children turn up before marriage. During marriage it must be over after three or four offspring at the latest. Thus, apart from a few years, the couple lives in constant fear of unwanted pregnancy.

The conventional contraceptive methods are either not safe enough (condom) or inadmissible from a spiritual point of view like the coil, which prevents the implantation of an already fertilized egg cell. The only safe contraceptive, the birth control pill, can hardly be expected to be acceptable to a woman as it uses hormones in order to keep her in an artificial state of pregnancy for many years.

*****

From a spiritual point of view, the solution to humanity’s problem of sexuality can only be self-control.

The task of today’s man is to control his instincts instead of being enslaved by them.

"How do you imagine that practically?"

The first step is: Enjoy sexuality only as the crowning physical expression of true, deep, spiritual love - that is, only with a real soul mate and life partner.

The next step is: Only practice birth control the natural way by abstinence on fertile days. This is a great and difficult exercise in self-control which will make your spirit grow.

Of course, woman should not only be a giver of physical life; she has her other high duties. And for that purpose there is the most natural abstinence, which can easily be practised and the increase of the family thus regulated. This is quite possible when high interests occupy the head and the heart. Of course, I expect plenty of opposition; still, I insist on it.

No doubt, in the present state of the family it is quite difficult, but already there are such families and they will increase in the future. In remote antiquity, people knew how to regulate their families by the phases of the moon. Later on this was considered black magic, but nowadays even such measures would be better than the dreadful abortions that cripple women and therefore the coming generations. (Helena Roerich Letters Vol. I, letter of 17.04.1934)

Having sexual intercourse only when you really want a child would be the last step, but given the current level of sexual desire, it seems almost impossible to take for most people.

Pythagoras did not get married until his late 50s. We would like to believe - in the language of Agni Yoga this means: it is a high ideal worth fighting for - that this high initiate was able to control his desire until then.

*****

But there is also a prospect for a long-term solution over several generations to curb the sex drive that has become overpowering: We know from biology:

The function creates the organ. An organ that is not used regresses.

Consequently, we may correct the erroneous development of our nature and expect that the instinct will subside over time if we allow it less and less to express itself.

It is a well known law of Nature that disuse of function gradually brings about change in construction of form. With the development of the spiritual body of man, inclination and ability to misuse the lower creative power disappears from the more etherealized body. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. II, Lesson “The spiritual creative Will”)

You can actually starve the dragon to death, that is: Keep the animal within you smaller and smaller and finally overcome it by not giving it any more food.

It is not possible to remove all the heads of the Hydra with one blow of the sword. Therefore, one must find the way to cause the monster to die of hunger. Remove the monster’s nourishment and it will disappear. (Supermundane 480)

This is of course a task for many incarnations! But the New immortal Man has to plan far ahead into the future, namely for an eternal path!

*****

Artificial methods only seemingly allow a carefree enjoyment of sexuality. They are aberrations. Here, as with all human problems, the solution is to be found on the spiritual level. The royal path is the spiritual path. It alone opens up the future:

We are not only talking about sexuality, but generally about mastering the lower self!

Today's man, enslaved by the most diverse passions and emotions, has to learn this lesson urgently.

The Eternal Individuality must rule the body of instincts as well as the physical body, the body of thoughts and the body of feelings.

Sexual education is only one part of the practice of gaining self-control, of establishing the rule of the spirit over oneself. We have already emphasized several times:

Within ourselves a real battle is raging between the animal and the divine. (Ernst Barlach "The Spiritual Warrior")

A wrong interpretation has been given to the allegory of the temptation and fall of man. The double-sexed nature of original mankind has been lost sight of. It was the struggle between the higher and lower nature of a single being that was originally portrayed in that allegory instead of a struggle between two personalities of different sexes. The lower or negative nature was the tempter. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. I, Lesson 95 “To my Daughters”)

In addition to the pleasure of the palate, the sex drive is the body's strongest weapon in the fight with the spirit for supremacy over you.

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. (1. Peter. 2, 11)

We are to reach the higher level where it is not the instinct but the spirit that decides whether and when we have sexual intercourse.

*****

Sexual pleasure arises in the head: through the images, the fantasies that we imagine in our brain.

If we wish to get the sex drive under control, we must learn to master our thoughts.

Those who are engaged in spiritual work or interests do not fall into lustful thoughts as easily as someone who is physically active or orientated.

If you manage to look at a woman like at your mother, your sister or your daughter, you will feel no desire. In relation to soul mates, you are looking for unity in spirit, and it would never occur to you to approach them physically.

"Can you give an example?"

Yes, Gandhi made many experiments to elevate his being through spiritual power. One of them was: In order to prove that one can overcome such a strong and elementary feeling as sexuality, he spent the night naked in bed with a naked young girl (usually a schoolgirl). Because his mind was in a Fiery state, his body did not express any desire either.

"Have you tried that too?"

Well, that fails because of my wife's resistance. Gandhi as well only did this after the death of his wife.

*****

Abstinence, however, is not a sport. You must not exhibit it like a trophy. Many people begin much too early with it.

You will feel when your spiritual development is actually obstructed by sexual intercourse. Only then should you consider abstinence.

Also think of your partner. It is not fair to continue to live with him and to punish him all of a sudden with chastity. Gandhi and Ramakrishna sought the consent of their wives before choosing a life of celibacy. Saint Hildegard of Bingen once severely scolded a nobleman who wished to evade his marital duties.

*****

Only on a certain level of the Hierarchy is sexuality undesirable because then it actually stands in the way of further spiritual development.

There is no doubt that those who dedicate themselves to practical occultism must practise abstinence, as all energies have to be preserved for the development of special abilities. (Helena Roerich Letters Vol. I, letter of 18.04.1935)

Here celibacy is the price for further growth in spiritual strength. But then it is no longer abnegation or renunciation, but the highest and unfading spiritual pleasure, instead of a physical, short-term one.

Precisely by sparing this vital substance vital forces are accumulated, and thus we sustain creative power within ourselves. Therefore, complete abstinence is expected of everyone who studies practical occultism. This explains why the Arhats lead a life of complete abstinence. (Helena Roerich Letters Vol. I, letter of 31.05.1935)

Since ancient times it has been part of the initiation to examine the novice whether he is able to withstand the enticements of the flesh - especially in a moment of weakness. A Disciple of the Temple is constantly exposed to these temptations in today's world, in which he is downright showered with sexually exciting images. You see: Our initiation examination takes place in the middle of everyday life!

If a man sets out to gain liberation and then falls back into sensuality he must necessarily block his way for ages, for by so doing he has veiled his intuition anew and will be no longer able to distinguish between the false and the true. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. I, Lesson 173 “Sex”)

10. The Mission of Women

Nicholas Roerich „She who leads“

It is one of the great tasks of the feminine principle to lead the masculine principle on the right, the spiritual path. The power of women is great: A man in love who adores his ideal likes to be guided!

Out of ignorance, the Catholic Church stubbornly denies woman her natural destiny as a priestess. She can exercise this high office in everyday life by helping the man in his pursuit of self-control, elevation, refinement and spiritualization in the area of physical love.

If that is what you want, however, you should not stir up his desire by wearing sexy, body-hugging clothes like a whore. Thereby you rob yourself of your dignity as a mediator to the higher spheres!

*****

Here is a passage from the Teachings of the Temple, which also Helena Roerich appropriated by quoting it word by word in one of her letters:

However gross may be the man, he creates an ideal and clothes it in the form of the woman he loves. That ideal is destroyed as soon as lower desire gains the upper hand in the contest between virtue and vice – between the real and the unreal. He may even deceive himself for a short time into believing that it still exists, but it is only a similitude of the real ideal that still lives in such an instance, and the frivolous, over-sexed nature of the woman soon palls upon him, satiety follows and finally utter disgust.

As woman has been the temptation to which the lower nature of man has yielded, it is only as woman refuses to become accessory to his fall and shows forth to his mind's eye the beauties and graces of the higher aspect of womanhood that man can be compelled to recognize and desire those higher aspects.

Man will eventually either bless or curse womanhood and it will be according to the extent and use of her power to dominate and control his lower nature, whether it will be blessing or cursing. Every woman who helps to save a man from his lower self by refusing to yield to the temptation her lower nature places in her way, thus proving the existence of a higher phase of life than he has previously known, does more to save the race to which both belong than any man, however great he may be, can possibly do in the present age.

And it is womankind that will finally be held to strict account for the laxity in morals of the present race, far more than man. His time will came in another age, as it came in a preceding age. The present cycle is woman's great opportunity, so again I appeal to you, daughters of the King, pray the God within to keep you clean. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. I, Lesson 95 “To my Daughters”; Helena Roerich Letters Vol. I, letter No. 2 of January 1935)

To all women in the world: Hearken to and follow this call from your big sister!

Here is a wonderful opportunity for you to assume, for the immeasurable benefit of humanity, true, spiritual leadership! (Nicholas Roerich "She who leads")