LIGHT ON THE PATH - 126 : Seek it by testing all experiences - 2

🌹 LIGHT ON THE PATH - 126 🌹

🍀 For those WHO DESIRE TO ENTER WITHIN - For DISCIPLES 🍀

✍️. ANNIE BESANT and LEADBEATER
📚. Prasad Bharadwaj

CHAPTER 10 - THE Note on 20th RULE

🌻 20. Seek it by testing all experiences - 2 🌻

477.When the centre of consciousness has separated itself from the body of desire and moved to the manasic plane, a considerable advance has been made.

The man no longer looks on the body of desire as himself, but as merely a vehicle. Yet its vibrations can still affect him, for it has a life of its own, and sometimes it is as if the horses had run away with him. That is the stage spoken of in the Kathopanishat, when the driver has reined in the horses and they are going quietly, but are still liable to rush away now and then. The disciple knows when they have run away by the excitement of the senses.

It is a stage of great trial. The whole nature of the man is shamed and pained by the degradation; he cannot yield without suffering. In his normal condition of consciousness the senses do not attract him, he does not feel the temptations of the body, which are really astral. Yet times come when he does feel them. This happens because the old mould of desire is not broken up, and it has been vivified from outside.

The channel has not disappeared, though it is wearing out, and the danger exists that it may suddenly be filled from the outside, and then the desire-form is revivified. Astral influences cause vibrations in it strong enough to affect the man’s consciousness again; left to itself it would not affect him; but he comes to a place, time or person on account of which strong influences from outside vibrate through him and revivify this old form.

478. They are to be recognized as coming from outside, not from himself, so the disciple ought to understand what they are. With shame, degradation and horror he feels this thing, and wonders how he can feel it. The answer is that there is a stage in growth when seductions coming from the senses may be experienced but need not be yielded to. The man then passes them by. He says: “I feel you; I recognize you; I weigh you; but I refuse to be moved.”

That is the meaning of the passage in the Kathopanishat, where it says the man has come to the point where he can hold the horses in. He can hold the senses under control. It is the last lesson with regard to the temptation of the senses. When it is learned, their power over the man has passed for ever. Never again will they have the power to affect him; it is the last struggle with them, and when it is over the soul has escaped.

479. When that time of struggle comes, and it will come to every one, after the centre of consciousness is moved on to the manasic plane, it is an immense help to realize its nature and to know how to deal with it, to be able to say: “It is not I; it is simply a vibration from the lower nature sent out to me; I reject it; that is my answer.”

The moment you repudiate it, the sense of horror goes; you refuse to feel its influence. When you have done that, you can test yourself, and see what part of your nature it is working upon. Then you will wait with patience for the time when you will feel it no more.

You trust in the law; you sit down and patiently wait, and presently it will be unable to set up any vibrations; the senses cannot make you respond to them. You say: “I can wait patiently for the time when I shall not feel this thing. It is a dead form revivified that I feel, and it will soon be broken up and will fade away.”

There is nothing left but to wait so – perhaps for months or for years. The victory is won when you are able to do that – the mould is broken. Recognition of your patience gives the last blow to shatter it, and never again can it affect you, unless you turn your back upon the goal, which seems an impossibility.

Continues...

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29 Mar 2021