Selections from the Agni Yoga Series
Presented before the Agni Yoga Society, November 4, 2008
1. Love can create universes. Love and Wisdom are equal. The Call, 28.
2. Love and striving work miracles in life. We are awakening your energy for new thoughts, which are needed for transmutation, and for the work of thought in life. You must find the resources to create a new life. We send you thoughtsCsharpen them without violating Karma. The Call, 49.
3. To be a fugitive for a long time is not pleasant. Dearly do we pay for our self-love. The Call, 442.
4. Response can be given only to the pure in heart. Know how to combine the power of love with severity. Illumination, I:VII:2.
5. It is a most useful thing to be able to combine the tenderness of love with the austereness of duty. The new life will not be deterred by contrasts. It will not exert compulsion with one yoke, but will bestow breadth of receptivity. It is not fitting for people to sit in a chicken-coop. It is time to know the planet and to assist it. People cannot lull themselves by calculating how many years are yet left before the sun will be extinguished. A great number of various conditions may upset all calculations. It also cannot be forgotten that people can gnaw each other in two. This consideration must not be forgotten, since malice is deluging the Earth. Community, 112.
6. The measure of success is the degree of necessity. You may be sure that one would not leap across an abyss without absolute necessity. The more unavoidable the necessity, the nearer is the step of victory. Let the most dire necessity arise! The measure of understanding is the degree of love. One can memorize lines word by word, yet one remains dead if the knowledge has not been warmed by love. Truly, when one learns to discern the emanations of feeling in others, one will perceive that precisely love above all attracts the Fire of Space. He who said, "Love one another," was a true Yogi. Therefore We welcome each outburst of love and self-sacrifice. Just as a lever sets the wheels in motion, so does love inspire powerful responses. Compared with the radiance of love, hatred is only a hideous blot. For love is the true reality and treasure. I do not speak about love abstractly but as a physiologist. I consider that as necessity is the impetus, so love is the enlightener. Agni Yoga, 424.
7. Let us turn back to the concept of love. In each book a considerable place must be allotted to that fundamental concept, especially because under the concept of love much of the opposite is understood. It is correctly pointed out that love is a guiding and creative principle. This means that love must be conscious, striving and self-denying. Creativeness requires these conditions. And if love is marked by self-enfeeblement, disintegration, and service to self, it will not be the highest concept of humanity, which extols the concept of achievement. The heart filled to the brim with love will be active, valiant, and will expand to its capacity. Such a heart can pray without words and can bathe in bliss. How greatly in need is humanity of the realization of the fire of love! A purple star of the highest tension will correspond to this fire. Hierarchy, 280.
8. Speaking of the kinds of love, let us note the love that holds back and the love that inspires. In essence the first love is earthly, and the second heavenly. But what a multitude of constructive efforts were destroyed by the first! And a similar multitude winged by the second! The first is aware of all the limitations of space and consciousness; but the second has no need of earthly measurements. It is without handicaps of space or considerations of death. The first knows the world as a planet; but the second is not impeded even by the destruction of the planet, because before it are all worlds. Verily, the second love embraces the physical world and the Subtle and Fiery Worlds as well. It kindles hearts for the highest joy and is thus indestructible. Thus, let us expand the heartCnot for Earth but for Infinity. Heart, 242.
9. Let us accept love as the impetus for the expansion of consciousness. The heart will not be aflame without love; it will not be invincible nor will it be self-sacrificing. Thus, let us give our gratitude to each receptacle of love; it lies on the boundary of the New World, where hate and intolerance are banished. The path of love is the tension of cosmic energy. Thus will people find their place in Cosmos. Not like dry leaves but as flaming lotuses they will be akin to the Highest World. Heart, 243.
10. Yes, the heart of the Arhat is like the Heart of the Cosmos. But wherein is contained the sunlike quality of the heart of the Arhat? We sayCin love, but not in that aspect of love to which humanity likes to limit it; nor yet in that benevolent love which people ascribe to a Patriarch. No, the sunlike heart of the Arhat propels into achievement and smites everything corrupting. The Heart of the Arhat contends with darkness and affirms fiery striving. With what, then, is the Heart of the Arhat fed? We sayCwith love. Only this Source knows how to saturate the fiery heart. The great Mother of the World knows this Source. Each pure heart knows this Source. How, then, are the hearts commerged? We sayCwith love, that powerful source which converts life into a manifestation of beauty, that source which contains all the subtle energies of the heart. The Heart of the Arhat is a secret stronghold, which guards the sacred gift of the Cosmos. And not outside of life but in the very depths of life is forged the Heart of the Arhat. Let us say, by love. Yes, yes, yes, thus saith the Lord of Shambhala. Fiery World III, 171.
11. Each one must find the key to the Teaching in his own heart. The understanding of the Teaching of Life should inaugurate the creativeness of the spirit. The Image of the Teacher can give an enlightened path toward cosmic space. Thus, when we accept within our hearts the chosen Image, do not our hearts become aflame with love toward all beings? The creative Materia Lucida serves as embodiment for the high spirit, but this energy is attracted through love. The whole Cosmos is upheld by love. Love is the greatest magnet. Letters Of Helena Roerich I, 13 October 1929.
12. My love for all of you, and my eagerness about your progress, tells my heart to point out the necessity for improvement. Letters Of Helena Roerich I, 13 October 1929.
13. A selfish person condemns himself to dreadful loneliness and complete oblivion. Happiness is in giving love; and happier is the one who loves rather than the one who is loved. When this truth is realized, all happiness will materialize. Therefore, learn how to love, become accustomed to love everything beautiful, and develop active compassion toward everything that is not yet perfect. Be kind and polite to your subordinates, as such is the privilege and beauty of a lord of spirit! Letters Of Helena Roerich I, 21 August 1931.
14. You accepted the Call, which fills the first book of the Teaching of Life, and you know that the call of love brings the answer of the Beloved. This answer indicates the need for austere achievement in life. In the succeeding books of the Teaching are indicated all the steps that must be gone through which lead to the Beloved. Letters Of Helena Roerich I, 7 March 1935.
15. "Hiero-inspiration descends through a single basic condition. Neither concentration, nor command of the will, but love for Hierarchy produces direct Communion. We do not know how better or more precisely to express the guiding law than as a flow of love. Therefore, it is so opportune to put aside compulsive magic, in order to become imbued with love in one's entire being. As a result, one can easily approach the principle of Existence by a sense of beauty. Precisely, amidst the dissolution of the planet, one must turn to the most health-giving principle. And what can more strongly unify than the mantram 'I love Thee, O Lord!' In such a call it is easy to receive a ray of cognition. Observe this! Letters Of Helena Roerich I, 30 April 1935.
16. Indeed, God is love, and the whole existence of the Universe is based on love and nothing else! But how ugly and sacrilegious is the understanding of this love! Truly the concept of love is very far from the understanding of our present humanity. Into this highest cosmic concept people inject their cannibalistic, or devouring ideas. And that is why it is so hard, and at times even shameful to utter the word love. This word, on the lips of many bipeds, has become the greatest profanation. Letters Of Helena Roerich II, 7 October 1935.
17. Another concept, the renunciation of property, is often wrongly understood. To renounce property does not mean to give everything away and refuse to possess anything. Things are the result of human creativeness, and they should be appreciated. The improvement of their quality is a step toward the perfectment of the spirit. The Teaching tells us that the true significance of objects should be understood, while not being enslaved by them. One has to learn to love everything, and, at the same time, be ready to leave everything for new achievements. Love for beautiful things without a sense of possessiveness is one of the purest and most uplifting of feelings. Without love, nothing can be created and improved. Thus, let people learn to love without the sense of possessiveness. Let them admire beautiful creations without the conventional concept of ownership. Letters Of Helena Roerich II, 3 August 1936.
18. At the basis of all Creation lies a great impulse, or striving toward manifestation. This is the very same impulse, or thirst for existence that induces man to incarnate. In its higher aspect it is divine Love and also sublimated human love. In ancient times, precisely Kama, the God of Love, was revered as the greatest God. God is Love, and in love and through love is each of his manifestations conceived. The whole Cosmos is held by the Cosmic Magnet, within the order of Be-ness. Thus, tell your friends that Divine Love generates all worlds. Letters Of Helena Roerich II, 2 July 1937.
19. I perceive the enemies will be destroyed by miraculous fire. The time for action is but begun. Comprehend devotion, faith, and courage. I will safeguard you with a helmet of faith, an armor of devotion, and a shield of victory. And on the banner will be inscribed: Love, the Conqueror. The Call, 299.