Selections from the Agni Yoga Series
Presented before the Agni Yoga Society, May 20, 2008
1. Why are you living? In order to cognize and to perfect yourselves. Nothing misty should satisfy you. Community, 230.
2. Twilight must not exist for you.They will ask wherein is the quest for perfection. Reply: In Love, in Beauty, in Action. These three paths suffice. The Call, 318.
3. Perfect yourselves, my friends, unwearyingly. Deny not the Voice of the Spirit, suppress only the earth-bound voices.Be daringCI am with you. The Call, 25.
4. Monetary alms should be abolished, as help can be provided through labor or objects. There will be none without work when people will turn to the path of spirit. We intend to demonstrate this advantage of perfectionment not for the invisible world but for you yourselves. We summon to Our Path. Illumination, II:I:11.
5. It is time to cast off the diamonds which desecrate the holy Images. It is time to burn the relics, following the covenant of Christ. It is time to enter into the Temple of Spirit-understanding, consecrating one's forces which perfect the knowledge of the true power of spirit. Illumination, II:IV:3.
6. Therefore, precious is the bold desire to seek, because he who seeks finds. If the desires of the spirit are lofty it can discover lofty forms, and in creating them it can contribute to perfectionment. Illumination, II:II:4.
7. In conformity with the rhythm of World Motion, repetitive accrual of power is needed. The display of haste is adverse to the World's creation.
The way of formation of crystals and flowers indicates how perfection develops. Illumination, II:IV:16.
8. The labor of endless perfectionment is ordained by Us. And in moments of difficulty think about Us, knowing that the wireless apparatus will not delay in connecting you with Us. But learn to think and to distinguish the moment of real difficulty. Illumination, III:VI:21.
9. Family, clan, country, union of nationsCeach unit strives toward peace, toward betterment of life. Each unit of cooperation and communal life needs perfecting. No one can fix the limits of evolution. By this line of reasoning a worker becomes a creator. Let us not be frightened by the problems of creativeness. Let us find for science unencumbered paths. Thus, thought about perfectionment will be a sign of joy. Community, 1.
10. The art of thinking must be developed in each worker. Only then will he grasp the joy of perfectionment and know how to make use of his leisure. Community, 103.
11. When a man finds himself in an imperfect community, in his fright he turns to oppositionCthis is wrong. He who understands imperfection must enter upon perfectionment. Community, 226.
12. The more perfect the spirit, the more infallibly it understands the deep suffering of earthly life. Agni Yoga, 152.
13. You will say to him, "It behooves us, even in the midst of great turmoil and revolt, to preserve our calmness of spirit".
He will reply, "Your truth is not new. But why should I strain for calmness of spirit when my body trembles with tension?"
Answer him, "This is the law of self-perfectment."
He will reply, "This too is not new. Where are the advantages of self-perfectment?"
You will answer, "The exercise of calmness leads to mastery of moving through the various bodily states."
At the change of body, the spirit that has not sought to advance enters a condition of torpor and wanders about depressed by its vague memories. Indeed, memories of the low physical state plunge it into complete darkness.
It is essential to avoid indifference while changing the body. Refinement of striving will provide calmness during the transition from one state of existence to another. Thus is achieved the quality of an Arhat, who never interrupts the flow of consciousness and constantly strives toward the future.
Tell your listener that one can prepare the eternal Amrita of spiritual perfection only through vigilant experience. Could one who is conducting an important experiment fall asleep? So also, We, ever alert in consciousness, will unite Our lives into an unbreakable necklace. To some, this advice will seem like an abstraction; but We know all the practical realities of the process of perfectment. Agni Yoga, 130.
14. Those who seek out the yogi for instruction in the Teaching will not be of equal worthiness. A yogi must be able to understand who comes by accident; who may become a pupil; who may in the future become a pupil-teacher, learning to perfect himself by helping those who come to him. Agni Yoga, 203.
15. The Blessed One pointed out to His disciples a fakir who was throwing a ball with great skill. He hit the target every time, and two boys then hurried to pick up the ball and bring it back. The Blessed One said, "This man has attained perfection in passing on the ball; each ball that he throws is at once returned to him. So it is with each act of giving, but only when it is perfect. Therefore learn to sacrifice perfectly, for art should be present in every sacrifice." Agni Yoga, 385.
16. Why must the Teaching be absorbed as the basis of existence? If one begins to apply the Teaching egoistically, one will begin to add structures without first attending to the foundation. Half-hearted striving causes inner discord and does not bring regeneration. All harmful consequences result from half-hearted striving. Because of this, people cannot perfect themselves and cannot purify their sense of beauty, without which the blending of one's consciousness with the Teacher's is impossible. Agni Yoga, 563.
17. First of all, the Teaching is never sold; that is a most ancient law. The Teaching offers perfection as the goal; without this, it would have no future. Agni Yoga, 404.
18. But if he says, "I wish to perfect myself," then ask, "What reward do you expect?" He then should say, "Only to come close to the Teaching." Agni Yoga, 527.
19. There are four ways of perfectment: acceptance of the gift of the Teaching; liberation from the ego; manifestation of courage, knowing all dangers; learning to make the enemies work for the General Good. Agni Yoga, 643.
20. Only when the evidence of all spatial riches will be realized will it be possible to give perfection to our earthly forms. Infinity I, 26.
21. One may call the forms of the present day forms aspiring toward perfection. Infinity, 44.
22. When the far-off worlds spread out before the human consciousness, new dimensional concepts appear. When one can perceive even on our planet forms created by the finer energies, how is it possible not to manifest understanding of refinement of forms? Continuous perfectment directs itself toward Infinity. Thus, the rhythm of perfecting is so drawn to the rhythm of the Cosmic Magnet! It is not an outer striving but a development by way of psycho-life. Infinity I, 152.
23. When thinking will be perfected, it will be possible to say that the time of construction of a better future is near. Infinity 1, 73.
24. Dissatisfaction and anguish often are a response to the call of Space. Dissatisfaction indicates the realization of the process of perfecting. Striving affirms the right step toward Infinity. Infinity 1, 78.
25. The spirit is perfect only when it is conscious of the Cosmos. Illumination, I:V:2.
26. You can understand how the black lodges oppose humanity's perfectment, how they prefer the fate of Atlantis to the light of a new body. Let us be on watch, let us be vigilant, let us follow the Lord! Hierarchy, 208.
27. Call Hierarchy your touchstone, upon which you can test the efficiency of quality; for if you do not admit the existence of the best and the most luminous, then there is no need to safeguard and perfect your own Monad. The existence of Hierarchy is the foundation of the entire life. Remember that Hierarchy acts through the legion of Service. Do not delay in assembling these legions, for there is no task more successful than Service to Hierarchy. Hierarchy, 212.
28. The time of Kali Yuga has been difficult, but Satya Yuga must again bring closer the worlds, which were forcibly separated. One must await this time solemnly as the return to a predestined perfection. Thus, let us decide to apportion sufficient attention for spiritual creativeness. One should become accustomed to thinking from this point of view. Thus, it is necessary to refer to that which is most significant in the direction of life. Whoever learns the balance between the worlds will considerably ease his path. Heart, 78.
29. A special course should be createdCknowledge of the heart. The simplest maidservant understands the sweetness of talking about the heart. For a scientist it would seem much simpler to broaden this concept. Human history itself gives comparative tables of the workers of the brain and heart. Will not these images of achievement and the heroes of self-sacrifice provide the best perfectment of the heart? Heart, 359.
30. Whoever shall aid his near ones to find the path of the heart shall also find his own perfection. Heart, 399.
31. Have you listened to your heart? Does it beat in rhythm with the Perfect Heart which embraces all of you? Letters Of Helena Roerich I, 1 March 1929.