Selections from the Agni Yoga Series
Presented before the Agni Yoga Society, April 13, 2010
First presented at a meeting of the Society November 11, 1971
1. “If you notice repetitions in the Teaching, it means that new details can still be found, or that a command not yet fully applied in life must be stressed again.” Agni Yoga, 63
2. One of the phrases repeated in the Teaching is “striving into the future.” This is a simple phrase but with much hidden significance. Striving is useless without direction. Direction is not possible without vision. Vision is the light of consciousness penetrating space to the goal of the future. “The limitless vision verily opens the paths to the Heart of Cosmos.” Infinity I, 195
3. “They will ask, Why first Infinity, then Hierarchy, and only then Heart? Why not the reverse? But first comes the direction, then the connection, and then the means.” Heart, 6
4. Now that we have fixed the vision and direction we may ask, “Do you know how to strive?” (Community, 179)
“Whether I am hurrying on or motionless, still I am striving. Whether I am learning or giving out knowledge, still I am striving. Whether alone or in a crowd, still I am striving.?
How to intensify striving? Where are its roots and conditions? About quality of labor and action you have already heard. These are the conditions: full overburdening and the realization of the insecurity of life. Overburdening sets the body in the direction of tension. Realization of the danger of each hour of life will provide sensitivity and the knowledge of irrevocability…
One should become used to the brink of the abyss, in full consciousness of the surrounding depths, and one should not be afraid to act under overburdening ." Community, 180
5. “He who does not await external aid knows the value of his own hammer. Whoever knows the path into the future can carry his catch without fear…
When it is dark and threatening, then keep the consciousness upon the future. We call the future a flying carpet.” (Community, 189) Striving, then, is an attitude of thought held as a compass in the mind, continually oriented to the vision in the future. “Striving is the boat of the Arhat. Striving is the manifested unicorn. Striving is the key to all caves. Striving is the wing of the eagle. Striving is the ray of the sun. Striving is the armor of the heart. Striving is the lotus blossom. Striving is the book of the future. Striving is the world manifest. Striving is the multitude of stars." Community, 55
6. “It is wise not to worry but to strive joyfully. / You must think, for thoughts create deeds.” (The Call, 187) “Think of the future and linger not at the present. / My Help is great and is given without delay.” (The Call, 204) It is important to develop constant striving. “Is it possible to strive in the mornings and be a parrot in the evenings?” (Community, 80) “It is better to say: ‘Yesterday is past; let us learn how to meet a new dawn.’” (Community, 81) “Even a worm will set no limits to his passageways of darkness—and you, looking into Infinity, you cannot resemble the worm!” Community, 121
7. We gain strength for our striving through the realization of the needs of the world. We recall the story in Community, 137, of the man pursued by the monster, who realized that, by holding onto the crest of the monster, by “maintaining his desperate plight, he was saving humanity, and with this pan-human thought his strength became unlimited and inexhaustible.” Even the monster rose above the earth–“the man had uplifted even the enemy.”
This continual awareness of striving is not easy to maintain. “When one is guided daily one may lose consciousness of the guiding thought. Weak minds think that they remain without connection with the guide—the details of daily routine reduce them to ordinariness. But, indeed, amidst daily routine it is possible to grow flaming thought. As a metal is forged with an ordinary hammer, and as seed filled with the great substance of life is gathered with an ordinary sickle, so amid ordinary matters look for the thread of greatness.” Community, 137
8. Our inspiration is found in the example of the Masters. “For centuries We have applied Our striving to give humanity the joy of Be-ness. But they who are participants in Cosmos manifest a lack of discernment and dream of rest and completion in the one shell. One should understand that the web comprises many threads of yarn and that the weaving action is repeated many times. The cosmic web consists of all manifestations of psychic energy and is adorned by Materia Lucida. The path is adorned by the striving toward Infinity." (Infinity I, 71) “Remember how We labor for the future, and direct all your being into the future!” Community, 95
9. Striving into the future is truly a key, but we must do more than recognize it. We must turn the key in a continuous rotating spiral of direction through aspiration of the heart. “The best ferment is striving. It is impossible to sting or to smash an impetuously directed body. Striving in motion attains validity, and becoming lawful it becomes irresistible, for it enters into the rhythm of the Cosmos… Striving, nothing else, results in mastery over the elements, for the basic quality of the elements is striving. In this state you coordinate the elements with the higher creativeness of the spirit and become the keepers of the lightning. Man shall become keeper of the lightning. Believe it, by striving only will you conquer.” Community, 56
10. “The dream to return to the mountain valley, where it is possible to increase knowledge, will constantly lead to attainment. It is necessary to remember that the influx of knowledge should be incessant. Chiefly, preserve the striving which propels all the systems of cognition. Striving is the key to the lock.” (Community, 243) “The assertion ‘I can do anything’ is not idle boasting but only the realization of an apparatus. The most wretched being can find the current to Infinity; for each labor, of quality, opens the locks.” Community, 102
11. In these crucial times let us value and make full use of continual striving through a vision of Infinity held ever more clearly before our eyes.
“A miracle is wrought amidst striving to the future life.” The Call, 184
12. Urusvati knows that We never regret the past. Precious is the striving to the future, and a special energy is attracted when thought about the future is alive. The most brilliant past cannot compare to the possibilities of the future. Science confirms that thoughts of the future are salutary, and regretful thoughts about the past are poisonous.
We offer knowledge about the past, but the heart should be filled with striving to the future. Let the ability to perceive better possibilities for mankind be developed out of such thoughts.
Do not think that it is easy to reject the past. Great knowledge must be acquired before one can recognize the spiral of evolution, which perpetually surges forward. Usually people dwell on yesterday, not realizing that each tomorrow brings new knowledge, and the day that is hardly over has already engendered new accumulations. Night brings communion with the Subtle World and the renewal of energies. In the morning people seldom remember their experiences of the night just passed, but they feel the increase of energy. Scientists explain this phenomenon in a narrow materialistic way, but more experienced observers perceive different causes.
I am now referring to those who are able to greet every morning as the beginning of a new experience. The Pythagorean hymn to the rising sun was actually based on the joyous recognition of the new day, and of new knowledge. In such an exalted state there can hardly be regret for the past.
A thought about the freedom of the forces of the spirit brings creative joy. We do not regret the past. Supermundane I, 138?
13. And I beg you, do not fear difficulties. Display readiness to meet all obstacles, for each obstacle strengthens you and leads you to the future victory. Try to love the difficulties, and say, "Blessed be the obstacles, through them we grow." Courageously, inspired by striving, realizing the majesty of the endless perfecting of creative life, strive toward the calling Infinity--infinity of lives, infinity of achievements, infinity of knowledge, infinity of construction, infinity of beauty! Letters of Helena Roerich I, 1929.