Selections from the Agni Yoga Series
Presented before the Agni Yoga Society, February 19, 2013
1. The centers of an Agni Yogi can reverberate with the Cosmic Magnet. When science will begin to connect the centers with the currents of the Cosmic Magnet, a new page will be opened before humanity. Thus interrelated with Cosmos are all manifestations! Transmutation of the fires is so difficult in the earthly sphere because man, through negation, has created a special sphere which enwraps the entire Earth. These negations act like needles, and many are the battles taking place on the astral plane. Therefore, the achievement of the fiery Agni Yogi is so great. When each center not only receives the fire but also undergoes a fiery transmutation for the progress of humanity, one may truly call this carrier of fires a server of evolution. He who sacrifices himself for the fusion of the Fire of Space with the planet is confirmed as a link between the planet and the far-off worlds. Infinity I, 138.
2. It may be said that Cosmos is in a perpetual state of fiery transmutation. The law and the motion are established by reciprocal attraction. Each energy attracted to the striving seed produces its effect. These effects enwrap the entire planet. Certainly the discovered law of electricity is connected with the Fire of Space. Indeed, all manifestations of cosmic records abroad in space are open to human understanding. Knowledge is so relative that humanity must embrace the cosmic understanding with a universal eye. The creativeness of a fiery transmutation is based upon the striving of the fire toward the higher intensity. These cosmic seeds are strongly attracted toward the magnet of the form. Space abounds in these seeds. Infinity II, 25.
3. Only a minor part of reality is cognized by humanity. The Cosmic Eye is tensed in contemplation of reality. Humanity dwells in a restricted reality; in the human conception reality is limited to that which is visible. Space testifies to the correlation of processes and effects. Hence, while a process may be confined to the invisible spheres, it nevertheless creates reality. The law of fiery transmutation pertains to the same creativeness of Fire. Hence, the centers create invisibly. This psycho-creative reality intensifies all vital actions. Therefore, the transmissions of spirit and thought through the fiery centers imbue the space. Infinity II, 37.
4. The perfecting of the form is directed to the highest manifestation through the drive of the energies. The same law pertains to the striving of the spirit. The attraction of the spirit to the creative manifestation is imbued with the striving of the will. The fiery transmutation is expressed in the progress of all manifested centers. Hence, when the will of the spirit is transmuted, the law of progress acts in its spiral. This spiral progress then proceeds in all dimensions. When the spirit can complete the round of life, rising above the point of its beginning, then verily the spirit has attained the striving which will affirm it in the direction of the Cosmic Will. Thus, Cosmic Will governs each progress into the Infinite. Infinity II, 107.
5. The achievement of the spirit is great when the fires are being transmuted. The law of transmutation draws in its wake every striving. As an eternal teacher the spirit strains all possibilities. The fiery transmutation not only affirms the subjection of the lower to the higher but also draws the highest striving from the substance of the spirit. Therefore, when the spirit verily decides to renounce its encumbrances it opens the way to transmutation. Therefore, the disciples must remember that transmutation is granted only when the spirit has conquered selfhood. Selfhood is the progenitor of all grayish encumbrances. Hence, when the manifestation of egotism thus obscures the spirit, it can be stated that the fire of transmutation cannot contact it. Thus let everyone remember! Infinity II, 121.
6. How resounding are the words of the heart about hidden motives! How important it is to realize impartially the intentions of the spirit! Three traits of character will help to cognize the potentiality of motive; the trait of honesty, the trait of self-abnegation, and the trait of service. The manifestation of each trait will give the spirit the sword against egotism. Not the hand of karmic tension but the hand of self-exertion will hold for the spirit that gleaming sword. Let us remember that fire which gives tension to the motive. Let the spirit of egotism thus approach the fiery transmutation. The Tara points. out the path of fiery self-exertion. The Guru points out the path of fiery action. Yes, yes, yes! Infinity II, 170.
7. And so, the greatest misconception lies in the fact that people prepare themselves for death instead of educating themselves for life. They have heard often enough that the very concept of death is vanquished. They have heard often enough of the need for changing the seven sheaths. It has been sufficiently emphasized that these changes take place with the closest cooperation of Fire. This means that one should assist the fiery transmutations, since they are inevitable. Why spend ages and millenniums on that which can be accomplished far more quickly! We should prepare our consciousness for the fiery receptivity of our concentrated bodies. If something is subject to a fiery action, let this good be accomplished in the shortest possible time. Thinking about such transmutation in itself greatly helps our organism to assimilate this process into the consciousness. Fiery World I, 597.
8. ... the great Covenant “When the disciple is ready the Teacher appears” is seldom understood. There are not many who ask themselves what this readiness actually is. Should not this readiness consist of certain qualities? The trouble is that people do not want to realize that at the foundation of this readiness, and of all the achievements, there is the following of a great ideal, involving a fiery transmutation of all our feelings, of our whole character. People would rather give up various excesses and thoughtlessly, mechanically perform their pranayama, than surrender even one habit that stands in their way to spiritual achievement. But, as it is said, mechanical ways have no value. The transformation of the inner man cannot be achieved automatically, and this transformation is the chief aim of all the true Teachings. Therefore, one must always bear in mind that all the Great Teachers are concerned with the inner man, whose realm is in the sphere of motives and thoughts. Therefore, not a single high Raja or Agni Yogi needs mechanical aids, nor any physical exercises. And their only consideration is the concentration on the chosen Great Ideal, on the unwavering and constant striving to approach it. Such concentration continues unceasingly. Whatever such a yogi or disciple is doing, his thought is always occupied by his Ideal. Everything is performed in the name of this Ideal, and he always feels in his heart the love and the presence of this Image. This is the real concentration indicated by the esoteric philosophy, which deals only with the inner world, the world of Noumena. Letters of Helena Roerich I, 21 July 1934.
9. The consciousness contains within itself all the traces of past lives, impressions of each manifestation as well as each thought and striving for revealing of a broad horizon. The consciousness is fed by the Chalice and the heart, and each compressed energy is deposited in the consciousness, unbreakably connected with the spirit. The spirit, upon becoming separated from the body, preserves a full connection with higher and lower energies. Certainly, the Teacher leads wisely in pointing out the affirmation of vital transmutation. Indeed, through the immortality of the spirit there are preserved all manifestations of vital energies. As are the sediments, so will be the future crystals. And thought, and heart, and creativeness, and all the other manifestations collect this energy. The whole fiery potential of the spirit consists of radiations of vital energies. Therefore, speaking about spirit and consciousness, one must take the spirit as the crystal of all higher manifestations. The ancients knew about the crystalline quality of the spirit, and the spirit was revealed as fire or flame in all the higher manifestations. Therefore, it is so important to understand the true significance of fiery transmutation. Verily, spirit and matter are refined in one impulse toward attainment of the higher fiery consciousness. Fiery World III, 227.
10. In the question of the acceptance of a disciple, his karma plays the main role. Precisely, in connection with discipleship it is most essential to realize the law of Karma and to comprehend it in all respects. Thus, a person overburdened with karma cannot hope to become a close disciple. Only those whose earthly karma is almost completed can be accepted among the closest disciples. There are few who realize what a heavy burden the Teacher takes on by accepting a disciple. Therefore, the Great Masters, who are constantly watching and directing the world processes for the maintenance of its balance, and who lead in the gigantic cosmic battles, accept only those about whom They have no further doubts, those who have gone through and purified themselves through many fiery tests, and who in this life have again displayed their readiness, devotion and self-denial not in conditions of comfort but on the edge of the abyss. Precisely those whose high spiritual centers are not only open but are undergoing the fiery transmutation. Hence, the small number of the closest disciples. Letters of Helena Roerich I, 29 August 1934.
11. But the path of Service is still more difficult, since this is the path of achievement, which requires complete self-denial. You may think that our life is easy, but if you knew the reality, your heart would speak differently. In order to bear the entire burden of the awesome responsibility and ever-growing difficulties, I affirm myself every day in joy and readiness to face the most difficult. Indeed, beauty is in self-denial. And now more than ever the world needs spiritual toilers and heroes, now, in the threatening days of Armageddon. But, I do not summon anyone, and you should not call the spiritually immature, because an excessive burden is not useful. Great tempering of spirit and heart is necessary, for each day brings us all sorts of trials. The strain and tension of a bearer of the burden of the New World is awful! His work is performed on three planes; by his energies, he discharges the surrounding atmosphere, often preventing destructive earthquakes in his vicinity; he carries the burden of those who turn to him and is greatly responsible for all that is entrusted to him. Only very strong spirits can enter the Path of Service. Therefore one should never entice, or tempt by rosy promises. Certainly, even the thorough reading of the books of the Teaching will invariably bring benefit through broadening the consciousness, thus affording a possibility for new flights of the spirit. But it is impossible to expect immediate fiery achievements and a fiery transmutation of the centers if the Teaching is applied spasmodically. Letters of Helena Roerich II, 22 July 1935.
12. In conclusion, one may add that all the descriptions of the attainment of higher abilities through the opening of the centers may appear easy on paper, but in reality there is nothing more difficult. Many lives may pass in a constant unbreakable striving for the broadening of consciousness and the refinement of receptivity prior, not to just the partial opening of this or that center, but to their work on all the seven circles and planes. No mechanical exercises will lead to anything high. For not the physical irritation, and not even the partial opening of one of the centers is needed, but the fiery transmutation of all centers, which can be achieved only through the complete purification of thinking and the kindling of the fires of the heart. Letters of Helena Roerich II, 2 September 1937.