CHAPTER XI

 

 

YOUR SELF

 

1. When Jesus the Christ taught “Unless you become as a little child, you can in no wise enter into the kingdom of Heaven,” He gave one of the most profound truths. A child has not yet been hypnotized by the world idea of limitation and lives naturally in harmony with its source. That is why most grown people love to be with children. They radiate the natural harmony of the Universe and that is the natural environment of If we would only drop all the ideas that have related us to the world, we would find ourselves in that determination which comes from the Universal movement and we would perform the works that are always seeking to manifest themselves through our nature. “Wherever thou findest self, drop that self,” wrote the ancient Hindus and that is still the central teaching of the Masters. Only when habits to the contrary are dropped from the primal nature of man can he hope to live the life which is the only life. Most of our attempts at living are so completely adverse to the purpose and natural trend of life that it only leads to the dissolution of the flesh. “There is a way that seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof is death,” said Jesus.
2. Know this: There is nothing that really limits man and keeps him in a state of uncertainty and inefficiency but his own thought. When these thoughts are removed he may enter into the life of the universe with ease and then his life begins to give evidence of its natural possibilities. “In that day when ye think not the son of man cometh,” was the wise instruction of the great Master. All thought that comes into man’s consciousness from the world is but a reflex of the impressions so received and man is not a reflector. Man is the projection of the Divine and, only as he allows the deepest impulses of his own nature to express, is he in life as it
3. The divine purpose of the law of life is to perfect and refine the nature of man until it is a complete and perfect expression of Itself. When life is lived in this way, without the reserve and restraint caused by the hypnotic spell of induced thought, the nature of man is continually refined. This requires the constant control of the individual until all his nature is a unit in expressing the one single purpose. The determination of this force is then perfect outwardly as it is already a fact in the Universal. Only in this way can man fulfill his destiny and receive the full support of the Universal forces. Many people wonder why God does not manifest through their own ideas and give them what they imagine they want. God no more acts through the ideas of man than the law of nature acts through infertile seeds, except to disintegrate them. God or Spirit is about his own business, fulfilling his own ideal and purpose, and man must come into harmony with this Universal purpose. Then, and only then, will he attain that state of complete childlikeness where he lives life naturally. Natural life is perfect and produces perfect Our ideas are either altogether imperfect or incomplete. They have not the nature or purpose of the Universal trend in them, therefore they are only to be discarded and put aside in order that the higher influences may become the determining factors in our entire being.
4. You say you have been taught that the first law of nature is self-preservation and so it But that does not mean that one protects his own life at the expense of another. The law of life moves to preserve and promote life. The life of a Master is one that promotes and preserves life for he lives in harmony with the only life which is. In him there is no revenge and his whole motive is to protect life from every intrusion. That is the secret of Mastery. Until one has mastered that in his own nature which would destroy his life, he is out of life. But when he is free from that which would destroy life he is completely in life. Even Jesus did not condemn those who crucified him but released them from the karma of their own ignorance through the law of forgiveness.

9. The fact is, to hold another in blame or to attempt to place blame upon another, is only to involve yourself in that ignorance. Protect life wherever it is manifest. Guard your own life and the lives of others from all ignorant intrusion. Protect yourself and others from any thought or act which would involve them in anything but the fuller and more harmonious expression of life. To do otherwise is suicidal. Constantly refine your own life by protecting the life all around you. But, to protect others is not only to protect them from bodily violence but to protect them from their own ignorance and the ignorance of others. Free yourself and others from the hypnotism of human thought and see yourself and them as free sons of the Only in this way can you enter into life and to enter into life is to become the master yourself. If someone does you an injury, free him instantly in your own mind and free him from the possibility of criticism or condemnation from others. Always hold him freely in the Universal life.
10. Many people never stop to think why artists paint a halo of light around the saints and It is because they are illumined and illumination is always there when the veil of ignorance, the cloud of hypnotism, is removed. You even see in some degree this same light around children and it is the emanation of this light that makes you feel peaceful and calm when in the presence of very small children. They are perfectly free vehicles of the Universal life. This is the influence one feels and the light one sees around a Master. He has become as a little child; he is freed from all world ideas that dim the light. Light is life and when one is completely in life he is in light—he IS that light. One who is completely in light lifts everyone into that same light to the degree that they are willing to let themselves respond to its influence. It is nothing supernatural that people should see light emanating from a Master. It is perfectly natural for that is life in its natural state. You have all potentialities within yourself and you are able to recognize life as it is in those about you if you will just let yourself see. The only thing that prevents it is your unwillingness to drop what you have come to believe is your state or condition. Drop the veil and behold, there is the light.
11. To advance, you must come to see yourself as a Master. You must conduct yourself as a There is no one who can teach you mastery nor is there anyone who can give you mastership, for they are already yours. Practice is required. You must live as a Master lives, think as a Master thinks, act like a Master acts before you would know a Master if you were to meet one.
12. Just how do you think a Master would meet the situations you have to face every day? Try meeting your problems in the same way. How would a Master speak to those about him? Try speaking in the same way. What would a Master’s attitude be toward those about him? Try expressing the same attitude. Could you imagine a master worrying about business? Would a Master gossip and hate and become jealous or angry? Would he flinch at some particular task? Well, there is a pattern for you, for your own idea of how a Master would face life is exactly the way you should be facing it. If you will so face life, conscious that this is the determination moving in the Universe with which you are one, you will find the seeds of your own mastership sprouting and growing into their full stature.
13. Can you not certainly see that what they have always taught is true, that it is not necessary for you to sit long hours in Samadhi or go through mystical rites and religious forms to come into illumination? They have prepared the way. They have proved that when you work outside the mind with its thoughts and just enter into life as it is, you are then in the state of mastership and, by so continuing until it is your own attitude as you face life, that you are then a Master. Drop that self which you seem to be and begin to live your life as you inherently feel you should live it and you will find that to be truly YOUR
14. Nor is it at all necessary for you to journey to India to find your master or teacher as many students believe. Your teacher and your master is your own SELF. The Masters and Jesus do not journey in the world for their knowledge and power. They look within themselves to that Self which is the God within and that is why they are masters. So long as you seek outside of yourself that which is to be found only within yourself, you will not find it. It is in this way that you will always be able to know the teachings of a real master. The unillumined tell you that you must find some teacher outside yourself but a Master tells you that you must find the teacher within. This is the main point which Christ tried to make clear to the world. “Lo here and lo there” is the anti-Christ “The Father within” is the true Christ teaching.
15. It is now seen what you find moving in your Self, that deepest side of your own nature, you must be doing outwardly. Practice makes perfect and it is by practicing your own Mastership or living life as it should be lived, doing as you instinctively feel a Master would be doing, that you will find that all you have been seeking is already here, completely manifest. All that was necessary was that you completely step out of character as you have been living and into the new character, living as life should be
16. When one learns to live from the Soul, the Self, and not from the mind, everything in life is clear and understandable. You know what you should do, where you should go, and life becomes simple and harmonious. That is life as it is intended, life as it is, life as we must ultimately live it. Children only live in the realm of thought when we have taught them to do so. They live naturally in the beginning and we should become like them and not make them over like ourselves. That does not mean we shall live unintelligent lives and that we will have no thoughts. It means that we will truly live intelligently and that our thoughts will be the outcome of properly expressing the Inner
17. It is true, to make this complete change from what we appear to be to what we really are, to enter into life as it is, will require some Whatever the Hindu’s belief is, he gives his all for it. He will walk hundreds of miles to fulfill what he believes to be his spiritual duty. When we are equally intent upon being what we instinctively feel we should be, we shall arrive without difficulty. We must quit hoping and wishing and set about doing and being.

THE CORRESPONDENT WRITES

 

Note: Because of the interest and helpful suggestions which the following letter from Mrs. Grace

1. Hahn will hold for the students, we are making it a part of the lesson at this time. Mrs. Hahn was a member of the party with Mr. Spalding in India.

“I will try to recount some of the experiences since writing you last.

“Mr. M. M. Ghose, a friend of Mr. Spalding’s, invited us to be his guests on a river boat trip to Dacca, the Ashram of Swami Paramananda. It would be very difficult to describe the jungle through which we passed. At places the river was so narrow that it was impossible for two boats to pass. Then again the river was one-half mile in width. All was going well as we proceeded on our journey. On the evening of the third day at eight-fifteen, most of us were asleep in our bunks when we felt a terrific impact and heard loud screaming close by. We soon realized we had collided with another streamer. Suffice it to say that confusion and terror reigned for some little time and we were informed that the barge of the other steamer sank in a few moments. We were damaged but no lives were lost. It was impractical to proceed so we anchored for the night. The lights were gone and the boats were leaking badly. The small son of our host calmly entered the circle of excitement on deck and said: ‘God has saved us all, Baba (father), now can I go to bed’? There was a hush for a few moments; then we all realized the lesson which this blessed Hindu boy had given us. We quietly went to our beds with the assurance that all was well. Here was a potential Master, quieting a whole boatload of people by his calm assurance and simple childlike faith.

“The next morning we proceeded slowly to the next town and took the train back to Calcutta. We are meeting some very wonderful Hindu men. A Mr. Sircar presented his book to Mr. Spalding and may I quote a single paragraph from the book which appealed to me? ‘Complete Truth and life in its finest flowering cannot be enjoyed unless all the forces; natural and spiritual, can be controlled and applied to the unfolding of life in its increasing fineness.’ We have spent many, many hours with him and feel greatly enriched thereby.

“A story told us at the Calcutta University one afternoon is well worth mentioning for the lesson it carries. The incident occurred 600 B. C. Even in those days there were disagreements in the teachings, so part of the adherents separated from the main group and tried to persuade the teacher to change his viewpoint. After a period of time the leader of the withdrawing faction saw that it was useless and decided to take the law into his own hands. He laid in ambush and when the teacher passed him he drew his sword. As the wounded teacher fell he called the assailant to him and asked him to sit by his side for a moment as he wished with his last gasping breath to speak to him. Very kindly and lovingly he told him to go straight ahead and then no one would know what had happened and thus many people be saved from avenging his death because in reality he was going on to a greater realization, but that if he returned the way he came he would cause many others to suffer for his deed. He alone would suffer for the crime which was his. The great Master gave this lesson to the man who thought he could harm him.

“We left Calcutta last Monday and arrived at the Ashram of Swami Omkar. Such a wonderful restful place in the country thirty miles from the railroad. After a couple of days of rest, each one of us was called individually to interview the Swami. As I sat listening to him talk in his quiet, calm voice I saw the light glow all around him and back of him. I was spellbound for a few moments and was afraid it would disappear but it remained as long as I did. The room was aglow just as Mr. Spalding has told us many times. It was my first actual experience and one that I shall always cherish and remember.

“Last evening I was again privileged to spend two hours with the Swami. He explained in detail the meaning of masters, or mastership. Masters become masters of themselves first. Mastery over anger, jealousy, greed, egotism, possessions—the wife possessing the husband and the husband possessing the wife—selfishness, and a thousand other things which we have taken upon ourselves.

“We came thousands of miles to see a master, one who has accomplished that which we could and must do in our own homes and environment. Just like the cow that wants the grass on the other side of the fence even though there is abundance all around. Swami gives one word as the foundation upon which we start upon the path and that is PRACTICE. Practice daily that which you already know. Practice mastery over anger. Practice the mastery of love toward everything in the Universe. A very large order I grant you but by eternal practice hourly and daily we will soon see the results and thus be ready for another lesson in the school of life. These silent men know the value of the law of mastery over the self and thus they do not mingle with those that have not yet learned to be silent for at least some part of each day. How can we ever hope to contact them in our western chaotic state of mind? Argument shuts the door. An open mind and intuition alone throw the portals wide open. This much I have so far learned in India. I thought I knew it before but, when you come into the presence of one of these Holy men, you very soon realize it was theoretical only. It requires the actual practice and the soul’s sincere desire to master the self and really become that which they have become.

“There is a wonderful Hindu boy here twelve years of age. He is a little master in the making. He anticipates every want or desire before we are able to express it. The eyes are the windows of the soul, therefore one must see the radiance of that youngster’s smile as he silently stands before you wanting to serve you. He stood at my door last night and seemed reluctant to depart. Not yet accustomed to the Hindu custom, I waited for him to make his wants known and, as he advanced toward me with that wonderful smile, he looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘I love you so.’  Then he turned and was gone like a flash.

During the meditation class he sits immovable for an hour in the silence. Some of the older ones go to sleep but not this child.

“We spent one happy week with the Swami, then wended our way southward to Madras. Mr. Spalding went ahead to Tiruvannamali and met Paul Brunton, the author of ‘The Secret Search of India.’ Mr. Spaulding wired us to come and after a night’s journey we were met by Mr. Spalding and Mr. Brunton. We were taken to the ashram of one of the greatest living saints in India: Sri Ramana Maharishi. A great many people sit on the floor cross-legged for many hours just to be in the presence of this great man. He is one of the Holy men who gives his time to the students. He never speaks unless a question is asked and before the answer is given he remains silent until the answer comes from within. This contact alone is worth the whole trip.

“From Tiruvannamali we went to Pondicherry. A great man lives here but only appears in public three times a year. The next time will be on the twenty-fourth of February. The ashram is one to be long remembered. Many, many men students are living there and one is greatly attracted to them. Their faces radiate the life they live and there is absolutely no doubt about it. From here we learned that a Mela, or pilgrimage, would take place in Allahabad on the thirteenth of January. We went to Calcutta and then on to Allahabad.

Never will I forget the sight which we saw at this Mela. Pilgrims from all over India, coming to bathe in the sacred waters of the Ganges, were there. The confluence of these two rivers, Ganges and Jumna, occurs here. The water is icy cold, yet they plunge in. They have come long distances under terrible hardships to join in this religious rite. A million people with but one thought, namely to bathe in the Ganges on this particular day. There were so many incongruous ‘get ups.’ Some naked, others bordering on savagery; some on elephants and camels, others in ox carts, all headed for the Ganges. I was greatly impressed by the religious zeal evidenced beyond question of doubt. What was it that would impel a million people to come to the Ganges? It was beyond my comprehension and the question seemed to revolve in my mind over and over. ‘What am I seeking for in this place?’ After I returned to the hotel the answer seemed to come and it was this: ‘You are seeking the

Primal cause of brotherhood.’ How can you be one with all mankind if you see only the exterior, if you think they are psychopathic patients; if you say that black is black and white is white? Do you not observe the same love throbbing in the heart of the mother as she fondles her babe whose tiny body is filthy, diseased, and crippled, wallowing in the dirt, poverty stricken, homeless, and actually starving, walking miles under tremendous hardships merely to bathe in the ‘sacred’ waters of the Ganges? What but the inborn spark of Divinity could possibly urge them on to lay it all at the feet of their conception of God? We worship God in luxury; they have nothing. Their feet are weary and footsore, their energy is their all, yet they give it to come once a year and every six, twelve and twenty-four years to meet on common ground and bathe and worship in their way. Just think of it. A million people on a small area of ground, peaceable, happy, singing and joyous. No sign of confusion or interference, each one regarding the rights of his brother to worship as he pleases.

“To me the real brotherhood is expressed here under inconceivable conditions, thousands of conditions which we never thought could exist and yet, from the hearts of these pilgrims love is expressed and the eyes reveal an unfathomable depth which we might well envy. All worshiping God, God, God. Many different languages, the rich and the poor, the halt, the lame and the blind.  A smile will always bring forth a smile. In fact, they seem surprised that we will deign to smile or greet them in their own fashion. I sincerely wonder if we would smile under the same environment. Could we, or would we, on hands and knees crawl to the Ganges, worshipping God with every breath, scarcely able to keep soul and body together?  Could we, I ask you, could we?

“We saw Saddus with matted hair, their bodies covered with ashes, naked with the exception of a G-string, and I asked the question, ‘why should anyone treat the body in such a fashion?’ The answer was that they have relinquished pride and are no longer concerned with the world. That is their conception of it and, after all is said and done, we all act and think as our conscience dictates and as our individual evolution has progressed.

“We take pride in ‘dolling up’ the body, while they go to the other extreme and spend their entire lives in caves and in the Himalayan mountains in the contemplation of God. They must first realize these attributes in themselves before they can go into the world and teach their inner experiences to others. We have many isms, creeds, and dogmas very often theoretical and intellectual only. Thousands of these pilgrims coming in from all over India for this great Mela are actually living the God-life as they understand it. Of course there are many professional beggars and one soon learns to differentiate. The intuition is the best guide. Beggars are beggars whether they are in India or in America. Here we see them in the ‘raw’ and there we often meet them in the best of society.

“We witnessed a man returning from the Ganges walking with a cane, his servant just behind him carrying his crutches. You may draw your own conclusions.

“Another great day is just ahead. On Friday the twenty-fourth the Mela of the sixth year occurs, so we will remain for that. I will continue this letter after that occasion. Mr.

Spalding has taken two of our party to the Ganges today. I have remained at home to get this letter off to you.”

GRACE G. HAHN 

FOR THE TEACHER 

 

In presenting this chapter, the letter from Mrs. Hahn should be read to the class, as it completely illustrates the lesson. Incident by incident which the tour party experienced is explained in the lesson and the teacher can readily check from the lesson to the illustrations in the letter.

Paragraph 1. The age-old illustration of the child is not that we become feeble-minded or that we lack intelligence. It means that we live life as it moves out from our interior nature. That is why it is difficult for children to understand adults. They have not had their minds filled with thoughts, and they only live what they inwardly feel. When these inner feelings are completely dulled by having our thoughts drilled into them children become dull and inefficient like the older people. Thought is not the leading factor in successful living but is the outcome of successful living. Every step in human progress came from someone’s inner conviction and thought was evolved to describe that which has been achieved.

Paragraph 2. Man is really not limited at all for he is a replica of infinity. He only allows himself to be limited by his thought. Live life as it unfolds from within and you will find life as it is and the key to your own mastership. Thought, word, and act are the outlets or vehicles through which life is expressed and not the standard from which it is lived.

Paragraphs 3 and 4. The purpose of the Universe is to perpetuate and perfect life in all its completeness. It supports in man only that which is in harmony with life. It destroys out of man’s nature that which operates against life. It is said that evil bears the seed of its own destruction and that is true, but the seed of destruction in evil is the inherent good, and when good manifests it destroys evil, leaving nothing but the good. And life is the good that is always present and always moving to fulfill itself.

Paragraph 5. It is not an intelligent thing to place blame upon yourself or upon others. The only true intelligent thing to do is to protect yourself and others from anything that is less than the universal divinity. When we become as intent upon preserving the potential nature of ourselves and others as we are intent upon preserving our earthly possessions, the world will be filled with real Masters.

Paragraph 6. Look at yourself in the mirror. Is there any light in your face when you are sad? When you are radiant with joy, is there a light there? Imagine the light which would emanate from you if you were living that kind of life which you idealize and which is your life as you are capable of living it and as you should live it.

Paragraphs 7, 8 and 9. “If you want to know god, act as though God were.”

If you want to know what the life of a master is like, live that life yourself. Only in this way can we really know. No man knows the things of God except the spirit of God which is in him shall reveal them.

Paragraphs 10 and 11. The distinct difference between the teachings of the illumined and the unillumined is that the illumined teach you to go within yourself for knowledge. All the rest go, and teach others to seek, outside themselves. You are not likely to find outside of yourself what you have failed to find within yourself. The world gives back to you what you give into the world.

Paragraph 12. One should study the difference between the state of his mind and the state of his soul.  The mind says thus and so, and that only this and that are possible.  The soul knows itself to be immortal, to be the Master, and it never changes in its activity. Your deepest desire is identical with the manner in which any Master would act.

Paragraph 13. Complete devotion to an ideal is the secret of its attainment. It is not wishing and hoping for things to break right, but persistently working toward the goal of perfection.

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