Teachings of the Master.
RECORDED BY ONE OF THE AUTHORS OF “MAN: FRAGMENTS OF FORGOTTEN HISTORY.”
(Copyrighted.)
The master walked beside the river at evening-time. In the instant that his signal was recognized he walked no longer alone. By his side appeared one—as a little child clinging close to his garments. The master said—“When you have obtained mastery over the senses then you will no longer totter in your step or falter in your flight. Realize the divine atma within you. Realize it!” he repeated, and then raising his hand slowly upward the stature of the child lengthened until a man’s proportions were outlined. Only this form could hold the expanded soul. Disenthralled the soul perceived a world with every pulsation and in every faculty there was absolute harmony. This was divine. This is man’s rightful condition into which only the Mahatmas have fully come; but to which every one is heir. The Mahatma teaches with the thought unexpressed, but formulated in his own mind and sent with sudden power, into yours. It strikes with resounding force against the spirit’s prison house. In great agony the pupil cried out: “Master! Master! redeem me from this state with your great power.” The Master answering said: “Burst by concentration of spiritual energy the bonds that bind you.” No pen can describe the force of the Master’s thought. For the instant it seemed possible; a moment’s hesitation to make the effort through mortal fear, and the supreme moment was passed. The Master looked sadly upon his suffering disciple and then was alone again.
The latter had gone back to try again through duty—if need be through death.
THE LESSON.
The pupil goes to the Master without conditions. He goes, but not to return. The illusions of matter are dispelled for him and thenceforth he is a stranger in the world of actions, even though he should be in it again.
Fiery is the furnace of probation, and great is the danger when the neophyte has reached the “states of exaltation.” About each advance step wait the enemies of the spirit—to overthrow its sovereignty and hurl it back to the plane of matter. These enemies live in matter and are persuaded that their existence is confined to it—hence their determination to keep matter from a knowledge of spirit. In darkness and sin is their safety, for they are children of these conditions and will cease to exist when the lamp that is lighted from within is turned upon the world.
Temptations are in the way of those who would demand much without deserving even a little. So soon as the student comes in contact with the occult he encounters on the threshold the demons who loiter by—the demons of worldliness, inconstancy, suspicion and faint-heartedness.
The student should find in his own intuitions all the proof needed of the existence on this earth of the Wisdom teachers. Behind the screen of the senses reposes the soul of man—an unfathomable factor in the Universe—as unknown to its possessor as to its observers. Intuition is its only avenue of communication, and the language it speaks is known only to him who understands arcane knowledge or occultism.
When the Master has initiated his pupil he puts the seal of the mysteries upon his lips and locks them even against the chance of weakness or indiscretion.