Theos-Talk Archives (October 2002 Message tt00137)

Dear Jerry:

I think I said LIGHT ON THE PATH , not THROUGH THE GATES OF GOLD
(which is also a splendid book of advice).

I believe Mabel Collins was said to have been inspired by one of the
early "successful disciples" to set this down -- as his contribution
to the study and thought that Theosophy was making more generally
known.

Both books are quite extraordinary I would say.

Looking at LIGHT ON THE PATH, I have always been struck by these
statements (to be found at the opening of the book):

They are wonderful focus points for our consideration, meditation, and
to be remembered so we can use them in daily life.


"Kill out ambition

Kill out desire for life

Kill out desire for comfort

Work as those work who are ambitious. Respect life as those who
desire it. Be happy as those who live for happiness.

Seek in the heart the source of evil and expunge it...fasten the
energies of your soul upon the task. Live neither in the present nor
the future, but in the eternal." [ pp. 1 -2 ]


"Kill out all sense of separateness.



"Desire only that which is within you.

Desire only that which is beyond you.

Desire only that which is unattainable.


"...commence the science of self-knowledge..."


For within you is the light of the world--the only light that can be
shed upon the Path.
[ pp 2 -3 ]


"Desire possessions above all.

But those possessions must belong to the pure soul only, and be
possessed therefore by all pure souls equally, and thus be the
especial property of the whole only when united. [ p. 4 ]


"Seek out the way.

Seek the way by retreating within.

Seek the way by advancing boldly without.


All step are necessary to make up the ladder.


"The whole nature of man must be used wisely by the one who desires to
enter the way.

Each man is to himself absolutely the way, the truth and the life. But
he is so only when he grasps his whole individuality firmly, and by
the force of his awakened spiritual will recognizes this individuality
as not himself, but that thing which he has with pain created, and by
mans of which he purposes, as his growth slowly develops his
intelligence, to reach to the life beyond individuality. [ pp. 5 - 6]
[ Note: later, instead of "individuality," the word "personality" was
suggested to be substituted. It is the Higher INDIVIDUALITY the REAL
EGO which every incarnation overshadows the temporary "personality."
(see # 21 on p. 7) -- DTB ]



A wonderful book indeed is LIGHT ON THE PATH -- so, too is THROUGH
THE GATES OF GOLD.

Best wishes,

Dallas

==========================

-----Original Message-----
From: gschueler
Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2002 7:02 AM
To:
Subject: Karma and Liberation

Dallas asked me to check out the Karma section of Through the Gates of
Gold by
Mabel Collins. I hadn't looked at this book for many years, and was
surprised
to find within the very section mentioned by Dallas, a very nice
lead-in to
liberation. The pertinent passage reads:

"The initiate has a right to demand the secrets of nature and to know
the
rules which govern human life. He obtains this right by having escaped
from
the limits of nature and by having freed himself from the rules which
govern
human life. He has become a recognized portion of the divine element,
and is
no longer affected by that which is temporary. He then obtains a
knowledge of
the laws which govern temporary conditions. Therefore you who desire
to
understand the laws of Karma, attempt first to free yourself from
these laws;
and this can only be done by fixing your attention on that which is
unaffected
by those laws." (p 92)

There is some extremely important material in this pithy paragraph,
much of
which pertains to our recent discussions, and so I would like to
comment on
the above five sentences separately.

1. "The initiate has a right to demand the secrets of nature and to
know the
rules which govern human life."

COMMENT. One can either sit back and read and study the Theosophical
core
teachings or original literature passively, or become an activist and
demand
answers. Of course, before any demands can be made, the student's
worldview
must be fully prepared to receive the "secrets of nature." Such
demands are
not made to the TS leaderships, but rather are made to our own Higher
Self.
Our Higher Self, our atma-buddhi monad, knows many of the rules by
which the
game of life is played. Other rules are known only by the non-dual
Monad, and
these too must be demanded. Without such activism, there may be no
sharing of
this knowledge, much of which is experiential and ineffable. Those who
receive
answers easily, without making demands, likely made those demands in
former
lives.

2. "He obtains this right by having escaped from the limits of nature
and by
having freed himself from the rules which govern human life."

COMMENT. "Escaping from the limits of nature" is a process of
spiritual
unfoldment called liberation, a process of becoming free from karmic
bondages,
cultural and national restrictions, racial and gender prejudices, and
so on.
Definitions always restrict. When we define, we limit. When we give a
name to
something, that something becomes limited, and thus bound, to the
definitions
of that name. By defining our self, we become self-limited and this is
true
with whatever definitions we apply. The definitions that we apply to
our self
reside in what is called our self-image, just like the definitions
that we
apply to our worldly surroundings reside in what we call our
worldview.
Liberation is all about adjusting our self-image by eliminating its
contents,
by throwing out the specific characteristics and names that we
normally apply
to our self.

3. "He has become a recognized portion of the divine element, and is
no longer
affected by that which is temporary."

COMMENT: Once we have changed our self-image so that we identify with
atma-buddhi instead of the human personality, we are no longer
affected by the
lower four cosmic planes; by matter, by emotions, by thoughts, or by
conceptualizations. Our body may be so affected, and our emotions and
thoughts, but we will no longer be identified with these lower
expressions
except as a temporary means to help others. This is the task of the
bodhisattva. In the same way, once we have changed our self-image so
that we
identify with the non-dual Monad instead of atma-buddhi, we will no
longer be
affected by anything within the 7-plane solar system, and we can at
that point
help nirvanees as well. This is the task of a Buddha.

4. "He then obtains a knowledge of the laws which govern temporary
conditions."

COMMENT: This "knowledge" is experiential, not intellectual. The
intellectual knowledge is used as preparation for the experiential and
is
already available to everyone who cares to read it and think about it.
The
"laws which govern temporary conditions" are what is really going on
behind
the mayavic appearances of manifestation on all seven planes. The way
the
world appears to us to exist and to function is not the way it really
exists
and functions. One of the things that is learned here is that our
outside
world is not outside, and that our inside world is not inside - that
inner and
outer, self and world, are two modes of observing the same thing.

5. "Therefore you who desire to understand the laws of Karma, attempt
first
to free yourself from these laws; and this can only be done by fixing
your
attention on that which is unaffected by those laws.

COMMENT: In order to understand Karma, one must be free from its
grasping
restrictions. In this way, liberation is the result of understanding
Karma,
and simultaneously understanding Karma is the result of our liberation
from
it. Needless to say, such understanding comes from experiential
knowledge, not
from intellectual knowledge which is its preparation and which is
already
available to everyone. This highlights the importance of liberation.
And what
is Karma? If it is a law, then it must apply only to some and not to
others,
else how could we have something "unaffected by those laws?" That
which is
unaffected by karma is the non-dual Monad that resides in Beness.
Everything
within our seven-plane solar system is affected by Karma, and it is
here where
the law holds. The phrase "fixing your attention" implies adjusting
our
self-image so that we can identity with our non-dual Monad. Doing so,
even for
a few seconds, temporarily frees us from the law of Karma, and allows
us to
fully understand it forever.

Jerry S.