Theos-Talk Archives (September 2005 Message tt00196)

9/13/2005 3:28 PM

Re: chanting, etc....

Dear Steve:

Consider who and what is the question about.

Somebody thinks they have discovered a short-cut to the higher planes of
being not realizing that those planes and entities are WITHIN. 

It is the old "get something for free, and at no cost to me" attitude. 

Also: How does one select an honest and true, disinterested "Master" [who
will accept no recompense] to give an appropriate chant -- I have looked at
the few offered. No instructions and no knowledge of the applicant is
visible there -- so, what can the use of those be ? 

The reason chanting is discouraged in the ancient inner schools, is that the
lower mind runs on after awhile without concentration; while the higher mind
is shut off from the study and the mediation on the intent of any meaning
behind a given "chant."

[ An Example: A beginner was give my his Master the chant: "RAMA - RAMA
-- RAMA." to be repeated for several minutes.  

The Master entered the room after a few minutes and to his horror he heard
the student repeating, without being aware of it, : MARA -- MARA --
MARA -- he had inadvertently, because of inattention, reversed the chant
from: RAMA to MARA.] Mara is of course the "deceiver" and evil, whereas
Rama is the good and the true. 

-------------------------------------

The first desire is to purify the lower self. How to go about it?  

Patanjali hints that there is the need to develop (as a preliminary) such
steadiness and control of the Lower Mind that it can be held steady on the
minutest object for as long as the pupil desires to so place it. But that is
only a start. Next is the discrimination needed to select an appropriate
subject. 

Also, there are psychological effects of a selfish kind, that sound and
rhythm produce on the embodied mind -- and it is these that may be adverse,
unless the individual has undertaken, as a priority, the task of analysing
the potential of such sounds and rhythms on his own lower nature. If not
controlled the Lower takes over and the whole exercise is frustrated. 

Obviously, the BUDDHI-MANAS and the ATMA-BUDDHI within need no such
extraneous aids. So, for the deep student, this a useless matter.

Our task as I understand it, is to make the Lower self the harmonious and
dutiful servant of the HIGHER SELF. It is the only way in which the
Lower-Self (purified) can leave an indelible impression of its work and
existence. (See The KEY TO THEOSOPHY, pp. 134-7, 132, 153, 176, 219.)

Best wishes, 

Dallas
 
===============================================


-----Original Message-----
From: steven levey [mailto:levey_steven@hotmail.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2005 6:05 AM
To: study@blavatsky.net
Subject: [bn-study] Re: i want more chanting words

Tanuja

Thanks for that. Although I am not inclined to chant, I think that I
continuously find myself saying something like the chant you offered to
myself, on a daily basis.

Steve
CUT