The Master

²³ Spiritual consciousness may be gained by ardent service of the Master.

If we think of our lives as tasks laid on us by the Master of Life, if we look on all duties as parts of that Master’s work, entrusted to us, and forming our life-work; then, if we obey, promptly, loyally, sincerely, we shall enter by degrees into the Master’s life and share the Master’s power. Thus we shall be initiated into the spiritual will.

²⁴ The Master is the spiritual man, who is free from hindrances, bondage to works, and the fruition and seed of works.

The Soul of the Master, the Lord, is of the same nature as the soul in us; but we still bear the burden of many evils, we are in bondage through our former works, we are under the dominance of sorrow. The Soul of the Master is free from sin and servitude and sorrow.

²⁴ In the Master is the perfect seed of Omniscience.

The Soul of the Master is in essence one with the Oversoul, and therefore partaker of the Oversoul’s all-wisdom and all-power. All spiritual attainment rests on this, and is possible because the soul and the Oversoul are One.

²⁶ He is the Teacher of all who have gone before, since he is not limited by Time.

From the beginning, the Oversoul has been the Teacher of all souls, which, by their entrance into the Oversoul, by realizing their oneness with the Oversoul, have inherited the kingdom of the Light. For the Oversoul is before Time, and Time, father of all else, is one of His children.

²⁷ His word is OM.

OM is the symbol of:

• the Three in One
• the three worlds in the Soul
• the three times, past, present, future, in Eternity
• the three Divine Powers, Creation, Preservation, Transformation, in the one Being
• the three essences, immortality, omniscience, joy, in the one Spirit.

This is the Word, the Symbol, of the Master and Lord, the perfected Spiritual Man.

²⁸ Let there be soundless repetition of OM and meditation thereon.

This has many meanings, in ascending degrees.

There is, first, the potency of the word itself, as of all words. Then there is the manifold significance of the symbol, as suggested above. Lastly, there is the spiritual realization of the high essences thus symbolized. Thus we rise step by step to the Eternal.

²⁹ Thence come the awakening of interior consciousness, and the removal of barriers.

Here again faith must be supplemented by works, the life must be led as well as studied, before the full meaning can be understood. The awakening of spiritual consciousness can only be understood in measure as it is entered. It can only be entered where the conditions are present: purity of heart, and strong aspiration, and the resolute conquest of each sin.

This, however, may easily be understood: that the recognition of the three worlds as resting in the Soul leads us to realize ourselves and all life as of the Soul; that, as we dwell, not in past, present or future, but in the Eternal, we become more at one with the Eternal; that, as we view all organization, preservation, mutation as the work of the Divine One, we shall come more into harmony with the One, and thus remove the barrier’ in our path toward the Light.

In the second part of the first book, the problem of the emergence of the spiritual man is further dealt with. We are led to the consideration of the barriers to his emergence, of the overcoming of the barriers, and of certain steps and stages in the ascent from the ordinary consciousness of practical life, to the finer, deeper, radiant consciousness of the spiritual man.

³⁰ The barriers to interior consciousness, which drive the psychic nature this way and that, are these: sickness, inertia, doubt, lightmindedness, laziness, intemperance, false notions, inability to reach a stage of meditation, or to hold it when reached.

We are considering the spiritual man as enwrapped and enmeshed by the psychic nature, the emotional and mental powers; and as unable to come to clear consciousness, unable to stand and see clearly, because of the psychic veils of the personality.

Nine of these are enumerated. They go pretty thoroughly into the brute toughness of the psychic nature.

Sickness is included rather for its effect on the emotions and mind, since bodily infirmity, such as blindness or deafness, is no insuperable barrier to spiritual life, and may sometimes be a help, as cutting off distractions.

We will ponder over each of these 9 activities, thinking of each as a psychic state, a barrier to the interior consciousness of the spiritual man.

³¹ Grieving, despondency, bodily restlessness, the drawing in and sending forth of the life-breath also contribute to drive the psychic nature to and fro.

The first two moods are easily understood.

We can well see bow a sodden psychic condition, flagrantly opposed to the pure and positive joy of spiritual life, would be a barrier.

The next, bodily restlessness, is in a special way the fault of our day and generation. When it is conquered, mental restlessness will be half conquered, too.

The next two terms, concerning the life breath, offer some difficulty. The surface meaning is harsh and irregular breathing; the deeper meaning is a life of harsh and irregular impulses.

³² Steady application to a principle is the way to put a stop to these.

The will in its pristine state, was full of vigour. It has been steadily corrupted by self-indulgence, the seeking of moods and sensations for sensation’s sake.

• Hence come all the morbid and sickly moods of the mind.

The remedy is a return to the pristine state of the will, by vigorous, positive effort, by steady application to a principle.

The principle to which we should thus steadily apply ourselves should be one arising from the reality of spiritual life; valorous work for the soul, in others as in ourselves.