In the work being done by seekers in all departments of human
thought and life, this unification is proceeding and in the training now suggested to
earnest and sincere aspirants, there are other objectives than just the one of producing
soul and body at-one-ment. No emphasis, however, is laid upon them, owing to the ability
of man unduly to emphasize the wrong objectives. It might well be asked if it is possible
to give a simple set of rules that could be followed now by all who seek to establish such
a rhythm that life itself is not only organized and constructive, but when the moment for
vacating the outer sheath arrives, there will be no problem nor difficulty. I will
therefore, give you four simple rules that link up with much that all students are now
doing:
- Learn to keep focused in the head through visualization and meditation and through the
steady practice of concentration; develop the capacity to live increasingly as the king
seated on the throne between the eyebrows. This is a rule that can be applied to the every
day affairs of life. [504]
- Learn to render heart service and not an emotional insistence on activity directed
towards handling the affairs of others. This involves, prior to all such activity, the
answering of two questions: - Am I rendering this service to an individual as an
individual, or am I rendering it as a member of a group to a group? Is my motive an egoic
impulse, or am I prompted by emotion, ambition to shine and love of being loved or
admired? These two activities will result in the focusing of the life energies above the
diaphragm and so negate the attractive power of the solar plexus. Hence, that center will
become increasingly inactive and there will not be so much danger of puncturing the web in
that locality.
- Learn, as you go to sleep, to withdraw the consciousness to the head. This should be
practiced as a definite exercise as one falls to sleep. One should not permit oneself to
drift off to sleep, but should endeavor to preserve the consciousness intact until there
is a conscious passing out onto the astral plane. Relaxation, close attention, and a
steady drawing upwards to the center in the head should be attempted, for until the
aspirant has learned to be steadily aware of all processes in going to sleep and to
preserve at the same time his positivity, there is danger in this work. The first steps
must be taken with intelligence and followed for many years until facility in the work of
abstraction is achieved.
- Record and watch all phenomena connected with the withdrawing process, whether followed
in the meditation work or in going to sleep. It will be found, for instance, that many
people wake with an almost painful start just as they have dropped asleep. This is due to
the slipping out of the consciousness through a web which is not adequately clear and
through an orifice which is partially closed. Others may hear an intensely loud snap in
the region of the head. This is caused by the vital airs in the head of which we are not
usually aware and is [505] produced by an inner aural sensitivity which causes awareness
of sounds always present but not usually registered. Others will see light as they fall
asleep, or clouds of color, or banners and streamers of violet, all of which are etheric
phenomena. These phenomena which are of no real moment, are all related to the vital body,
to pranic emanations, and to the web of light.
The carrying on of this practice and the following of these four rules over a period of
years will do much to facilitate the technique of the death bed, for the man who has
learned to handle his body as he falls asleep, has an advantage over the man who never
pays any attention to the process. |
