Mahatma Letter to Holloway - LMW 1 No. 31: Difference between revisions

From Theosophy Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(Created page with "{{Infobox MLbox | header1 = People involved | | writtenby = Koot Hoomi | receivedby = Laura Carter Holloway | sentvia = unknown | header2 =...")
 
No edit summary
Line 13: Line 13:
| vialocation      = unknown  
| vialocation      = unknown  
}}   
}}   
'''This letter is Letter No. 31 in ''Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, First Series'''''. [[Mahatma]] [[Koot Hoomi]] advises [[Laura Holloway-Langford|Laura Carter Holloway]] about [[Chela|chelaship]].<ref>C. Jinarajadasa, ''Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, First Series'' (Adyar, Chennai, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 2011), 72-73, 161-162.</ref>
'''This letter is Letter No. 31 in ''Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, First Series'''''. [[Mahatma]] [[Koot Hoomi]] advises [[Laura Holloway-Langford|Laura Carter Holloway]] about [[Chela|chelaship]].<ref>C. Jinarajadasa, ''Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, First Series'' (Adyar, Chennai, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 2011), 74-75, 161-162.</ref>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Line 27: Line 27:
{{Col-begin|width=98%}}
{{Col-begin|width=98%}}
{{Col-break|width=55%}}
{{Col-break|width=55%}}
When you are older in your [[chela]] life you will not be surprised if no notice is taken of your wishes, and even birthdays and other feasts and fasts. For you will have then learned to put a proper value on the carcass-sheath of the Self and all its relations. To the profane a birthday is but a twelve-month stride towards the grave. When each new year marks for you a step of evolution, all will be ready with their congratulations; there will be something real to felicitate you upon. But, so far, you are not even one year old &ndash; and you would be treated as an adult! Try to learn to stand firm on your legs, child, before you venture walking. It is because you are so young and ignorant in the ways of occult life that you are so easily forgiven. But you have to attend your ways and put &ndash; &ndash; and her caprices and whims far in the background before the expiration of the ''first year'' of your life as a chela if you would see the dawn of the second year. Now the lake in the mountain heights of your being is one day a tossing waste of waters, as the gust of caprice or temper sweeps through your soul; the next a mirror as they subside and peace reigns in the 'house of life'. One day you win a step forward; the next you fall two back. Chelaship admits none of these transitions; its prime and constant qualification is a calm, even, contemplative state of mind (not the mediumistic passivity) fitted to receive psychic impressions from without, and to transmit one's own from within. The mind can be made to work with electric swiftness in a high excitement; but the Buddhi &ndash; never. To its clear region, calm must ever reign. It is foolish to be thinking of outward [[Upasika]] [H.P.B.] in this connection. She is not a 'chela' . . . You cannot acquire psychic power until the causes of psychic debility are removed. You have scarcely learned the elements of self-control in psychism; your vivid creative imagination evokes illusive creatures, coined the instant before in the mint of your mind, unknown to yourself. As yet you have not acquired the exact method of detecting the false from the true, since you have not yet comprehended the doctrine of [[shells]].
How can you know the real from the unreal, the true from the false? Only by self-development. How get that? By first carefully guarding yourself against the causes of self-deception. And this you can do by spending a certain fixed hour or hours each day all alone in self-contemplation, writing, reading, the purification of your motives, the study and correction of your faults, the planning of your work in the external life. These hours should be sacredly reserved for this purpose, and no one, not even your most intimate friend or friends, should be with you then. Little by little your sight will clear, you will find the mists pass away, your interior faculties strengthen, your attraction towards us gain force, and certainty replace doubts. But beware of seeking or leaning too much upon direct authority. Our ways are not your ways. We rarely show any outward signs by which to be recognized or sensed. Do you think &ndash; &ndash; and &ndash; &ndash; and &ndash; &ndash; have been counselling you entirely without prompting from us. As for [[Upasika|U.]], you love her more than you respect her advice. You do not realize that when speaking of, or as from us, she dares not mix up her own personal opinions with those she tells you are ours. None of us would dare do so, for we have a code that is not to be transgressed. Learn, child, ''to catch a hint through whatever agency it may be given''. 'Sermons may be preached even through stones.' Do not be too eager for 'instructions.' You will always get what you need as you shall deserve them, but no more than you deserve or are able to assimilate...
 
And now the battle is set in array; fight a good fight and may you win the day.


::K.H.
::K.H.
Line 42: Line 44:


'''NOTES:'''
'''NOTES:'''
* '''&ndash; &ndash;''' refers to [[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky]].
* '''Upasika''' refers to [[Helena Petrovna Blavatsky]].


{{Col-end}}
{{Col-end}}

Revision as of 01:59, 30 September 2019

Quick Facts
People involved
Written by: Koot Hoomi
Received by: Laura Carter Holloway
Sent via: unknown
Dates
Written on: unknown
Received on: unknown
Other dates: unknown
Places
Sent from: unknown
Received at: unknown
Via: unknown

This letter is Letter No. 31 in Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, First Series. Mahatma Koot Hoomi advises Laura Carter Holloway about chelaship.[1]

< Prev letter in LMW 1  Next letter in LMW 1 >  
< Prev letter to Holloway  Next letter to Holloway >  

Page 1 transcription, image, and notes

How can you know the real from the unreal, the true from the false? Only by self-development. How get that? By first carefully guarding yourself against the causes of self-deception. And this you can do by spending a certain fixed hour or hours each day all alone in self-contemplation, writing, reading, the purification of your motives, the study and correction of your faults, the planning of your work in the external life. These hours should be sacredly reserved for this purpose, and no one, not even your most intimate friend or friends, should be with you then. Little by little your sight will clear, you will find the mists pass away, your interior faculties strengthen, your attraction towards us gain force, and certainty replace doubts. But beware of seeking or leaning too much upon direct authority. Our ways are not your ways. We rarely show any outward signs by which to be recognized or sensed. Do you think – – and – – and – – have been counselling you entirely without prompting from us. As for U., you love her more than you respect her advice. You do not realize that when speaking of, or as from us, she dares not mix up her own personal opinions with those she tells you are ours. None of us would dare do so, for we have a code that is not to be transgressed. Learn, child, to catch a hint through whatever agency it may be given. 'Sermons may be preached even through stones.' Do not be too eager for 'instructions.' You will always get what you need as you shall deserve them, but no more than you deserve or are able to assimilate...

And now the battle is set in array; fight a good fight and may you win the day.

K.H.

IMAGE TO BE
ADDED

NOTES:

Context and background

Mr. Jinarajadasa provided these notes about this series of letters numbered 30-41. They were clearly written before Letters 4 to 20, which have reference to Mrs Holloway:

Miss Mary K. Neff was well known for her record of service to various Indian schools, and especially for her work during two years at the Theosophical Headquarters, at Adyar, indexing all the letters and documents which are in the Archives of the Society. She had dedicated herself especially to the history of H.P.B.'s movements and had published Personal Memories of H.P. Blavatsky.

She found in a magazine The World published in New York, articles by Mrs Langford in the issues of May and June 1912. These contain certain instructions received by her from the Master K.H... I publish these letters, as they contain much valuable instructions, for all who are preparing to tread the path to the Masters.[2]

Physical description of letter

The location of the original of this letter is not known.

Publication history

Commentary about this letter

Additional resources

Notes

  1. C. Jinarajadasa, Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom, First Series (Adyar, Chennai, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 2011), 74-75, 161-162.
  2. C. Jinarajadasa, 161-162.