AN ARTICLE FROM “THE THEOSOPHICAL MOVEMENT” MAGAZINE, SEPTEMBER 1957, PUBLISHED BY THE UNITED LODGE OF THEOSOPHISTS IN INDIA

O Friend! Get rid of what is not yours, get rid of those things that warp your life, that poison your atmosphere, pollute your blood and destroy your happiness.

O Friend! Look deep into yourself, not into others, and find out what is not yours, what things in you warp your life, poison the atmosphere around you, pollute your blood and destroy your happiness.

O Friend! Having found these things, get rid of them, throw them away and free your life from them; cleanse the atmosphere around you, purify your blood and enjoy the happiness that comes from freedom from chains.

O Friend! Then, with the clear light of the one who is unencumbered with the goods of others, who lives his life freely, whose atmosphere is peaceful and helpful to all, whose blood flows calmly and serenely, doing its own work, and whose happiness is serene, live your life.

But, asks the earnest student of life, ‘‘How shall this be accomplished, O Teacher?”

Friend, it is simple. If your cupboard is too full, give something away; if your emotions are at boiling point, get rid of the cause of the heat; if your life is warped, strike out a straight path for yourself and pursue it; if your blood is impure, realize that it is the vehicle of life itself, feed it with right food and abstain from overeating; and say to yourself, “Happiness is the right of every creature; happiness in whatever circumstances is the positive attitude towards them and burns up their dross.”

But still I do not see how to produce these changes, O Teacher.

My Friend! All these difficulties start with thinking about them, with brooding over them, with feeling that the “I” is being treated unfairly, or that life is too heavy for it, that it is not having its due.

But, just as in Nature the force of water flowing through the mountains to the sea cuts a channel for itself, seeking its way to the valley and then to the sea, so carry on through all circumstances, seeking the level of the plains where the vision is wider and the path of helpfulness more clear. When the monsoon comes and even the waters of the plain overflow the banks, realize that it is through this the fields can be nourished and food grown for the good of all. Let not the overflow drown those whom you would help, or destroy their habitations!

Remember that your life-stream carries all kinds of lives within it. Its duty is to them and to the Earth and its inhabitants; it flows not for itself. Remember the sun that shines on the water, the earth bed that supports it, the banks that keep it a river. You cannot live without these surroundings; you are helped by them; take care of them and be grateful!

My Friend! Look after the “I” in the mind.

Do not let the mind dwell on its “rights” but turn it to the remembrance of Those Blessed Ones Who pour out Their sweet wholesome waters on all life. Let some of that force cleanse your mind. In those clear waters look for the wreckage of past evil thoughts that encumber your mind, and throw them away; look for the evil that still exists as living thoughts in your mind, and wash them pure, or forget them.

Do not harbour them. How does one harbour them? Only by thinking about them, for thought is life to them. Stop thinking of them or along those lines, and in place of such thoughts fill your mind with the vision of the “I” as a helper of others; put in place of the “I” feelings a great love for your fellow travellers, a keen desire to shine like the sun in all human relationships. Think of kindness, charity, gentleness, peace.

O Friend! Begin by cultivating kindness in thought and in feeling and in action so that there is no room in the mind for those things that warp and poison them and breed unhappiness.

Do not pass by this simple rule; it is an occult law: By thought we are made; by thought we can change our character; by thought we can become that on which the heart is set.

O Friend! Find out on what your heart is set.

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