Man, the master of his destiny
Destiny is not what is already made; destiny is what we are making.
Destiny means the materialisation of man’s own thoughts.
Man is responsible for his success and failure, for his rise and fall; and it is man who brings these about either knowingly or unknowingly.
The more we study life, the more we understand that it is not only qualifications, enthusiasm, and energy that count, but also the design, the plan already made.
The question of destiny can be better explained by the picture of an artist meditating on a certain design he has in his mind.
Creating destiny
The first stage to create the destiny is in your mind.
The second stage is to bring it on the canvas and when he draws this picture on the canvas it may suggest something to him that he had not thought of when he made the design in his mind. When the artist has finished his picture, he will see that it is quite different from what he had originally thought of.
Life stands before us like a picture, when all that has been designed beforehand begins to happen, our soul will receive a totally different suggestion from the picture. Something that was lacking may have been put in, and in this way the picture is improved.
There are two kinds of artists: one who paints the plan which has been made in his mind on the canvas, and the other who takes suggestions from the picture itself as he goes on painting.
The difference is that the one is merely an artist and the other is a master. The latter is not bound to the plan; the former has designed something is bound to what he has designed — he is limited.
There are two parts in a man: one part is his external self which the soul has borrowed from the earth; and the other part is his real self which belongs to the source.
The human body is nothing but a vehicle of the soul wihich has come above toad has taken the human body as its abode.
The Soul
It is the meeting of the soul and the body which makes the mind
The external part of an individual can be likened to the outer form of a globe, while the mind takes the place of the finer inner machines. This is the mechanical part of being. There remains the soul which is the divine heritage, a spiritual current shooting forth from that spirit which is the source of all things.
A soul is born with a mechanism which one calls mind and body. From infancy a soul naturally finds itself limited in capacity. All the tragedy of life comes from limitations
Man grows up in limitation, and this limitation suggests to him at every step that he is imperfect, handicapped, weak, captive, incapable, and it is because of this constant suggestion of imperfect that he begins to say “I cannot”. A man begins to think all these things because because he is imperfect. He cannot understand anything else but that and he remains totally unaware of that spark which continually shines in his heart and which may be called his divine inheritance.
Man remains totally unaware of that spark which continually shines in his heart and which may be called his divine inheritance
We are only capable of recognising change as far as we can see it, and the moment we cannot see that change any more we call it death.
The mind may have forgotten, but the thought is not dead. It is going on, it never ends.
Is there anything that ends? Nothing. Such words as “beginning” and “end” are our conception, and the further we go on studying life the higher the realisation we get from those conceptions. It is this principle which is called unlearning.
Those who have realised in themselves the possibility of improving their lives do improve them.
The one who realises that life begins with spirit says:
“What does it matter; if I fail today I will succeed tomorrow. The present limitation does not discourage me”
It is never too late in life to improve. The man who is content with himselvce or so discouraged that does not want to improve falls flat.
In all walks of life it will be proved to the seeker after truth that there is a key to success, a key to happiness, a key to advancement and evolution in life, and this key is the attainment of mastery.
How is mastery attained?
First stage is self control
Second stage is control all influences that pull one away from the path.
Third stage which is the control of conditions, of situations, and is greater than a thousand men who may be otherwise well-qualified but do not have this. Those who do little come forward and say they can do much, but those who really do something say little.
Aspects of the mastermind
There are three aspects of the master-minded which are connected with three different temperaments:
- Saintly temperament
- Master temperament
- Prophet temperament.
Every soul is here on Earth in order to fulfil a certain purpose in the scheme of life.
When one has reached mastery, from that moment one is chosen by providence to be used as a tool, an instrument to accomplish a certain purpose.
Human, every single human being, is a kind of raw material which destiny uses. The mastermind is a finished instrument which destiny handles to accomplish its purpose.
The Saint
The saintly temperament is the negative temperament, resigned, perfectly resigned, to the will of God. The saint has learnt practise, confidence, endurance, tolerance.
The saint knows what love means. The saint has taken a path of devotion. The saint leads a life of service, he has effaced himself. He has crushed his personality.
The saint has dissolved the rock out of which he has made into water. That is why the saintly personality gives peace and harmony to those who come in contact with it.
It is such a personality which heals and lifts up those who are groping in darkness, who are touching the depths of the earth. He has developed the love that one sees in a mother and father, but he has that love for everyone, for every soul.
When a person has developed that sympathy, everything in nature open up before him
It is through this that he is able to communicate with every form of life, whatever it is. The soul of man is capable of rising to the greatest heights, if only he wishes to attain them.
The Master
The tendency of continual perseverance, courage and boldness, firmness and steadiness, all such qualities manifest in the master.
In the master’s path the will is used mostly in regard to outer things, ; in the saintly path the will is used to control one’s own self.
The Prophet
The prophet is: power, gentleness, courage, divine sympathy, enthusiastic in his desire to change the conditions of humanity, retired of all things of life. All these opposite qualities are balanced in the spirit of the prophet.
The prophet is before the world to awaken humanity, to raise humankind to a higher consciousness, to inspire it and to voice the truth so that it may have its echo everywhere.
—-
Mastery is not only a means of accomplishing the things of the world, but it is that by which a person fulfils the purpose of his life.
Man can make a heavenly experience his treasure just as well as an earthly possession. It is not necessary for man to leave all the things of the world and go into retreat. He can attend to his business, profession, and to his duties in life yet at the same time develop this spirit in himself. Man does not need to trouble about what is lacking, for in reality all is within himself.
There are many instances in life where there are qualifications, conditions, inclinations, and every possibility of progress, yet at the same time there is some unknown hindrance and cannot find out what it is. A man may work for years and years and not succeed. There are also many who hope and believe that all good things come of themselves, but just hoping and believing good things do not come; it takes effort and commitment, persistence, it needs patience to accomplish things. This shows that there is truth in possibility, but at the same time the middle way is best, the way of understanding how far will works and also where free will is hindered
The preparatory aspect (takes entity known as the angel)
The time before a person is born and the time after his death.
A person may be born into a certain condition which becomes the foundation of his life’s course. The credit for what he does, considering his condition belongs to him, but that condition is something he has not made.
From this condition he has to develop and evolve through life.
Question remains: how this condition has brought about?
The angelic aspect (makes the mind)
The physical sphere (makes a body)
Spiritual advancement has an influence on the body
A man may be in a palace or in a cottage, but no matter what condition he lives in there is an innate yearning and longing which he himself does not recognise
The word “within” has a quite different meaning from that which we attach to it in everyday language. When we speak of mind being within, it means a different dimension; it does not mean in the head or the breast. It means within each atom of the body, and within every nerve and every blood cell.
The mind is within and without the body; and so in the same way the soul is both within and without the mind
When a Chinese philosopher was asked what the soul is like, he answered that it is like the pupil of the eye. He meant to say that the soul is an accomodation, like the pupil of the eye, which is so small that yet accomodates so much.
There seems to be a great dissimilarity between the ideas of Buddhism and those of Christianity about reincarnation. The reason is that the message of Jesus Christ was given by the children of Beni Israel, to those prepared to understand God as the kind, as the master of the day of Judgement.
The message which the Buddha gave to the people of India were more metaphysical and scientific.
Buddha’s mission was therefore to give the people of India an understanding beyond what religious devotion can teach. That is why he did not give the essential wisdom in the form of religion, but in the form of philosophy. The common belief was in reincarnation, and it was much easier for the Master not to attack that particular belief, but to build on that blelief as a wonderful structure.
When you look at life as one life then you do not look upon people as separate entities. Then you cannot say that this person has reincarnated as another. It is the One who is all and each is nothing. Either you look at life in that way or you look at life by seeing each person as a separate entity.
Naturally, as everything has to go on being something, it must still exist after it is destroyed. It must have an existence in some form. The destruction of death is only a change. Something cannot be notihing. If it is nothing before our eyes, it is because we do not see it. Everything must exist in some form or other. Thus, the theory of reincarnation teaches that there is nothing which will be nothing, that everything will be something, must be something.
The other conception is this: if the source is one, the goal is one, then all that we see is phenomena as long as we do not look deeply. When once we look deeply we shall no longer distinguish entities, then we shall see one life. One being. Then there is no reason to think about reincarnation. The more we think of this subject, the more we shall find that a preparation is made for a man before he is born on Earth, and it is that preparation which makes him able to live the life on Earth.
The action of each individual is different; although in the soul of each there is God.
There are many things one has to overcome before one sets forth upon the journey to higher realisation, but at each step one takes towards the realisation of truth one will feel more self-confident.
0
