Contents

Seed Thought
Recommended Additional Reading
Written Work to be Completed and Mailed
Letter from Teaching Staff (2 pages)
"Before the Eyes Can See They Must be Incapable of Tears"
Imperil
The Urgent Need to Control and Purify the Emotions
Glossary of Terms

Reading Assignment: White Magic Pages: 219-253, 292-321, 402-403 "W.M."

Recommended additional reading (optional):
THE SCIENCE OF EMOTIONS, by Bhagavan Das
BHAGAVAD GITA, Charles Johnston edition, if you can find it

QUESTIONS AND ISSUES FOR STUDY, REFLECTION, PONDERING:

Please answer the following questions out of your own thinking, rather than searching through the book or study set for quotable answers. You are urged to give considerable attention to this aspect of the subjective work. The more time, the more thought you give to it, the more spiritual help you will receive through your studies. These are quite searching questions. If you wish, try to formulate written answers to these questions. The effort you give to expressing your thinking about them is in itself a method of calling into activity hitherto unused parts of your mental equipment. In addition, your answers and the thought you devote to writing them out will be a valuable contribution to the circulation of ideas through the group mind.

1. Each of us is equipped with an astral body which is the Soul's instrument of contact (two-way contact!) with the emotional life of humanity. Each person adds something to the emotional climate of his daily environment.
Should we try -- to stimulate desire? in ourselves? in others? low desire? high desire? how?

2. Any emotion, of any kind, if sufficiently intensified and permitted to persist or to recur with such frequency as to gain control, will eventually puncture the etheric web in the area of the solar plexus center, resulting in serious neurosis, uncontrolled "psychism," or worse. Knowing this, what is our responsibility
-- in the presence of a seriously disturbed person?
-- in the presence of a vigorously disturbing person?

3. What is the value of emotion?

4. It is the nature of astral elementals (the tiny lives who comprise the human astral body) to enjoy and thrive upon emotional intensity, strong feeling, and drastic fluctuation of mood.
>For a small child to try to arouse emotional outbursts from his parents is, for the child, growth and indicates he is learning to use his astral body.
>For the teen-ager to crave and kindle emotional excitement is not growth, but is normal and natural.
>For the adult to deliberately agitate the astral currents is a serious matter.
>How should we react to:
-- a child's persistent attempts to strike an emotional spark?
-- a teen-ager's emotional intensities?

5. What, in your opinion, is a "pure" emotion? What is "purity" on the emotional plane? How might a person's emotional life be purified?

Dear Fellow Student:
 

In our last letter (Set IV) we mentioned that the work in Series I. lays the foundation for later study. With this in mind, we hope you are keeping all your Study Sets for future reference. Keep them in good order; keep them handy. The more you refer to them, the more helpful they will be.

Another suggestion: As you study and learn, as your understanding of White Magic becomes clearer, try not to become too set in your thinking. Be especially careful that in accepting and embracing a new idea, you do not build fixed, rigid thoughtforms about it. Rather, plant new ideas like seeds in your consciousness; expect them to grow in meaning and unfold their beauty, as a flower unfolds its petals to release fragrance. Even the definitions offered in the Glossary Section of the Study Sets should not be considered as final. Each definition we supply is only one meaning out of several possible interpretations.

Each seed thought used by you in your daily meditation will continue to grow in your consciousness long after you have moved on to using other seed thoughts. A seed thought, meditated upon conscientiously for two months, may well continue to grow in your mind for the remainder of the present lifetime. Growth in understanding includes both expansion and change.

As the individual progresses upon the spiritual path, his point of view necessarily changes. His interpretations of forms and circumstances will change as his field of consciousness broadens and as he gains a truer perspective.

Be prepared for even such basic terms as "soul", "service", and "inspiration" to hold quite different meaning for you ten or twenty years hence. Even though at this time you believe you can see the truest possible meaning -- or the only one -- be prepared for an even truer meaning to occur to you later. Thirty years after that, you may find yourself making yet another improvement in your mental image.

If we could pick one thing which, more than any other, distinguishes the trained and tested disciple, we would pick readiness to refine and revise his attitudes, opinions, and his mental images of basic spiritual principles.

Truth has been defined thus: "as much of God's nature as man can appreciate at any given time." Obviously, that is not the only definition of Truth. Also obvious is the fact that while Truth as a principle is eternal, concepts of truth and degrees of understanding it must vary with different minds, and must improve with each mind's improvement.

Please don't regard us as any sort of authority. Wish for us (as we wish for you) continuous expansion of consciousness with resultant changing points of view. If all of us together, as a group, ever become set in our ways, fixed in our thinking, reluctant to replace our cherished formulas and ideals with new, more appropriate ones -- when that happens, if it ever does, we're dead as a group channel for Hierarchical teaching!

We hope the above thoughts will encourage you to keep on pouring your very best effort into the written work; to undertake the written assignment in each Study Set with real joy, as a creative experiment, as an adventure in understanding -- and then to feel comfortable about sending in what you have written even though you know, and we know, that you would probably answer the assigned questions quite differently if you could wait to do it six or twelve months later.

We want to know the trend of your thinking NOW. We know it will change. Seeing one's spiritual companions grow in spiritual stature and unfold in loving understanding is the major blessing of group life.

In the kingdom of souls, there is no competitive spirit. Soul relationships are animated by the spirit of cooperation. On the path that leads to the ultimate goal of every man, we attain via one another's progress; another's victory is our supply of courage and strength.

Regarding pages 402-3 of WHITE MAGIC which were included in the reading assignment of this Study Set: Those pages are important at this point in the study because they emphasize two ways in which the aspirants and disciples of the world have hindered Hierarchical work for nearly 500 years. Both types of hindrance are due, largely, to poor emotional control. States of consciousness on the mental plane and on planes higher than mind can reach the physical brain only via the astral body. In the gradation of matter, astral matter stands between mental and physical matter. Thus, an agitated emotional body or intensity of emotion (even when the emotion is a good emotion) will interrupt communication between mind and brain, and will distort the mental image. This is why lower psychism, which is astral in quality, interferes with sensitivity to higher impressions.

In the interest of the higher, more serviceable sensitivity, let us see to it that Arcana contributes its full share of tranquility to our mutual environment.

Your very good friends,

The Staff of ARCANA

To be incapable of tears is to have faced and conquered the simple human nature, and to have attained an equilibrium which cannot be shaken by personal emotions. It does not imply any hardness of heart, nor any indifference. It does not imply the exhaustion of sorrow, when the suffering soul seems powerless to suffer acutely any longer; it does not mean the deadness of old age, when emotion is becoming dull because the strings which vibrate to it are wearing out. None of these conditions is fit for a disciple, and if any one of them exists in him, it must be overcome before the Path can be entered upon. Hardness of heart belongs to the selfish man, the egotist, to whom the Gate is forever closed. Indifference belongs to the fool and the false philosopher; those whose lukewarmness makes them mere puppets, not-strong enough to face the realities of existence. When pain or sorrow has worn out the keenness of suffering, the result is a lethargy not unlike that which accompanies old age, as it is usually experienced by men and women. Such a condition makes the entrance to the Path impossible, because the first step is one of difficulty and needs a strong man full of psychic and physical vigor to attempt it.

It is a truth that, as Edgar Allan Poe said, the eyes are the windows for the soul (embedded aspect-M.R.), the windows of that haunted palace in which it dwells (threefold personality-M.R.). This is the very nearest interpretation into ordinary language of the meaning of the title line above: "Before the eyes can see they must be incapable of tears." If grief, dismay, disappointment or pleasure can shake the soul so that it loses its fixed hold on the calm spirit which inspires it, and the moisture of life breaks forth, drowning knowledge in sensation, then all is blurred, the windows are darkened, the light is useless. This is as literal a fact as that if a man, at the edge of a precipice, loses his nerve through some sudden emotion he will certainly fall. The poise of the body, the balance, must be preserved, not only in dangerous places, but even on level ground, and with all the assistance Nature gives us by the law of gravitation. So it is with the soul; it is the link between the outer body and the starry spirit beyond; the divine spark dwells in the still place where no convulsion of Nature can shake the air; this is so always. But the soul may lose its hold on that, its knowledge of it, even though these two are part of one whole; and it is by emotion, by sensation, that this hold is loosed. To suffer either pleasure or pain causes a vivid vibration. This sensibility does not lessen when the disciple enters upon his training; it increases. It is the first test of his strength; he must suffer, must enjoy or endure, more keenly than other men, while yet he has taken on him a duty which does not exist for other men, that of not allowing his suffering to shake him from his fixed purpose. He has, in fact, at the first step to take himself steadily in hand and put the bit into his own mouth; no one else can do it for him.

from LIGHT ON THE PATH, Mabel Collins

The curious term "imperil" occurs frequently in the teachings of Morya. It refers to seriously unwholesome conditions in the emotional nature, including fear, worry and irritation. These conditions, if permitted to persist and become habitual, poison the emotional life, are harmful to daily relationships, and eventually cause disease in the physical body.

Imperil has been defined as a "condition of residence that imperils the resident" -- the indwelling soul being the resident and the emotional body being the "residence" on the plane of feeling.

The Tibetan comments in ESOTERIC HEALING: "Why are these difficulties of the astral body so 'perilous' and so serious? Worry and irritation are dangerous because:

1. They lower the vitality of the man to such a point that he becomes susceptible to disease. The scourge of influenza has its roots in fear and worry, and once the world settles down to freedom from the present 'fearful' condition, we shall see the disease die out.

2. They are so highly infectious from the astral point of view that they lower in a peculiar manner the astral atmosphere, and thus make it hard for people -- in the astral sense -- to breathe freely.

3. Because the astral conditions of fear, worry and irritation are so widespread today that they might be regarded as epidemic, in a planetary sense.

4. Because irritation (I speak not here of worry) is inflammatory in its effects -- and inflammation is hard to bear -- and leads to much difficulty. It is interesting to note that certain forms of eye trouble are caused by this.

5. Because worry and irritation prevent true vision. They shut out the view. The man who is the victim of these conditions sees nothing but the cause of his complaints and is so submerged through self-pity, self-consideration, or in a focussed negative condition, that his vision is narrowed and his group hindered. Remember that there is group selfishness as well as individual selfishness.

"I have cited sufficient reasons for the effects of worry and irritation to demonstrate to you the wideness of the difficulty. It is not much use at this time to talk of the remedy..... It is no use saying to men today, 'Do not fear. Leave off worrying. All will be well.' They will not believe you, for one thing -- and that is fortunate, for it is not true. Things are not well and humanity and the planetary life are not well. This, the Hierarchy knows, and is working for the amelioration of the conditions.....

At present, all that can be done is to keep the patient quiet and also keep the fever down. This is the work of the New Group of World Servers and the intelligent men of goodwill. Their name is Legion."

The following excerpts from Morya's teaching's are taken from publications of the Agni Yoga Society. Book titles and paragraph numbers are shown.

A disciple importuned his Teacher with irritation, saying, "I read the Teaching at length, but for all that, I do not know how to begin." The Teacher replied, "It is evident that you must first of all free yourself from irritation. This most prevents you from seeing the path." (583. AUM)

"The stronger the light, the denser the darkness" -- and this saying is also not understood, whereas one must accept it simply. It should not be thought that darkness increases from the light. Light reveals the darkness and then disperses it. The bearer of light also sees the dark shadows, which vanish at the approach of light. The timid assume that darkness will fall upon them; thus thinks timorousness, and the light trembles in its hands, and because of this tremor of fear the shadows come to life and play antics. In everything fear is a poor counselor.

The neophytes of the Brotherhood are tested upon fear. A most hopeless situation is shown to them, and one waits to see what solution will be chosen by the tested one. Very few will think, What is there to be afraid of since the Brotherhood stands behind us? Precisely such a premise liberates one from fear and brings to light a free, beneficial decision. But most often, before thinking about the Brotherhood, a man will promptly get distressed, irritated, and filled with imperil. A plea from one filled with poison will not be useful.

The Light of Truth is the light of courage, the light of devotion -- with these words begin the Statutes of the Brotherhood. (580. BROTHERHOOD)

Irritation has no kinship with prayer. The defeat of falsehood must take place by the raising of the Fiery Sword, but not through irritation. (66. AUM)

The poison resulting from irritability is called "imperil" -- a commanding danger. This poison, a quite substantial one, is precipitated against the walls of the nerve channels and thus spread through the entire organism.

If modern science would try impartially to examine the nerve channels, giving heed to the astral currents, it would encounter a strange decomposition of the astral substance during its passage through the nerve channels -- this is the reaction to imperil. Only rest can help the nervous system to overcome the dangerous enemy which can call forth the most diverse irritations and painful contractions of the organism.

He who is afflicted with imperil must repeat: "How beautiful is everything!" And he will be right; because the flow of evolution is rational, in other words, beautiful. The more subtle is the nervous system, the more painful is the precipitation of imperil. This same poison, by the addition of one ingredient, may contribute to the dissolution of matter. (15. AGNI YOGA )

For the last time I shall speak of irritation. Discern its harm -- not only personal, but also for space. This worm, concealed by a smile and politeness, does not cease to devour the aura. Its harm creeps beneath all works.

For the sake of creation, be permeated with the conviction against irritation. When, as a bloody clot, it closes the ear, can a man hear? When the eye is clouded, can the man see? When the curtain falls on the consciousness, where then is acquisition? (369. AGNI YOGA)

Even dogs can quarrel; hence, do not emulate the animals. Consciousness obligates one to realize the consequences of a quarrel. The senseless words rise like black whirlwinds. It is dangerous to defile the space. It is dangerous to invoke a return blow upon oneself and one's near ones.

It is said that the monkey is easily offended. What is that to us? The panther is very irritable. What is that to us? It is said that the hen clucks without reason. It is said that the vulture for long nurses his ire. What is that to us? A parrot repeats slander. What is that to us? It is said that a duck cannot control her nerves. What is that to us? Let us not emulate them.
(367. AGNI YOGA)

Much has been indicated about the necessity of developing patience; but wherein may there be discovered such a touchstone? It is useful to begin a conversation with the most bigoted denier. Let him expound his improbable devices; the patient thinker surmounts all ignorance without having recourse to denial. In the creativeness of his thinking, the thinker guards against irritation, during the lesson in patience one is not irritated. Let the ignorant lose their tempers, for they have no other answer, but the probationer in patience will not debase himself with the methods natural to the ignorant. Even in schools, tasks in patience should be proposed.

Without a realization of patience it is impossible to reflect on Infinity. The dimensions of the tasks of the Higher World require tests of patience. (244. AUM)

It is necessary to discern between indignation of spirit and irritation. The fire of irritation must be divided into two kinds. When irritation has an impersonal cosmic character, its poison may be removed by a current of prana. But if conceit or self-pity intensify the irritation, then the sediment of poison will be precipitated upon the centers. Then there is no means to eject it; one may only wear it away by cosmic perception.

Quality of thinking must be realized as a curative. The quality of gratitude is likewise the finest purification of the organism. Great is the healing power of the emission of gratitude. One must transform everything abstract into reality.
(31. AGNI YOGA)

Not discontent, nor irritation, but the sensation of happiness is necessary; because it is verily happiness to create the works of the Teacher. (368. AGNI YOGA)

Neither age nor illness, but prejudices sever the threads of happiness. Personal irritation is the daughter of prejudice. One cannot free oneself from irritation without uprooting prejudice.
(382. AGNI YOGA)

How to fix the boundary between indignation and irritation, or between shock and fear? No one finds words to differentiate such feelings which are almost alike. But the time will come when science will discover the means of analyzing the substance secreted during each emotion. Upon a purely chemical basis it will be determined where and when a definite feeling begins. (333. AUM)

Of course, imperil, is the main destroyer of psychic energy. But one should not forget also the three transgressors; fear, doubt and self-pity. When the measuring of psychic energy will be mechanically established, it will be instructive to see how these obscurants interrupt the flow of energy. This flow of energy is supported by such efforts as are found in self-denial and achievement. These abstract conceptions will bear witness to the acknowledgement of the energy of the Life Principle, which is measurable and conceivable. (389. AGNI YOGA)

The precipitate of imperil has been shown to you. Precisely that poison gives people so much anxiety. Do not forget that the grossest ignorance is not equal to a drop of imperil. Because imperil is not a personal product, evaporating, it permeates the space, for the purity of which we are all responsible. (221. AGNI YOGA)

Nothing can vindicate the self-generation of poison; it is the equivalent of murder and suicide. Even the most undeveloped people sense the approach of such a poison bearer. Distress, anxiety and fear enter with him. Many physical diseases break out as a result of the infiltration of imperil -- just as if a firebrand had worked its way in.

The speed of thought transmission at a distance is incredible. But conditions exist which retard even this lightning speed energy, namely an atmosphere poisoned by imperil. Observations upon thought can yield remarkable deductions pertaining to both the physical and the psychic. One can see how evil thought engenders imperil, a physical substance; the same substance is also involved in psychic transmission, and can even retard the speedy reception of the sending. Thus, imperil can progressively complicate the effects of thoughts. Pay attention to the fact that imperil is born of egoism, but that it acts beyond self upon broad masses. This means that egoism is criminal not only as regards the egoist himself but also in relation to people at large.
(295. AUM)

If the precipitates of space upon cities were to be investigated, something similar to imperil would be found among the poisonous substances. Carefully observing this poison, one comes to the conviction that it is imperil exhaled by the breath of evil. Undoubtedly, breathing permeated with evil is a carrier of injurious effects. If poison can be deposited in the organism, due to irritation, if the saliva can be made poisonous, then the breath can also be made a poison-carrier. It is necessary to judge how much evil is being exhaled and how multiform are the aspects of evil compressed in the new combinations of poisons present in enormous crowds of people. This is increased by the varied effluvia of decomposing foods and all manner of refuse which litter the streets even in metropolises. It is time to look after the cleanliness of backyards. Cleanliness is necessary out of doors and in the human breathing. The imperil exhaled by irritated people is identical with filth, or shameful refuse. It is imperative to impress people's consciousness with the fact that each bit of filth infects those around. The filth of moral dissolution is worse than any excretions.
(293. AUM)

Detested labor is not only a misery for the unsuccessful worker but it poisons the whole surrounding atmosphere. The discontent of the worker does not permit him to find joy and to improve the quality. Moreover, imperil born of irritation redoubles gloomy thoughts, with effects fatal to creativeness. But the definite question may arise as to what is to be done if not everyone can find work corresponding to his vocation. Undoubtedly, many people cannot apply themselves in the way they would like. There exists a remedy for lifting such a blight. Scientific attainments show that above the everyday routine there is a beautiful domain accessible to all -- the realization of psychic energy. In experiments with it one may be convinced that farmers often possess a goodly store of the energy. Likewise, many other fields of labor aid the conservation of energy. Therefore, amid the most diverse labors one may find uplifting strength.
(92. BROTHERHOOD)

In anger and irritation man considers himself strong -- this is according to earthly considerations. But regarded from the Subtle World, the irritated man is especially powerless. He attracts to himself a great number of small entities which feed on the emanations of anger. Besides, he lets down his own bars and allows even the lower beings to read his thoughts. Therefore, the state of irritation is inadmissible not only as a producer of imperil but also as a gateway for lower entities.

Certainly each irritated person readily agrees with this explanation, but he immediately succumbs to still greater irritation -- such is the nature of the ordinary human being. It is amazing how easily they agree, only the more easily to yield again. For this they will invent extraordinary justifications. It may be that the Higher World itself seems guilty in the disordered consciousness of the superficial earth-dweller! It is astonishing to observe people placing the blame for all their own offenses on the Higher World!
(331. AUM)

Where the motive and sole aspiration of the heart are towards the carrying out of the Master's will and the serving of the race, that which eventuates has in it the seeds of the next enterprise, and embodies the environment of the next step forward. Herein lies much of clarification, and herein may be found that on which the disciple may rest when the vision is clouded, the vibration lower than perhaps it should be, and the judgment fogged by the miasmas arising from circumstances on the physical plane. With many, much arises in the astral body that is based on old vibration and has no foundation in fact, and the battleground is so to control the astral situation that out of present anxieties and worries may grow confidence and peace, and out of violent action and interaction there may be elaborated tranquility.

It is possible to reach a point where naught that occurs can ruffle the inner calm; where the peace that passeth understanding is known and experienced, because the consciousness is centered in the Ego, who is peace itself, being the circle of the buddhic life; where poise itself is known and felt, and equilibrium reigns because the centre of the life is in the Ego, who is -- in essence -- balance; where calm rules unruffled and unshaken, because the divine Knower holds the reins of government, and permits no disturbance from the lower self; where bliss itself is reached that is based, not on circumstances in the three worlds, but on that inner realization of existence apart from the not-self, an existence that persists when time and space and all that is contained therein, are not; that is known when all the illusions of the lower planes are experienced, passed through, transmuted and transcended; that endures when the little world of human endeavor has dissipated and gone, being seen as naught; and that is based on the knowledge that I AM THAT.

INITIATION HUMAN AND SOLAR pp. 77-78

Before the full light of the sun can shine at the time of dawn, there has to be the dissipation of the mist -- a mist which distorts and hides. This is done not by any function of the mist itself, but by the growth in power of the rays of the rising sun. Therefore, for you there must be the steady growth of the light of your own soul, fostered by meditation, expressed in selfless service, and increasing in radiance through the intensification of your soul's life. Live, therefore, as a soul and forget the personality. Give not so much time to the consideration of the faults and mistakes of the past. Self-depreciation is not a soul contact and means the revelation of personality limitations covering many years. That has a temporary value, provided you again turn your eyes to the soul. Forgetting the things that lie behind let the light of your soul lead you where it will..... You are not alone..... You are not walking in the dark, for there is a light upon your way. Stay within the radius of that light and wander not down the accustomed by-ways.

D. I. N. A., Vol. I, p. 599

I would ask each of you to watch your emotional life and reactions with greatly increased care..... I would call your attention to the fact that the emergence of emotional conditions or of glamour in your life-expression need not necessarily indicate failure. There is only failure if there is identification with these astral conditions and a succumbing to old rhythms. The success of the meditation work assigned and regularly followed may be proved to you by the appearance of these undesirable conditions; they must then be recognized for what they are, and evoke in you that "divine indifference" which permits the emotion or the glamour to die of attrition, because deprived of the "feeding-power" of the attention. The whole history of true emotional control is to be found in the sentence just given.

D. I. N. A., Vol. I, p. 88

Will you remember that the effort to free yourselves from irritation or from what is called in Agni Yoga "imperil" (a peculiar yet satisfying word, my brothers) is particularly essential for this group? Irritation is exceedingly prevalent these days of nervous tension and it most definitely imperils progress and retards the steps of the disciple upon the Way. It can produce dangerous group tension if present in any of you, and this induced group tension can interfere with the free play of power and light which you are supposed to use, even when the other group members remain unconscious of the emanating source. Irritation definitely generates a poison which locates itself in the region of the stomach and of the solar plexus. Irritation is a disease, if I might use that word, of the solar plexus center and it is definitely contagious to an almost alarming extent. So, my brothers, watch yourselves with care and remember that just in so far as you can live in the head and in the heart, you will end the disease of imperil and aid in the transference of the forces of the solar plexus into the heart center.

GLAMOUR, pp. 151-52

AGNICHAITANS - The devas who build in matter of the physical plane. In their various grades and groups, they comprise the sum total of all substance on this plane, and all physical forms are made of the essence of their bodies.

AGNISURYANS - The devas who build in matter of the astral plane, and who comprise all substance and all forms on the astral plane.

AGNISHVATTAS - The devas who build in matter of the mental plane, and who comprise all substance and all forms on the mental plane.

AHAMKARA (aham=I + kara=to do or to make) - The "I" principle which is necessary in order that self consciousness may be evolved, but which must be transcended when its work is done.

AJNA (a=not + jna=to know) - A center in the etheric body relative to the middle of the dense physical forehead, or between the eyebrows. Its function is to channel energy first unconsciously and later under the conscious direction of the lower mind.

AKASHIC RECORDS (a=not + kas=to shine) - The tablet of memory of earth and man as seen in the astral light, a half light and a distorting light.

ARJUNA - The disciple of Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. He represents man struggling for control of the lower nature.

CHITTA - The mental substance which the soul can use to create thought-forms and express ideas.

DWELLER ON THE THRESHOLD - The entity built up of personality thought-forms whose position (in consciousness) blocks the way to full soul realization.

ETHERIC OR LAYA CENTERS - The doors which lead in two directions and permit the inward and outward flow of energies through all parts of the solar system - including man.

HIERARCHY - The Hierarchy which overshadows the Group of World Servers is a society of illumined sons of men who have entered the realization of planetary group life. They are presided over by the Christ and have their center on the plane of buddhi.

KRISHNA - The avatar in the Bhagavad Gita who appears to instruct Arjuna. He represents the soul.

KURUKSHITRA - For man it is the battleground whereon the struggle for illumination takes place.

LINGA SARIRA (linga=model + sri=to waste away) - The term refers to the impermanent form.

MONAD - The One, The Absolute, unity undifferentiated and formless.

PATANJALI -- Indian teacher - He compiled the teachings of the Trans-Himalayan School which goes back to at least 10,000 BC He probably did his work about 800 BC His Yoga Sutras set forth Raja Yoga, designed to organize the mental body and control the mind -- the proper yoga for the Aryan race.

PITRIS The "fathers" of mankind, the progenitors of the various bodies of man. The Lunar Pitris built the astral form from which the physical evolved. The Solar Pitris fashioned the higher bodies.

PROBATIONARY PATH - The route designed to prepare candidates to take the first three initiations.

PROBATIONER - One who is treading the probationary path.

PRALAYA - The period of obscuration or repose between incarnations.

SOLAR PLEXUS CENTER - A center in the etheric body at the midway point. It is the organ of psychic sensitivity, organizes the emotional life and channels the energy of desire.

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