I - Surya-Yoga: The Sun, Center Of Our Universe
I am sure you have already noticed that in the morning, when the sun first appears over the horizon, a deep hush falls over the whole of nature; every living creature is silent and attentive, as though it were meditating deeply, waiting to receive something from the rising sun.
Only human beings continue to make a noise; they are the only ones who have not understood that the event that is about to happen affects the whole universe, and they go on talking and shouting as though it were of no importance. It is in things like this that one sees how ignorant and lacking in respect human beings are; they do not know how to benefit from the presence of the sun.
Every single being without exception needs to return to the source. And every single being understands this differently, of course, but the fact remains: they all seek God. Those who spend their time eating and drinking, those who have an insatiable appetite for sex, those who are only interested in money, power or knowledge, are all looking for God. This may shock some devout and religious people because they are often narrow-minded and prejudiced.
Take what I have said today, think about it and meditate on it. Above all, do not say, 'Oh, I know all that; I've already heard or read it.' That may well be true, but even if it is, behave as though you were hearing it for the first time, otherwise you will never evolve.
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II - Obtaining Etheric Elements From The Sun
I do not agree with the materialistic medical theory which claims that the health of human beings is determined by the quantity and balance of vitamins and hormones in their diet. There are other, far more potent factors on the astral and mental planes, which either stimulate or inhibit our bodily functions, and it is on those levels that we must restore order and harmony, instead of focusing exclusively on the body and looking for the causes of disease only on the physical plane. The astral and mental regions in which our feelings and thoughts originate have not yet been fully explored or brought under control, but it is from these regions that harmful elements come to wreak havoc in the endocrine glands, the nervous system, the ganglia, and so on. Both the causes and the remedies of disease, therefore, must be sought on a much higher level, and little by little, science will discover this.
Forty or fifty years ago doctors used to say, 'If you take x units of fat, sugar, proteins, and mineral salts every day, they will be converted into y calories which will supply you with z units of energy.' And everybody thought that nothing more was needed in order to be fit and healthy. Then the doctors suddenly started talking about some other, subtler, microscopic elements called vitamins, and everyone started stuffing themselves with vitamins! But an initiate has no need to worry his head over calories or vitamins. By his spiritual work he rises to higher levels and finds other, subtler elements, which are more necessary to his body, for they stabilize and harmonize all its functions, including the assimilation of vitamins!
You simply have to rise mentally to the subtlest regions and, once there, maintain an expectant, receptive attitude and wait. Yes, just wait! Your soul and spirit are highly skilled doctors and chemists who know the exact nature of every etheric substance and are able to choose those you need and leave aside all the others. Your role is simply to concentrate and wait in a spirit of submission, joy and trust. Very shortly after, when you come back from your meditation, you will feel that something in you has been healed, pacified and strengthened.
No act is vaster, more profound or more full of meaning than the act of seeing. It may seem to be very simple and totally without mystery, but examine it more attentively and try to decipher it, for in this simple act you will see the whole universe unfolding before you. It is magic of a very high degree.
Nobody knows this, but the fact is that the sun sings. He sings and talks and explains things to us even though we cannot hear him yet. It is only recently that scientists have begun to try and decipher the sound waves emitted by the sun; they have already heard certain sounds, but they still have not understood them.
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III - Our Highest Self Dwells In The Sun
Think that up there, in the sun, an order, a culture, a civilization exists that is perfect beyond description.
And what would be your reaction if I told you that, without realizing it, you were already in the sun? You cannot feel it, but there is a tiny part of yourself, a very, very subtle element, which already dwells permanently in the sun. Science has not really studied man yet; it does not know the tremendous wealth nor the breadth and depth of a human being. As you already know, the visible part, the physical body, is not the sum total of man. He has other bodies which are made of increasingly subtle matter.
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V - Every Creature Has A Home
Intelligence that fails to grasp the fact that love must be given priority, that everything must be for love, with love and because of love, is not really intelligence at all.
Illumination can only come from love. If the fire of love is lacking, you can study as much as you like, but there will never be enough heat for you to become truly enlightened or intelligent.
Of course, I know you are going to find this very difficult to accept, because official science has not yet recognized it, and you are waiting for the verdict of science. But I prefer not to wait; I do not have time to wait. Science advances too slowly. Do you want me to prove to you that there are houses in the sun?
But our sun is not the highest manifestation of the Godhead; in fact there are other suns which are far bigger, more powerful and brighter than ours. But in our 'universe' it is our own sun that is the biggest and the nearest to God. The sun is a world inhabited by tremendously powerful spirits; we cannot even conceive of such power.
Before leaving his disciples, Jesus said, 'In my Father's house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you.' Jesus was saying that his Father's house is a vast world that contains many different compartments, or storeys, if you prefer, and that each being, whatever his degree of evolution, is prepared and predestined to dwell in the particular part of that world which corresponds to him.
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X - Rise Above The Clouds, The Sephirah Tiphareth
When the sky is pure and cloudless you can see the sun, and when it is full of clouds, they hide the sun. But when you go up in an aeroplane to a thousand metres or more, you find yourself above the clouds, where the sun is always shining and never hidden. That is all very simple and obvious. Childishly simple, you may think, but you will soon see how these phenomena can be interpreted.
From the esoteric point of view, clouds correspond to dark, drab, opaque thoughts and feelings, which drift through our hearts and minds, clouding the sky and hiding the sun. The sun is always there, always shining at the core of our being, a sun that is God himself, the source of all light and life. He is always within us, but he is hidden. We cannot see or feel him, and we go about in the dark and cold, shivering and nearly lifeless.
A true disciple is conscious of this. He knows that the atmosphere is sometimes filled with smoke, dust and thick mists, and sometimes clear and transparent – as it was this morning, for instance – you saw for yourselves how brilliantly the sun shone. If you knew how to look at it, how to create a bond between yourself and the sun, how to open your doors and windows to it, you would be in a state of ecstasy.
Most human beings never think of moving into a different region; they are content to wallow in their misery and wait for the conditions themselves to change. Is it any wonder that the clouds remain? There is no reason why they should not stay there for years and years. Whereas a disciple tells the clouds, 'It is all the same to me if you are there or not, because I am going to go up above you.' And up he goes. No one can stop him, and once up there above the clouds, he finds bright sunshine.
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XVI - Christ And The Solar Region
I have no taste for living in a state of illusion. In fact I am the first to demolish illusions, starting with my own.
I am just like everybody else, you know; I too have a great many ideas that come and go in my head, but the difference is that I refuse to take them at face value. I grab them by the scruff of the neck and tell them, 'Come with me. We'll go and see if you are trustworthy, if you are truthful and reliable.' Then I drag them before the intelligence of nature and make them show me proof of what they say.
Whatever idea comes into their sick, overheated brain is cherished and nourished as though it were the most sensational discovery every made.
It is time now to venture beyond the limits imposed by those who are afraid to go any further, who think that it is forbidden to transcend themselves and broaden their conceptions. They have drawn a circle in chalk or black ink round themselves and everybody else, proclaiming, 'This is the limit. No one can go beyond this line.' And you are all caught in the spell and go on repeating, 'It's true, it's true... there is a wall here. This is the limit.' But when you come to the Brotherhood you are released from that spell, and are allowed to step over all those imaginary boundaries, and venture as far as you like, very, very far into immensity and total freedom.
Didn't you know that there are some very select bistrots on high which serve nectar and ambrosia? Of course, they are not open to the general public, but those who are admitted can drink the elixir of everlasting life and meet heavenly entities.
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XXI - Three Kinds Of Fire
Everyone has his own pet manias and, as you realize, I am no exception. For instance, I keep repeating, 'That which is below is like to that which is above', or making the same remarks about the great book of living nature. But at least my manias are useful, and I can prove this by showing you once again that this maxim of Hermes Trismegistus is a key which opens many doors.
First we have physical fire, which consumes and devours physical objects. The second is astral fire, which burns and torments human beings, and which includes, for instance, the fire of selfish, sexual human love. The third kind of fire is divine fire, the fire of the sun, which neither consumes nor causes suffering, but which, on the contrary, brings light, joy and rapture, and the sublime sensation of being in direct contact with God himself. This is the fire from heaven.
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XXII - Making Everything Converge Towards One Goal
In a previous talk I told you that the sun was inexhaustible because it received its energy from the absolute. Of course I realize that the absolute is a notion that is quite incomprehensible to man, but above and beyond the Sephirah Kether – the name of which means 'crown', and which represents the heavenly Father – is a region known to the Cabbalah as Ain Soph Aur – which means 'limitless light'. The region of Ain Soph Aur is the world of the unmanifest Deity, whereas the Tree of Life and the ten Sephiroth represent the different manifestations of God.
And this is something that you too must practise. You must try to absorb or breathe in energies from the divine world while you are spending other kinds of energy in this world. If you do not learn to do this you will soon tire. I know that nobody will teach you this at the university, but if you want to become tireless, pure, luminous, and immortal you are going to have to learn to do it here.
This is one of the great secrets of initiation: to make everything converge in the same direction; to convince all one's contradictory tendencies to pull together; to impose one's will on them and, if need be, reduce them to slavery. Once you have welded all those unknown, hidden energies into one, once you have learned to launch them all together towards one glorious, luminous, beneficial goal, then you will become a focal point of such intense, powerful light, that you will be free to send rays of light in every direction like the sun.
We do not know what the unmanifest is, and we call it the absolute. All that is manifested is polarized into positive and negative; it has a beginning and an end. Only the absolute has no beginning and no end. It is not polarized.
And now for the practical aspect of all this. Ultimately, a disciple must understand his lower nature in detail, and engage in the task of dominating its every movement. He must not try to smother its instincts and appetites, but he must learn to use and control them. He must keep up all his normal activities, but everything he does must be done with the purpose of helping and giving, illuminating and warming others.
The path is long and difficult, but it is also very wonderful. For there is no more stagnation, no more time wasted. Night and day, you will be full of new energies, all flowing in the same direction, towards the same goal.
Sèvres, 1 May 1968
