The Doctrine of Fire
Second Part, Following the Lecture: Fire Cult.
If what we really want is to attain our own realization of the Being, then it is necessary — repeatedly, under any circumstances — to know more about ourselves.
Obviously, as we have already stated in former lectures, we need to work with the element fire. Fire itself is a substance that has escaped all chemical analysis. Scientists asseverated that fire is the outcome of combustion, which is an absolutely false statement. No one knows what the nature of fire is.
For example, we know that oxygen and nitrogen are in the atmosphere. We do not ignore that H2O — that is to say, hydrogen and oxygen — are in water. We also cannot ignore that carbon is found in earth, but indeed, what is the formula of the fire element?
Any scientist could explain to us the formula H2O, meaning two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen. Yet, as this formula suggests, let them join these two elements in a laboratory in order to see if it is true that water will appear; it is obvious that it will not. Why? Because an element is missing; what element is missing? The fire element is missing. Therefore, the formula H2O is incomplete; this is obvious.
So, the fire escapes any confinement. A simple flame from these candles that we have here would be enough in order to burn the world. Yet, the flame would remain unmodified. It would not increase one atom more or one atom less.
From any of these candles we can get another candle, and another, over and over again, and ignite a tank of gasoline, or detonate a deposit of dynamite, and the fire will continue unchanged. Even if we burn the whole world, the candle will remain the same: impassive, as if nothing had happened.
What kind of substance is fire, which mocks the chemists, a substance that makes so many wonders, and nonetheless, remains the same, unchanging, impassive?
Now, as I said to you in the former lecture, we are only interested in the hidden part of the fire, the flame of the flame, the astral assignation of fire, which is divine, which is INRI written on top of the cross. INRI means Ignis Natura Renovatur Integra, “fire renews nature incessantly.”
So, the liberation of the human being is not possible outside of the fire. Only by working with the fire we can reach final liberation.
For example, the worlds are nothing but granulations of Fohat [fiery potency of nature], that is obvious. The doctrine that we teach is the doctrine of fire. We have written our books with flaming coals, and amidst the incessant crackling of the flames we deliver our flaming, secret knowledge to humanity.
We know very well that behind the fire there are wonders. Once, a great fire elemental was asked, “What is beyond the fire?” He replied, “That is something that we do not know.”
The Apostle Paul stated:
“…God is a consuming fire.” - Hebrews 12:29
Indeed, this is how it is.
How the Fire Springs into Manifestation
In former lectures we stated that there are two unities: the incognizable Aelohim, and the cognizable Elohim. AElohim is the incognizable and unmanifested Seity. As for Elohim, it is the Army of the Word, the Army of the Voice; it is like the Solar Star, the Spiritual Sun, the Absolute Sacred Sun that emerges from within the bowels of the incognizable. The Army of the Word emanates therefore from the Sacred Absolute Sun, thus the Army of the Word is that unity that has emerged from the living bowels of the incognizable.
The Tree of Life of Kabbalah
The Army of the Word is fire, it is the pluralized Fohat, yet we must not forget that variety is unity. The Army of the Voice is constituted by those millions of Dhyan Chohan creators of the universe, and all of them are flames of blazing fire.
But behold how grandiose is the unfoldment of Brahma, the unfoldment of divinity, the unfoldment of that great, universal fire, how from the incognizable emanates the Demiurge Architect of the universe, which is fire.
Now, all the Army of the Word, all the Army of Dhyan Chohans, are obviously numbered, classified into groups in accordance with the universal cosmic ideas. They are living numbers, creating and creating anew.
It is convenient to understand that the Logos, the Demiurge, the stellar Spiritual Sun, the Army of the Word, which in itself is a multiple Logos, has indeed sprung from within the bosom of the incognizable.
Atman the ineffable, as a flame formed by many flames, emanated from the Logos. Atman is the Innermost in each one of us, our divine and unnameable Spirit.
Buddhi in itself is an unfoldment of Atman. And who is Buddhi? Buddhi is the superlative consciousness of the Being. Buddhi is Eros, is Fohat, as messenger of the gods.
In the superior worlds of cosmic consciousness, the initiates can evidence in a concrete manner that Atman always sends Eros or Buddhi, the Fohat, or the Valkyrie — as we will say in the classical language of Wagner — to perform determined works. Therefore, Fohat or Budhi is the messenger of Atman.
One is filled with ecstasy when comprehending the reality of Eros. One is filled with admiration when seeing the Valkyries of the Mahatmas working in the superior worlds of cosmic consciousness carrying messages to all the corners of the universe, ineffable ladies of indescribable beauty.
The Valkyries work in the temples. The Valkyries deliver messages. The Valkyries help the Mahatmas. They are the Fohat messenger, the extraordinary Eros that palpitates within each one of us.
Eros Arrives to Awaken Psyche (soul)
What would be of us without Eros? Could we perhaps perform the Great Work of the Father without Eros? We need Eros in order to disintegrate the inhuman psychological aggregates that we carry within.
Hence, the star that has emerged from the Sacred Absolute Sun is the Demiurge Creator of the Universe. It is the flame from within which the seven holy flames emerge. That flame is threefold, yet from this threefold flame seven flames emerge, meaning from the triple flame emerges the eternal Heptaparaparshinokh.
From the three emerge the seven. In the same manner that from the three candles on the altar we can light another seven candles, likewise the Logos is a threefold, single flame, formed by three wicks: the Logos as Holy Affirmation (+), as Holy Negation (-), and as Holy Conciliation (=).
Thus, from that triple flame emerges the eternal Heptaparaparshinokh, the seven flames, namely, Atman-Buddhi... This Atman-Buddhi forms the Divine Monad inside of each one of us.
Then follows the Superior Manas or Human Soul, that which we have as human.
Thereafter comes this mind that we have in order to think, which unfortunately is bottled up within multiple aggregates that constitute the myself, the self-willed, the inferior manas. This is why we say that we do not have one mind but many minds. It is obvious that if the mental substance is bottled up within many bottles, if it is found divided within these bottles, if the substance of the mind is bottled up into many “I”s, then there is not one mind, but many minds, unfortunately. Yet, the radical, the fire, is what is hidden behind all of those energies, which would actually, truly, be the fourth fire.
The fifth is behind all those emotions that we carry within, that the authentic initiate carries in his astral body.
The sixth flame is behind the principle of life, it is the prana, it is the fire as prana or life.
The seventh flame burns within the spinal medulla of the Gnostic ascetic.
In reality, truly speaking from the view of occult anatomy, we would say that there are seven serpents: two groups of three with the sublime coronation of the seventh tongue of fire that unites us with the one, with the Law and with the Father.
If indeed Atman receives the igneous principle, the fire, from the incognizable through the mediation of the Demiurge Creator of the universe, there is no doubt that all of that fire becomes contained within Buddhi.
With just reason, it has been rightly said unto us that Buddhi is like an alabaster vase, white and transparent; within it burns a steady golden fire, the flame of Prajna that radiates from Atman. In Buddhi, Eros, the Valkyrie, the Maiden, in the beautiful Helen of Troy, is contained Atman the ineffable. To that the end, Atman-Buddhi as a Monad are radical.
In a former lecture, I stated that we have to work with seven radicals, thus I understand that the brothers and sisters are already informed about that. These radicals are the seven aspects of the fire in us, the seven tongues of fire within our hidden anatomy that emanate directly from the Divine Architect of the universe. This is obvious, and this is how this must be understood.
The incognizable Seity in itself is what is fundamental. Fire emanates from the Seity. SAT [Sanskrit] is the Seity. And Fire — that is to say, the Demiurge Architect — emanates from the Seity.
Listen, there is one point I want to emphasize tonight. If it is true that the Holy Affirming, Holy Denying, and Holy Conciliation — in other words, the interior Logoi within each one of us — is radical, the Logoi is the intimate Buddha of each one of us, because each one of us carries their own Inner Buddha within, even if one has not yet incarnated him.
Our Inner Buddha himself has emanated from Adi Buddha. Listen, Adi Buddha, we would say, is the individualized incognizable, since each one of us has their own Adi Buddha within the incognizable Absolute Abstract Space. From Adi Buddha emanates our Logoi. I am now particularizing and concretizing. And from our Logoi in turn emanate the seven aspects of Fohat, of fire.
Adi Buddha
When I say that we have to work with the fire, this must be well understood. We need to have a little bit more consciousness about what the fire is; it is necessary to understand the fire better. The mother Kundalini about which we have spoken abundantly is fire. She is the Fohat in us, fire within our occult anatomy. She is a variant of our own Being, but a derivative.
We need to work with fire, with her, because She is the bearer of the fire. She, the igneous serpent, frighteningly writhes amidst the candlesticks of the temple. She is the cobra of the great mysteries. She is fire that crackles amidst the aura of the universe. Only She can reduce to ashes the psychic inhuman aggregates that we carry within.
It is not an easy task to disintegrate the totality of our psychic aggregates. Let us consider that these psychic aggregates are processed in seven levels of the Being. There are saints that have achieved the disintegration of some aggregates within the fifth and sixth levels, yet it is very rare to find one who achieves the disintegration of the psychic aggregates in all of the seven levels of the Being, since in the last levels — especially in the seventh — those aggregates become terribly subtle, thus they turn out to be frightfully difficult. Thus, if the initiate is not sufficiently comprehensive, he can fail in the Great Work.
In the superior levels of the Being are things that astonish us. The moral maxims do not serve for the psychological work in the sixth and seventh level of the Being. The codes of ethics are worthless. The concepts that one had based on mere superficial interpretations about the sacred scriptures are destroyed, etc. The initiate has to become independent not only of the forces of evil but even of the forces of good. He has to fight against the potencies of evil and against the potencies of good, since in the last synthesis good becomes evil, certain aspects that seems to be good become evil, thus one has to go beyond good and evil. All of this means one needs to know the good from the evil and the evil from the good.
At their base, the conventional, dogmatic structures of ethics only serve as obstacles for the one who marches on the path of inner realization of the Being. This is the crude reality of the facts.
There is a tendency among people to interpret everything to their own whim, superficially. Therefore, those who want to work in the seventh level of the Being have to be strictly comprehensive, and pass beyond any dogma, and make an inventory of themselves in order to know what they lack and what they need. Many times a beautiful virtue only serves as a obstacle to the navigator. Sometimes even the precious gems of spirituality can serve as an obstacle. This is why it is very difficult to disintegrate the psychic aggregates in the seven levels of Being; this is why.
The Psychological Work with Fire
On the other hand, we must learn how to handle the five cylinders of our organic machine. What are these cylinders?
Intellectual center, where is it? We know that it is found in the brain.
Emotional center, where is it? In the heart, solar plexus, grand sympathetic nervous system.
Motor center, where is it? On top of the spine.
Instinctual center, where is it? At the bottom of the spine.
And the sexual center is in our sexual organs.
There are psychic aggregates in the intellectual center, as well as in the emotional center, as in the motor center, as in the instinctual center, as in the sexual center, this is obvious.
One has to study the psychic aggregates in each center. How do they behave? This is a matter of self-reflection and of a direct experience, a psychological observation.
In any case, any given psychological aggregate cannot be disintegrated without the help of the Divine Mother Kundalini, the cobra of the great mysteries. For the disintegration of any psychic aggregate, She demands that first we have comprehension of that psychological defect that we want to reduce to ashes; this is obvious.
First, we must discover the defect, thereafter we must work on it, and in order to reach in-depth comprehension of it we need of the evident self-reflection of the Being. We need to really understand this or that defect.
Thus, once the defect is comprehended, then one must work with the sacred divine cobra of the great mysteries; only thus we can eliminate that defect.
Again, any defect is related to any center of the organic machine. Thus, with the help of the fire — Her, the fire that emanates from the Demiurge Creator of the universe — we can reduce to ashes any undesirable psychic element, even its manifestation throughout all the levels of the Being.
But, you have to get familiarized a little bit more with the fire, to learn how to think with fire, to worship fire, as do the Parsis. Like the Christians who exclaim, “God is a consuming fire,” as well as the Parsis who worship fire, or as the devotees of any Maya or Toltec, or Zapotec or Inca tribe that render so much worship to fire. All of them in their depth belong to the purest paganism and most delectable Christic esotericism.
We can disintegrate the defects in the five cylinders of the organic machine only with fire; this is obvious.
Negative Emotions
My dear brothers and sisters, among the centers that we have in our organism, there is no doubt that the most difficult to control is the emotional center.
The intellectual center, even though it takes a lot of work to control it, in the end with certain disciplines we more or less control it.
The motor center, which is the one that produce movements and that is situated in the upper part of the spine, is also controllable. One can control the movements of the body, walk if you want to walk; if you want to lift an arm or not lift it; to wrinkle the forehead or not. Thus, all the activities of the motor center are under our will.
Yet, the emotional center is terrible. Yes, this matter about negative emotions, feelings, sentimentalisms, etc. become difficult to control.
In Hindustan, for example, the emotional center is compared to an elephant, a mad elephant. For example, in Hindustan what do they do in order to control a mad elephant? They place on each side of the mad elephant a healthy, sane elephant. Thus, they tie these two elephants, one on each side of the mad elephant, so that they do not part. Then, those two sane elephants finally manage to teach the mad elephant to become sane. Thus, the insane elephant is eventually cured. This system used by the Hindustanis is good.
The emotional center is an elephant, the intellectual center is another elephant, and the motor center or motor-instinctual-sexual center another elephant. Thus, by means of the two elephants, intellectual and motor, we can control the mad elephant of emotions.
If at any given moment we want to cry out in desperation, with anguish, in other words, if we have become identified with a negative emotion and we are “mad as a hatter,” what should we do? We must lie down on our bed, relax, and empty our mind.
When relaxing, we are acting with the motor center, since we are relaxing the body. We relax the whole body; we loosen all muscles, all tension in our organism, and finally we empty our mind — in other words, we bring the mind to a stillness and silence. What happens then? The emotional center is left with no choice but to become a bit calm, to become serene, and finally to settle down. The intellectual center and the motor center come to dominate the emotional center, two sane elephants that come to tame the mad elephant.
We can also control inferior emotions by means of superior emotions, since there are many types of inferior emotions, and you know this very well. For example: a member of the family dies, we cry, we weep, we despair, why? Because we do not want to cooperate with the inevitable, which is the worst. In life, one must learn how to cooperate with the inevitable. A beloved relative dies, and we shout, filled with anguish, and we do not accept the inevitable. Thus, we see his corpse in the coffin, however we do not think that he is dead, we do not believe it, it is not possible for us that they died, thus we fall into anguish and desolation. That is terrible.
How could we dominate such a state? We do it in two ways: first, we could appeal to the system of two elephants: the motor center and intellectual center, to relax the body and to place our mind in quiet and in silence. This would be the first system.
The second system: we can appeal to a superior emotion. It might do much good for us in those moments to listen a symphony of Beethoven, or Mozart's Magic Flute, to submerge ourselves filled with profound emotion into a deep meditation, reflecting upon the mysteries of life and death. Then, by means of superior emotion we control the inferior emotions, and we annul the pain that the death of a beloved one gave us, this is obvious.
The emotional center is very interesting, but we have to take command of the lower emotions, to control them, to dominate them, and this is possible according to our didactic.
Inferior emotions cause too much damage. Inferior emotions are like those that enjoy bull fighting, those in movies, those in orgies of great festivities, the one who wins the lottery, or as the one who gets excited by a newspaper story, or about a war, or by many things that happen in the world. Inferior emotions like those given by tequila.
The inferior emotions that people develop in all of their bestialities only serve to fortify the inhuman psychic aggregates that we carry within, and moreover, and even worse, they create new inhuman psychic aggregates.
It is necessary to eliminate the inferior emotions by means of the superior emotions; this is possible. Let us learn to live an edifying and essentially dignifying life. This is what is fundamental, otherwise no progress would be possible. How? In what manner?
We also need to be more honest with ourselves in order to develop the superior emotional center, to liberate ourselves, to liberate ourselves from the purely negative and superficial emotions.
The Inner and Outer
There are people who are courteous to us; they are decent. There are people that bring friendship to other people, yet we will say that is just the public or exoteric aspect of it, but this is not all, knowing that we have an inferior psychology. It is not enough to just know how to behave decently with other people; yes, just the fragrance of friendship from the external point of view is not enough. What is our internal behavior in dealing with other people? Normally, those who provide friendship to another person are twofold: the outside and the inside. The outside is apparently magnified, but inside? Who knows?
Are we sure that we do not criticize the friend to whom we have given friendship? Are we sure that we do not feel any antipathy towards some of his facets? Are we sure that we are not drawing him into the cave that we have in our mind in order to torture him, in order to mock him while we are smiling sweetly to him?
How many people take good care of someone outwardly, yet internally they do not cease criticizing them, even though they do not demonstrate their criticisms? Thus, they make a mockery of their best friend, even when they smile sweetly before him?
Indeed, we really need to be more complete, more integral.
We must for a moment put in harmony two running clocks: the outside and the inside. The exterior and the psychological clocks must march in perfect harmony, one with the other. Comprehend that it is not enough for us to behave well with our friends, that it is not enough to outwardly give them our love, if inside we are criticizing them, if inside we are torturing them. It is better that the two clocks, the outside and the inside, march in unison from second to second, from moment to moment.
We must be more complete, more integral. We must stop that mordant, interior psychological criticism towards the people we love. How is this contradiction possible, that we deem a person worthy of our love, meanwhile inside we are criticizing them? That we are even talking very well of that person to whom we esteem, yet inside we are swallowing them alive?
Now, you must know very well that within each one of us live many people, many “I”s. When you grab one of these “I”s and study it with the sense of psychological self-observation, you can see that each “I” has an intellectual center, an emotional center, a motor-instinctual-sexual center — that is to say, it possesses the three brains.
Any given “I” has bottled mind, bottled will, is a complete person. Thus, within each one of us there are many people. Within each person live many people, which are the psychic aggregates.
Thus, any friendship that we have, deserves to be — we might say — properly treated. For example, you have a friend, and there are things of your friend that you do not like, yet there are other things that you like. You have a friendship with some “I”s of your friend, or with a few egos of your friend, yet there are some other “I”s of your friend that bother you, “I”s that cause antipathy. We have to bear in mind that many people manifest within each person. Often, you are friends of certain psychic aggregates of this or that particular friend, of this or that person, yet you are not friends of all the psychic aggregates of your friend, and that is the question. This is why people say, “There are things of my friend that I like, yet there are other things that I dislike.” There are good things; there are bad things. Yes, that is the way we behave towards people. It all depends on the type of psychic aggregates that are speaking through them in a given moment. Therefore, the friendship that we feel is just for a few aggregates of that person, but we do not feel the same esteem for the other aggregates of that person; thus, the person we esteem psychologically, physically, may have psychological aggregates that we do not esteem. At certain times a given friend rubs us wrong, precisely because other aggregates with which we have no friendship are expressing through him, and that is the harsh reality of the facts.
If we had a permanent “I,” we would say, “I am a friend of such a fellow in a total, complete way,” and we would not find in him any “buts” or “strikes.” Nevertheless, it so happens that we do not have one permanent “I,” but many. Then what is the psychic aggregate, or which “I”s of that fellow do we esteem? Do we esteem all of them? So, this is why we need to be comprehensive about interrelationships.
Why do friends fight? Simply because suddenly within the personality intervenes a psychic aggregate that is not a friend of that friend. Then, discord comes. But if that psychic aggregate withdraws, and another intervenes that is a friend of that friend, ah... then they make amends. How foolish are the friendships then! They are not complete. And they are not complete because they are not comprehensive; they do not understand this matter about the plurality of the “I,” otherwise they would be complete and would know how to forgive the defects of their friends, and would not fight with them.
So, we lack that knowledge about how not to quarrel with our neighbors, how to become more cognizant about it. With comprehension, we improve our interrelations.
There are mechanical sympathies and — we might say — mechanical antipathies. Neither one nor the other serve us, because they are mechanical.
Sometimes we say, “That fellow rubs me wrong,” but what from that fellow rubs us wrong? Possibly, a psychic aggregate that is not our friend, and that is all.
We must not try to force ourselves to become sympathetic with someone with whom we feel antipathy. Rather, we should find out what causes that antipathy. When we discover based on reflections that the antipathy is mechanical, then that antipathy disappears, then sympathy alone remains.
How can we do this? What can serve us as basis in order to conclude that a given antipathy is mechanical? Simply, I say, by comprehending the plurality of the “I,” since it is indubitable that many persons live within every person.
For example, sometimes in certain people, in a given subject, some aggregates that we do not like express themselves. This is mechanical. Let us reflect that within that person who rubs us wrong, there might also be some aggregates that can sympathize with us, and be helpful and friendly. Not all the aggregates that manifest themselves through a subject who rubs us wrong are unpleasant to us. Yes, some aggregates that we do like may manifest through a fellow that we do not like. If we reflect on this, we will comprehend this point of view about the plurality of the “I.” Then, mechanical antipathy will disappear, since this is so detrimental, because it develops more and more the elements that are related with the negative emotional center. Thus, the more we go about eliminating the psychological aggregates of the negative emotional center, more and more the superior emotional center will become developed in us.
Superior Emotions
Behold, the superior emotional center is greater and more powerful than the intellect. With the higher emotional center we can comprehend the nature of fire.
The sacred books are written with flaming coals, meaning, with fire. For example, the language of the Bible is in parables; it is the language of the superior emotional center.
Mystical and incorporeal experiences are obviously parables; these can only be understood with the superior emotional center. The mysteries of life and death are perfectly cognizable by means of the superior emotional center; this is obvious.
I have told you that the Monad is the most important thing in us. The more we go about eliminating the inferior psychic elements, more and more we will receive the radiations of the Monad.
The Monad is Atman-Buddhi. Atman is the ineffable; he receives the force that “becomes” from the Demiurge Creator. The Demiurge creator in its turn receives it from Adi Buddha, the incognizable Seity. Atman as an unfoldment of the Divine Architect of the universe is ineffable; He is that which can be call Paramatman or Shiva Tattva.
In spite of being so spiritual, Buddhi becomes — we might say — more corporeal, more concrete than Atman. Buddhi, Eros, as an igneous principle, obviously becomes more evident to us. Buddhi’s radiations go deeper and deeper as we go dissolving the negative emotions of the emotional center, as the pace that the superior emotional center becomes developed.
Atman-Buddhi is the Monad, the reality inside of us, that which counts, the Real Self in us. We have to fight, eliminating negative emotions, in order to get closer and closer to the Monad.
Precisely the Monad helps us, because from Buddhi emanates Eros, which is the extraordinary sexual power with which we can disintegrate the psychic aggregates in the forge of the Cyclops.
What would become of us without Eros? Eros is opposed by Anteros, by the powers of evil that are not outside of us, but within us, here and now. Those are all of those psychic aggregates from the inferior emotional center. Those are the Anteros.
If we eliminate the negative emotions and develop the superior emotional center, we will then penetrate more and more into the essence of fire. We will come closer and closer to our interior Monad that has always smiled upon us.
Do not forget that initially the emotional center is pure, radiant. The inferior emotions, located in its inferior parts, in its inferior points, constitute the inferior emotional center. Thus, if we eliminate the inferior emotions, then everything becomes perfect, as a delectable lotus flower of the superior emotional center.
Anyhow, Atman is the ray that connects us to the Logos and to Adi Buddha. The forces of Adi Buddha and the interior Logoi reach Atman, and remain contained within Buddhi. Yet, as long as we have negative emotions, it is impossible to approach Buddhi. In other words, it remains difficult to approach the Monad as long as we continue with inferior emotions within us.
We must cultivate superior emotions, such as through music; we must listen the music of Beethoven. We must listen to Mozart, Liszt, Tchaikovsky. We must learn to paint, but to paint pictures that are not infra-human. We must pour upon the canvas our noblest feelings, that which is pure.
Everything we do must be dignifying. One is filled with ecstasy when contemplating the Corinthian columns of ancient times, the marbles of Rome and Athens, the magnificent sculptures of a brunette Isis in the land of the Pharaohs, or of an Apollo or of a Venus of Nile, or of the chaste Diana.
One is filled with ecstasy, vibrating with superior emotions, when listening for example to the lyre of ancient times in order to enter into profound meditation within the bosom of nature, or when walking through the ruins of ancient Rome, or when walking along the banks of the Ganges, or when falling upon our knees when before our guru amidst the eternal snows of the Himalayas. Then, superior emotion vibrates.
In ancient times, in Lemuria, in epochs when the rivers of pure water of life flowed with milk and honey, when still the Lyre of Orpheus had not yet fallen on the floor of the temple and shattered into pieces, the superior emotional center vibrated intensely within every human being. That was the era of the Titans, the time when the human beings who inhabited the face of the Earth could see the auras of the worlds, and perceive more than the half of a hooltanpanas of color tonalities. We know very well that an hooltanpanas has more than five million tonalities.
When the inferior emotional center was developed by means of violent passions such as lust, hatred, cruel wars between brothers, then that sense became atrophied, and this humanity became stuck within this tridimensional world of Euclid.
The hour has arrived to understand that it is possible to penetrate more profoundly within ourselves only by means of the superior emotional center, if we proceed uprightly, if we learn how to live, if we learn how to interrelate with our neighbors in a beautiful manner. Then we will approach closer and closer our holy Monad, and distinct flashes of cosmic consciousness will come to surprise us. They will become increasingly continuous, so that one day we will indeed have a truly awakened consciousness, the superlative consciousness of the Being: Buddhi. On that day we will be blessed. In that delectable dawn, the vibrations of Buddhi will completely saturate us, and we will know how to truly live in a perfect, cognizant state.
This is the conclusion of this lecture.
Questions and Answers
Audience: Master, can any virtue be a hindrance on the path to liberation? I mean, are virtues as well as the vices, defects obstacles towards the path of the Superman?
Samael Aun Weor: Can you see how easy it is to misinterpret the teachings? You do it with a simple, sincere heart, yet after you say such a thing, another fellow will misinterpret it a little bit more, and a third will continue to misinterpret it more, thus when the teachings reach all of America, people will already be saying, “Samael is against the virtues! Thus, no more virtues!” So, this is how the teachings become distorted. This is how the teachings of all the major brothers and sisters who have helped mankind have been distorted. What remains of Buddhism, can you tell me? Gautama Shakyamuni spoke against the abominable kundabuffer organ. The whole of his doctrine was against the evil consequences of that abominable organ, yet today the Buddhist gospel is deformed. Nothing, almost nothing, remains from ancient Buddhism. Everything has been deformed.
Listen, I am not pronouncing myself against virtues. I clarify:, we must think correctly. Water is useful, magnificent, good in the sink, good in its container in the bathroom, but what would you say about water flowing in the room inundating the bedrooms? That would be different, right? It would become bad.
Fire is good in the kitchen. It is also magnificent there on the candles. But if right now the fire was burning this house and firefighters come, what will we say? A true calamity, right? Thus, every virtue is good in its right place.
A missionary like you is good since you are given the teachings and then you spread them everywhere, but what if instead of you disseminating the teachings among different people out there in the streets, or within the Lumisials, or within family homes, you were to go to brothels to disclose the teachings, would that be correct? That would be bad, right? Then such a missionary would become what? He would become evil, malevolent. Thus, it all depends on the use of one’s virtues.
Money itself is neither good nor bad, it all depends on the use made of it. If it is used for evil, it is bad. The same for the virtues: they are beautiful, ineffable gems.
It is clear that each psychological eliminated defect leaves a free position for the crystallization of a virtue. Yet, virtues out of their right place are bad. One can do too much harm with them, and not only to others, but one can also harm oneself with one’s own virtues, if one do not know how to handle them. I want the brothers and sisters to understand this with perfect clarity.
For example, what would you say about violence? Would violence be good or not? What is your response? What would be the answer?
A Disciple: It is bad.
Another Disciple: It is good and bad.
Samael Aun Weor: The latter answer is most logical.
Another Disciple: It depends how violence is applied. If violence is applied with a sense of defense, it is good for us. Yet, if applied in an excessive manner, one can become impaired.
Venerable Master: Essentially, what you are saying is right, yet this must be specified in more detail. Obviously, violence leads to violence, and is not advised. Nevertheless, let us delve into it. A man has his wife and sons, he lives at home, he also has daughters, already young adult ladies. Suddenly a group of bandits storm the house. They have resolved to rape his wife and his daughters, burn the house, and steal everything. Yet, there is a man there, the husband. He sensed when the bandits entered the house, he is aware of them, but instead of wielding the gun in order to defend his home, he blesses the bandits because he is on the “saintly path,” and says, “May God bless you brothers of my soul, do not commit the crime of raping my wife,” while they are raping her. “Do not commit the crime of raping my daughters,” while they are raping them. “Do not steal my money,” while they are robbing their last cents. “Do not burn down my house,” while they are lighting the fire in it. “Brothers, do not do that, because you will gain a lot of karma. Despite your crimes, I am willing to bless all of you.”
Well, let us suppose that he survived that tragedy, given that the bandits sympathized with him. Well, how would this man be before the authorities and before the divine? The authorities, I believe, would try him as an accomplice of the crime; this is already provided for in the penal code. That man deserves jail for cowardice, and because he has become an accomplice to the crime, that is obvious. He deserves prison, he has become an accomplice, and he is a coward.
So, what is the duty of that man in that situation, that man who is on the path, he is an initiate, he wants to be a Mahatma, and who knows what else? What is his duty? To die in the battlefield, defending his family by any means, to die fighting, but to die if he has to die, to die when doing his duty as a man. That is his duty.
And what would we say, for example, of the military? Here we have our Lieutenant Colonel Moisés Rodríguez Tapia. What we would say, for example, what would our brother who is military say if suddenly the country is threatened? Some aliens come to invade, loot, rape, burn, and rob us, and the army says, “We do not fight anymore. May God bless all these invaders. If they burn, woe to them, they will create karma. May God bless them! We do not fight.” Thus, they cross their arms and give blessings to the bandits that are attacking us. What would become of an army like that? Treason to the country, high treason, that is obvious. High treason punishable not only by the judges of the Earth, but also of divinity. What then would be the duty of the army at that moment?
Disciple: To attack, to defend.
Master: Yes, to defend! There is the need to use weapons. So, weapons in themselves are neither good nor bad. It all depends on the use made of them. If weapons are used for good, they are good, but if weapons are used for evil, they are evil. It all depends on the circumstances.
So, this matter about virtues is something that must be reflected upon very much, very much indeed, because with virtues one can not only harm others, but also oneself.
Audience: I have not understood why in The Bhagavad Gita Krishna urges Arjuna to fight against his relatives; I have not been able to interpret that.
Samael Aun Weor: Well, long live! Long live! Long live Krishna with his encouragement to Arjuna! And long may he live as well! And let us go fight against our relatives! Wonderful! I myself agree with it. Let us go and fight against all the relatives. Let us unsheathe the sword and go against all of them. Do you know who all those relatives are? Well, they are all of those psychic aggregates that we carry within, and against them we have to fight very hard, even if it hurts. They are our inner “relatives,” and we must make cracklings of them, and that is it.
Audience: What interpretation can we give then to the teaching that states: “But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also?”
Samael Aun Weor: Indeed, I assure you that if someone comes along and strikes my cheek, I will offer the other to be stroked even harder, no problem. But if, here together, I am in charge of a group of children, or if I am here as a guardian of the temple — that is, if I am holding the position of that brother and suddenly there comes a group of bandits that want to make cracklings from you, then I will fight with them, since that is why the guardian is holding a sword. If they defeat me, well, I will die on the battlefield.
What is the duty of the guardian of the temple? You tell me. Well?
Disciple: To defend, even with one’s own life, the people who are been guarded.
Samael Aun Weor: Correct! Right now you are the guardian of the temple. If right now someone comes to attack us, if the the crowds come, if the bandits come to attack these brothers and sisters, you have to lose your life if needed,; since you are the guardian of the temple.
So then, one thing is one thing, and another thing is another thing. One thing is that we bless our enemies, that we return good for evil, that when we are struck on one cheek, we offer the other to be struck even harder, and another thing is to defend those who are in our care. Understood? This requires a lot of self-reflection, a lot of psychological self-observation, and much meditation, so that at the end we will discover the cause. Once we discover the cause, we disintegrate it with the help of the Divine Mother Kundalini, with the help of the sacred fire, then the virtue of sympathy for that person who rub us wrong emerges within us. We must therefore become cognizant of everything, live a conscious life, a more mature life, less mechanical.
Audience: Master, can virtue be learned?
Samael Aun Weor: Well, my friend, never! Virtues are precious gems, flowers of the soul born in us when we have eliminated this or that psychological defects. For example, if we have eliminated anger, then sweetness arises in us. If we have eliminated lust, in its place comes then the virtue of chastity. If we eliminated hatred, in its place comes the virtue of love. Thus, as we eliminate these psychological defects, virtues will arise and take their place.
This is why we stated that we need to crystallize the soul in ourselves. The soul is pure fire, universal fire, divine fire. That ineffable fire must slowly crystallize in us. But we could not perform the crystallization of the soul in us if we do not eliminate our psychological defects.
Thus, as we eliminate every psychic aggregate, in their replacement, a virtue, a power, or a law, etc., will crystallize in us. This is what is called to crystallize soul; thus, finally when all the psychic aggregates are eliminated, only soul will remain in us; even our physicality must become soul. What is the body of a mutant? It is a body already converted into soul.
Is there another question?
Audience: Venerable master, speaking about virtues, can we consider in many cases that a virtue can create psychological dependence?
Samael Aun Weor: When it is not known how to use it, a virtue can create psychological dependence, can convert one into a tyrant, can make one to walk a false step, etc. For example, how many judges who had the virtue of fulfilling their duty during the times of the French Revolution sent many innocents to the guillotine? There were executioners whose duty was to behead many with the guillotine and many of them accomplished their duty; yes, with the virtue of duty they beheaded many; they dropped the blade on their necks. Is that right? So then we have to learn how to handle the virtues.
Virtues are not to be underestimated. They are precious gems. They bloom in us as the psychic aggregates are eliminated. But everything must be in its place. We already said that fire is good in the kitchen, but it is bad if burning the room; the water in the sink is good, but it is bad if it invades the bedrooms. A virtue is good in its place, and evil when is misplaced. That is all.
We need to be more equilibrated, more reflexive, more mature, this is obvious. For example, mechanical antipathy is absurd, but it is useless to fight against mechanical antipathy, it is useless.
For example: some person rubs me wrong, but because I am studying gnosis I will pretend that I am becoming his friend, thus artificially I will force myself to smile. That smile will be a tragic grin; no! What we need is to perform a dissection of that mechanical antipathy in order to comprehend why this person rubs me wrong.
Yet, in order to crystallize the soul in us, which is pure living fire, we need to eliminate the psychic aggregates, and this is only possible when experiencing great emotional crises.
Comprehension is not a merely an intellectual matter, no! In order to eliminate a psychic aggregate, one has to pass through terrible repentances, and pray, to despair, to beat oneself to the ground, and even “whip oneself” if needed.
One needs very much to suffer, repent, to go through terrible bitterness. If one does not go through these emotional crises, that which should be disintegrated is not disintegrated, and virtues do not crystallize, and the soul does not crystallize.
When one achieves the crystallization of soul, everything becomes soul, then one more flame gloriously shines in the big bonfire burning amidst the magnificent aura of the universe. This is how the doctrine of fire teaches this to us, and this is how we must understand it.
Any other questions?
Audience: Venerable master, Eros is fire and the Divine Mother in us is fire. What do we do in order for Eros to assist us, in order to get the maximum fire in us? So that fire does not slip from us like water?
Samael Aun Weor: Well, Eros is fire, sexual fire that emanates from the Monad, and the Monad in turn receives that fire from the Logos. That erotic fire emerges entirely from the Valkyrie, from Buddhi in manifestation.
That fire does not escape if we do not spill the Hermetic Cup, when the cup that contains the oil remains intact. But if the Cup of Hermes is spilled, if the erotic fire escapes, if it is lost, then with what fire are we going to work? We need the power of the Monad if we want to achieve the elimination of the psychic aggregates. So, this is how this must be comprehended.
Audience: How far one should work with this fire, should it also be rhythmically or can we get to work even when preventing the fire?
Samael Aun Weor: Fire manifests or must be used — to be more specific — throughout the esoteric work perfectly, rhythmically, since there are times of plus and times of minus, there are individual mahamanvantara times and individual pralaya times, times of activity and times of rest. Each period of activity must be preceded by a magnetic creative pause. There is biorhythm in everything.
Audience: Master, regarding the emotional crises that you mentioned, would it be convenient that a person who is really interested in doing the Great Work to ask his Being to make him pass through these emotional crises?
Samael Aun Weor: The Being is the Being, and the Being has many parts. To which part of the Being are you referring?
Student: To the psychological coach, or the particular Anubis at least.
Samael Aun Weor: Every part of the Being deserves to be reflected upon. We know that from the single flame emanate the seven flames, and these seven flames multiply seven times, and in their turn those seven into another seven, etc… So obviously, one only plays one part, yet the other parts of the Being have to work too, that is obvious. Each flame is obligated to work, but obviously the Mother Kundalini, the wife of Shiva is indeed the one who is obligated to perform the most work.
Now, regarding emotional crises, this is a matter related to the superior emotional center. This is a matter of comprehension. When one comprehends how absurd one has been, when one realizes that one is nothing but a human wreck, that one is worthless, then repentance for all the crimes committed emerges, and from them emerge emotional crises, which are not fake but really sincerely felt. That is all.
Audience: When it is stated that water is the habitat of fire, are we stating that the fire emerges from water, or is fire the first element that gives life to the other elements?
Samael Aun Weor: Water, can you analyze it? The H2O formula is known, but H2O would be incomplete without the Fohat; thus, the Fohat must be added to the formula. So therefore, water could not exist without the fire element; this is what is primordial, it is fundamental. When fire condenses, first it condenses into air, then into water and finally into earth.
You can know the chemical elements of the earth, and know how important the carbon is; you can know the chemical elements of the air and know what the nitrogen is, what the oxygen is; but what are the chemical elements of fire? Who has analyzed it? What is its formula? It is unknown. Why? Because fire is the living expression of the Seity. It is the reflection of the Logos of the universe. So, everything emerges from fire, and if we do not work disintegrating our psychological defects with fire, we then march on the path of error.
Audience: Master, Lucifer is the bearer of light, right? What relation has Lucifer with the Divine Mother in us and with the work in the forge?
Samael Aun Weor: Lucifer is the fire, is the fohat, is the sulfur of medieval alchemists. Obviously, he is the reflection of the Cosmic Christus, of Vishnu in us and within us. Undoubtedly, he descends into the depths of oneself, within ourselves. This is a matter of Christic esotericism. We say that he is the devil when we have not yet eliminated the psychic aggregates. In him all of our defects are reflected. But if we disintegrate our psychic aggregates, then he shines and becomes integrated with us in order to transform us and to make of us mutants.
What is a mutant? It is a human integrated with Lucifer, who grants him all powers: the Elixir of Long Life that grants us power over the elements of fire, air, water, and earth.
But in order for Lucifer to shine within us, to become integrated with us, one needs first of all to be whitewashed; this is why the medieval alchemists stated, “Burn your books and whitewash the Brass.” We need to whitewash the devil.
Each one of you has the devil black as coal, horrible. We need to whitewash him, and only you can whitewash him. Yes, only each one of you by disintegrating your psychic aggregates. The day that you do it, you will integrate with him, and he with you, and he will grant you the hidden treasure, the Golden Fleece. He will give you all the powers. Before whitewashing him it is not possible. Understood!
Audience: Master, when repentance does not emerge due to the multiplicity of the ego, any determination that we take in order — so to say — to punish us, as did Saint Anthony or Saint Francis, wouldn't that appear to be an evil deed? Could this be a very useful action to take on the path of the self-realization in order to eliminate certain psychic aggregates?
Samael Aun Weor: Well, in this there are no dogmas, but inventories, namely: additions, subtractions, multiplications, and divisions. There is the need to know what we lack and what we need, without dogmas.
First of all, what we need is to know why repentance does not arise within us, if it is because indeed we are already perverse. Because when repentance arises in us, it is because perversity is no longer in us. But if repentance does not arise, it is because we are too evil, too perverse.
My dear friends, what is obviously within repentance? Some translate it in one way and others in another way. Some say that repentance relates to changes in the way people think and they cite Greek terms, etc., but I do not agree with those conceptions.
When one, indeed, is facing one’s own Divine Monad that emanated from the Sacred Absolute Sun, and looks down and sees what one has in the bottom and becomes aware of one’s all barbarity, one experiences repentance, one passes through emotional crises.
But when we are so far from the Sacred Absolute Sun, when already the emanations, the cosmic tides of the Sacred Sun Absolute do not reach us because we are too deviated, isolated, fallen into black magic, we are then a lost case, then in this case one is perverse, and such a perverse one will have to recriminate himself much. He will need to pass through horrible penances.
Obviously, we will need to be very honest with ourselves, extremely sincere, to be able to really disintegrate the inhuman psychic aggregates we carry inside. But above all, if repentance does not reaches us, it is because we are evil, perverse, one who has reach perversity.
Listen, one thing is evilness and another is perversity. The perverse does not feel remorse or repentance. He is a hopeless case. The cosmic ripples of the Sacred Absolute Sun no longer reach him; this is why he does not feel remorse or repentance, and he becomes cynical, he becomes an inhabitant of the submerged mineral kingdom, he enters the world of 96 laws. That is all.
But what to do in that case, in order for the one who does not feel remorse to repent? Again, he will need to appeal a lot to the force of reflection in order to analyze his psychological defects, and even to make certain rigorous penances, and to discipline himself, etc., as I said.
Audience: Is there an exact formula in order for one to work with the divine Daimon, to invoke him in order to receive his light?
Samael Aun Weor: Behind that question, at the bottom of it, there is a spring of curiosity. Yes, in the background there is a spring of curiosity. Would you like to work with him? Simply, so much has been heard about him. Goethe addresses him. Dr. Faust, enchanter, magician, addresses him. Many texts address him, implying that it is well worth attempting some friendship with him, but I question all of you here present, if indeed there is anyone here present that is duly and truly prepared to work with Mr. Lucifer? Let us be sincere! Who of you is duly and truly prepared? None of you indeed.