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The Steps of the Soul THE human individual is a very complex
being: he is com-posed of innumerable elements, each one of which is an
independent entity and has almost a personality. Not only so, the most
contradictory elements are housed together. If there is a particular quality or
capacity present, the very opposite of it, annulling it, as it were, will be
also found along with it and embracing it.. I have seen a man brave,
courageous, heroic to the extreme, flinching from no danger, facing unperturbed
the utmost peril, the bravest of the brave, truly; and yet I have seen the same
man cowering in abject terror, like the last of poltroons, in the presence of
certain circumstances. I have seen a most generous man, giving away largely,
freely, not counting any expenditure or sacrifice, without the least care or
reservation; the same person I have also found to be the vilest of misers in
respect of certain other considerations. I have seen again the most intelligent
person, with a clear mind, full of light and understanding, easily
comprehending the logic and implication of a topic and yet I have seen him
betraying the utmost stupidity of which even an ordinary man without education
or intelligence would be incapable. These are not theoretical examples, but I
have come across such persons actually in life. The complexity arises not only in extension, but also in depth. Man does not live on a single plane but on many planes at the same time. There is a scale of gradation in human consciousness: the higher one rises in the scale the greater the number of elements or personalities that one possesses. Whether one lives mostly or mainly on the physical or vital or mental plane or on any particular section of these planes or on planes above and beyond, there will be accordingly
Page – 238 differences in the constitution or psycho-physical make-up of the individual
personality. The higher one stands the richer the personality, because it lives
not only on its own normal level, but also on all that are below and which it
has transcended. The complete or integral man, some occultists say, possesses
365 personalities; indeed it may be much more. (The Vedas speak of the three
and thirty-three and thirty-three hundred and thirty-three thousand gods that
may be housed in the human vehicle – the basic three being evidently the triple
status or world of Body, Life and Mind). What
is the meaning of this self-contradiction, this division in man? To understand
that we must know and remember that each person represents a certain quality or
capacity, a particular achievement to be embodied. How best can it be done?
What is the way by which one can acquire a quality at its purest, and highest
and most perfect? It is by setting an opposition to it. That is how a power is
increased and strengthened – by fighting against and overcoming all that
weakens and contradicts it. The deficiencies in respect of a particular quality
show you where you are to mend and reinforce and in what way to improve in
order to make it perfectly perfect. It is the hammer that beats the weak and
soft iron to transform it into hard steel. The preliminary discord is useful
and necessary to be utilised
for a higher harmony. This is the secret of self-conflict in man. You are
weakest precisely in that element which is destined to be your greatest asset. Each
man has then a mission to fulfil, a role to play in the universe; a part he has
been given to learn and take up in the cosmic Purpose which he alone is capable
of executing and none other. This he has to learn and acquire through
life-experiences, that is to say, not in one life, but in life after life. In
fact, that is the meaning of the chain of lives that the individual has to pass
through, namely, to acquire experiences and to gather out of them the thread –
the skein of qualities and attributes, powers and capacities – for the pattern
of life he has to weave. Now, the inmost being, the true personality, the central
consciousness of the evolving individual is his psychic being. It is, as it
were, a very tiny speck of light lying far behind the experiences in normal
people. In grown
Page – 239 up souls this psychic
consciousness has an increased light – increased in intensity, volume and
richness. Thus there are souls, old and new. Old and ancient are those that
have reached or are about to reach the fullness of perfection; they have passed
through a long past of innumerable lives and developed the most complex and yet
the most integrated personality. New souls are those that are just emerged or
emerging out of the mere physico-vital existence; these are like simple
organisms, made of fewer constituents, referring mostly to the bodily life,
with just a modicum of the mental. It is the soul, however, that grows with
experiences and it is the soul that builds and enriches the personality.
Whatever portion of the outer life, whatever element in the mind or vital or
body succeeds in corning in contact with the psychic consciousness, that is to
say, is able to come under its influence, is taken up and lodged there: it
remains in the psychic 'being as its living memory and permanent possession. It
is such elements that form the basis, the groundwork upon which the structure
of the integral and true personality is raised. The
first thing then to do is to find out what it is that you are meant to realise,
what is the role you have to play, your particular mission and the capacity or
quality you have to express. You have to discover that and also the thing or
things that oppose and do not allow it to flower or come to full manifestation.
In other words, you have to know yourself, recognize your soul or psychic
being. For that you must be absolutely sincere and impartial. You must observe yourself as if you were observing and criticising a third person. You must not start with an idea that this is your life's mission, such is your particular capacity, you are to do this or you are to do that, in this lies your talent or genius etc. That will carry you away from the right track. It is not the liking or disliking of your external being, your mental or vital or physical choice that determines the true line of your growth. Nor should you take up the opposite attitude and say, "I am good for nothing in this matter, I am useless in that other, this is not for me." Neither vanity or arrogance nor self-depreciation or false modesty should move you. As I said, you must be absolutely impartial and unconcerned.
Page – 240 You should be like a mirror that reflects the truth and does not judge. If you are able to keep such an
attitude, if you have this repose and quiet trust in your being and wait for
what may be revealed to you, then something like this happens: you are, as it
were, in the woods, dark and noiseless; you see in front of you just a sheet of
water dark ,and still, hardly visible-a bit of a pond imbedded in the
obscurity, and slowly upon it a moonbeam is cast and in the cool dim light
emerges the calm liquid surface. That is how your secret truth of being will
appear and present itself to you at your first contact with it: there you will
see gradually reflected the true qualities of your being, the traits of your
divine personality, what you really are and what you are meant to be. One who has thus known oneself and possessed oneself
conquering all opposition within himself, has by that very fact extended
himself and his conquest, making it easier for others to make the same or
similar conquest. These are the pioneers or the elite who by their victorious
campaign within themselves help others towards their victory.
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