II, iv, 13. Mary Magdalene's story: You know my way of life, how by night people knew us and by day avoided us. So with Christ. I decided to find Him by day and extend my hand to Him. I donned my best attire and Smyrna necklace, perfuming my hair. He, seated among fishermen and covered in sackcloth--between us people passed, equally avoiding us. He said to His beloved disciple, "Take this pinch of dust and bring it to this woman that she may exchange it for her necklace. Verily in these ashes is more life than in her stones, because from ashes I may create stones but from stones only dust." He did not condemn me. He but weighed my chains and the chains of shame crumbled as dust. He decided simply. Never did He hesitate to send the simplest object which directed one's entire life. He touched these as in bathing them in spirit. His path was empty, as people in receiving His gifts departed hastily. Wishing to lay on hands, He found all empty. At the end the price of the robber was worthy of the crowd. Verily He cleft asunder the chains in bestowing knowledge without reward. 14. Time was when We said "Give up everything." Now We go further: "Take everything yet do not consider it your own." 15. We appreciate a medieval lute as well as Wagner's "Walkure". Also fine is the ancient Chinese crystal instrument called a rainbow harp. 16. In tune with life's rhythm comes the needed accrual of power. The formation of crystals and flowers indicate perfection's way. 17. The link twixt Christ and Buddha glows dimly in people's understanding. 18. It is possible to cure all ailments by the counterpoising of vitality. Pine trees collect prana as in electric needles. One should not search among minerals for prana, the solar manifestation bestows life. Mineral soil provides a foothold, a pedal, useless without interwoven threads of life. There is little vitality in the villages because prana helps only when absorbed consciously. Druids called the chalice of cedar resin the chalice of life. Zoroaster's fire was the result of burning cedar resin in the chalice. 19. The giving hand lives wisely. Let the old lands rest. To whom give the new soil? To those bringing a pinch of the ancient knowledge. Let the departed ones return. In the great plan of life places of harvest must alternate. The new upon a new place. Welcome the unfortunate: "Come ye naked, we will clothe thee; come ye little ones, we will rear thee; come ye dumb, we will give thee speech; come ye blind, see the predestined domain." 21. The former primitive divisions of mankind into caste, class and profession have been replaced by a complex distinction according to light and darkness. Without details one must trace a general demarcation line of light and dark, as if recruiting a new army. II, v. 1. The principle of the spiral whirl is found in everything, (also known as the phi ratio). 2. One must discard all exaggerations. The springs cannot act before the appointed date, overhaste cuts the lines. 4. One may build a city, give the best knowledge, but most difficult it is to reveal Christ's true image. By simple hands must the temple be built. 5. The Star of Allahabad pointed the way. We visited Sarnath and Gaya. Everywhere We found desecrated religion. Taking His bamboo staff, Christ traced a square about the impression of His foot, saying "Verily the way is by man's feet." Making the impression of His palm, He surrounded it also with a square. Verily, by man's hands." Between the squares He drew the semblance of a pillar surmounted by an arc. "O, how Aum shall penetrate man's consciousness! Here I drew pistil and above it an arc and have set the foundation in four directions. When by men's feet and hands the Temple is built wherein will blossom the pistil laid by Me, then let the Builders pass this way. Why wait, when the way lies before Us?" Then rising, He effaced with His cane all that He had drawn. "When the Temple Name is announced, then shall the inscription emerge. In remembrance of My constellation, the square and nine stars shall glow over the Temple. The sign of foot and hand shall be inscribed above the cornerstone." This He spake on the eve of the new moon and the desert heat was great. Who is to extoll the World Mother if not Christ so demeaned by the world. Give Us the arch of the dome wherein to enter. 6. The touch of the ray of the Brotherhood increases the sagacity of perceptions. Small as well as important events strike upon the aura as upon musical strings. The attainment of a rainbow aura is so practical as it carries within itself the means of assimilation of all that exists. 7. When perplexed, sit together in silence in one thought. Soon you'll understand to what extent silent counsel is practical. We precipitate the force of the spirit along one channel. An unusual discharge results, reinforced by magnetism and harmonized by rhythm. Two concordant coordinates by law increase the power sevenfold. 8. Know how to meet the lifewaves in beauty. It is not the receiving of sweet pastry but the forging of a sword. Chiefly, do not jump along the way. We rejoice at steadiness of pace. It is more fitting for the ray to illumine walking ones than to leap after jumping ones. At dawn and eventide, in advance and retreat, flying or diving, think of Us who keep watch. The beautiful is also the worthy. 9. Fire singes imperfect thought. Everyone expresses the essence of his aura, but single thoughts are of varying value according to the spiritual consistency. The best thing is to destroy the germs of base thought, more infectious than all diseases. 10. In the astral plane there exist harmonious oases, but in general prevails a fantastic cemetery of remnants. One may mitigate the consequences of relativity by actual truth, realized thru spirituality. 11. Nothing gathers essential prana as well as plants do. The law of Earth's nurture affords, thru plant antennae, the possibility of drawing from the common pool via smell and sight precious vitality. Preparations of vital plants dried in the sun are useful. The stage of decomposition should be avoided, for decomposition is the same in everything, attracting the most imperfect spirits. Small pines are more effective a prana source than right breathing. A restful state increases the action. 12. Devachan, the realm of pleasantness, is also dangerous to the weak spirit who is reluctant to leave that station. It is precisely the spirit which permits no stopping, for in innermost self is remembrance of great beauty, an inexpressible firm knowing of potential return to Light whence sparks emanate. The goal and meaning of existence is to strive upward beyond known limits, and to help one another. Simply recalling the sensation of being still before a natural phenomenon, does not the heart contract in rapture? After this stage, embracing boundlessness follows. Some are easily reconciled to the sham luxury of the astral, but only the abodes of awareness lead on. 13. Each great master reveals the continuity of life. But materialism expurgates this from tradition, defending itself. Earth's plane is dense but at a turningpoint wherein spirit may harmonize matter to itself. No one denies the value of matter but it is inconceivable that on a locomotive wheels and boiler must quarrel. The better the boiler the better it is for the wheels. Fundamentally, matter and spirit are not in conflict. Why pile up illusory dams near Earth? Why a hundred incarnations when with ten one may crossover? 14. When someone approaches matter for the sake of its immediate condition, he losses immunity of spirit and sinks into so-called maya, because without the perfecting of substances their shell becomes poisonous. 15. The growth of spiritual understanding attracts the cooperation of the airy kingdom, so the hostility of dense matter is regretable, as cooperation is thus delayed. Matter has no wings. When man is free from fear he can know reality's source. 16. The difficulty with developing the aura is that auric rays cannot be superimposed from without but only evoked from within. It is a good sign as the flame-spirit radiates its hue. Each monochromatic aura contains three waves: physical, mental, inherent. 17. We see the march of predestined events and note the passing of quiet figures seemingly detached from life, although We value them by their achievements. Of course the aura expands but the quality is constant, shielding sensitiveness. Very rarely do these limit themselves in a single specialty--hands seem to reach out to the chalice. Thruout ages these have been waiting and prepared for the journey and ready to depart at any hour without regrets. The most difficult thing is to encompass both the rapture of matter and the mode of spirit. Only by special modes of communication can those in the train of transcendence proceed. To await the timeliness of that which spirit knows and considers becomes so painful it is as if time had stopped and some sort of conflagration sweeps thru. Why hast Thou forsaken me, O Lord? refers to knowledge of spirit. By restraining past consciousness as in a seeming vacuum, the leap over the abyss is achieved. 18. Why the solitude of the last incarnation? In the ordinary approach of a ship to harbor one observes a parallel case. The life of the ship ceases, the passengers busy themselves to disembark, recent unified activities seem non-existent. Nearing complete change, the organism's striving is guided by intuition. 19. It also happens that before departure all voices quell, causing awe. Now that the Egyptian mysteries are being made open--miracles passing unto the formula "By man's hand and foot"--the unfolding era is erasing boundaries twixt worlds. 20. It is very important that the sensitive aura terminate in a protecting net of vital sparks. The network makes the aura compact. Higher inspiration (teros) lantern-like finds the break in auric flow (due to densities, tamas). The world can then be held back as this defense is appreciated and willed. Although the leaping sparks seem only so much motion, they guard and repel from dangers.