Useful Information For an
Effective Search
Carlos Cardoso
Aveline
Since time
immemorial, the topic of searching for the Master is seen as sacred in Eastern
traditions. In the West, too, every student of mystical traditions looks for a
guide, a teacher, a safe guiding system.
In that regard, the timeless Pedagogy of classical
theosophy says that one should calmly examine in the first place the following
question:
“What exactly is the Master to be looked for?”
In practical terms, for every student who possesses a
reasonable amount of common sense, the Master is fundamentally his or her own
higher self, the immortal soul.
If the student can’t find the light in his own
consciousness, it will be a loss of time to search for it in the outside world.
To follow this or that personality is almost certainly worse than useless.
On the other hand, the truth-seeker who has adopted
the right method acknowledges all beings as his masters. If the student knows
how to learn, he takes lessons from everything and every situation, and does
not get too dependent on any external source of knowledge.
The true teacher, on his turn, teaches the student how
to learn. He helps his disciple to acquire knowledge in conscious and
independent ways, by observing his interaction with all beings, including the
ones who are not his friends.
The real master is, therefore, transcendent. He acts
in every aspect of life. The most effective teacher is the voice of the
silence, the center of peace and source of ethics situated in the heart of
one’s soul.
The role of the Masters of the Wisdom which inspire
the theosophical movement is to give helpful elements for each student to
autonomously activate his own higher levels of intelligence and gradually
transfer to them his main focus.
Taking into consideration these basic points, we can
better observe and understand the following fragment from the Buddhist
literature:
“Make a parchment with your abraded skin,
Make a pen with your bones,
Make your blood become ink
And write the teaching of the Master”. [1]
The image means that, in order to tread the path to
wisdom, the pilgrim must leave aside the indulgence and love for comfort that
are often present in the lower self. Thus one can express on the physical plane
the substance of spiritual soul.
NOTE:
[1] From the book “Le
Bouddha et le Bouddhisme”, by Maurice Percheron, Éditions du Seuil, France, 1956, 192 pp., see p. 67. Brazilian
edition: “Buda e o Budismo”, Maurice
Percheron, Editora Agir, RJ, third edition, 1994, see p. 77.
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The above article was first published in Portuguese language under the
title “Como Encontrar o Mestre”. It also appeared in English in the April 2015
edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist”.
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On the role of the esoteric movement in
the ethical awakening of mankind during the 21st century, see the book “The Fire and Light of Theosophical
Literature”, by Carlos Cardoso Aveline.
Published in
2013 by The Aquarian Theosophist,
the volume has 255 pages and can be obtained through Amazon Books.
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