Being Constantly Aware of the Divine World
* Turbulence is external, peace and order must come from within.
* Anxiety occurs on the surface: the true meaning of the facts is perceived on the plane of the Soul. While noise and “spectacular events” are often used in order to deceive others, a calm understanding of reality takes place in silence.
* Every day it is worth remembering: those who are at peace with themselves also live in harmony with the ever-changing reality of facts.
* Bliss is potentially omnipresent: the task of the pilgrim is to expand his connection with it.
The Active Side of Renunciation
* A superficial view of life will tell you that the practice of abstaining from wrong and unnecessary actions is only a negative form of discipline, and leads us to isolation.
* In fact, by abstaining from needless actions the pilgrim performs the positive creative action of concentrating magnetic power. Wise people maximize potentiality and prefer acting on the plane of Causes.
How to Produce Inner Strength and Magnetism
* The Christian tradition speaks of the need to educate one’s will.
* If we want to “please God” - or to live in harmony with our own spiritual soul -, we need to control ourselves so as to actually produce and expand an inner affinity with the divine law.[1]
* That means a constant struggle against our lower nature in its blind aspects, and a stable effort to educate animal instincts.
* Even during the performance of highly noble actions, the lower nature of the pilgrim will search for some kind of “acceptable pleasure”. By not satisfying such inclinations, the practitioner will gather further magnetic force and spiritual will, and expand his independence from mere circumstances.
* The desire for comfort is like a river: by containing its course, one obtains a corresponding amount of electrical or magnetic energy, which can be used by us in helpful activities. When the members of a theosophical group generate such inner magnetism by being consciously independent from circumstances - both pleasant and unpleasant -, their will gets stronger, and they become more efficient.
Four Qualities in Bhakti Yoga
* Swami Sivananda sees four qualifications as necessary for the pilgrim to become a true student of Bhakti Yoga, the Yoga of Devotion: 1) To be humble as a blade of grass; 2) To have the forbearance of a tree; 3) Not to desire praise or respect for himself but to praise and respect others, and, 4) Always repeating Lord’s name.[2]
* In theosophy, the fourth condition above would mean “being constantly aware of the divine world, keeping a permanent acknowledgement of the divine presence beside us and everywhere”.
NOTES:
[1] Examine for instance the book “The Spiritual Combat and a Treatise on Peace of Soul”, by Dom Lorenzo Scupoli, TAN Classics, 2010, 247 pp., p. 31. Dom Lorenzo Scupoli was born in 1530. This work was first published in 1589.
[2] “Sadhana”, by Swami Sivananda, The Divine Life Society, 2019, 702 pp., see page 337.
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The article “Thoughts Along the Road - 94” was published on the websites of the Independent Lodge of Theosophists on 17 March 2026. An initial version of it is part of the May 2023 edition of “The Aquarian Theosophist”, pp. 13-14.
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Helena Blavatsky (photo) wrote these words: “Deserve, then desire”.
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