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Astral beings retain the same appearance which they possessed in youth in their previous earthly sojourn;
The power of unfulfilled desires is the root of all man’s slavery.
“Physical desires are rooted in egotism and sense pleasures.
When he is sensuously intent on tasting, smelling, touching, listening, or seeing, he is working principally through his physical body. Visualizing or willing, he is working mainly through his astral body. His causal medium finds expression when man
is thinking or diving deep in introspection or meditation; the cosmical thoughts of genius come to the man who habitually contacts his causal body. In this sense an individual may be classified broadly as ‘a material man,’ ‘an energetic man,’ or ‘an intellectual man.’
“Nonviolence; Truth; Non-Stealing; Celibacy; Non-Possession; Body-Labor; Control of the Palate; Fearlessness; Equal Respect for all Religions; Swadeshi (use of home manufactures); Freedom from Untouchability. These eleven should be observed as vows in a spirit of humility.”
In this trifling incident I noted the Mahatma’s ability to detach his mind from the senses at will.
A periodical decree of silence is not a torture but a blessing.”
“A beggar cannot renounce wealth,” Master would say. “If a man laments: ‘My business has failed; my wife has left me; I will renounce all and enter a monastery,’ to what worldly sacrifice is he referring? He did not renounce wealth and love; they renounced him!” Saints like Gandhi, on the other hand, have made not only tangible material sacrifices, but also the more difficult renunciation of selfish motive and private goal, merging their inmost being in the stream of humanity as a whole.
“I could not kill a cobra without violating two of my vows—fearlessness, and non-killing. I would rather try inwardly to calm the snake by vibrations of love. I cannot possibly lower my standards to suit my circumstances.”
One must conquer the palate before he can control the procreative instinct.
And when, passion-drunk, my husband came to me and murmured endearing words, lightly touching my body, he received a violent shock, as if struck by lightning, for even then ‘I was the same.’
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength:” Christ has proclaimed, “this is the first commandment.”
Man has forgotten this stark simplicity, now befogged by a million issues.
It appears that misery, starvation, and disease are whips of our karma which ultimately drive us to seek the true meaning of life.”
“Blessed is the man whom the Lord doth test, Doctor! He has remembered now and then to put a burden on me!”
