The Golden Star
VISION 9
Cosmic Consciousness
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“In the Cosmic Consciousness which inspired Buddha, we learn that one so Blessed considers only the Truth, and, having utterly abandoned the thought of Self he is clear in perception, having slain Illusion and standing face to face with reality, as a man speaks with a friend. All doubt and fear, troubles and confusions have departed from such a one. He knows that none can save a man or hurt him but himself; neither on Earth nor in Heaven. By himself he must find the Path and walk along it. This cannot be done by outward forms of righteousness, for it is not possible to placate the Gods by rites and ceremonies. He must find that Love is the Path of Wisdom to true understanding and union with all that IS.
“As it is taught in the Beatitudes of the Buddha, Man should:
“ ‘Shun the company of the foolish, pay homage to the learned, and worship that which is worship-worthy.’
“He should: ‘Dwell among good men and guard well the actions; hear and see much in order to acquire knowledge; study all science that does not lead to sin; use the right language and study the right manners.’
“He should do no evil when tempted; give nobly and follow the precepts of law and virtue; walk in humility and dwell in content and gratitude. He should be patient and endure suffering; rejoice in good words and talk on high matters.
“He should be unmoved, of serene mind, exempt from passion, and fearless amid all earthly dangers.
“Whoever possesses these blessings shall never be overcome; shall in all things find joy and thus attain the Peace.
“Thus taught the enlightened one, and these precepts hold good for all time; and—‘Wisdom walked on his left hand and Love on his right, and Light as of the Sun surrounded him.’ ” Here the Messenger paused.
“Does Cosmic Consciousness bring Power to those who acquire it?” asked Ma-u.
“My son: Power comes only to those who have given up striving after it. Then—when the realization of Power is felt—it increases continually, if the recipient does not make use of it. To have all Power, and all Wisdom, and to forego the use of these Divine Principles for selfish purposes, is the true Power and the true Wisdom. This is hard to understand, perhaps, but perfectly true. All methods for increasing the Will, in order to obtain what humans call Power and Success, must fail; for the Cosmic Powers can never be used in this way. All these methods aim at the glorification of the Ego—which is a double illusion; for both glory and Ego are but shadows; just as non-success, non-power and all disasters are shadows which have no actual existence, but are mere realizations of the earthly Mind.
“The moment that Mind becomes spiritualized it ceases to be earthly and material, and therefore corrupt; it becomes conscious of the true meaning of Cosmic Power and Wisdom, in other words it attains Cosmic Consciousness, and it is then purified and selfless.”
“But why do mystics all over the world intone affirmations, and practise concentration and meditation in order to obtain power, if it is only an illusion?” queried Ma-uti.
“These affirmations and so on are not for the purpose of obtaining power, my child; or if they are used for that reason they fail. Take, for instance, the Tibetan ‘A-um Ma-Ni Pad-Me Hum,’ which is everlastingly intoned there and elsewhere. The real purpose of it is to attain a pure state of meditation by successively closing all the gates to the various worlds of illusion. A-um (or Om, as it is wrongly spelled and pronounced), is used to shut out the illusion of the Heavenly World; Ma—the World of Spirits; Ni—the earthly human world; Pad—the animal world; Me—the world of tantalized spectres or elementaries and elementals; Hum—the nether world, or Hell. The only trouble is, that the mere mumbling of this phrase is entirely useless, and the devotee should meditate on the purpose of each syllable for a considerable time, so that he actually succeeds in the closing of all those gates—and the way to Truth opens. Moreover, these words should be meditated upon—not spoken.”
“This teaching will upset many students of the Occult,” observed Ma-u.
“That will be very good indeed,” replied Neteru-Hem.
“It is to be hoped that what I have shown and told you may reveal some of the many errors which hold Occult theories and doctrines in most parts of the world in almost unbreakable chains; preventing the student from making the progress he longs for, so that many give up in despair and drift helplessly along. The investigation of Occult lore, undertaken for the sole purpose of gaining power by learning a few magic tricks, has generally quite the opposite results from those aimed at. This is the reason why so many materially-minded persons, who study the Occult or Mysticism in any way, very often find themselves landed in a morass of unhappiness and failure. They endeavour to obtain material gain, or material happiness as they conceive it, in various ways, by studying spiritual laws, or natural or Cosmic laws if you like.
“These two principles oppose each other, and it would be just as practicable for a spiritually-minded person to become a rank materialist in order to gain entrance into Heaven!
“It is possible to describe it in another way by saying that the moment a materialist seeks the Light of the non-material worlds, and tries to raise himself up from the dense material miasma in which he has dwelt hitherto, the other dwellers—his comrades—in those lower regions will try to drag him down again by withdrawing from him their previous cooperation, which may have given him a semblance of success amongst those shadows.
“Even if he is a poor person, and very unhappy in many ways, the dark community will still exert all its hideous wiles to prevent him from escaping to the higher realms.
“In both cases it will be seen that he fails in everything he tries to do materially. He stands alone, and flounders in an atmosphere of doubt, or fear, or illness or financial distress. It needs uncommon strength of mind, wise guidance, and a capacity for understanding the principles as they are, and not as one would like them to be, for the aspirant to stand fast; fearless, without any doubt at all, patient, enduring, in order to succeed in gaining entrance to the realms of pure spirit. This is not for weaklings or cowards, or selfish individuals—but only for heroes, full of courage, ardour, fire, zeal, without being fanatics. It needs at the same time a heart full of tenderness, patience and love; and a willingness to share even the last crust with those who are in a still worse condition—or seem to be. All earthly cleverness, distrust of other people’s motives, suspicion of trickery, and other worldly ‘wisdom,’ is useless to the student who invokes the tolerance of the higher powers, who are only too well aware of his own many failings—but regard them with indulgence; knowing how weak the human Mind is, and how easily it is led astray.
“As long as he lives in an atmosphere of suspicion, unfriendliness towards others, and is unwilling to give and lose freely without afterthought, the aspirant cannot make any progress at all; for he judges others whilst he himself is full of blemishes.
“The road is long, and the stones are very hard and sharp to the weary traveller towards the distant Light.
“But if he is steadfast, there will anon shine out a ray of hope upon the far horizon.
“Then, gradually, and often speedily, the spiritual Sun will rise within his Heaven; a great awakening of the inner man takes place, and the moment comes when he can realize the majesty of true Cosmic Consciousness and Power, such as no materialist could ever dream; a consciousness of Cosmic Power that will place the weather-beaten warrior upon the Heights, where nothing of the shadow-land below can reach him.
“And there he stands: liberated, glorified, and full of Joy beyond all earthly comprehension.
“But the road to this delight is long—the stones are very hard and sharp—yet, O, Ye Lords of Mercy and of Wisdom–Power, how Glorious the Goal!”
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