Rosicrucian Writings Online | ||
Raising Your VibrationsA REAL MESSAGE FOR EVERY MEMBERBy Frater Gamui (Venerable Master, India) [From The Rosicrucian Digest February 1931] The teachings of the Rosicrucians are universal in all lands and we rejoice in finding in the correspondence with the officers and highest adepts of other lands that our ideas and understandings of our principles and practices, are so universally established that we are in perfect agreement in every point of our studies. We are surrounded here with hundreds of ancient philosophies most of which have had their origin in personal beliefs and individual leaderships and we have our hundreds of traditional teachings which form the foundation of many sects. Rising above all of these, however, and as the highest standard by which all are judged are the Rosicrucian teachings which, being universal, are as much our national possessions and pride as they are the possession of the adepts of Egypt or Persia or any other Oriental country. The traditions of our Rosicrucian Brotherhood intimate quite clearly that the origin and foundation of our work can be found in the ancient teachings and practices of the Orientals but we have long since ceased to look upon them as belonging exclusively to any nation or any country and find greater pride in the fact that they are universal not only in their application and practice but in the additions and improvements that have been made in Rosicrucianism in the past five centuries or more. I sometimes wonder whether our brothers and sisters living in the Western world realize what it means to the [Oriental]* who makes an occasional trip or visit to European countries or perhaps to wonderful America, and finds in these newer lands the companionship of an understanding adept and the teachings and practice of the same sacred principles that he enjoys in his native land. With so many other outstanding differences of language, custom, habit, and practice and with an unavoidable feeling on the part of the Western world people that the Oriental is different from himself, it is a beautiful thing for the Oriental to find through his contact with other Rosicrucians that he is at home with them and at one with them in their thinking and their living. It is this universality of Rosicrucianism that makes it a power in the lives of so many. Because the foregoing is true it is easy for me to speak to the Western minds regarding some of our principles and be as thoroughly understood as though I were talking to those of my own country who have journeyed with me on the Path. The raising of our vibrations is a very fundamental principle in the development of the spiritual and mystical life. The greatest activity in the intellectual world has been the continued attempt to raise the vibrations of the intellectual self, or in other words, to increase the power or the prowess of the human mind in a purely mental sense. From kindergarten to gymnasium and from gymnasium to university all efforts are directed toward the development of the intellectual mastership with its accompanying power in the purely mental world. On the other hand, we have the churches, synagogues, mosques, and other sacred places of religious instruction, tending exclusively toward the development of the religious self wholly distinct from the mental and the spiritual self. In a very fundamental sense religion is knowledge and not experience and the study of and building up of the knowledge of God is more truly an intellectual process than it is a spiritual one, though I regret that I should be able to say this. The mystic, on the other hand, is one who gives second place to any form of limited development, either intellectual or mental, and places above these the spiritual development of the self. To him the building up of mental power through the absorption of vast intellectual food constitutes the building up of a transitory or finite part of mind, while ignoring the everlasting and immortal part of self. As man increases his intellectual knowledge he increases or raises the vibrations of his mind power to a higher degree where such energy becomes more potent and more useful. The fact that there is a very limited world and a very limited usefulness for such power and that it is a power which must be left behind in the mortal mind to decay and pass out of existence does not seem to impress man as it should. It is like building up the power of wealth through the accumulation of gold in any form or of any cast. Its power is a fictitious one more limited than the poor man realizes and more enslaving, as every rich man discovers, than any other power in the world and yet in the very height of its seeming greatness it becomes utter nothingness through transition. No man can carry with him across the border line the power he has built up in gold nor can he carry with him into the life that is to come any of the power he has built through purely intellectual mastership. The raising of our vibrations, therefore, from the mystical point of view, does not consist of the creation or building up of the power of knowledge that is finite or mortal but which is immortal and infinite. Such vibrations and such power have to do with spiritual self and not with either the physical or the mental. I have seen in some Western world literature the reference to the strange practices of the Orientals and I regret, with thousands of others, that the average writer on these subjects selects as his standard and example those types of our own people who represent the illiterate, the uninitiated and those dwelling in darkness. Thus the extremist who knows nothing of the Mystical Way or of the truly spiritual life, but who is seeking to aggrandize himself through self persecution and martyrdom is pictured as typical of the Oriental adept. But in the privacy of the lives of millions in Oriental lands there will be found sane and rational practices which are producing their fruits in the form of highly developed spiritual beings who go their way among men and in the marts of the world, living the life of practical application to the duties and obligations of this world existence without attracting undue attention through anything of a fanatical nature whatsoever. Still, in their real lives, sheltered and secret from public observation, these persons have not only attained some degree of mastership but are demonstrating the true spiritual principles of cooperation with mankind in meeting their many problems. In this country we have adopted certain Rosicrucian customs or practices to enable us to raise the spiritual vibrations of the human body. I want to explain these briefly so that the adepts of the Western world may know exactly what we are doing and perhaps derive an incentive for a greater devotion to these practices for, after all, they are all outlined in the Rosicrucian teachings of every land. Before doing so, however, it may be of interest to my readers to know what objective we have in mind in raising the vibrations of the spiritual self. First of all it enables us to have more perfect or more complete attunement with the Cosmic vibrations and with the Cosmic mind. Secondly, this very condition enables us to more quickly contact the minds and spiritual selves of other adepts in other lands regardless of time or distance. Thirdly, our auras are widened and extended because our health and spiritual emanations are raised to a higher pitch or note and the magnetic condition of the spiritual body becomes more vital. The result of these conditions is made manifest in the success we have in our healing work and in our ability to aid others in many physical and spiritual ways and in the illumination we receive through Cosmic inspiration and receptivity to the divine emanations of all master minds. That such spiritual development should bring us in closer contact with the God consciousness and Christ consciousness must be quite evident and this objective--or shall I say rich blessings?--is sufficient reason for all of our efforts in this direction. However, permit me to outline the following as the principal methods or practices for the raising of the spiritual vibrations in the human body. First of all, there is the subject of our food. The early adept on the Path is not denied the use of meat or flesh, for it has no real bearing upon his development until he reaches a very high stage of spiritual vibrations. When this point is reached he need not be instructed regarding the reduction of the amount of flesh he eats or its complete elimination. He must be in good health and strong in vitality before he finds it providential to eliminate flesh from his diet and any attempt to force a change in the diet through the wilful elimination of flesh before the proper stage is reached is a grave mistake. The point in the development of each one's own life when flesh should be eliminated will be revealed without doubt or question to the adept. It will be a time when many other great changes take place in his life and when he will not feel called upon to expend so much of his animal vitality or his physical creative forces. So long as the adept is engaged in any occupation and is living the earthly life that calls for the use of the creative forces of his physical being he will have some need for some meat. But in regard to other articles of food there is a very great need for change if the vibrations of the spiritual self are to be brought to a high degree. More of the uncooked and green foods should form a part of the daily diet and most of the starchy foods should be eliminated. Moderation in the amount of food is very essential and no meal should completely fill or satisfy the craving for hunger to that extent that not another morsel could be eaten with relish or enjoyment, or the body feel so filled and stuffed that it would seem to be an effort to eat any more. By eating a moderate amount at each meal and with the proper exercise or physical effort between meals the adept will approach the meal time with a definite sensation of hunger, and this must be only partly appeased if the digestive processes are to do their work properly and the right amount of strength derived from the food eaten without an unnecessary call upon the reserve forces to take care of an over amount of food. Two meals a day rather than three becomes the habit of the real adept, for he finds that water and fresh air can take the place of the first meal in the morning. The proper exercise of all parts of the body is the second essential point. Walking as well as jumping and some form of artificial or gymnasium exercise should be added to walking so that every muscle of the body does some labor or functions every day. Bending the body in many directions and lying flat on the back and lifting the limbs at various angles and with different motions as well as moving the arms and head in various directions for a few minutes several times a day will help to keep the physical body in proper action and at the same time will help the processes of digestion and increase the function of breathing. Proper breathing is the third essential. Deep breaths that force the exhalation of all air even in the deep recesses of the lungs is very important and a few minutes of deep and rapid breathing will exercise the lungs and the muscles connected therewith to such an extent that in a few months the lungs will naturally open and close to a greater degree and thereby inhale and exhale a greater amount of air. This is a very important feature. Deep breathing slowly performed is only half of the practice. Exercising the lungs rapidly is like exercising the muscles of the arms or legs with rapid movements in place of slow ones. The slow action does not give the benefits to be derived from the rapid action. Fresh air first in the morning and last at night deeply inhaled and while the body is exercising makes a good beginning and closing for each day but there should be some noon-time exercises of the same nature. The fourth essential is that of thinking. It is not enough to merely hold good thoughts and thoughts of peace, tolerance, love, and sympathy toward all humanity, and it is not enough to eliminate all evil or unkind thoughts and to keep anger, hatred, envy, or jealousy out of our consciousness for all of this merely clears the system of wrong thinking or lays the foundation for right thinking. We should feed our spiritual consciousness with food through contemplations and meditations. We should take daily a simple subject of spiritual illumination or some divine truth or principle and analyze it and actively devote ourselves to its study by viewing it from every angle and becoming familiar with it until it unfolds like a rose and presents to us a new picture or a more profound picture. This is spiritual exercise just as the breathing and movement of the arms and legs constitute physical exercise. The contemplation of the spiritual truths brings an influx of spiritual power and rapidly increases the spiritual vibrations of the consciousness. Each thought should be a banquet, a feast for the nourishment of the spiritual self, and with the same degree that we relish and hold in our mouths a tempting morsel or enjoyable particle of food until we have drawn from it all the pleasure of eating it so should we hold in our consciousness any thought, any truth, any principle, that appears good and sublime and examine it and analyze it until it has become enjoyable to us, illuminating, fascinating, and most of all influential upon our routine thinking throughout the day. As a fifth and last essential there is the communion with God which in the Western world is called prayer. To the mystic, prayer does not always mean petitioning but the expression of appreciation and thankfulness and the intimate acquaintanceship with God through the exchange of ideas. Communion should be the law of rising in the morning and the benediction of the day before retiring. It should be the first practice at each meal and the closing thought of each blessing to the physical or mental self. The Oriental adepts never begin or complete a meal without the prayer of thankfulness, and they never enjoy or participate in any thinking that brings them extreme joy or satisfaction either in labor, or pleasure, or in spiritual study, without again expressing thankfulness in communion with God. These are the essential processes whereby the vibrations are raised. I have seen in my own life and in the lives of hundreds about me the gradual increase of spiritual power after a few months' practice of these principles. They bring peace and happiness, a contentment and an absence of fear or doubt and a sense of companionship with God and the great masters that cannot come in any other way. The whole body and all of its functionings, the mind and the soul, take on a robe of purest white and a power that the adepts just starting on the Path may not suspect as being possible until the process is started and maintained as a part of life itself. May the richest blessing of the Cosmic rest upon you in your indulgences and in your labors and may the increase of vibrations bring you a spiritual protection and a new power to create that you have never witnessed or experienced before. This is the wish of one who desires to remain in your hearts as a brother in a distant land sending his message to you through the channels of our beloved brotherhood. -------------------- * Webmaster's Note: The original word in the article as published in the Rosicrucian Digest was "occidental", which was probably a misprint. | ||
| Section Index | Home Page | |
| Copyright © 2007 Aswins Rabaq. All Rights Reserved. | ||