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BROADCASTING 2

War in Europe – What can we do? (Part 2)

Dear Agni Yogis,

in the last Broadcasting we had said: The terrible war in Europe clearly shows the need to create a New World where there is no distress, no suffering, no greed, no violence, no poverty and no unemployment.

Today we go one step further: It is of no use just setting up a new social system. As long as the old, egotistic man prevails, he will always misuse even the best order for his personal purposes.

History shows this time and again: The French Revolution with its high ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity ended with the tyranny of the mob and Napoleon as emperor. The Russian Revolution with its great idea of communism, the common property of all, resulted in the terror of Stalin. (Delacroix "Liberty leading the People". Execution of king Louis XVI. Ingres "Napoleon")

People are exhilarated by lofty thoughts, but then turn out to be not mature enough to implement them in everyday life.

To seek to achieve political reforms before we have effected a reform in human nature, is like putting new wine into old bottles. (H. Blavatsky, The Key to Theosophy)

Therefore, we have to say:

The war in Europe shows the absolute necessity of creating a New Man!

A new banner requires new people. (BGM I, 375 [440])

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. (Tolstoy)

The old Man

Nicholas Roerich „Armageddon“

The old man is selfish, fearful and unfree, and thus unfit for the world of the future.

What is the cause of war?

The egotism of the leaders and the fear and bondage of the people.

The old man ruins the world with his selfishness.

Poverty was not created by God. We have produced it, I and you with our egotism. (Mother Teresa)

On what is the power of dictators and other oppressors based?

On fear!

Fearing for his life or that of his family, the mortal man becomes a follower of even the most unscrupulous endeavours and commits acts for which he must be ashamed.

Fear makes us unfree. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

A fearful person can no longer carry out what he has recognised as good and right.

Fear is the main cause of the weakness of today’s man.

The Man of the Future

Nicholas Roerich „Lama“

The terrible war demonstrates:

Creating the New Man is not an unworldly fancy, but an absolute necessity if humanity is to survive.

We must create a human being who puts his personal interests aside, serves only the common good and is, on top of that, fearless and free.

A selfless leader would never start a war of aggression.

A fearless and free people would refuse allegiance.

*****

Especially we Germans had to learn a bitter lesson from the Hitler era: One must not participate in an illegal war of aggression. We are in need of people who are strong, fearless and free enough to refuse any support for such a crime – even if it costs them their lives.

Franz Jägerstätter, an insignificant, fallible person like you and me with a wife and children, was beatified by the Catholic Church. Why? Because he followed his conscience, declared: "We ought to obey God rather than men", and refused war service for the Nazis. As a result, he was executed.

The immortal Man

The disciple asks: "Aren't you asking too much? Shall we all become heroes, martyrs and saints?"

At least we must grow greater than the old man.

We must climb to a higher level if we are to overcome the terrible circumstances on our earth.

To enable us to cope with this gigantic task, Agni Yoga teaches the concept of immortality:

Immortal man —is this not worthy of the future? (AY 553)

Watch again our Broadcastings of the Series "Experiment Immortality" (videos at www.lebendige-ethik-schule.de/series.experiment.htm, texts at www.lebendige-ethik-schule.de/tvtexte.engl.htm). There we had said:

The New Man is a being of spirit.

He no longer thinks: "I have a soul." He knows:

"I am a soul!" (Nicholas Roerich "Higher than Mountains")

Selflessness of the New Man

The immortal man is completely selfless. As a spiritual being he requires no material things, no food, clothing or shelter, neither for his survival nor for his well-being.

Fearlessness and Freedom of the New Man

As an immortal you are imperishable – and thus indestructible, invulnerable, invincible, fearless and free. Nobody and nothing can harm you.

Not even the death of the body can frighten you.

Your Eternal Individuality has already formed many material vehicles and will continue to do so in the future. Therefore, your present body is of little significance to you: If it dies, you will receive a new, young and beautiful one in due time.

As long as man fears death, he is a slave. He who does not fear it masters everything. (Tolstoy "War and Peace") (Ilya Repin "Tolstoy")

As a New Man you throw this asset on the balance. You are completely free to do, without undue consideration, whatever is necessary according to the laws of ethics, the Cosmic Order, for the realisation of truth, justice, beauty and love.

The old dream of the peace movement

Suppose they gave a war and nobody came

becomes reality – but only if we transform into imperishable beings of spirit.

Then you can seal the struggle for your ideals, if necessary, with the death (of the body) – your true existence (the life of your Higher Self) is not endangered thereby.

*****

For the old, mortal man such a heroism is almost impossible: He who regards death as the irrevocable, complete extinction of his entire existence can sacrifice his life with great difficulty only.

He lives according to the law of the jungle: the stronger eats or suppresses the weaker and thus becomes even stronger.

The New Man lives according to the law of sacrifice. (Tintoretto "Crucifixion")

You even take advantage of the terrible situation:

Your soul grows greater when you sacrifice your body, which will soon perish anyway, for the common good.

Resistance to Evil

Let there be no misunderstanding: The old, wrongly interpreted doctrine that one should not resist evil is outdated. Agni Yoga teaches: You may and must defend your homeland against attacks.

Premeditated murder is one thing, self-defence is another. When one is subjected to an attack by the dark forces, it is necessary to defend oneself. Thought about defence is not murder. (Fiery World I, 558)

Certainly the defence of one’s country is the direct duty of every man. Blessed is the soldier of that country which is not the aggressor. Defence of one’s own country requires various means and defensive measures, no one can deny this. The criminal madness of invaders has no justification whatsoever. (Helena Roerich Letters Vol. II, letter of 31.07.1937)

We are called upon to oppose evil by all means, if there is no other way, even by force: We must not allow chaos to rule.

Evil must not be allowed to spread unimpeded. The example of a garden and weeds makes this sufficiently clear. (Heart 133)

There cannot be any good where there is no opposition to evil. (Supermundane 57)

Renewal of the World through Transformation of the Individual

Lao Tzu

"Where shall we begin? What can a small person like me do?"

There is only one way: Every individual, really everyone who wishes to participate in the great project of freeing the world from greed and violence, must first change himself.

You yourself must be the change you wish to see in the world. (Gandhi)

You yourself, each and every one of us can and must make his contribution to this goal!

People can be, each separately, severely moral and thereby achieve a healthy radiation. (Supermundane 306)

If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself. If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation. (Lao Tzu)

The remedy of Agni Yoga against violence and war is: You transform into an immortal man of spirit of the sixth race!

Throughout the whole world the life principle will be renewed on a personal basis. (Heart 173)

"How do I accomplish this transformation?"

To gain immortality, invulnerability, selflessness, fearlessness and freedom is a spiritual exercise!

So practise the exercises presented in our Broadcastings of the Series "Experiment Immortality" and "Spiritual Exercises of Agni Yoga" (videos at www.lebendige-ethik-schule.de/series.experiment.htm and www.lebendige-ethik-schule.de/series.exercises.htm, texts at www.lebendige-ethik-schule.de/tvtexte.engl.htm).

With their help you educate yourself to become a man of the future. (Nicholas Roerich "Lama")

The others will recognise the superiority of the New Man when they see him.

They will inevitably imitate you in order to reach this higher level themselves as well.

Just as a quadruped cannot help but take a biped as model, when it appears before everyone’s eyes as a living reality.

This is how the Man of the Future spreads. And from communities of New Men the New World will arise over time by itself.