AGNI YOGA WEB TV

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INTRODUCTION TO AGNI YOGA“

BROADCASTING 15

The New World: Health Care, Schools, Marriage and Family

Ladies and Gentlemen,

today, we are completing our description of the New World with a view on the health care system, the schools as well as on marriage and family.

I hope you are not bored by our going through one institution after the other with seemingly abstract explanations. But without a building plan there can be no new construction. You must know – and in every detail! – how the New World should look like, if you want to contribute every day a stone to its creation.

When you are working in legislation, in the legal or the health care system, in education, business, the media, the arts or the churches, you must form an idea of the direction into which this institution needs to develop in order to meet the requirements of the future.

I. Health Care

1. Holistic Medicine

How can we revive the spirit of medicine?

As immortals you recognize how relatively unimportant your physical well-being is. You must keep the body – your "brother donkey" – reasonably fit as a suitable tool of the spirit, not more. It does not deserve exaggerated attention. The salvation of your immortal soul is of much greater importance than the integrity of your perishable self

The condition of his body has lost importance for the striving spirit. (Fiery World I, 648)

The health care system of the New World will serve not only the physical, but above all the spiritual health of the people. The concept of immortality will remind the physicians and their collaborators that man is a unity of perishable body and eternal soul. This unit must not be arbitrarily torn apart. If, in diagnosis and treatment, we pay attention our physical side only, we will not be able to achieve good results.

Many diseases have not physical, but spiritual causes. The latter are generally more significant.

The conventional medicine, which prescribes medications even against spiritual diseases, is scarcely able to recognize and to treat other than physical causes.

2. Spiritual Causes of Illness

Picasso „Weeping Woman“

Spiritual causes of illness are in particular: Ignorance, lack of discipline, and a wrong way of thinking which induces you to identify with your body, or which produces depression, doubts, suffering, or disharmony. This leads to a wrong way of life in conflict with your higher self, which also weakens you physically. Here the cure must begin.

In a normal situation, for mankind there is no need for suffering. Such an unnatural state is the reflection of a wrongly led life. (Supermundane 65)

Test yourself and observe what has been laid deep in your consciousness. If depression or offence should live long within you and burden your heart, you must consciously eject them. You should know that they cause many illnesses, and impede your spiritual advancement. When you accept this simple explanation, your reason will tell you that it is harmful to succumb to poisonous influences. (Supermundane 877) 

Disease can be the result of violations of the spiritual foundations, or of deviations from the Higher Will, in the past or at present.

“Sickness comes from sin”—so says Scripture. We say that illness arises from the imperfections of past and present. (Heart 96)

Evil thoughts and other bad emanations can cause illness; both your own and those that other people send you, consciously or unconsciously. If you are mentally tortured, you also torment your body. The negative auras of others, and of the earth as a whole, actually damage you physically.

It would be helpful to compile a book about the harm, for oneself as well as for others, caused by evil thoughts. These thoughts are the source of a great many maladies. It is now time to discern the vast number of extremely diverse physical illnesses that arise from thought. Not only heart disease but also most afflictions of the stomach and skin are a consequence of destructive thoughts. Similarly, the transmission of infectious diseases may be a result not only of predisposition but also of thinking. (Heart 302)

As opposed to that, good thoughts have a healing effect.

Exalted thoughts not only influence the nerve substance, but also purify the blood. Experiments with the composition of the blood in relation to the thinking of the patient are highly instructive. (AUM 306) 

Therefore, many diseases can be cured only by a renewal of thinking, by an expansion of consciousness! If you liberate yourself from outdated views that lead to depression and hopelessness, you heal yourself at the same time, both physically and psychically.

The shifting of thought is the paramount healer of mankind. (Infinity II, 518 [118])

May the doctors always look for the spiritual causes of illness.

A physician could say to the patient “You have an attack of cupidity,” or “the anemia of self-conceit,” or “stones of treachery,” or “an eczema of gossip,” or “a stroke of hatred.” It would not be amiss to set forth the true causes of diseases. (Community 23) 

3. Healing through a higher Way of Life

Nicholas Roerich "Star of the Morning"

Who of you would doubt that the way of life of the Inner Monastery is most beneficial and healthy not only for the soul, but also for the body? If you get up and go to bed early, avoid spiritual poisons, feed yourself healthily, simply and moderately, carry out physical exercises and spiritual practices such as meditation that bring firmness, calmness and solemnity into your life – then you will inevitably heal your body as well.

Spiritual health is the primary basis of bodily health. Precisely prayer as a real link with the higher Source will be the best purifier of the organism against all diseases. Infection appears when the body permits the entrance of messengers of evil. Each body is predisposed to many diseases, but spiritual strength does not allow such outbreaks to develop. When the spirit can be properly nourished by higher energies, it also protects the body against dangers. (AUM 57)

A wise doctor knows the higher nature and the higher mission of man. He recommends his patients a progressive, truly healthy way of life in harmony with their divine self and the laws of cosmos.

An experienced physician understands that a sickness does not begin when he is called, but much earlier. He will seek the true causes and will thus renew the patient’s life. (Supermundane 632)

Thus he combats the roots of diseases.

The right conditions for recovery can only be created by sacrifice. This is done by the renunciation of personal will and the sacrifice of those habits or appetites of self-indulgence which were the original cause of the disease.

All other treatments but drive the disease from one plane or organ to another. The renunciation of former methods of life, the sacrifice of deleterious and harmful appetites; all these conduce to the recovery of the victim of his own imprudent self-indulgence. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. I, Lesson 101 “Color and Disease”)

The doctor must lead the patient onto the Spiritual Path. Many examples prove that mentally healthy people, who lead a fulfilled life of powerful and meaningful work in the service of a great task, are generally not physically seriously ill either.

Much to the regret of doctors everywhere, the true preventative measure will be self-perfectment. (Heart 96)

A state of joy and exaltation is the best prophylaxis. (Fiery World III, 450)

Their higher striving actually makes them largely immune to diseases.

Right efforts wipe away the manifestations of contagion. A person who is striving is actually entirely immune. It even turns out that striving is the most effective antidote. The fire born of swift, intense striving is the very best shield. The ancients explained why arrows fail to reach those who are striving. Nowadays doctors could show how a special substance develops in the course of spiritual striving. (Heart 216)

4. Self-Healing

As a patient, it is first of all you yourself who has to heal himself! We had already talked about prevention and healing by strengthening vitality and joy of being in the Video on "Psychic Energy" (Broadcasting 14 of the Series "Introduction to Agni Yoga").

5. Healing the Soul

In the New World, the doctors will be true healers, spiritual authorities who are able to recognize, nurture, strengthen and heal not only the physical aspect, but also the immortal soul of the patient.

A new profession will be developed: physician for the healing of the soul. He cures malformations that have slipped into the life of the spiritual self. The New immortal Man desperately needs treatment for his soul, which is weakened by materialism and lack of spirit. His highest good is not the health of the body, but the well-being of his Eternal Individuality. Here a vast area of work will open up for doctors!

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The immense importance of this new profession is obvious: The old doctor cures the transitory, the soul-healer looks after the eternal in man.

Such a physician is like a priest who elevates the nation in order to relieve it from its spiritual sufferings. It is no coincidence that in ancient times the priests were at the same time physicians, and that many saints were great healers as well.

Physicians can be true helpers of humanity in the ascent of the spirit. The intellect of a physician must be reinforced by his heart. It should be impossible for the physician to be an ignorant denier. (AUM 3)

The patients open their homes and hearts to their doctor. In their need, in search of relief and understanding, they are more than ever prepared to accept advice on the improvement, refinement and spiritualization of their lives. May the doctors wisely use this great opportunity!

One may urge all physicians of the World to start upon a mission of spiritualization of the heart. Each physician has access to different homes. He sees various generations, and his words are listened to with attention. When giving physical instructions he can so easily add the most valuable advices. He has the right to be acquainted with all the details of the moral conditions in the home. He can give advice which will compel the occupants to reflect over and above the actions of the stomach. He can even command, for behind him stands the fear of death. The physician is the most sacred person in a household where there is a sick person. If we but had enlightened physicians! (Fiery World II, 217)

6. Limits of Medical Technology

The realization that the true self of man is immortal will reduce many  unnecessary, essentially hostile efforts of modern medicine.

We had already spoken of the inadmissibility of life-prolonging measures (Broadcasting 8 "Death and Rebirth" of the Series "Introduction to Agni Yoga"). If patients and physicians realize that the well-being of the eternal soul is much more important than the health of the perishable body, then doubtful treatments, which are effective on the physical level only and cause harm to our spiritual nature, will gradually disappear.

We are thinking, for example, of blood transfusions, heart transplants and vivisections, which are permitted only exceptionally and under special conditions.

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In the New World, the boundaries of medical technology will be defined by the ethical authorities. This example demonstrates: Society should leave the fundamental decisions neither to the majority nor to the specialists who tend to do everything that is technically feasible. The assessment of ethical issues requires a particular spiritual qualification.

II. Schools

1. Goal of Education: The New Man – The New World

The formation of youth is one of the most important tasks of the community. The children are our future. What we bestow upon them today, they will return to the world tomorrow.

The school plays an important role in the great work of creating the New Man. Education should awaken the higher potential which lies dormant within us. Should we not free at least our children from the wheel of ignorance and suffering, to which today's humanity is bound?

Education has a great importance. It is nourishment with everything lofty and refined. (Supermundane 425)

Our greatest hope to build the New World naturally rests on the young, who have not yet been distorted by outdated habits. Let us make sure that the new generation is raised according to the 10 Pillars of the Practice Agni Yoga: Defence of the higher consciousness, rhythm of the day and nourishment according to spiritual principles, obedience, living in two worlds and selflessness, communion with the higher world, service to the common good and spiritual exercises for self-perfection! Then the New World will emerge quite naturally by itself.

2. Holistic Education

Nicholas Roerich "Lama"

The education of immortals requires a completely new concept. Its starting point must be the twofold – physical and spiritual – nature of man. The one-sided promotion of purely intellectual skills is not sufficient for the New Age. Our children have to be comprehensively formed: body, spirit and soul, heart and intellect, ability and character.

Such a vision is clearly lacking in today's schools. They have no idea of the image, of the ideal according to which they want to shape the young.

Our goal of education is purity, wisdom and power. We are raising healthy, beautiful, great and strong souls – future hierarchs!

3. Conveying Knowledge

Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge

The schools have, of course, first of all to convey knowledge. This includes higher knowledge. They must teach the laws of cosmos (evolution and hierarchy), the spiritual foundations of existence (karma and reincarnation), but also the path and the goal, the mission and the responsibility of man.

From the earliest school years, it is necessary to lay firm, practical foundations. Only thus can be found a living way to living successes. (Supermundane 718)

Verily, there should be more schools in which people are taught the meaning of life. (Supermundane 190)

4. Formation of the Heart

The school of the future will strive to refine the feeling of the heart of the pupils, without which higher knowledge can neither be conveyed nor received.

It serves the formation of the heart, namely the expansion of consciousness and the development of sensitivity and straight-knowledge. It will train the communion with the higher spheres. It will teach a pure, clear thinking directed by the heart.

It is a gigantic task to develop curricula and above all practical exercises for this purpose.

5. Moulding Life

It is crucial that the children not only learn the theory, but above all how they can apply their knowledge in practice and use it in everyday life. The education centres of the New World will not only convey knowledge but also implement cognition in practice. They will teach the youth respect for work, quality and self-perfection.

It is impossible to convey the facts convincingly without practical exercises. Only the ignorant would think that a simple reciting of information imparts it to the student. (Supermundane 477) 

Theoretical lessons in the morning and collective practical labour at the Great Work in the afternoon – that is the concept of the school of the future.

The heart of a child recognizes what is aflame and what is extinguished. Not the given lesson, but the mutual aspiration of teacher and pupil reveals the world of wonders. To open the eyes of a pupil means to share with him the love of great creation. (Fiery World I, 583) 

The schools serve the renewal and transformation of our existence, the spreading of a healthy way of life that corresponds to the higher self. They must awaken the fire of enthusiasm for the Spiritual Path and the higher possibilities of man.

When the family does not know how, let the school teach cleanliness in all ways of life. Dirt comes not from poverty but from ignorance. Cleanliness in life is the gateway to purity of the heart. Who then is unwilling that people be pure? One should equip schools in such a way that they will be hotbeds for the adornment of life. (Community 106)

We must not allow the educational establishments to become hotbeds of disobedience, lack of discipline, irresponsibility, immorality and egotism.

Shield children from everything false; guard them against worthless music; protect them from obscenity; protect them from false competitions; protect them from affirmation of selfhood. The more so, since it is necessary to inculcate a love for incessant learning. (Community 116)

Already the young should practice the higher culture of immortals.

In most schools the foundations of a sound life are not taught. (Supermundane 700)

We want our children to live a life of beauty and joy in harmony with their higher nature.

Where is the school that can teach people joy? (Supermundane 600)

6. Community

Nicholas Roerich "Zvenigorod"

It is most important that the school teaches our children community, theoretically and practically.

This means, for example, to train them to administer property in trust for the community.

What a mistake to think that one must give a child its own things! A child can easily understand that things may be held in common. (Community 102)

The children can learn that a task (both a mathematical problem and a riddle that life presents) can best be solved in common. They will easily understand that it is of little use when some individuals advance and the rest of the class stays behind. The community as a whole must learn and make progress. The faster pupils can assist the slower ones – often better than the teachers! The time of the lonesome warrior who only thinks of himself, is over.

7. Living Examples

Pordenone „Laurenzo Giustiniani and other Saints“

One of the most important tasks of the schools is to show the young people living examples of a worthy life. Recognizing a greater spirit as a teacher and imitating him will give the pupils the strongest and most natural impulse to climb a higher level.

Let us make sure that our children no longer emulate pop stars or soccer players, but the great saints!

Adults often fail to resound to the concept of heroism, but children are fond of popular heroes; they are enraptured by heroic deeds, and they dream of seeing themselves among the champions of truth. It is inadmissible to deprive children of this living source of inspiration, which will remain a luminous glow throughout their lives. A beautiful heroic deed can illumine a young heart forever. (Brotherhood 470) 

The schools must educate those who are suited to heroism in the succession of the great spiritual fighters of mankind. Do not forget: The true wealth of a people are the high consciousnesses whom it counts among its members.

One Gandhi raises an entire nation of hundreds of millions of people! If a school succeeds in producing such a hero, it has rendered humanity an invaluable service.

8. Teachers

Nicholas Roerich "Guru"

These great tasks can only be accomplished by spiritually high standing teachers. We do not seek intellectuals, but spiritual leaders of the pupils entrusted to them.

The teacher will be a guiding tutor—a friend who points out a shorter and better path. Not the process of compulsion, but the smile of summons. (Community 108)  

The Teacher is the one who gives the best advice for life. (Agni Yoga 43) 

A teacher must himself walk on the Spiritual Path with enthusiasm, otherwise he will not be able to stimulate imitation.

The teacher himself must be aglow, so that just approaching him already imparts fieriness. (Brotherhood 471) 

Let us see to it that we gain the best spirits for the education of our children. The Master of the Order does not consider teaching youth himself unworthy of him. If we belittle the importance of the teachers and neglect the schools, we are wasting our future!

Shamed be the land where teachers dwell in poverty and want. Shamed be those who know that their children are being taught by a man in want. Can one entrust children to a depressed man? Can one rest ignorant of the fact that a depressed spirit cannot inspire enthusiasm? Can one regard teaching as an insignificant profession? Can one expect an enlightened spirit in children if the school is a place of humiliation and affront? Can one expect the fires of the heart when the spirit is silent? The nation that has forgotten its teachers has forgotten its future. Let us make sure that the teacher be the most valued member of the country’s institutions. (Fiery World I, 582)

A people will do well to meet its teachers with respect, and to enable them to lead a worthy life dedicated entirely to cognition and education.

In all countries, teachers should be the educators of the people. (Supermundane 663)

III. Marriage and Family

1. Spiritual Relatives and Blood Relatives

Your blood relatives are only rarely your spiritual brothers. Let us listen to Helena Roerich:

The Teaching indicates blood relationship and spiritual relationship. In daily life is it not those closest to us who most often misunderstand and belittle us? Because of their physical and blood ties, they impose upon us some of their own laws. People refuse to understand that above all earthly relationships there is a spiritual bond, and it is a blessing when both these relationships, spiritual and blood, are combined on Earth, but this rarely occurs. Often in the same family spirits with entirely different past accumulations are gathered. (Helena Roerich Letters Vol. II, letter of 28.05.1937) 

In your family, you may even meet former enemies, with whom you have to continue to deal and, if possible, become reconciled.

Enemies even try to incarnate into the families of their victims, in order to more easily reach them. (Supermundane 616)

And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. (Matthew 10, 36) 

Others, because of their spiritual development, are much closer to you than your blood relatives. Your true relatives – your soulmates – are the members of the supratemporal spiritual community, together with whom you walk the Path under a teacher and serve. These eternal ties are more important than the family relations which are limited to one single earthly life.

Very often strangers by blood are more harmonious with us than our own children. Spiritual affinity is much stronger than the bonds of blood. (Helena Roerich Letters Vol. I, letter of 17.04.1934)

An Agni Yogi must renounce the conventional in all national cultures, although temporarily he belongs to one of them. He chooses spiritual relationship over blood relationship. (Agni Yoga 171)

The immortal takes an attitude opposite to that of the old man: His highest loyalty is to Hierarchy, the Brotherhood of Shambhala, his Master and his spiritual brothers and sisters. As opposed to that, he will find in marriage and family in the most cases only temporary, not eternal companions.

My first duty is to my Master. And duty, let me tell you, is for us, stronger than any friendship or even love; as without this abiding principle which is the indestructible cement that has held together for so many milleniums, the scattered custodians of nature's grand secrets — our Brotherhood, nay, our doctrine itself — would have crumbled long ago into unrecognisable atoms. (Mahatma Letter No.62 of 18.07.1884)

This qualifies the exaggerated importance that is given to the family these days.

Every one of us has direct duties toward his family, but let us not exaggerate them. Often families manifest a complete disunion and mutual antagonism and are the hearths of spiritual corruption. Would it be right and sensible to waste strength and sacrifice the high ideals for an artificial maintaining of bonds which in most cases are illicit, being against the higher law? (Helena Roerich Letters Vol. I, letter of 21.07.1934)

In order to overcome the illusion of the perishable world, you also have to break away from the bonds of blood relations and turn to the mates of your soul. 

However, this does not alter the fact that your obligations towards your family are sacred.

2. Crisis of the bourgeois Family

The present-day bourgeois family is a true reflection of the prevailing materialistic worldview: A haven of egotism, personal comfort, private happiness, effeminacy, and separation from the rest of humanity and from evolution, without regard for the gigantic tasks and needs of the time.

The main cause of unhappiness in families is that the life of the spirit is not a part of their daily existence. There does exist a certain manner of living that becomes like a beast’s lair. (Agni Yoga 446)

The whole atmosphere of cosiness, personal well-being, relaxation, individual enjoyment and distraction; the huge amount of unnecessary objects that are being accumulated and have to be cultivated, cleansed, and maintained – all this is simply incompatible with the requirements of the life of a spiritual warrior in spiritual discipline, selflessness, simplicity, service, and contemplation.

When the spirit tries to create an illusory world of selfhood, it is certainly difficult to advance. (Hierarchy 217) 

The crisis of bourgeois marriage indicates that the foundations of this institution are crumbling. Its meaning is nowadays only seen in the marriage partners’ making each other happy. But this is no long-term goal of life. It does not go much beyond the satisfaction of the egotism of both sides.

There are different kinds of egoism. In addition to personal egoism, we can see examples of family egoism and even racial egoism. Moreover, there is even egoism on a planetary scale. (Supermundane 273) 

The quality of self-sacrifice is fundamental in woman, but she should learn not to limit her self-sacrifice to the narrow concept of home life, which is often nothing more than encouragement of the family’s egotism—she should apply it on a world scale. (Helena Roerich Letters Vol. II, letter of 17.05.1937)

The satisfaction of personal desires is not sufficient as a basis for a lasting community. It leaves us unfulfilled, with a feeling of emptiness. Obviously, the traditional happiness of bourgeois marriage is an illusion.

Cooperation based on personal feelings is not steadfast. Besides respect for the labor itself, reverence for Hierarchy is indispensable. Under the whirl of personal feelings people will bob about like cork manikins, and will jostle each other and be occupied with spasmodic actions. (Fiery World II, 406)

The marriages of today are failing because they have no spiritual foundation and are not compatible with the principle of selflessness. It is really distressing to see which immense material and idealistic efforts are wasted in the futile attempt to build an island of private happiness, prosperity and security amidst the storms of the world.

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Even the most obvious task of marriage, namely the raising of the new generation, cannot be fulfilled without a solid spiritual basis: The mere continuity of the human race is not a value in itself. The next generation should continue our work. But he who does not know for what purpose and with what a mission he came to the earth will not be able to lead children to a meaningful life either.

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As it currently exists, the bourgeois family is a major obstacle and a severe temptation because it makes it almost impossible for its members to walk the Spiritual Path.

I deeply regret it, but I have no right to bind myself so securely to any person or persons by ties of personal sympathy and esteem that my movements shall be crippled, and I unable to lead the rest to something grander and nobler than their present faith. (Mahatma Letter No. 57 of 31.12.1882 [06.01.1883]) 

You should not allow transient personal ties to prevent you from progressing on your eternal path and from accomplishing your supratemporal mission.

Ah! that whirling, showy, glittering world, full of insatiable ambition, where family and the State parcel out between them a man's nobler nature, as two tigers a carcase, and leave him without hope or light! (Mahatma Letter No. 8 of 20.02.1881) 

3. Error of bourgeois Love

Carl Spitzweg „The eternal Bridegroom“

A man who acknowledges nothing higher than himself and his peers, succumbs to an awful error: He seeks the way out of loneliness and meaninglessness with the opposite sex, with someone like himself who does not know any better either.

He will be bitterly disappointed. It is not a goal of life to love someone else. In marriage, too, you cannot find lasting happiness in the material, in the flesh. Bourgeois love is overburdened as a source of meaning.

As long as either man or woman is wedded to the idea that personal happiness on the physical plane is the end and aim of life, instead of the fulfillment of duty, all chance of happiness will fly away like a bird on the wing; while the fulfillment of duty will at least bring peace to the soul and a possible recognition of the reality of the ideal toward which they are striving, but which may not yet exist on this plane. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. I, Lesson 175 “The Higher Love”) 

Love brings a man and a woman together for a certain purpose. The path to a union which is fulfilled in the spiritual sense is shown by our feelings in the first time of our love:

The couple is animated by the burning desire to place itself completely selflessly in the service of something higher. Both are ready to sacrifice themselves entirely for this higher love. This is not an egotistic feeling. They clearly sense the connection with the higher spheres.

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When you love, you perceive more than others: You recognize through all the imperfections of the body, of the perishable being, that the others see, the beautiful eternal core, the higher nature of your beloved.

This divine spark shines through from time to time, even in the ugliest, most deeply sunken man. This is what you love.

Love hath seen a ray of the divine in thee behind the darkened windows of thy soul, though it be all unseen by other eyes than love’s. (From the Mountain Top Vol. I, Lesson “The Light within”) 

To love is to be able to perceive another man the way God has meant him to be. (Dostojevski)

The error occurs when you believe that your exaltation directs you to serve the insignificant, transient, earthly, egotistic, personal wishes and preferences of your beloved. Then your love turns to the perishable nature and will cool down soon, because it experiences its imperfection.

On the other hand, love will not disappoint you when you continue to look through the material shell and never fail to recognize and love the soul of your partner.

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The love we feel is, in essence, a love for all human beings. It is directed to the divine spirit, which is inherent in all men, indeed in every creature. When we follow this feeling, we reach the true meaning of marriage.

Not egoism dwells in the heart, but a feeling that embraces all humanity. (Heart 7) 

Service is not in furthering ordinary felicity but in bringing benefit to humanity. (Brotherhood 102) 

A Master has no family in the earthly sense. He loves all mankind.

Love not a man, but mankind. (Supermundane 332) 

4. The Married Couple on the Spiritual Path

People are being brought together on their endless path in order to grow by learning from each other, to settle old, not yet paid back debts, and to fulfill a task.

No less than half of all earthly encounters take place because of past incarnations. (Agni Yoga 238)

The marriage of two spiritual warriors who stand in the service of Hierarchy and are working for the good of humanity is not a private matter. Two immortals who unite will pursue a higher goal than just to lead a pleasant life and to generate descendants who, in their turn, only wish to vegetate undisturbed and do not know for what purpose they are on earth.

The mission of man to advance on the path to Mastery, to serve selflessly the common good, and to practice the higher communion, does not come to a stop with marriage. The married couple has the privilege of walking this path together!

True marriage is not of the world, it is of the spirit. (Teachings of the Temple Vol. II, Lesson “True Marriage”) 

The common task is what creates a meaning and frees us from the error of the personal. This applies to marriage as the smallest as well as to larger communities.

Let us take as an example a choir or an army, or a team of workmen; it is probable that in such groups there can be found many people clouded by misfortune, but their common unity will lessen their personal unhappiness. Thus common striving helps turn people from their individual suffering. One should not think that common work brings about a dulling of personal feelings; on the contrary, with a high quality of labor, it can heighten one’s striving. (Supermundane 760)

The ultimate purpose of a marriage is to walk like Tamino and Pamina in Mozart's "Magic Flute" the Spiritual Path together! What could be more beautiful than you and your partner helping and inspiring each other on this highest journey?!

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Worldly duties will result from the circumstances. A natural task is the education of the coming generation, of our own or others’, of physical or spiritual children, to worthy warriors of the spirit, to whom we can one day confidently hand over the torch.

O, ye wise men, your efforts will be fruitless if woman does not stretch out her hand to you, and if you do not raise a generation of heroes! (Supermundane 700)

Our children are destined to manifest the divine spirit more fully than we, the preceding generation, are doing. This is the high goal that love, marriage and family are to serve.

5. The Family as a spiritual Community

Raffael „Holy Family“

The ideal family will be a small spiritual communion. It may form the core of a larger community to which others can attach themselves.

With your family as well, you may live under the spiritual rule of the Inner Monastery and raise your children through your example in the spirit of obedience, living in two worlds and selflessness.

The true family is the prototype of communal life. It can personify cooperation and Hierarchy and all the conditions of the Brotherhood. But such families are extremely rare, and therefore it is impossible to say to everyone that the family is the symbol of the Brotherhood. It is impossible to think about building the state without building the home. (Brotherhood 57)

Such a small community can change the whole world – just think of Helena and Nicholas Roerich!

Two harmonized auras can create a New World. (Fiery World III, 66)

Like any other community, a family can only exist in the long run if it observes the principle of Hierarchy. He who is spiritually superior must take the lead, and the others have to follow.

As man and woman, you are entrusted with the difficult task to determine who is to lead in which area.

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Above all, your children must learn and understand that the adults are destined to lead. You can consult with your older children at a suitable opportunity, but ultimately you as parents must decide, because you alone bear the responsibility until your children are of age.

If the higher subordinates itself to the lower, if you as an adult allow yourself being pushed to and fro by your children, nothing but chaos will result.

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This also applies to a child who stands hierarchically and spiritually higher than his parents, which is not unusual at all. Even such a child must learn that there is a certain meaning in his being incarnated in this particular family. Even such a child must learn to subordinate himself to the one who bears the responsibility.

To finish this Broadcasting, let us listen again to Helena Roerich:

I hope very much that you do not spoil the growing warrior! Teach him to be studious, attentive, and assiduous. Develop his sense of cooperation, sense of help, and compassion toward animals and the needy. You must teach him to be obliging and respectful toward adults, thereby is strengthened the understanding of Hierarchy. Let him learn to think about other people and to be happy if he can bring some cheer to others. The most terrible thing is to develop in a child selfishness and stinginess, as these vices will limit its thinking. (Helena Roerich Letters Vol. I, letter of 17.06.1931)