Rise up and fight, Arjuna!
AAB: In an ancient scripture of India, The Bhagavad Gita, the disciple Arjuna stands faced with the same issue. He is involved in a great battle between two branches of the same family—really between the higher and the lower self—and he, too, questions what he shall do. Shall he go ahead with the battle and the test, and so triumph as the soul? Shall he assert his divinity and defeat the lower and the non-divine? -BC 124
IHS 75: Study with care the first three books of the Bhagavad Gita. The problem of Arjuna is the problem of all disciples, and the solution is eternally the same.
DN 33: You have, therefore, a meeting of many conflicting forces and the world Arjuna is faced with a stupendous battle — one that is recurrent and cyclic but which will, in this particular era, prove a decisive and determining factor in the age old conflict between material domination and spiritual control. The forces playing upon the planet at this time are of supreme importance. If you will bear in mind that the sixth ray works through and controls the solar plexus (being closely related to the astral plane, the sixth level of awareness) and that the seventh ray controls the sacral centre, you will see why there is so much emotion, so much idealism and so much desire mixed up in connection with the world conflict.
DN 107: ... the two great groups of divine agents — the Great White Brotherhood and the Lodge of Materialistic Forces — are both of them seeking to divert these energies into channels which will further the ends for which they work and for which they were formed and exist.
The plans, which embody these two differing ideals and objectives, are carried down on to the astral plane, and thus into the world of desire. The lines of demarcation remain ever entirely clear as far as the workers in these two groups are concerned, but are not so clear where ordinary human beings and the world disciples and initiates are concerned. There is much chaos on the plane of desire, and the world Arjuna is today sitting in bewilderment between the two opposing forces or camps, recognising his relationship both to form and to [Page 108] soul and at the same time wondering where his duty lies. His point in evolution determines his problem.
DINA I, 179: ... your particular battlefield in this connection lies in the reconciling of the forces warring within your own nature and in your particular environment. It is NOT the Kurukshetra of the "pairs of opposites," wherein Arjuna sits in the middle and seeks to balance the warring forces. It is the battlefield of higher relations—those between the soul and the personality, and between what you are in this life and the environment in which you find your chosen field of service.
EOH 172: When I speak thus, I refer not to happiness, which is a personality reaction, [Page 173] but to that joyous confidence in the law and in the Hierarchy which lies behind the Biblical words, "The joy of the Lord is our strength." "Rise up and fight, Arjuna," preserving the flame of love intact, permitting no breath of hate to disturb the serenity of love or upset that inner poise which will enable you to sound forth the clarion note of world understanding, that will rally all men and women of goodwill to the aid of the Hierarchy. This will bring to an end all hatred, separativeness and aggression, which are the three major sins of humanity. All men have hated; all men have been separative in both thought and action; all have been and many still are materialistic, full of pride and the desire to gain that which is not their own by right. This spirit of acquisitiveness belongs to no one group; it has been a universal and general fault, and has produced the present disastrous economic situation, thus precipitating the world into war, hate and cruelty.
GWP 88: Making a broad and sweeping generalisation, it might be said that for the human family en masse this dense physical-etheric conflict was fought out in the World War, which was the imposition of a tremendous test and discipline. Remember that our tests and disciplines are self-imposed and grow out of our limitations and our opportunities. The result of this test was the passing on to the Path of Probation of a very large number of human beings, owing to the purging and purification to which they had been subjected. This purificatory process in some measure prepared them for the prolonged conflict upon the astral plane which lies ahead of all aspirants prior to achieving initiation. It is the "Arjuna experience." This is an interesting point upon which to ponder and explains much of mystery and of difficulty in the sequence of human unfoldment. The individual aspirant is apt to think only in terms of himself and of his individual tests and trials. He must learn to think of the mass occurrences and their preparatory effect where humanity is concerned. The World War was a climaxing point in the process of "devitalising" the world maya. Much force was released and exhausted and much energy expended. Much was consequently clarified.
GWP 98: The pairs of opposites upon the astral plane confront him, and he becomes Arjuna upon the field of battle. All his sense of at-one-ment, of direction, of sure and oft-times smug satisfaction disappears and he is lost in the fogs and glamours of the astral plane. This is the plight of many well-meaning disciples at this time and upon it I must for a moment dwell because this group, when it can work as a group, has for its intended task the dissolution of some of the world glamour. Some day (and let us hope that it will take place before long) this group and other such groups should work, as a group and under direction of their Master, in piercing the world glamour and letting in some light and illumination so that men may walk from henceforth more truly on the Way in safety... the Arjuna Experience. Today the world Arjuna is facing the pairs of opposites, just as does the individual disciple, ready—when these pairs have been resolved into a unity—to tread the Path of Discipleship.
GWP 115: These glamours are dependent upon the expression of the different forces which constitute a man's lower nature, of which he is becoming increasingly aware, and which pass through the stages of emergence into recognition, potency in expression, and violence in conflict until the struggling soul sits down—as did Arjuna—in the midst between the two opposing forces (personality force and soul energy) and asks himself:
1. Which is right, this or that?
2. How can I distinguish where my duty or my responsibility lies?
3. How can I find my way out of this bewildering situation?
4. How can I bring in the control of the Warrior so that the two groups of forces which I love may be resolved into a unity?
5. How can I find my way out of this impasse?
6. Why must I hurt that which I love and through which I have expressed myself for ages?
7. How can I become aware of that mental illumination which will reveal the "middle way" between the pairs of opposites?
8. How can I see God? or else the Form of God? [Page 116]
Many such questions arise in the mind of the aspirant. They indicate dilemma, bewilderment, a realisation of surrounding glamour, a stage of illusion and a condition of impotency. Against the disciple are fighting all the forces of his own nature, and also those of humanity as a whole and of the planetary state. He feels helpless, inert, feeble and hopeless. He cannot even see the way out. Only one clear fact remains and that is the fact of the Soul, of the immortal Identity, the Warrior behind the scenes, the Charioteer, Krishna, the Christ within.
The Bhagavad Gita can be read entirely from the standpoint of the disciple's combat with glamour and students would be well-advised so to study it.
LOS 216: The astral body is either attentive to the egoic impression or swayed by the million voices of earth. It apparently has no voice of its own, no character of its own. This has been pictured for us in the Gita where Arjuna stands midway between the two opposing forces of good and evil and searches for the right attitude to both. The astral plane is the battleground of the soul, the place of victory or the place of defeat; it is the [Page 217] kurukshetra, upon which the great choice is made.
TSR I, 402: When the personality ray becomes pronounced and dominant, and the three body rays are subordinated to it, then the great fight takes place between the egoic ray or soul and the personality ray. The differentiation becomes clearly marked, and the sense of duality becomes more definitely established. The experiences detailed in the Bhagavad Gita become the experiences [Page 403] of the path of discipleship; Arjuna stands "at the midway point" on the field of Kurukshetra, between the two opposing forces, and, owing to the smoke of the battle, finds himself unable to see clearly.
TSR II, 275: Next there comes a period in the life of the aspirant when he shifts off the probationary path and moves on to the path of discipleship. This is the result of an activity which is a reflection in his individual personality life of the Approach of Acquiescence. This takes place upon the battlefield of the astral plane. There the disciple acquiesces consciously in the inevitable process of transmutation which takes place before the personality can be a fit instrument for the soul. He stands [Page 276] between the pairs of opposites, learning the secret of duality, and like Arjuna (fixed at the midway point) he seeks the way out, eventually acquiescing in the task ahead. This is the stage of submission to which every disciple subjects himself.
It is through acquiescence that the astral aspect of the personality is brought into line with the divine purpose of the indwelling soul. This is not, a negative, weak submission, or a sad, sweet acceptance, so-called, of the will of God, but it is a positive, dynamic assumption of a certain position or attitude upon the battlefield of life. This attitude recognises rightly, as did Arjuna, the demands of both armies (the army of the Lord and the army of the Personality) and whilst acquiescing in the facts of the case, the disciple stands up and fights as best he may for the privilege of right understanding and right activity.
TSR II, 332: When the consciousness of the soul, incarnate in a human form, arrives at a realisation of the futility of material ambition, it marks a high stage of personality integration and precedes a period of change or of a shift in activity. During this second stage upon the Path of Return, the shift of the consciousness is away from the physical body altogether, into the etheric or vital body, and from thence into the astral body. There duality is sensed and the battle of the pairs of opposites takes place. The disciple makes his appearance as Arjuna. Only after the battle and only when Arjuna has made his fateful decisions, is it possible for him to make his approach upon the mental plane to the soul.
TSR III, 388: This creative tension or one-pointed focus of imaginative dreaming swings the astral body into complete subordination to the soul. This fact is hinted at in The Bhagavad Gita where, upon the battle field of Kurukshetra, Arjuna suddenly sees the form of God wherein all forms constitute the One Form. The battle is then over. The soul is in complete control; no sense of separativeness is again possible.
TSR III, 211: It will be obvious to you, therefore, how the tests in Scorpio and the activity of Mars are potent to arouse the entire lower nature and bring about its final rebellion and the last stand, so to speak, of the personality against the soul. It is Mars who brings the world Arjuna into the active fight. The whole man is then engaged and the "quarrel of the sexes" is resolved in its highest aspect [Page 212] through the battle between the highly developed personality or form nature and the soul which seeks to be the ultimate controlling factor.
TSR IV, 459: If there is one factor aspirants recognise, it is the need of freeing themselves from the Great Illusion. Arjuna knew this, yet succumbed to despair. Yet in his hour of need, Krishna failed him not, but laid down in the Gita the simple rules whereby depression and doubt can be overcome. They may be briefly summarised as follows:
a. Know thyself to be the undoing One.
b. Control thy mind, for through that mind the undying One can be known.
c. Learn that the form is but the veil which hides the splendour of Divinity.
d. Realise that the One Life pervades all forms, so there is no death, no distress, no separation.
e. Detach thyself therefore from the form side and come to me, so dwelling in the place where Light and Life are found. Thus illusion ends.
-A Treatise on White Magic, page 308.
TWM 224: I would like to point out that it is this test and crisis through which humanity is now passing, and which began in those conditions which culminated in the world war and the present world strain. The first initiation of humanity, as an entity, took place when individualization became possible, and the soul was born in the body of humanity. This was preceded by a period of fearful stress and strain, dimly sensed by the pioneers into the human kingdom from the ranks of the animal-men. Should this crisis be successfully passed, the second initiation of humanity will be the result—the passing through the baptism and the entering of the stream. So the world war and its resulting effects constitute the Kurukshetra of the world Arjuna, and the outcome is still in the balance. Let this not be forgotten. There is however no cause for pessimism. The outcome of good is inevitable. It is however a question of a slow or a rapid realization and liberation from the great world illusion, and to this end every aspirant is begged to work strenuously and to lend his aid. Every man who liberates himself, who sees clearly, and who releases himself from the glamour of illusion aids in the Great Work.
TWM 59: Frequently then he reaches the position in which Arjuna found himself, confronted by enemies who are those of his own household, confused as to his duty and discouraged as he seeks to balance himself between the pairs of opposites. His prayer then should be the famous prayer of India, uttered by the heart, comprehended by the head, and supplemented by an ardent life of service to humanity.
"Unveil to us the face of the true spiritual sun,
Hidden by a disk of golden light,
That we may know the truth and do our whole duty
As we journey to Thy sacred feet."
TWM 231: The phrase "the one who meditates" relates to the soul. Arjuna, the aspiring disciple, resigns the struggle and hands the weapons and the reins of government to Krishna, the soul, and is rewarded at last by understanding [Page 232] and by a vision of the divine form which veils the Son of God Who is Himself.
TWM 376: It should be remembered that just as the battle ground (the kurukshetra) for the aspirant or probationer is the astral plane, so the battle ground for the disciple is the mental plane. There is his kurukshetra. The aspirant has to learn to control his emotional psychic nature through right control of the mind, and this Krishna seeks to emphasise as he trains Arjuna to take the next step towards right vision. The disciple has to carry forward this mental attention, and, through right use of the mind, achieve a higher realisation, and bring into active use a still higher factor,—that of the intuition.
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2008-10-05