The purpose of the Agni Yoga World Forum is to post and learn from the wisdom of Agni Yoga, the Roerichs, and upon occasion Theosophy/Blavatsky. Therefore, all posts related to Agni Yoga, the Roerichs (Nicholas and Helena), and their two sons (George and Svetoslav) are enthusiastically welcomed. The Agni Yoga World Forum will thrive on the living wisdom of its contributors. As we reflect upon these Teachings together, your insights will open essential new pathways of understanding.
"Just think, there is no way that the aura and the constituents of the secretions can be falsified. It is hard for humanity to grasp even a simple fact like that. Questions on such matters have their place even when it is Arhats who are being tested. To see nothing and hear nothing, yet maintain faith up to the highest stage of knowledge - this is a quality of an Arhat. To manifest a heartfelt striving - this is also a quality of an Arhat. To grasp both the great and the small - this is also a quality of an Arhat. Thrift in expending the basic energy is also a quality of an Arhat. Constant desire for the Good is yet another quality of an Arhat. Courage and patience are also the qualities of an Arhat. It is ridiculous to think of the essence of an Arhat as being something unearthly. An Arhat evolves on Earth as a Leader of hearts. He offers himself as a focus around which new formulations may develop. His consciousness sees everything, all the seemingly intolerable earthly conditions, but his heart understands how to transmute these obstacles. The small in spirit are in constant fear of battle - or more precisely, the condition we call battle. But no other word will cover the reality of struggle and success as well as battle does. So a warrior can find a place for his adversary - as a whetstone for sharpening his sword. I think that it is possible for a warrior to send the Teacher his reinforced efforts when together they join battle." Heart. 585
I have only a guess as to what the words “to see nothing and hear nothing” mean in this passage.
This is a thoughtful question - based on the passage from Heart 585. Let me try my best to answer your question: “I have only a guess as to what the words ‘to see nothing and hear nothing’ mean in this passage.” Does my answer reflect your “guess?”
When placed next to the requirement to maintain faith up to the highest stage of knowledge, the meaning unfolds on a few interconnected levels. For the average person, “seeing is believing,” whereas the Arhat is given no external or physical confirmation or outward encouragement. To see nothing and hear nothing yet maintain an unshakable inner knowing is the ultimate test of the heart’s awakening. The advancing disciple-the initiate – the Arhat no longer needs the crutch of outward sights or sounds; in other words, needs no sensory evidence of the Hierarchy, the Teacher, or the Path.
For example, as a well-seasoned musician, I can read a complex score and hear the full polyphony of a symphony in my mind without hearing a single instrument playing out loud. On the path of initiation, there are periods often described as crossing a void or a desert, where the initiate feels entirely alone and bereft of the usual spiritual touchstones. Mother Theresa had that experience and wrote about it. To maintain faith up to the highest stage of knowledge in this void means standing entirely on your own accumulated spiritual realization. It means the initiate does not need the Teacher to visibly appear (see) or audibly be heard.
Thank you Joleen. At first reading, it didn’t seem to fit the verse. How could he not see or hear? It took more than a day or so to come to the guess, which was the phrase I had heard, - “blind faith”. It makes sense, all you said, when it is put together with “yet maintain faith up to the highest of knowledge”. It shows, I think, that the Arhat must have a storehouse of true knowledge, and a wealth of spiritual understanding to know how to proceed alone. The other passage that intrigues me is “His consciousness sees everything, all the seemingly intolerable earthly conditions, but his heart understands how to transmute these obstacles.”