AGNI YOGA

About Agni Yoga, the Agni Yoga Society has the following to say:

The aims of the Society are embodied in the philosophy that gives it its name—Agni Yoga—as contained in the books of the Agni Yoga Series published by the Society. In them is found a synthesis of ancient Eastern beliefs and modern Western thought and a bridge between the spiritual and the scientific. Unlike previous yogas, Agni Yoga is a path not of physical disciplines, meditation, or asceticism—but of practice in daily life. It is the yoga of fiery energy, of consciousness, of responsible, directed thought. It teaches that the evolution of the planetary consciousness is a pressing necessity and that, through individual striving, it is an attainable aspiration for mankind. It affirms the existence of the Hierarchy of Light and the centre of the Heart as the link with the Hierarchy and with the far-off worlds. Though not systematized in an ordinary sense, Agni Yoga is a Teaching that helps the discerning student to discover moral and spiritual guide-posts by which to learn to govern his or her life and thus contribute to the Common Good. For this reason Agni Yoga has been called a "living ethic."

Speaking about the individual's role in human spiritual evolution, Helena Roerich wrote, "The greatest benefit that we can contribute consists in the broadening of consciousness, and the improvement and enrichment of our thinking, which, together with the purification of the heart, strengthens our emanations. And thus, raising our vibrations, we restore the health of all that surrounds us."

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The Tibetan Master had the following to say about the Doctrine of the Heart, or Agni Yoga:

[1] Let me tell you this—this group now in process of becoming, will in time develop its own "yoga" and school of training which will gradually supersede that of the raja yoga and bhakti yoga schools.  The method of training will only be given to those who have trained the mind and learnt to control the emotions.  Hence the key to what is now going on.  The mode of training will be no easy short cut to the goal.  Only the intelligent can attain it and only coordinated personalities will be eligible to the teaching.  The keynote of the new yoga will be synthesis; its objective will be conscious development of the intuitive faculty.  This development will fall into two categories:  first, the development of the intuition and of true spiritual perception, and secondly, the trained utilisation of the mind as an interpreting agent.

In the book Agni Yoga, some of the teaching to be given has filtered through but only from the angle of the will aspect.  No book has as yet made its appearance which gives in any form whatsoever the "yoga of synthesis".  We have had "bhakti yoga" or union through devotion.  Raja Yoga is now receiving emphasis, which is union through the mind.  It sounds like a redundancy to speak of union through synthesis, but it is not so.  It is union through identification with the whole—not union through realisation or through vision.  Mark well this distinction, for it holds the secret of the next step for the personalities of the race.  The Bhagavad Gita gives us primarily the key to the yoga of devotion.  Patanjali teaches us the yoga of the mind.  In the Gospel story we have the portrayal of realisation, but the key or the secret of identification is still withheld.  It lies in the custody of a few in this integrating group of mystics and knowers and will be brought out into manifestation in the furnace of their individual experience and thus given to the world.  But the time is not yet.  The group must grow in strength and knowledge and in intuitive perception. [A TREATISE ON WHITE MAGIC p429]

[2] Perhaps I shall make my meaning clearer if I state that this technique falls into certain scientific lines or modes of work, for which much of the training given in schools of true meditation and in the Raja Yoga systems have prepared the aspirant. These stages begin where the usual formulas leave off, and pre-suppose facility in approach to the Angel or the soul, and an ability to raise the consciousness to a point of soul fusion. I will list the processes or stages as follows:

1.                   The evocation of the stage of tension. This is basic and essential. It is a tension brought about by complete control of the personal self so that it is "fitted for contact with the real."

2.                   The achieving of a state of fusion with the soul or with the Angel which guards the approach to the Path of the Higher Evolution.

3.                   The holding of the mind steady in the light of the soul, which remains the attitude of the lower self for the entire remaining period of work, held at the point of tension by the soul and not by an effort of the personality. The soul undertakes this holding when the personal self has done its utmost to achieve the desired tension.

These are the three preliminary steps for which the practice of alignment should have prepared the student of the higher mysteries. These steps must precede all effort to develop the intuition, and this may take several months (or even years) of careful preparation. Fire is the symbol of the mind and these are the first three stages of the Agni Yoga discipline or of the yoga of fire for which Raja Yoga has prepared the student. [GLAMOUR A WORLD PROBLEM p179]

[3] The presentation of the revelation or of the imparted truth and its precipitation into the world of illusion comes next. In that world of illusion, it undergoes the "fiery ordeal" wherein "some of the fire within that which is revealed wings its way back to the source from whence it came; some of it serves to destroy the revealer, and some to burn those who recognise the revelation." This is a phase of Agni Yoga which, as you can see, is only for those who can penetrate beyond the Angel into the place "where fire dwelleth," and where God, the Presence, functions as a consuming fire and waits for the hour of total revelation. This is a symbolic rendering of a great truth. In the case of the individual initiate, the third initiation, the Transfiguration, marks the consummation of the process. Only glory then is seen: only the voice of the Presence is heard and union with the past, the present and the future is reached. [GLAMOUR A WORLD PROBLEM p183]

[4] The Technique of the Presence. By means of this technique, the soul assumes control of the integrated personality and of its relations, horizontal and vertical. This technique involves the unfolding of the flower of the intuition, dispelling illusion, revealing the Angel, indicating the Presence, and opening up to the disciple the world of ideas and the door of the higher initiations. Through the disciple's grasp and application of these divine ideas or seed thoughts, he becomes initiate and the third initiation becomes possible as an immediate goal. The intuition is the applied power of transfiguration. This technique is related to the little known yoga called Agni Yoga or the yoga of fire. [GLAMOUR A WORLD PROBLEM p171]

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The Doctrine of the Heart

Agni Yoga to me is about making use of the power of love and we can just as well call it the Doctrine of Love where the heart is just the organ or symbol off it. If god is love then we must develop and perfect love within ourselves and then it also stands to reason why this path must lead all the way to God himself. This perfection of love is the most important thing in our development. Without it all other developments become dangerous or useless. To create correctly the magician must use love as a base for his motives.  

The heart is needed for the building of the Antahkarana, the bridge to the subtle worlds by using and expressing the power of love, the strongest force in the universe. That is why the realisation of its qualities represents the most vital step for the world and the aspirant for initiation. This must be done scientifically and the heart must become a scientific motivating force to guide and lead to the world of love through the circles of the Subtle and Fiery Worlds.

It is the Yoga of Synthesis, Agni-Yoga, that leads to egoic fusion and it is the goal towards which senior disciples and idealists should aim for it is the teaching of the causes of manifestation and we must learn to work with the causes itself. Whoever shall aid his near ones to find the path of the heart shall also find his own perfection for it brings to extreme sensitivity the human heart and this comes to us through those we know and love.

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