The Challenge to Build Sacredness in Daily Life
Carlos Cardoso Aveline
Indian theosophist B. P. Wadia wrote in one of his books that, according to the Vedas, the home of an individual is his highest Ashram.
Just as rivers flow to find rest in the Ocean, so all Ashrams flow to rest in the family house. “To build a Home, as it should be built”, Mr. Wadia adds, “is to precipitate on earth the Kingdom of the Gods.” [1]
Alchemy is not limited to individuals. There is an alchemy in deeper human relationships as well, and gold can be produced in them.
One’s home is the strongest magnetic centre one has in life. Every individual who studies divine wisdom should take practical measures to be sure that the place where he lives is like a temple.
Personal emotions have to be in peace and order, for the focus of consciousness to be established in higher manasic levels. Personal equations must be simplified. The magnetism of each human being gets recorded in the walls and objects of the place he inhabits. If his will is correct and noble, the sacred factor in his home will get stronger.
The magnetic quality of a home will depend also on some ecological factors, and on the degree of harmony in the exchange of energies between the house and the natural environment, including subtle planes. It does not matter whether the home is rich or poor, but there must be simplicity. The atmosphere of a place reflects the state of mind of its inhabitants. The degree of self-knowledge the inhabitants have, and the intensity of their contact with their own higher selves, are two decisive factors.
The basic pattern of human karma is recorded in the human couple – and creatively reproduced by it. From this relationship children emerge. One can see the present and future of a civilization by observing the psychological state of families. The love between man and woman is the “founding link” to any society. It should be therefore consciously defended as much as possible from mental and emotional forms of pollution.
One’s home can be built and seen as a temple in its subtle levels. Its atmosphere will reflect and strengthen the occult temple in one’s own heart and mind. The parents or members of a couple are the two main columns – yin and yang – of such a sanctuary.
Along the spiritual path, there must be a purifying transformation of intimate relationships, so that as time passes a deeper and more impersonal sort of love can get stronger in the “mix” of frequently contradictory feelings. In the “Letters From the Masters of the Wisdom” one can read interesting words on bonds of affection.
We must take into consideration that the expression “Ain-Soph” is the Western equivalent to “Parabrahman” or Unlimited, Universal and Abstract Space. Any “personification” of Ain-Soph is therefore a mere symbolism.
The Master says:
“Know, o Brother mine, that where a truly spiritual love seeks to consolidate itself doubly by a pure, permanent union of the two, in its earthly sense, it commits no sin, no crime in the eyes of the great Ain-Soph, for it is but the divine repetition of the Male and Female Principles – the microcosmical reflection of the first condition of Creation. On such a union angels may well smile! But they are rare, Brother mine, and can only be created under the wise and loving supervision of the Lodge, in order that the sons and daughters of clay might not be utterly degenerated, and the Divine Love of the Inhabitants of Higher Spheres (Angels) towards the daughters of Adam be repeated. But even such must suffer, before they are rewarded. Man’s Atma may remain pure and as highly spiritual while it is united with its material body ; why should not two souls in two bodies remain as pure and uncontaminated notwithstanding the earthly passing union of the latter two…” [2]
In another letter, the same Master wrote:
“Purity of earthly love purifies and prepares for the realisation of the Divine Love. No man’s imagination can conceive of its ideals of the divinity otherwise but in the shape the familiar to him. One who prepares for solving the Infinite must solve the finite first. The Ideal of the Spiritual can penetrate only through the imagination which is the leading path and first gate to the conceptions and impressions of the earthly Atma.”[3]
The house where we live will be established as a sacred space into the extent that our consciousness expands and our commitment to a correct life gets stable and firm. At the same time, its subtle atmosphere must be protected from harmful influences. Discernment is necessary. A master of the wisdom wrote to Alfred P. Sinnett:
“Your house, good friend, has a colony of Elementaries [4] quartering in it (…). You should be more than ordinarily careful (…) not to encourage sensitiveness in your household, not to admit more than can be helped the visits of known mediumistic sensitives. It would be well also to burn wood-fires in the rooms now and then, and carry about as fumigators open vessels with burning wood. You might also ask Damodar to send you some bundles of incense-sticks for you to use for this purpose. These are helps, but the best of all means to drive out unwelcome guests of this sort, is to live purely in deed and thought.”
Various kinds of toxic ideas and feelings, which are popular in materialistic societies, ought to be kept at a distance. Some objects irradiate beneficent influences, and the master added:
“The talismans you have had given you, will also powerfully aid you if you keep your confidence in them and in us unbroken.” [5]
“Confidence in the masters” means “confidence in one’s own spiritual soul”.
As long as probation and karma allow it, family life and the atmosphere of one’s home can reflect the energy which flows from the inner sanctuary present in everyone’s mind and heart. Thus one builds effective bridges between Spirit and Matter, and the source of peace and happiness strengthens its creative action.
NOTES:
[1] “The Building of the Home”, by B. P. Wadia, Theosophy Company (India), Mumbai, 2005, 56 pp., see p. 03.
[2] “Letters From the Masters of the Wisdom”, Second Series, Transcribed and Annotated by C. Jinarajadasa, TPH, India, second edition, 1973, 190 pp., see Letter 19, pp. 41-42.
[3] “Letters From the Masters of the Wisdom”, Second Series, see Letter 18, pp. 40-41.
[4] “Elementaries” – harmful subtle energies belonging to the lower astral world, usually relating to the unfortunate post-mortem condition of intensely selfish persons.
[5] “The Mahatma Letters”, 1926 edition, published by T. Fisher Unwin Ltd., in London, UK, with 493 pages and Index; see Letter LV, p. 323. In the TUP edition, page and letter are the same.
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On the role of the esoteric movement in the ethical awakening of mankind during the 21st century, see the book “The Fire and Light of Theosophical Literature”, by Carlos Cardoso Aveline.
Published in 2013 by The Aquarian Theosophist, the volume has 255 pages and can be obtained through Amazon Books.
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