The Five Passions Of The Mind
December 1968
Dear Friends,
For the last letter of this year we want to bring up a very strong point which every chela (student) must understand, that is Eck is not concerned with sin,
for sin is an aspect of the personality, not the individual.
It is not the purpose of Eckankar to condemn sin, but rather the wrong action (an unspiritual act) which in any life adds to the karma and makes it more
difficult for Soul to take the vital step towards God Awareness through Soul Travel. Any unspiritual act is that which increases his karmic load purposely
the greatest of these being vanity and those which follow in lesser order: lust, anger, greed, and attachment.*
I have gone over these particular five perversions of human nature, time and time again, but i feel that they should be looked at constantly by all chelas
on the path to God via the Eck. We must be continuously on guard against these perversions for they will slip in regularly and steal away any attention
that we have put on the Godhead, hoping to keep us enmeshed in the negative trap. These are gifts of the Kal power and must not be accepted by any
Eck chela.
Instead we must be ready to accept the gifts of the Lord: forgiveness, tolerance, contentment, right discrimination, unattachment, and humility. **
It is these spiritual talents in each individual that the Eck is trying to uncover and bring to life once more. Whenever the chela experiences any difficulty
with himself such as falling into the negative trap , or even with Soul Travel, he should call upon the Master to assist him, or conduct him as the soul
traveler to the spiritual worlds. For the Living Master is bound by his mission to answer each and every call of this nature. Thus, though the chela may have
slipped off the path, he can by calling on the Inner Master be able to place himself again upon the path to God Awareness once more.
This means that the chela must depend entirely upon himself to make the contact with the Inner Master. He is always available to the chela whenever
needed and so often the chela cannot see him, but he can feel the divine presence, or often see blue clouds, lights or streaks similar to lightning across his
inner vision. Many times he can witness this in the physical world, like a blue light streaking the landscape at night, or suddenly appearing nearby in a field
or yard within a close distance. It is the Master making his presence known to whoever is awaiting him or his spiritual assistance.
Usually when the gifts of God descend on a person they come in a warm, contented feeling and lodge within him like a seed. The growth of these talents
slowly blossom into full bloom, until the recipient of the gifts finds himself happily filled and using these talents to their fullest expression. All within this uni-
verse are benefited by them. He gives without thought,without thinking and can make others happy by the outward thrust of light from all these wondrous gifts.
It is important to point out here that experience and interpretation are most of the elements involved in the gifts of God. So we find that it's not the personal
interpretation that is put on the experiences ranging from these gifts but that of a universal nature. We must remember too that visions and voices are not any
part of the higher gifts of God, but those of a psychic development in the individual. Here the concern is that of the Eck consciousness, the state of God – Rea-
lization. This is the grace that those who have become so spiritually developed enter into, are drawn upward into this magnificent state.
The grave error made by theologians is that the grace, or gifts, of God descend upon Soul. This is never true for Soul is always lifted upwards into the heavenly
worlds. " He who comes to me will be raised to the highest pinnacle of God ", said Rebezar Tarzs to me on a summer day while sitting near his little mud hut
on the side of a high gorge overlooking the vast countryside with it's backdrop of misty mountains. " Soul may have the gifts of God, but It must rise upwards,
scale the heights of the mountain peaks to receive them. For never does God descend to cast His robe around the fortunate who have earned it. "
Considering this, we must revamp our fixed opinions on the modus operandi of the spiritual unfoldment of Soul. We may dwell in the arena of psychic phen-
omenon with the sensory-intellectual consciousness state which includes the gifts of visions, voices, telepathy, precognition, and clairvoyance. But soon-
er or later these gifts of the psychic worlds may be separated and dropped, and Soul left void so that the gifts of the spiritual worlds may find a channel into
which they may enter. We then realize that it is a different type of consciousness with which we come into contact. Few can understand this for it is few who have
found the core of Eck, and even so are not able to reveal themselves in words as to their experiences in what might be said to be the ultimate non sensuous unity
in all things. In other words they have discovered that it is not God of ITSELF, that exists in all things, but that essence that flows out of the Godhead which
we know as the Eck. Call It by whatever name one wishes, It remains the same – that unifying force that brings together the materials of the world and holds
all life in it's proper place. The basic element of this life force is it's adhesive nature which builds like chains in the atom system of life. It feeds and sustains all
life while at the same time holds to gether the elements that make up the nature of life in each world of God. God is the Fountainhead from which all the
Eck springs, therefore IT furnishes the life and energies for IT'S own creatures' existences, for every state of consciousness possible.
We must by all means accept the fact that God brings Soul back to It's own high state, after eons of time in the lower worlds, opens Soul to the previous
divine gifts. These gifts are Soul's heritage to the kingdom of heaven, and unless accepted when presented will have to stand aside until the Way is
opened again. But no one should ever be discouraged for the opportunity is always there and only needs to be recognized. Thereafter we live in joyous
eternity. I am always with you.
Affectionately,
Paul Twitchell
From the book, Illuminated Way Letters 1966 – 1971 © 1981 Eckankar – Sri Paul Twitchell
Big Fan!!
I am fast becoming a fan of PT! This piece just happens to be very timely for both myself and the LFN community.
Further, please do note that your wise contributions to LFN are most appreciated here.
Life’s Problems
ALL of life's problems can be directly traced back to one's making a mistake concerning one of these five passions, and the virtues are cures for the passions, practices that reverse damaging thought and choice making criteria and patterns.