Qualifications For The Path

Found this lying around in a folder. Don't have the author's name. ~ g

[QUOTING]

The following is a table of the four well-known "Qualifications" for the Path which leads to Initiation. It will be seen that in practically all of these there is a mental element.

1. Viveka - Discrimination between the real and the unreal; also described as the opening of the doors of the mind.

2. Vairâgya - Indifference to the unreal, the transitory, and to the fruits of action: non-attachment

3. Shatsampati: Sixfold mental attributes:

-1- Shama - Control of thought
-2- Dama - Control of action
-3- Uparati - Tolerance
-4- Titiksha - Endurance
-5- Shraddhâ - Faith
-6- Samâdhâna - Balance

4. Mumuksha - Desire for liberation

Volumes have been written on the Qualifications: here space will permit of the briefest description only. They are not expected in perfection, but they must be at least partially possessed before Initiation is possible.

Vivekâ: The aspirant must learn that the inner life, the life of and for the Ego, is the real life; he must learn, as C.W. Leadbeater succinctly puts it, that "few things matter much: most things do not matter at all".

Needless to say, this does not mean that worldly duties and responsibilities, once undertaken, may or should be neglected; on the contrary, they should be performed by the occultist even more scrupulously and carefully than by other men. It is the spirit in which they are done which matters, the recognition of the aspect of them which is important, and those aspects which are not important.

This "opening of the doors of the mind", or "conversion" as it has been called, is precisely that which is spoken of in the bible: "Set your affection on things above and not on things of the earth…for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

Discrimination is much stimulated by the rapidly changing circumstances into which the disciple is generally thrown, with a view to impressing on him the instability of all external things. The life of a disciple is generally one of storm and stress, in order that qualities and faculties may be forced into swift growth and speedily brought to perfection.

Vairagyâ: From a recognition of the instability and unsatisfying nature of external things, indifference to them naturally follows. The aspirant becomes indifferent to things that come and go, and more and more he fixes his attention on the changeless reality that is ever present.

Shama: The need for control of thought has already been amply emphasised in this present volume. The pupil must reduce the chaos of his emotions and thoughts to order ; he must eliminate the host of minor interests, and control wandering thoughts. Whilst he still lives in the world, the difficulty of the undertaking is multiplied manyfold by the ceaseless pressure of disturbing waves of emotion and thought, which give him no rest, no opportunity to collect his forces in order to make a real effort.

Steady, daily practice in concentration and meditation is a method that many find suitable. The aspirant must work with great energy and perseverance to reduce the mental rebel to order and discipline, knowing that the great increase in thought-power which will accompany his rapid growth will prove a danger to others and to himself, unless the force be thoroughly under his control. Better give a child dynamite to play with, than place the creative powers of thought in the hands of the selfish and the ambitious.

Dama: To inner control must be added the control of outer actions. As the mind obeys the soul so must the lower nature obey the mind. Carelessness in the lower part of human activity must be eliminated.

Uparati : The sublime and far-reaching virtue of tolerance means the quiet acceptance of each man, each form of existence , as it is, without demand that it should be something different, shaped more to one's own liking. Respect for the individuality of others is one of the marks of the disciple.

Titiksha: Endurance means an attitude of mind that cheerfully bears all and resents nothing, going straight
onwards unswervingly to the goal. The aspirant knows that nothing can come to him but by the Law, and the Law is good. He must realise that as he is paying in a few short lives the karmic obligations accumulated during the past, the payments must be correspondingly heavy.

Shraddhâ: The very struggles, in which the aspirant is plunged, develop in him faith in his Master, and in himself, a serene, strong confidence that is unshakeable.

Sâmadhâna: Balance, or equilibrium, grows to some extent without conscious effort during the striving after the previous five qualifications. The soul gradually disentangles itself from ties that knit it to the world of sense, the objects in which "turn away from abstemious dweller in the body", and soon lose all power to disturb his balance.

Balance amid mental troubles of every kind is also necessary, this balance being further taught by the swift changes, mentioned above, through which his life is guided by the ever-watchful care of his Master.

Mumuksha: The deep, intense longing for liberation, that yearning of the soul towards union with the Divine, follows on the attainment of the other Qualifications. This adds the last touch to the readiness to enter into full discipleship. Once the longing has definitely asserted itself, the soul that has felt it can never again quench its thirst at earthly fountains.

The attainment of this stage makes the man ready for Initiation, an Adhikari, ready to "enter the stream" that cuts him off forever from the interests of earthly life, save as he can serve his Master in them and help forward the evolution of humanity.

[END QUOTING]

~g