Extracts from Letters of K.H.

[Reprinted from "Instruction VI," pp. 211-212 in E.S.T. Instructions: Nos. IV, V and VI. This publication was issued in 1901 by the The Eastern School of Theosophy, P.O. Box 1584, New York, N.Y. Research has shown that these extracts from letters of the Master K.H. date back to the 1880s. For more background information on "Instruction VI," see pp. xxiv and 197 in The Inner Group Teachings of H.P. Blavatsky, 2nd revised and enlarged edition, compiled and annotated by Henk J. Spierenburg, San Diego, California, Point Loma Publications, 1995.]

Concentration

During concentration, one must make oneself as positive as possible to spooks and all astral lower influences, but as negative as possible to the influence of . Concentrate on the idea of the Higher Self, say for half an hour at first. Permit no other thought. By degrees you will be able to unite your consciousness with the Higher Self. The Higher Self is always to be sought for within, to look outside is a fatal mistake. The effort to be made is to reach the highest self of which you are capable, and to hold yourself there. The registration of consciousness on this higher plane takes place at the last moment of the passage back to the physical. And this, together with the fact that "the Double" is often active, often produces a state of double consciousness, a source of error.

In acquiring the power of concentration the first step is one of blankness; then follows, by degrees, consciousness; and finally the passage between the two states becomes so rapid and easy as to be almost unnoticed. During the moment of concentration the body is in a brown study, and retains a sort of dream-perception (this of course applies only to chelas). The Higher Self is shapeless, sexless, formless; it is a state of consciousness, a breath.

The great difficulty to be overcome is the registration of the knowledge of the Higher Self on the physical planes. To accomplish this the physical brain must be made an entire blank to all but the higher consciousness; and the double (or astral body) must be paralyzed or error will result. In the first place, try to put yourself in such a state as not to feel anything that happens to the physical body, in fact to separate yourself from your body. If in this attempt you feel anything, any foreign influence coming into you from outside, break up the concentration at once.

The idea of the Master will prove the best safeguard against spooks, etc. The effort is far more dangerous for psychics than for others, because their bodies are more sensitive, and attract more various other powers of Nature. A sense of freedom is one of the marked characteristics of the higher consciousness and the will effort needed to silence the body is the same as that needed to forget pain. No two men pass through the same experience in effecting the union with the Higher Self. The true Higher Self is "the Warrior" referred to in Light on the Path, it never acts on this plane, where the real actor is the Manas. This union with the Higher Self is the best means of killing out the sense of separateness, and therefore man must become the slave of his Higher Self.

Masters.

Masters are those who are born with a Nirmanakaya in them. Every one of you create for yourselves a Master. Give him birth and objective being before you in the Astral Light. If it is a real Master he will send his voice - if not a real Master then the voice will be that of the Higher Self. Everyone will receive according to his own inner deserts, merits and development.

Yellow.

Yellow is the color of the equilibrated Astral Light, called "Gold" and used by Alchemists. Yellow is the male, pure; the red is the woman, the "bar-sinister," etc.

Psychism.

The inborn psychic faculty being more sensitive comes in contact with more forces in nature. The difference between a man born a psychic and one who is made is that the former is a rough unpolished jewel, reflecting light superficially, (and usually they do not wish to learn) while the other has a perfect polish all around, reflecting equally on all sides. Each man must polish himself.

Practical.

Have solidarity among yourselves as the finger of a hand: if one were cut all would feel it; each must feel so towards the others. Judge the action, not the person, because you never know the motive. Never judge human nature on its lowest level.

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