III. The Great Preparation

Tilak of Tibet Reveals Life's Purpose, by Ann Hackett [1944], at sacred-texts.com

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III

THE GREAT PREPARATION

On the parchment that lay before him Tilak wrote:

When an individual enters earthly life the self-consciousness becomes limited by the physical body used, and to the surroundings of the physical body. All that was contacted before physical birth is shut out to the self-consciousness encompassed in a physical covering. Then the promptings of the finer body reach the self-consciousness through the individual's faculties. The faculties become the connecting link between the finer body and the physical body.

To recover that enjoyed in the finer body before physical birth, the individual must so use and develop his faculties that they can be turned to his inner life, then turned self-consciously to the life of the finer body.

The demands of the physical body are great. These demands are related to former physical bodies that had been used by the individual. The greater these demands the more deeply encased is the individual in his gross physical covering.

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Trained physical senses give the individual a clearer perception of physical life. Often trained physical senses assist the faculties, for trained physical senses report more accurately the earthly things surrounding the individual.

When the faculties are trained the individual discovers that there are no gains in the outer physical life; that there are no losses. What appears to be physical gains or physical losses are faculty attachments to things material. When many physical objects surround an individual they are accepted as gains. When these objects are removed they are considered as losses.

Inwardly this is not so, for nothing brought or removed from the physical plane adds or detracts from the inner life. If such appears to be so, it is not the inner life that is being considered.

Does the individual need many things to be good? Does the lack of material things make an individual bad? If such were true only rich men would be good and only poor men bad. Can anything an individual depends upon make him happy? How can any individual expect to be happy if he is a dependent upon outer objects? No one ever was, or ever will be, outwardly independent. It is only the inner life that enjoys independence.

Each individual's inner life is unique. It has no duplicate anywhere. It is a great kingdom seeking a ruler. It is a kingdom so vast that it is without known

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circumference. It is a kingdom wherein is contained everything for the individual. It is an empire that cannot be destroyed.

Why should any individual forsake his great inner kingdom and subject himself so often to the harrowing conditions of earthly life? If the individual were to gain possession of everything in physical life his inner life would not be better, even in the least degree. The inner kingdom ever waits for its ruler; let the individual return and assume just sovereignty.

How little of the individual's power is actualized physically! What is actualized shows not the great inner reservoir, a reservoir without depth or breadth.

Earthly conditions are for those that seek them. Man either becomes greater than his earthly surroundings, or man becomes a slave to them. Contemplation is the summary of all action.

The events in earthly life are determined by antecedent causes. When an individual enters earthly life at physical birth conditions that surround him, and will continue to surround him, were determined before his physical birth, therefore such conditions do not permit complete individual freedom. That which attracts an individual, drawing an individual into action, indicates his state of freedom. That part of the individual that is drawn to the grosser physical things is gross. That part of the individual that is drawn to the better physical things is better. The ultimate of all individuals is

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to be free from any physical plane dependence. This independence can be accomplished even while the individual is still occupying a physical body. Anything in the physical life can be taken from the individual without his consent or desire, for all outer life is determined by the individual's past. Nothing in the individual's inner life can be taken away. Only that can be dismissed in the inner life that the individual dismisses.

What is inner development? The individual's faith in his higher thinking and feeling, confidence in his altruistic motives, the high value placed on the reasoning power, a deep appreciation and use of the moral promptings, love of conscience. Such as these brings peace, understanding and compassion. None of these inner faculties are dependent upon anything other than the individual himself. The more the greater joys of the inner life are used, the more they can be used. This is a great compensation, a compensation that follows definite laws. Who then is the poor man? Only the man that uses not his inner life. Who then is the unsuccessful man? Only he who knows not the inner life. Who then is the unhappy man? Only he who has not tasted of the joys of the inner life. The individual who dwells lovingly with the inner life knows that he has an assured and beautiful future; knows that his future will be more glorious than his past. He needs no assurance of this, for the inner life is steady, encouraging and ever expanding.

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THE INNER LIFE TRANSCENDS ALL BECAUSE IT CONTAINS ALL.

When the self-consciousness awakens and proclaims to the world, "I am going home—home to my peaceful inner life," the faculties often rebel; faculties so long accustomed to careless days of play. But the period arrives when the emotions can no longer leave muddy tracks on the mind, nor the mind blur the motive. It was the emotions that pitched the earthly individual into the pit of uncertainty and grief, and it was the careless mind that had kept the individual there.

Often had an earth-bound individual permitted his emotions to be evoked by the smallest provocation; emotions that build imaginary ills into mountains, build imaginary effrontery and imaginary slights. Often had the mind only too eager picked up a sorry theme and added its lament. It is then self-consciousness is found in chains. Have we time to be foolish?

What is the greatest preparation for the individual? The preparation to meet himself.

The period does arrive when an individual will get a gleam of something that is not dependent upon earthly life and its conditions. At first this gleam startles the individual. He wonders from whence the gleam came; for to the individual there had only been the physical life—all else had been nonexistent. When the gleam appears it brings a wonderment that nothing

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in earthly life can answer. This wonderment is the individual's first step in learning. It is then that the individual begins to question his earthly life: Whence came I? Whither do I go? Nothing in earthly life can answer these questions.

As the gleam widens a communication is established between the individual's finer body and the individual's grosser body. This communication is highly informative to the individual. The individual realizes for the first time that he is dependent upon more than an earthly covering. The individual begins to realize that the earthly body, unknown to himself, had been receiving direction from an unknown source.

Then the individual begins to deepen his faculties, finding that the faculties can be turned inward as well as outward. The individual discovers that something beyond earthly life molds all things. The individual begins to realize that he has a part in the molding of his physical body. Viewing his physical garment with this changed attitude the individual does not believe he has done a very good job. There are many things about the physical body that he would like to change—But how?

Again a gleam comes through. To change his physical body the individual must self-consciously use his finer garment. This is the beginning of a great task. Having been for so many physical lives out of communication with his finer body, the individual does not

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find it easy to reestablish communication, at least not while in the physical body.

Values change very slowly. The individual physically encompassed has been too prone to accept only what he calls "tangible things"—something he can touch with physical hands. All else to him has been ephemeral.

THE POWER OF WORDS

Tilak studied the parchment sheet on which he had written:

The sharpest and most cutting tool used by the individual is his tongue. Words venomously expelled cannot be recalled. Sharp words penetrate deeply. Often thoughts and feelings only reach the physical existence through the spoken word. Thus words have power since they are the spoken thoughts and feelings of an individual. Spoken words often travel great distances; are often passed on from one individual to another, until thousands, even millions, use them. The value of words depends upon the motive that sent them forth. When an individual becomes filled with bitterness it is his voice that conveys his condition to those around him. A voice that lashes as it speaks has a tone that is as sharp as the words that issue forth. When an individual is happy words seem to flow from the lips and are silver-toned.

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One of the first things to confront an individual after the individual has dropped the earthly covering are his words—words that had been so carelessly dropped along the road of his earthly journey. The individual then witnesses the wounds caused by the bitter words that had been sent forth wounds yet unhealed.

Words of kindness ever heal. A corroding spirit can but suffer.

In moments of trial there often returns to the individual the kind words he sent forth in a distant era. These words have been waiting in the corridors of existence until their sender was passing through a trial.

NOTHING IS SO CARELESSLY AND WASTEFULLY USED BY MAN AS WORDS.

The outer life and the inner life use not the same vocabulary. Simplicity is the golden curtain that hangs over the entrance to the inner life. Excess curtains the door of the outer life. The outer life wants everything. The inner life has everything. The outer life is never satisfied. The inner life is ever satisfied.

NEVER ATTEMPT TO WOO THE INNER LIFE WITH OUTER THINGS.

The faculties must be clothed with patience ere they enter the inner kingdom. When there is much to agitate there is little to elevate.

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Earthly life has been brought to pass that the individual will know what he needs not. Does not every day show this? Does not the physical heart drum the individual to his sepulchre? What is there in earthly life that the individual would wish to possess forever? At first a child cries when its toys are taken away. Has not the grown child toys, and does not the grown child also cry when the toys are removed? Why should this be so?

THE DOOR TO THE INNER TEMPLE IS EVER OPEN.