Meditation #50

The Injunction to live ‘as if’ you were the Soul within the Ashram.

(Volume 2 - Pages 556-557)

Act in the future ‘as if’ there are, for you, no more glamours and see what eventuates.  Endeavor to always live in the Ashram, which is insulated from glamour and begin to act ‘as if’ the consciousness of the Ashram was intrinsically your consciousness.  For the remainder of your life, let the esoteric constant awareness which the two words ‘as if’ actuate all that you do.  

Travel thus, life’s way; work in my Ashram; aid your fellow men,

and know the joy of constant service and sacrifice.

This ‘as if’ behavior presupposes the imposition of the highest grasped aspiration upon the normal personality in the form of changed behavior.  “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” applies to mental control.  The ‘as if’ behavior applies to a still higher factor than thought; it involves the constant attempt to live ‘as if’ the Soul (not the mind but through the mind) is in constant control and is the dominating aspect of the expression.  It necessitates, when correctly applied, the growing automatic control of the entire lower threefold man by the Soul.  Below are six themes for meditation built around the ‘as if’ idea.

1. Sound the O M three times, as a physical person, as an emotional person and as a mind.  Then sound the O M as the Soul.

2. Themes for meditative reflection:

1. What, in your life, would happen if you really acted ‘as if’ the Soul were sounding the O M?

2. If you are truly thinking ‘as if’ the mind were the instrument of the Soul, what lines of thought will you have to eliminate, cultivate or express?

3. If you are realistically living ‘as if’ the Soul were visible in your daily life, what will happen to the astral body?

4. Provided the ‘as if’ theory were controlling your physical brain and consequently your daily activities, in what way would it alter your mode of living?

5. Do you clearly understand the difference between ‘as a man thinketh…’ and the ‘as if’ modes of procedure?  How do they differ in application?

6. What qualities would your particular mechanism or personality demonstrate if you acted ‘as if’ you were anchored in the Ashram and not just on the periphery?  

3. Then, ‘as if’ you were consciously standing before the Master and definitely aware of His presence, dedicate yourself to the service of the Ashram for this life and for the next.

4. Say the Great Invocation, sounding the O M after each stanza.