The following text excerpts were taken from the work "Life and Teachings of the Masters" by Baird Spalding. Permission to publish the text excerpts of the following five chapters was kindly granted by Schirner Verlag (schirner.com), which owns the copyright for this work.
Many thanks again ;-)
We would like to continue this chapter with the words of a wise person recorded by Baird Spalding during a three-year stay at the foot of the Himalayas. When asked whether death could be considered avoidable, the Siddha replied: "The human body has emerged from the individual cell, just like the bodies of plants and animals, which we like to call younger and less developed brothers.
The individual cell is a tiny, microscopic unit of the body. After an often repeated process of growth and division, this tiny cell eventually becomes a perfect human being composed of almost countless millions of cells. Each of these cells has its particular function to fulfill in the body, but in the main it retains the characteristics of the individual cell from which it emerged. This individual cell can be regarded as the light bearer of animated life. It transmits from one generation to another the latent fires of God, the life force of all living beings, a life force whose line of ancestors can be traced back without interruption to the time when the first life appeared on this planet. This individual cell possesses the quality of unlimited youth.
But what about the group cells that form the so-called body? The group cells are formed by the repeated multiplication of the individual cell; they retain its individual characteristics, one of which is the latent fire of life just mentioned, or eternal youth. The group cells, or the body, have the task of being the guardians of the individual cell, but only during the short span of a lifetime as you now know it.
The oldest of our teachers discovered in an inspirational way the truth of the fundamental unity of life reactions in plants and animals. We can easily imagine how these teachers gathered their students around them under the broad branches of a banian tree and addressed them with words like these: 'Behold this mighty tree. The process of life that takes place in our brother, this tree, is fundamentally the same as in ourselves. Look at the leaves and the buds at the tips of the branches of even the oldest banian tree, how young they are, as young as the seed from which the giant was born. Since the life reactions of plants and humans are the same, humans can certainly learn something from the experiences of plants.
Just as the leaves and buds at the tips of the branches of the oldest banian tree are as young as the seed from which the tree sprang, so the group cells of man, of which a body is composed, need not gradually lose their vitality and die, but can grow as young and evergreen as the ovum or individual cell itself. Indeed, there is no reason why your body should not become as young and vigorous as the living seed from which it sprang. The spreading banian tree, which is always a symbol of imperishable life, does not die unless by accident. No natural law of decay, no process of aging seems to dangerously attack the vital energy of its cells. And the same is true with regard to the human-divine form. There is no natural law of death and decay for man, except an accident.
There is no irreversible process of ageing in his body or in his group cells - nothing that could slowly paralyze the individual. Death is a preventable event. Illness is above all non-well-being, that is, absence of well-being or santi, the blissful, joyful peace of mind that is reflected in the body through the mind. The process of ageing, the general experience of man, is but an expression of his ignorance of certain diseased states of body and soul. Accidents can also be prevented by a correct mental attitude.
The Siddha say: "The tone of the body can be maintained so that it easily resists infectious and other diseases, such as the plague and influenza, by itself!" The siddha can ingest germs and prevent them from developing into a disease. Remember that youth is the seed of God's love implanted in the human-divine form. In fact, youth is the divine in man; youth is spiritual life, beautiful life. It is the only life that lives and loves - the one, eternal life. Oldness is unspiritual, mortal, ugly, unreal. Thoughts of fear, thoughts of pain and thoughts of sorrow cause the "ugliness" that we call "old age".
Thoughts of joy, thoughts of love and ideal thoughts create the beauty that is called youth. Age is merely a shell in which lies hidden the gem of reality, the jewel of youth. Practice maintaining the consciousness of childhood within you. Imagine the divine child that lives within you. Before you fall asleep, say to your consciousness:
"I realize that within me is a spiritual body of joy, always young, always beautiful. Mind, eyes, nose, mouth, skin are beautiful and spiritual, and I possess the body of the divine child, which is perfect tonight."
Repeat these affirmations and meditate on them quietly as you fall asleep.
When you get up in the morning, speak aloud to yourself:
"Well, dear ... (call yourself by your name), a divine alchemist dwells within you." Through the spiritual power of these assurances, a transformation takes place during the night and the unfolding from within. The spirit has permeated this spiritual body and this spiritual temple. The alchemist has decomposed dead and exhausted cells and caused the gold of the new skin to appear in its imperishable health and loveliness. Truly, where divine love appears, there is eternal youth. The divine alchemist dwells in my own body and continually creates new and beautiful child cells. The spirit of youth is in my body, this human-divine form, and all is well.
A-O-M Shanti-Shanti-Shanti !
Learn to smile as friendly as a child. A smile that comes from the soul is a spiritual relaxation. A true smile is something truly beautiful, the artistic value of the "inner immortal lawgiver". It is good to speak with conviction: "I send out a loving thought to the whole world. May all beings be happy and blessed!" Before you go about your daily work, give yourself the assurance:
"Within me lives a perfect form, the divine form. I am now exactly as I wish to be. Every day I imagine the beauty within me until I breathe it into appearance. I am a child of God; everything I need will be given to me now and forever."
Learn to infuse yourself with joy and affirm: "Infinite love fills my mind and floods my body with its perfect life." Make everything around you bright and beautiful. Nurture the spirit of humor, rejoice in the sunshine.
You will understand that I am referring here to the teachings of the Siddha. They are the oldest teachers known, and what they teach goes back thousands of years further than any history. They went among the people and showed them a better way to live, even before man knew the simple arts of civilization.
The system of lawgivers sprang from nothing but these teachings. But these lawgivers soon turned away from the realization that God was speaking through them. Thinking that it was they themselves, their personality, who fulfilled the task, they lost sight of the spiritual and brought forth the personal or the material, forgetting that everything comes from the same source - from God.
The personal views of these lawgivers gave rise to the great separation from the faith and the great diversity of thought. This is what we understand from the Tower of Babel.
The Siddha throughout the ages have received the true inspirational methods of how God expresses Himself through every human being and through all His creations, in their realization that God is All and that God reveals Himself through all. They have never departed from this teaching. And in this way they have received the great fundamental truth.
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