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Wednesday, March 25, 2020

Truth Discrimination and Service

“Between the right and wrong, it 
should not be difficult to choose, for 
those who wish to follow the Master 
have already decided to take the 
right at all costs. But the body and 
the man are two, and the man's 
win is not always what the body 
wishes. When your body wishes 
something, stop and think whether 
you really wish it. For you are 
God, and you will only what God 
wills; but you must dig deep down 
into yourself to find the God within 
you, and listen to His voice, which 
is your voice. Do not mistake your 
bodies for yourself — neither the 
physical body, nor the astral, nor 
the mental. Each one of them will 
pretend to be the Self, in order to 
gain what it wants. But you must 
know them all, and know yourself 
as their master. 

When there is work that must be 
done, the physical body wants to 
rest, to go out walking, to eat and 
drink; and the man who does not 
know says to himself: 
"I want to do these things, and I must do 
them." 
But the man who knows says: "This that wants is not I, and it must wait awhile." 
Often when there is an opportunity to 
help some one, the body feels: 
"How much trouble it will be for 
me; let some one else do it." 
But the man replies to his body: "You 
shall not hinder me in doing good 
work." 
The body is your animal — 
the horse upon which you ride. 
Therefore, you must treat it well, and take 
good care of it; you must not overwork it, 
you must feed it properly on pure food and drink only, and keep it strictly clean always, even from the minutest speck of dirt. 
For without a perfectly clean and
healthy body you cannot do the ar- 
duous work of preparation, you 
cannot bear its ceaseless strain. 
But it must always be you who con- 
trol that body, not it that controls 
you. 
The astral body has its desires — 
dozens of them; it wants you to be 
angry, to say sharp words, to feel 
jealous, to be greedy for money, to envy other people their possessions, 
to yield yourself to depression. All 
these things it wants, and many 
more, not because it wishes to harm 
you, but because it likes violent vibrations, and likes to change them 
constantly. But you want none of 
these things, and therefore you 
must discriminate between your 
wants and your body's. 
Your mental body wishes to think 
itself proudly separate, to think 
much of itself and little of others. 
Even when you have turned it away 
from worldly things, it still tries to  calculate for self, to make you think 
of your own progress, instead of 
thinking of the Master's work and 
of helping others. When you medi- 
tate, it will try to make you think 
of the many different things which 
it wants instead of the one thing 
which you want. You are not of this 
mind, but it is yours to use; so here 
again, discrimination is necessary. 
You must watch ceaselessly or 
you will fail. 
Between right and wrong, occult- 
ism knows no compromise. At 
whatever apparent cost, that which is right, you must do, that which is 
wrong you must not do, no matter 
what the ignorant may think or say. 
You must study deeply the hidden 
laws of Nature, and when you know 
them arrange your life according to 
them, using always reason and 
common-sense. 

You must discriminate between 
the important and the unimportant. 
Firm as a rock where right and 
wrong are concerned, yield always 
to others in things which do not mat- 
ter. For you must be always gentle 
and kindly, reasonable and accommodating, leaving to others the same full liberty which you need for yourself. 

Try to see what is worth doing: 
and remember that you must not 
judge by the size of the thing. A 
small thing which is directly useful 
in the Master's work is far better 
worth doing than a large thing 
which the world would call good. 
You must distinguish not only the 
useful from the useless, but the 
more useful from the less useful. 
To feed the poor is a good and noble 
and useful work; yet to feed their souls is nobler and more useful than 
to feed their bodies. Any rich man 
can feed the body, but only those 
who know can feed the soul. If you 
know, it is your duty to help others 
to know. 

However wise you may be already, 
on this Path you have much to learn; 
so much that here, also, there must be discrimination, and 
you must think carefully what is 
worth learning. All knowledge is 
useful, and one day you will have 
all knowledge; but while you have 
only part, take care that it is the most useful part. God is Wisdom as well as Love; and the more wisdom you have the more you can 
manifest of Him. Study then, but 
study first that which will most help 
you to help others. Work patiently 
at your studies, not that men may 
think you wise, not even that you 
may have the happiness of being 
wise, but because only the wise man 
can be wisely helpful. However 
much you wish to help, if you are 
ignorant you may do more harm 
than good. 
You must distinguish between truth and falsehood; you must learn 
to be true all through, in thought 
and word and deed....”

Page 35 of 109 from the full (copy and pastable) text of
“At the Feet of the Master” 
by J. Krishnumurti:
https://archive.org/stream/atfeetmaster00krisgoog/atfeetmaster00krisgoog_djvu.txt

Easier to read format (page 35 of 109):
https://ia802708.us.archive.org/11/items/atfeetmaster00krisgoog/atfeetmaster00krisgoog.pdf

Re: Krishnamurti’s “At the Feet of the Master(s)”
Begins at section #172
http://www.ascension-research.org/The_Masters_and_the_Path_by_Charles_W_Leadbeater.htm