“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