The History of the Esoteric School 1904–1914, Volume One

GA 264 — Berlin

The Nature and Work of the Masters I

This and the following document are probably the first two esoteric lectures given in Berlin. Notes taken from memory by Franz Seiler

First of all, a prayer spoken by Dr. Steiner. Then a reference to the fact that the masters speak through Dr. Steiner, that he is only the means by which the thoughts of the masters are expressed.

Master Morya gives us information about the goal of human development. He is the one who guides humanity towards its goal. Master Kuthumi is the one who shows us the way to achieve this goal.

Representation of the lower self and the higher self. There is a lower self in every human being that needs to be overcome.

Then the impermanence of the bodies is considered. My body will perish and your bodies will also disintegrate into their smallest atoms, but the words that are spoken now will not perish because we ourselves will become what we are now speaking. That is the seed from which we will emerge again one day.

Thoughts and feelings are reality, they are the material for building the later life. We must therefore strive to have as high and noble thoughts and feelings as possible. Through these thoughts and feelings we are bound to that which is similar to these thoughts and feelings. We create thousands upon thousands of relationships. There are four degrees, parts or paths of development.

There are also seven senses; five senses as we know them in physical life and two senses that have yet to develop.¹

Ten centers of energy in the human being:

1. Prana - in the chest
2. Apan in the area of the secretory organs
3. Saman - in the navel
4. Udan - in the middle of the throat
5. Vayu - permeates the entire body
6. Kurm - in the eye, helps to open it
7. Krikala- in the stomach, causes hunger
8. Nag - causes vomiting
9. Devadatta causes yawning
10. Dhananjaya - the one that does not leave the body even after death.²

Prana corresponds to the eight-petalled lotus flower, Udan corresponds to the sixteen-petalled lotus flower. The two-petalled lotus flower is located between the eyebrows.

It was said about dying: just as one must learn to die, one must also learn to die to one's feelings. But the first thing to learn is to stand, that is, to have a secure hold in the turmoil of life, to know no more fear or anxiety, but to face calmly and confidently every event, however it may come.

There are four stages that we have to climb. First, we have to search for the ego, the core within us. Then we will also recognize the non-ego. We have to search for this center within us, because this center lies in every single being. There is a center everywhere, there is a periphery everywhere. Imagine placing yourself at the outermost limits, you can find the center everywhere. The earth revolves around the sun; the sun revolves with the earth through the great universe. And next to it, an infinite number of other heavenly bodies revolve. Every single being forms a center. There are no people like us living on those heavenly bodies. There are also beings living on them, but no people. People have no connection with them, there is no relationship. They can only achieve this relationship if they rise inwardly to a level where all those beings have their common foundation.

The second step is to make the astral body come alive, that is, to feel oneself in the astral sea as I.

The third step is to overcome the astral sea and to achieve deep silence.

The fourth is the hearing of the voice of silence. This is where the Master calls from outside: “That's you!”

The best image for this development is the following: Once you have found your ego, you think of yourself as having set out on the great ocean. Nothing can be seen on the water's surface. As far as the eye can see, only water and sky. The ends of the sea are bounded by the horizon. On this surface, we think of ourselves as a wave in the moving sea, as a single wave among the many waves. When we feel truly at one with ourselves, we must calm the waves of the sea. Deep silence must ensue. Nothing can be heard, nothing can be seen. The water in which we are immersed is completely still. No movement asserts itself. In this perfect silence, in this perfect seclusion, the voice of the Master will be able to resound, no longer drowned out by the noise of everyday life. This is how the exercise is followed in practice. We all practiced this image by placing ourselves in the thought of the I, then in the sea waves, then in the deep sea silence.