Divine Self, Human Development, and Occult Nourishment

GA 266I — 18 April 1906, Berlin

Esoteric Lesson

Record A

A fitting introduction to our discussion today is the saying we discussed last time. In terms of content, it could be rendered in English as follows:

Primal self, from whence we came,
Original self, which lives in all things,
To you, our higher self, we return.

The saying itself means:

Yasmājj jātam jagat sarvam, yasminn eva pralīyate
yenedam dhāryate chaiva, tasmai jnānātmane namah.

To this we add the saying that expresses how this original self affects people, how it appears to them. In English, this is expressed in the formula:

Truth, wisdom, immensity, O God,
bliss, eternity, beauty,
peace, blessing, uniqueness,
upon me (AUM)
peace, peace, peace.

The first part expresses the essence of the higher self and concludes with the manner in which this higher self descends into the soul of the human being. The formula in Sanskrit is as follows:

Satyam jnānam anantam brahma
ānandarūpam amritam bibharti
shantam shivam advaitam
om, shāntih, shāntih, shāntih.

Everything has emerged from this higher self. Not only does the human soul come from this primordial self of the world, but everything around us in the world, including the human body. We must rid ourselves of the idea that there is anything insignificant or lowly in the world; nothing is insignificant, nothing is lowly. Everything is divine. Even a grain of sand is something divine, a creation that has emerged from the deity.

In minerals, we see the thoughts of the deity taking shape. The thoughts of the deity are expressed in all mineral forms of the world.

In addition to form, the deity has poured its life into plants. Divine life lives in every plant.

In addition to its life, the deity has also poured sensation into the animal world and into the form of man and his lower soul. Everything around us is an expression of divine power.

The most perfect thing that the deity has created for humans is their body. The human body is the most perfect form that the deity has created. It is a tool through which the human soul looks out into the world. The human body is wonderfully equipped. The human body should be a sacred temple for the soul. But the soul is not yet perfect. It is only beginning to develop. The human body does not make mistakes; it is the imperfect soul that continually makes mistakes. Passions, instincts, and desires dwell within it, and it uses the body to satisfy these desires.

But just as the senses are located in the human body, through which the soul looks out into the environment, so too will organs gradually develop in the soul that will make it ever higher and more perfect. Such organs are already developing in the soul.

In the animal kingdom we find a powerful instinct that is independent of the sense organs. If a pair of foreign butterflies is brought to Germany and the male is released in Frankfurt and the female in Magdeburg, for example, the two will inevitably find each other. They are able to find each other thanks to special organs that are even more refined than the sensory organs.

Through soul organs, people who belong together also find each other. When we meet someone for the first time whom we knew nothing about before and feel a great sympathy for them at first sight, as happens between men and women and also between friends, this is a sign that these people belong together and that they have soul organs that announce this belonging and bring them together.

People will increasingly develop such spiritual organs, namely when they purify their astral body and refine their other bodies. To this end, it is absolutely necessary that they take into account which foods are beneficial or harmful to this higher development. Not everyone is yet able to choose their food precisely according to what is beneficial to their occult development. It is sometimes better to resign ourselves to doing without what promotes our inner development. Nevertheless, it remains true that some foods have properties that are not beneficial to humans.

Human beings must develop certain organs for their higher development. In yoga exercises, certain concentrations are made for this purpose. By concentrating on a point between the eyes, at the root of the nose, with the thought “I am,” the human being develops the organ we call the two-petaled lotus flower, which makes him the “I.” The animal cannot say ‘I’ to itself. Of all the beings in nature that we know, only the human being can say “I” to himself.

When the human forebrain developed, the organ of the I was moved into the human head, to the place of the root of the nose. In humans, the I lives there. But in animals, the I is not in the skull, but outside the head. In animals, it lives in the astral. For example, all dogs have an I in the astral. At the place where we have the ego organ, a red stream flows in from the astral realm in dogs, and this ego expresses itself in the lower instincts of the dog. In humans, the ego flows out at this point.

However, it is not enough for the ego organ to be formed in humans. In order for the higher self to flow into them and make them higher beings, we find the organ for this when we draw a vertical line from the point above the center of the head down to the brain. This organ is the pineal gland. Through the pineal gland, humans connect with the divine self in the world. A third higher organ, the sixteen-petaled lotus flower, is located in the larynx, and a fourth organ, the twelve-petaled lotus flower, is located in the region of the heart. In order for these organs to develop properly, humans must choose their food wisely. Favorable for inner development are foods related to the life process of animals, milk and everything made from it, and from plants, everything that grows toward the sun, i.e., the flowers and fruits of plants that stretch toward the sun.

The plant is the opposite of humans. When the sun was still united with the earth, plants had their flowers facing the sun and their roots pointing outwards. After the sun emerged from the earth, the plants turned around and now stick their roots into the earth and stretch their reproductive organs, calyx, flower, stamens, and pistils, chaste and pure, toward the sun ↑. The animal is the half-reversed plant ↔. But man is the completely reversed plant ↓, because he turns all the organs that the plant turns toward the sun away from the sun. The root of man is turned toward the sun, his head, his brain. Plants, animals, and humans together form the cross.

Everything in plants that is turned away from the sun, for example the roots that grow underground, is not good for occult development, while everything that grows upwards is good for humans, especially the fruits and grains that plants produce without needing to be destroyed. Legumes are harmful to humans for a special reason, especially lentils and beans.

Milk is beneficial to humans because it is connected to the life process of animals and is given freely by animals. All animal food that humans must obtain by force, by killing the animal, is harmful to occult development.

From the mineral kingdom, everything that separates from mineral solutions as sediment, for example all salts, is detrimental to occult development. These should be avoided as much as possible.

When humans prepare themselves through a selfless life and by purifying their bodies, the higher self can enter them. It is not enough for them to withdraw into themselves. The higher self is not yet within humans, but outside in nature and with their older brothers, the masters and leaders of humanity. From there it must enter them. Then peace, which is higher than all reason, will overcome them. This is also referred to in the formula:

Satyam jnānam anantam brahma ... Truth, wisdom, immensity, O God, ...

Record B

Original self, from whom we came,
Original self, who lives in all things.
To you, our higher self, we return.
—(Upanishads)

How this original self affects human beings is expressed in the formula:

Truth, wisdom, immensity, O God
bliss, eternity, beauty,
peace, blessing, non-duality (advaitam) upon me!
Peace! Peace! Peace!

The first part expresses the essence of the Trinity itself, and the last part expresses the way in which this Trinity descends into the soul of man.

Mantra:

Original Self, from whom everything originated,
To whom everything returns
Original Self, who lives in me,
I strive toward you.
AUM - Peace, peace, peace, AUM! (AUM = vocalization to ward off evil influences.)

Everything originated from this original self! Not only the soul and spirit of human beings come from this original self of the world, but also everything that exists around us in the world. Even our human body originates from this original self [...]

In order for God Himself to enter into him, we find an organ when we draw a vertical line from the center of the head through the brain and another line from the ego point at the root of the nose backwards (horizontally) through the brain. At the intersection of these lines, we encounter the pineal gland. Through this organ, man enters into contact with the deity Himself. A third organ of perception is located in the larynx. When the sun was still connected to the earth, today's plants were rooted in the sun-earth with their flowers. They turned around when the sun emerged from the earth and now stretch their reproductive organs, the flowers, chastely and purely toward the sun. The root of the human being, his brain, is turned toward the sun, and turned away from the sun, toward the earth, is his sexuality. In between, as a blockage, is the animal. Human ↓, plant ↑, and animal ↔ together form the cross +. (Sun being ○ ).

From the soul, man must draw forth his powers, which in turn, in the symbol of the Holy Grail, can draw forth from the developed human being the power that is in the plant kingdom. To do this, he must allow the plant kingdom to come into action within himself. Everything that grows underground is not good for the occult development of humans; everything that grows upward, that receives solar energy from plants, is good for humans who want to undergo occult development.

Record C

Primordial will, primordial wisdom, primordial space, God,
primordial simplicity, uniqueness, source of beauty,
source of peace, source of tranquility, uniqueness.
Om, peace, peace, peace.