Brotherhood by Helena Ivanovna Roerich 1937 2nd ed (1967).pdf

BROTHERHOOD

1937

Second Edition

Agni Yoga Society, Inc.

This book or any portion thereof

may not be reproduced in English

or in translation to any other language

without written permission from the publisher

Second Printing 1982

Printed in the United States of America

Signs of Agni Yoga

That which is most sacred surrounds the concept of Brotherhood.

That which is most joyful lives in the consciousness that there exists cooperation of Knowledge.

Such thought affirms that somewhere there are living True Co-workers.

Let us recall the fundamentals which lead to Brotherhood.

BROTHERHOOD

1. Let us consider a concept which has become extremely overburdened. Amidst daily life people

assimilate with difficulty an understanding of cooperation, yet much more difficult and inaccessible to

them is the concept of Brotherhood. Bodily heritage, that is, blood relationship, impedes the acceptance of

the concept of Brotherhood. It is simpler for people to disclaim altogether any understanding of World

Brotherhood. They would rather call it a utopia than reflect about the possibility of applying it in life.

If even in the narrow domain of domestic life people do not find within themselves the

affirmation of brotherhood, then in the wider sense it may seem to them to be impractical. Besides, people

read carelessly the ancient Covenants, which speak about great numbers of Brothers and Sisters.

Likewise, people's recollections of the Subtle World have become clouded. Only there is it

possible to encounter the expanded realization of Brotherhood. The body impedes the way to many broad

ideas. Only by going beyond the limits of the bodily understanding is it possible to recognize brotherly

cooperation. Let us gather the signs of such an expanded state of consciousness.

2. People have attempted to seal the union of brotherhood with blood. They have given up their most

precious substance for the purpose of attaining the status of Brotherhood. Harkening to all the songs

about Brotherhood one perceives a wondrous poem of the dreams of humanity. If one assembles all the

customs which have been accumulated around the concept of Brotherhood one arrives at an

extraordinarily touching testimony about the aspirations of peoples. The manifestation of achievements in

the name of Brotherhood reveals that self-renunciation has been always linked with these endeavors of

the pure heart. Yet precisely the concept of Brotherhood is especially desecrated and debased.

3. Even the best additions to the concept of Brotherhood have only lowered it and made it difficult to

attain. It has been linked with liberty and equality, but this trinity was conceived in the earthly meaning,

that is to say, under conditions in which neither freedom nor equality do exist.

The loftiest freedom can be realized in the Supermundane World, where laws are understood as a

beautiful and immutable reality. There, too, equality of the seed of the spirit is understood, it being the

sole measure of liberality and balance. Usually the earthly statues depicting liberty are furnished with

wings or torches, thus reminding us about the higher spheres and conditions.

About images representing equality there is this anecdote: When a sculptor once received an

order to execute a thousand statues depicting equality, to be used to decorate a triumphal avenue, he made

one statue and proposed casting all the others from it.

4. Rarely is it possible to converse about Brotherhood. Precisely in the periods of great earthly obduracy

it is not unusual to observe that people, as it were, have agreed to debase this very concept. Already the

ancient customs of brotherhood through blood union have been turned into such menaces to the entire

human race that the most primitive revenge may be regarded as a childish prank.

You know that I am speaking about something that is in particular need of reinforcement.

5. If you enter a gathering of people with the words, “Friends and co-workers,” the majority will look

upon you with suspicion. But if you dare to call them brothers and sisters, then most likely you will be

denounced as having uttered inadmissible terms.

People sometimes establish brotherhoods, but such superficial and pompous institutions have

nothing in common with the great concept of Brotherhood. Thus people start communities, cooperatives,

various unions and societies; but in their foundations there will not be even simple trust. Consequently,

these establishments are very remote from that Brotherhood which would be a strong and steadfast union

of trust.

It may be that right now certain finer hearts are already dreaming about the creation of

organizations where trust would be the cornerstone. It cannot be insisted that everything is bad, when the

human eye sees only some of the details of the approaching epoch.

Upon the fragments of ancient symbols one may observe the vitality of the basic concepts. Just

when from the earthly point of view everything has been transgressed, it may be that at the same time

most beautiful concepts are already being born.

6. When, then, should one speak about the necessary concepts? Particularly when they have been

transgressed. Precisely, then, let us speak about them when people already consider them hopeless. Why

do We remind about Brotherhood just at present? But people in their despair will come to seek the

scattered seeds of the predestined Brotherly Community. Let us not be confused by the oscillations of the

pendulum of life. Despair may be the forerunner of recovery of vision.

7. Rightly has it been observed that certain rays are apprehended with especial difficulty, as is also

everything connected with these rays. That is why We do not try to coerce an alien consciousness that has

been attuned differently. Compulsion is not an attribute of conviction. It is impossible to command

friendship, and especially does this apply to brotherhood. These concepts require selflessness and an

understanding of fundamentals.

If the broad concept of Brotherhood has come down to blood relationship, this means that the

consciousness has become greatly impoverished. Often the consciousness is so limited that people cannot

understand at all what manner of brotherhood could exist outside of blood kinship. Degrees of kinship

have been designated, such as “first cousin,” “second cousin,” and even “third cousin,” but further the

imagination hesitates to proceed. Many books could be compiled of conventionalities that have piled up

around the concept of Brotherhood.

In ages past many different peoples have emphasized the significance of Brotherhood. Fratricide

was considered a grave crime. Behind all this could be discerned a reverence for a certain exalted status;

with strong measures the people safeguarded something which had no place in their everyday thoughts.

Reason denied this “something,” but the heart in the depths of its fire affirmed it. The heart palpitated

with the beauty of the meaning of Brotherhood. Again humanity will turn to the heart and will apprehend

the essence of Brotherhood.

Perhaps Brotherhood does exist? Perhaps, as an earthly anchor, it maintains equilibrium? Perhaps

in the dreams of humanity it has remained as an unalterable reality? Let us recall certain dreams and

visions, so clearly engraved upon the memory, visions of walls and towers of the Brotherhood. The

imagination is but a memory of that which exists.

Perhaps someone will remember also in reality the tower of Chun?

8. The spark of Infinity must be expressed in everything. Each concept must include presupposition of its

development into Infinity. There may be noted whole series of concepts which succeed each other.

Neither friendship nor cooperation can be terminal. Between them and the Subtle World there must be

still another something that can equally belong to the two worlds. This something is called Brotherhood.

No greater concept can be named, none which could so crown human relations and correspond to

the essential nature of the Subtle and Fiery Worlds. Therefore the Brotherhood is called threefold. It

extends between the three worlds as a firm bridge. It is almost impossible to imagine the contact of the

earthly with the Fiery World, but under the panoply of Brotherhood such confluence is made possible.

9. No one wishes to find himself in an enclosed field with no possibility of even looking over the fence.

One needs to discover a crack, though it be but a small one, through which to perceive the possibility of

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