Theosophical Study Paper No 04

Author(s): Theosophical Society in Australia
Publisher: Theosophical Society in Australia

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children. So the home represents an exclusive, egocentric way of life. But to be a homeless one - a wanderer-means that fixations and attachments come to an end. The word Sannyāsī has also been misunderstood and what, in fact, represents a wonderful inner change has been made trivial by tradition. The Sannyāsī severs his sacred thread, gives up ceremonies and his very name because he is no more attached. The world is his family; the earth itself is his home. So, srotāpatti means that worldly attitudes to my house, my family and religion, my country and nationality, all come to an end. We identify ourselves as Hindus or Buddhists, by class, nationality, mental characteristics and so on. To dis-identify at a deep level means a widening and deepening of our sympathy. When we see a brother or a friend suffering, we feel that suffering ourselves; but when a neighbour or someone less well known suffers, do we feel it? Generally not, because we are more closely identified with brother and friends. When we see somebody povertystricken, do we really care? If one is a srotāpatti, a parivrājaka, an aniketa, he does. Attachments decrease, and false concepts based on the body are shed. Most of our attachments are body attachments. An Indian is suspicious of another man because, due to karmic forces, his body happens to be Pakistani in his present incarnation. That is the sole reason. Before the first 'initiation' takes place, various fetters have to fall away. The personality must become harmonized, and become a voluntary servant, no longer struggling against the inner nature. Both doubt and certainty are fetters. As mentioned earlier, while turning round from the 'outward path' towards 'home' much of the time there is doubt. People who say they want to tread the
I path wish, at the same time, to act as others want. The man who is free from doubt does what he knows to be right and not because others want it; this does not mean, of course, that one should not be considerate to others. Doubt ceases when the direction is clear. One who has come to that stage always chooses that which leads to the eternal and not that which is of the passing moment. When Mr Krishnamurti speaks of choicelessness, it puzzles many people. But it is very simple to understand that for a person who
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