§1. They will ask, “Can the time of Maitreya create a New Era?”
Answer, “If the Crusades brought a new age, then truly the Era of Maitreya is a thousandfold more significant.” In such consciousness should one proceed.
The first paragraph of Agni Yoga opens for us not the gates of this temple, of this science, of this applied religion, if you will. No. The first paragraph opens the gates of the altar. For the secret lies in the coming of the new Universal Teacher – Maitreya.
Thus this paragraph leads us not into the temple, where discipline lies, but into the sanctuary, where we are told what we will discover. We will have the tables that carry the secret of new Teachings; we will have a new Universal Teacher. Maitreya is the name that means precisely a Universal Teacher. A New Spiritual wave needs to contribute to history, to sociology, to religions… This promises a new awakening, a coming spiritual force.
”Can the time of Maitreya create a New Era?” I would argue that this first paragraph is very precise and full of insight. Maitreya – the open curtain to the altar. The following lines are but an illustration and, in my opinion, not as sharp in their insight.
Answer, “If the Crusades brought a new age, then truly the Era of Maitreya is a thousandfold more significant.” In such consciousness should one proceed. The Crusades do not create a new age – they are an assertion of a religious status, a defensive reaction. Maitreya is not a defensive reaction. The New Spiritual wave is an influx of new spiritual values, of a new spiritual energy that does not defend something, which has had its history. In this appeal we cannot feel doubt that the Spiritual wave fights not for preservation, but for change. For change – whereas the Crusades were fought to preserve that, which had been given by Christianity. And not all of their results can exactly be called noble. Nevertheless, this is the comparison that they made, even though I do not believe it is precise. Maitreya is the leaven in humanity’s being!
”In such consciousness should one proceed.” We ought to live, conscious that Maitreya is a renewal, not a defensive reaction. But we must also be grateful for the insight that what is open for us are the gates to the sanctuary, not to the narthex.
Maitreya shall herald a new age.
