Subject this morning is “Outwitting Satan.” Dr. M.W. Lewis San Diego, 7-3-55
Master: “A time will come when it will seem, that Satan will take over, but God can’t be mocked. He will have the last word!!!.” We should get in a defiant mood now! Satan, without question, is an organized force – great force of delusion – and to combat, or outwit Satan, we have to know first, his nature, or the nature of that force. Secondly, how it operates. How it operates, and then, we should take measures to counteract it. That’s all.
Just like a disease, the more you know about that disease – you
know all about it – then you can render the correct diagnosis, and take the
proper measures to combat it. So this Satanic
Force is something real – something real – and the chief weapon of it is what: temptation; temptation. And temptation is a real force, otherwise,
Jesus would not have said, “Father, lead us not into temptation, deliver
us from evil…”[1] And one time he said, “Satan, get behind
me,”[2]
because it is a conscious force. That’s
the worst of it. It is a real force; an
intelligent, conscious force, without question of a doubt.
Now, Satan is the director of this Cosmic Delusion. He is the instigator, in a conscious way, of
the ways and means to keep us in this Cosmic Delusion. And Satan’s realm is in this Cosmic Dream. Not in the One Reality of God’s Consciousness. No. That’s
one fact you should remember. Satan’s
realm is in the duality of consciousness, in this Dream.
Now, the Satanic Force, without question of a doubt, is a
conscious force. Take for instance,
babies. When the little babies are born
with their pure bloodstream, tisn’t long before the bugs get busy. Bacteria thrive, and then the war is on
between disease and health. So that Satanic
Force is a conscious force. And you take
the little plants. I used to remember, I
used to notice over to the papaya grove – when we planted the little plants,
nice little plants would come up, nice little green leaves, and it wasn’t many
days before all the bacteria – the bugs, the pests – began to invade them, and
they began to wilt. Why: because that force is organized and conscious.
And the various ways in which it operates are astounding. It operates in many ways. You take the papaya trees. I remember – it wasn’t enough to have them
invaded by aphids, and such things, and scales, but the mealy bugs used to come. And the mealy bugs are very difficult to get
rid of. Satan organized them in a
wonderful way. They gotta hard shell,
and you cannot dissolve that hard shell except by an oil spray; and the oil
spray kills the papaya. You tell me
Satan isn’t organized? I’ll say he is.
But, still we had some intelligence. That is, man, taken as a whole, has
intelligence enough to find out that the ants used to carry the larva of the
mealy bugs. So, we killed the ants; and
we attacked the ants, which were not on the trees necessarily. And when we did away with the ants, the mealy
bugs couldn’t do much. So, then, we
washed them off.
So you see this Satanic Force is surely organized. It is, an intelligent force, without question
of a doubt, and we have to realize the ways and the means to combat it, as an
intelligent force. Not just, “Oh it
happens,” eh, “Evil is in the world, and I guess I just can’t do much about it.” No. That
won’t do. You have to do something about
it. Otherwise, Jesus would not have said
that, in Matthew, the 5th, the 6th Chapter, the 13th
Verse: “Lead us not into temptation.” He realized that.
And so, understand this; that the Satanic Force, Satan’s power,
is found in the Cosmic Dream – in the Cosmic Dream, only. I’m building up to a point, which I want you
to remember. That Satan operates in the Cosmic
Dream – in this outward consciousness of duality and material consciousness –
and, therefore, we have to fight him in that realm; and fight him by the means
which takes our consciousness out of that realm. You understand? Satan cannot do anything except in the
worldly consciousness. So, if we, as
children of God, know how to lift our consciousness out of the Dream Consciousness,
then we can do something with Satan, and we can defeat him. And so, the Satanic Force, remember, pulls us
away from the Unity of God’s Consciousness.
It pulls us away from that Unity of God’s Consciousness where there is
All-fulfillment. Satanic Force does that
in a conscious way.
Now, as the Master says, those, those who are enticed by this
organized force of evil, to find satisfaction in the things of worldly
existence, will not find satisfaction there at all. They will only find more insatiable longings
for sense pleasures. And in the end, no
satisfaction, and a further attachment, and a drawing to those sense pleasures,
which will never, never give one satisfaction; will never give them the Peace
of God’s Presence. So, that’s the way
Satan operates to try to take us away from the Unity of God’s Consciousness,
wherein is All-fulfillment. When you see
the Light of the Infinite Father, the Holy Ghost, and get a glimpse of it, you
will see the difference between the realm of Satan in outward consciousness,
and the realm of God’s All-pervading Love and Presence. Remember, Satanic Force is an organized
force, highly organized. I guess highly
organized more than the unions here, because it’s quite, it’s quite subtle, and
you will see it. But thank God, we have
a way to outwit Satan, and do something about it.
And so, remember, that material desire, material desires cannot
be satisfied. We’re enticed to having
this house; that house; this automobile; this car; these clothes; and even
human friendship; and human love must pass away. There’s no lasting satisfaction in them. So the wise man does what? He gets out of it into the One Consciousness
of God’s Presence. So this, in combating
Satan, in “Outwitting Satan,” we find ourselves in this particular state of
consciousness, which I will now describe. Where we are don’t blame anybody but yourself.
What state of consciousness you have, put the blame on yourself, because that’s true. You are where you are because of the Law of Karma; and you’ve laid up these different tendencies – good habits and bad habits – I’m sorry to say, and that’s where you start from, to fight Satan. Now, realizing this, we are the result of a battle, a clash that’s going on between prenatal karmic actions – seeds of karmic action – and postnatal action, which is wisdom-guided. Now those two things are at battle all the time. And the side Satan is on, of course, is the evil. While our wisdom-guided will, is on the good side.
Now, when you are born, if you are born with, if you are born
good; you were good before. Remember
that. If you were born good, and it’s not
difficult for you to do good; you were good before, and you will find the good
will increase in you. And, if you have
some little tendencies, the good is so predominant, that they will be overrun –
overshadowed. Now Satan doesn’t have
much show with those kind of people. He
doesn’t pay much attention to those who are good in an easy way.
But, then, if you are born bad; you were bad before. And what will happen in this life? You lay up more bad, unless you’re very
careful. Just like when you’re born
good, you lay up easily good in this life.
You know some people, there’s no trouble for them to be good. But if you’re born bad, they can’t be good if
they try, it seems. Now that’s, those
are the kind of people, that’s the classification upon which Satan works –
those who are having difficulty.
Now, if you’re born just, eh, slightly bad, watch out. Those are the ones – I think those are SRFers
mostly – Satan, he just gets after those people, because unless we’re very
careful, unless we’re very careful, evil habits will overwhelm us. Don’t you understand? If you’re slightly bad, it’ll build on that. And we’re apt to be overwhelmed by evil
habits, if we make those habits here in this life, and are not careful, they
will grow; and that good which we have, is taken away. That’s a very important thing to remember.
Now, as I have said, those are the ones that Satan enjoys
getting after; those who have some slightly bad tendencies, and so forth. But, we should remember – never forget this –
that the previous good of many incarnations will offset those slightly bad
tendencies. Remember that. If – and there’s a big if – if you
don’t fall for Satan’s machinations and his enticements to come – “Enjoy now. Why wait till you die and receive the Great Omniscience
of God’s Presence? Have a little fun now
– enjoy now.” That’s how he gets us,
through desire. And so, that’s where we
find ourselves as we approach now, this problem, how to outwit Satan. How to outwit Satan? And remember, Satan is an organized,
conscious force, performed for one reason: to keep us, to keep us, in the Cosmic Dream; to
keep us in this worldly consciousness.
Now God’s way was different.
God’s way was this: that we
should never forget our Immortal Nature.
And although we played our part in the Cosmic Dream, we never lost sight
of what we really are, an Immortal child of God. But Satan says, “So, what’s the harm? Enjoy the things now, and…it…is…I know, if
you have this house, everything will be fine.”
So you get the house, and tisn’t long before you gotta have another
house. And it isn’t long before
something else comes. And there’s no end
to it. And everybody who follows desire
finds that out. So the Chief General of
the Army of Satan is what? King desire –
that great king desire – that’s behind all our troubles: is desire.
And we find in the Bhagavad Gita, it spoken of in a
wonderful way. Remember, desire is the
basis of all our falling – attachment through desire to worldly consciousness. This is what it says: “It is desire…” in the 3rd Discourse,
37th Line, “It is desire, begotten by the quality of motion,
all-consuming, all-polluting…” It’s so
darkening that it fools even the elect. “…All-polluting,
all-consuming, know thou this, as our foe here on earth. As a flame is enveloped by smoke and a mirror
by dust…” That is, as the reality
is hidden, so this dust of desire covers the reality underneath. “As the embryo is wrapped to the amnion,
so this…” this Transcendental, Eternal Presence of God, His One Great Light, “is
enveloped by this soot of desire. Enveloped
is wisdom by this constant enemy of the wise in the form of desire, which is
insatiable as a flame.” You cannot
satisfy it.
Well, now, why should we follow desire? You cannot satisfy it. Try it.
You’ve all tried it, I know. Have
one desire…as we say in our prayer, “Let Thou be the only desire in our
consciousness.” That’s all. If you have that, and do not fall for the other
lesser desires, you will reach the Goal, and Satan will have to flee, as the Light
of God comes upon you.
So these things are important.
As the Master said, “Devotees should realize that sense pleasures create
insatiable, unsatisfied, burning desire for more sense indulgence…” There’s no end to it. These are the Master’s words, I like to use
them: “…without ever quenching the
inner thirst.” That’s the worst of it. When we follow desire, we can never satisfy
the Soul’s longing, because that’s what is behind desire. But Satan says, “No. The longing is for material things.” God says, “The longing is to come back home
to Me.” That’s the real longing. That’s the real desire. Do you see the difference? Satan capitalizes on objects of senses: houses, automobiles, cars, and so forth. And God says, “You are one with Me. You are My child. I have everything – world upon world I have created. My Omniscience is All-pervading. You can have it if you want it.” Satan says, “Well, that’s, that’s in the
future. That’s too immaterial. Have something now. Have a desire now.” That’s how Satan works. And remember, we got to outwit him.
So, remember his, this Satanic Force, which keeps us in the
Dream Consciousness, and you can never get out of it as long as you stay in
that consciousness. That I am sure of. So, how to outwit Satan? Very simple, get out of the Dream
Consciousness; break the Cosmic Dream. Break
the idea that you are this body, as Patanjali said, “Get rid of the mental
cancer that you are this body.” You are
not the body. The body passes away every
night – in sleep it passes away. You see
people, friends, relatives leave you. You
are not that. What are you? Break that Cosmic Dream, you are one with the
Great Omniscience and Light of God. That’s
how to outwit Satan.
As it says in the Bhagavad Gita, the great Krishna says, “Get out of my delusion.” Man walketh the earth, every one of them, deluded. Get out of it, get out of it, he says. He gives us the key to outwit Satan. So that’s the main, the main object to bear in mind, if we are to outwit this Satanic influence, is to get out of the Cosmic Dream. But there are other things now, which help, and I’ll take a moment or two to discuss those with you just for a moment. The Master gave this advice. He says this: “If you have undesirable habits…” Now remember this, it’s not so easy just to sit down and jump right into God’s Light. It doesn’t come that way. Wish it did. So the Master has given us a few hints. “If you have certain undesirable habits,” he says, “which, upon which Satan can work, don’t, don’t be discouraged. And above all, don’t feel bound by the law of karma to follow those habits.” Do not do that. Do not be bound by the law of karma. “It is now,” right now, ”time to fight against those things…” to fight Satan from right where you are, “by having the right environment, increasing your power of will, and above all, right meditation.” Those are the things now, we must do. And, if we do those things, then, then we will be able to break the Cosmic Dream.
It’s not easy to break it right off, because God has impinged it so strongly on our consciousness. We think this body is ours. It’s not. It’s God’s creation. All the mountains, and the houses, and the world, and the stars, and the universes, and our bodies – parts of that of those universes are God’s creation.
How we gonna break that Dream?
It’s not as easy. We can break
out own dream, but to break that Dream is different. It’s difficult. But it can be done, by being one with the Omniscience
that created those things. Be one with
the Omniscience that created those things – made the Cosmic Dream. Then you understand it, because we are part
of that Omniscience, which made the Cosmic Dream. Realize that.
You’re not a separate thing at all.
Satanic influence says: “Yes, you
are separate. You’re an entity by
yourself. Do what you like.” But you can’t. You do according to your impulses,
environment, and habit. But, inside is
that little small voice that says: “No,
you are not that. You are My child.” And, if you hang on to that thing, merge in
it, as the Presence of God within you. Then
you will expand and become the Great Omniscience of God. Then the Cosmic Dream is broken. Where is Satan? He can’t exist when the Light of God comes.
And so, remember those three things: environment, the power of will, and meditation. Those are very important. That’s why I stress coming Wednesday night. And why the Master stresses every day, “Let
not a day go by without you meditate and contact God.” Now, Self-Realization, mixing with Self-Realizationists
in these meetings, plus will, is bound to rout Satan. Self-Realization is the right environment for
you, because it was given by one who had that contact with God, and who had
outwitted Satan.
And, of course, the greatest thing is right meditation, right
meditation. Why? Because it gives you God contact; it gives
you contact with God. “In the
beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God.”[1] What is the Word – is the Holy Ghost within
you. Not in imagination – in Reality. That’s God in you. Right meditation does what – takes you into
the Holy Ghost – not in imagination. You
do the techniques of Self-Realization Fellowship with love and devotion, and
the power of will God has given you and you will contact that Holy Ghost within
you, as the Light of that Holy Vibration, the Sound, and the Love in your heart. That’s God contact.
Now, when you attain that, through right meditation, then, then
you can see the difference between the habits – the reward of following
material things, which do not last – you can see the difference between those
things, and the lasting Bliss of God. And
not only that, but God contact gives you the power to know that. That’s the important thing.
Most people know theory.
They know the Holy Vibration. They
know it’s in us in theory. They know the
Cosmic Light can be seen, because they’ve read it in books, and the saints have
told them. They know the Cosmic Sound
can be heard in the Centers of the spine.
They’ve read that. They know that,
because saints perhaps, have told them. They
know that the Love of God is in their heart.
They feel a little of it. And
they see a great saint, one with it. They
know it in theory. But when you attain
God contact through following right meditation of Self-Realization, you not
only know it in theory, but you know it through realization, and you are one
with the Light of God – not in imagination at all.
You are one with the Cosmic Sound. And when you are one with that, your consciousness
expands to wherever that Sound is. But
greatest of all, you’re one with the Great Love of God, which is the Greatest
Force in the Universe. No force is like
the Power of God’s Love.
Now that’s what right meditation will do you, do for you. And you see how important it is to break the Cosmic
Dream; to start right; overcome environment; strengthen your will. Because when you have God contact, you do not
have a little small human will. What do
you have? You have God’s Will – the Power
that made universe upon universe. That’s
what your will becomes. Don’t you see
that the important thing to outwit Satan is to unite your consciousness with God’s
Presence within you; attain God contact; then you can break the Cosmic
Dream. And when God’s Light comes, when God’s
Light comes, Satan, who is a child of darkness, cannot remain. Now, these are not things of imagination, not
just flowery words. They are facts. They are reality.
And so, finally, in conclusion, we must realize this: that Satan’s strong force of temptation must
be met, and we must win. Jesus had to do
it. So must we. And we should realize this one eternal truth,
and then I’m through, through. If we
listen to Satan’s voice – and this is important – if you listen to Satan’s
voice, as the form of desire in you, to do this, do that material thing, what
happens – God’s Voice fades. That’s very
important.
And that’s why we read in the Scripture, Matthew, 13th
Chapter, 12th Verse: “For
whosoever hath, to him shall be given, but he, and he shall have more
abundance: but whosoever hath not, from
him shall be taken away even that which he hath.” Those who listen to Satan’s voice, as in the
form of desire, an enticement, God’s Voice fades. That’s the worst thing. And that which you have – that little Spiritually,
which you have – shall be taken away from you; but, if you listen to God’s
Voice, no matter how strong Satan is with his temptation, if you listen to God’s
Voice – I don’t care how bad you’ve been, or what your previous incarnations
has been, and what latent impulses you have laid up, and what karma you have
brought over – if you listen to God’s Voice you cannot fail. You cannot fail. As we read in the Scripture, those things
which we have done are nothing, because God is God. The Great God, All-pervading, All-understanding,
and those things are not held against you, if you listen to God’s Voice.
And so that’s why the yogis, as you read in the Master’s Autobiography [of a Yogi], said, that the yogi, “through his long-continued concentration on the Spiritual Eye…” That is, he’s merging in the Presence of God within, as the Light, as the Sound, as God’s Great Love. “Long-continued meditation, concentration on the Spiritual Eye” does what? Helps the yogi, makes him know all the aspects of delusion. And he knows what matter is; he knows the realm of which Satan operates – because he understands thoroughly every aspect of matter, for he has reduced all things, by his concentration, on the All-pervading Light of God – he has reduced all things to One Mass of Undifferentiated Light – the Light of God. Now these are facts.
These are eternal truths. And you, each one of you, can realize that, if you will follow the path which God has sent you through Self-Realization. And so, the yogi sees that the realm of Satan, the Cosmic Dream reduced – is nothing. But, the reality is, that One Great Cosmic Light of God, Undifferentiated Light, from which all things have come. Seeing that, Satan, being a child of God, cannot remain, cannot stay, when God’s Great Light comes.
And so, if you want to outwit Satan, get God contact. That’s the greatest thing. And when His Light comes, and you see His
Infinite Light with you, no darkness of Satan can stay – so Great is the Power
of God.
Last night at the hermitage, some of the boys from Mount
Washington were down, and we meditated in the Master’s study. We had quite a long meditation. We sang a few chants; talked a little bit;
then we meditated. And after a long
meditation, we used some of the Master’s techniques, and there, the Great Light
of God came – tremendous Light. “Thousand
suns,” the Master says, which is right. A
thousand suns came, and we in the center of it.
How can Satan stay? He cannot
stay. That Light is All-pervading, dispelling
all darkness of delusion. And when that
Light came, there was no Cosmic Dream; One Eternal Verity; the Great Light of
God.
Friends, these are truths.
Meditate, pray to God, get out of this Dream of Life and there’ll be no
Satan.
Part II Continues
