Sri Sai Baba`S:Charters And Sayings

TWELFTH TALK . 241,

friend. In hosts of ways you are liable to all kinds
of deceptions. Patiently the teacher (some older
pupil appointed to look after you) will show you these
things again and again, and show you how to recog-
nise them, point out the minute differences. You
have to work at it, and it is often a matter of years
before you will be perfectly certain in all cases.
You probably do not realise the extent of the area
over which this clairvoyant vision extends. To
take one example only—on the astral plane alone
there are 2,4oi different varieties of what is
called ^elemental essence" and if you wish to be
reliable and to do your best, you must learn all of
these. You must learn to distinguish one from the
other, and how and when you are to use them, if you
are to make" thought-forms economically. You can
do it without any of this knowledge, but if so, you
do it very wastefully, on the principle of emptying a
bucket of water over a man to wash his little finger—
about that proportion of exertion to result.

If you want to know how to do the work of the
higher planes you must go through an apprenticeship,
and you must learn patiently bit by bit. If you merely
plunge into the thing, you are throwing buckets of
water most of the time. You are wasting a vast
amount of" energy. That is one of the things you
must avoid. We ought always to avoid wasting
energy. Your energy is your capital; you are bound
to make the most of it. You are responsible for any

16