The Canon is the rule that underlies every constructive action, both objective and subjective, and needs to be understood and applied through co-measurement. It is the stone which controls, with its measures, all the measures of the construction.
To proceed with building the Temple of Man, the text “Illumination” (Agni Yoga collection) § 235 indicates four foundational pivots as the basis of our action:
“Friends! Place four stones into the foundation of your actions:
First—Reverence of Hierarchy. Second—Realization of unity. Third—Realization of co-measurement. Fourth—Application of the canon, “By thy God.”
For the affirmation of the First, evoke all your love. Recall from your childhood the best smiles, the brightest rays of the sun and the first song of the birds beneath the window.
For the Second, gird yourselves in the armor of the day, take up the weapons of your actions, and refresh your perception by a draught of cooling water.
For the Third, select in your workroom the longest vertical line and call it the dimensional scale of the Plan. Apply mentally all discontents, irritations and fatigues to the scale of the World Plan, and, upon comparing, you will not find even the smallest place for illusory moods.
For the Fourth, picture to yourself all the boundlessness of the stellar universe. Verily, Our Father has many abodes; which of them shall we stain? Recalling the given canon, imagine that out of a closed house you are coming into the light. Thus all that you need will come to you.
Inscribe upon the first stone A Dove; upon the second A Warrior; and upon the third A Pillar; upon the fourth The Sun.”
The first stone where a dove is to be engraved is thus a symbol of “veneration of the Hierarchy.” The Hierarchy is the endless chain that connects the worlds and draws to the One and reverence is not an act of mystical flavor but reveals a deep understanding of the power and beauty of that pillar on which the whole of cosmic activity rests. The first stone is carved with love.
“Great love is laid in the foundation of the Higher World. Only a similar love responds to this quality. The most manifested reverence will not reach its destination without love. What is devotion without love? Can there be fieriness in a withered heart? Following a manifestation of love, there can be expected commensurateness with the Higher World. Each subject can be studied only with love. Each difficulty can be conquered by the power of love.
Verily, great Love lies in the foundation of the Higher World!” (AUM § 80 – Agni Yoga collection).
It is by adhering to Hierarchy that Unity is realized in consciousness. So the image of a warrior is carved on the second stone. Those who are conscious of being part of the hierarchical order take care of their due task and hold a specific function within that luminous structure which reconciles everything and stands as a bulwark against chaos.
Fighting is like building. The armor of the warrior is the stellar energy which is renewed every day; his weapon is the steady watchfulness; his shield is devotion. Devotion, about which it is said in § 287 of the book “Hierarchy” (Agni Yoga collection):
“Let us turn to devotion. This concept is also subject to many distortions. Devotion does not resemble a windmill, or a hired singer of praises. Rather, it resembles a firm tower upon a summit, which the enemies avoid in awe, but in whose chambers a shelter is ever prepared for a friend. Devotion is the opposite of doubt, which is nothing but ignorance. It means that devotion rests upon enlightenment. Thus, validity of learning is akin to devotion. It is not credulity, not levity, but firmness and steadfastness. Truly, the tower of devotion is not constructed by haphazard toil or by petty decisiveness; and devotion can be violated only by perfidy, which is the same as betrayal. But valuable are the towers of devotion! Such ashrams, like magnets, attract powerful hearts; they are nurseries of spirituality. Even material nature is transformed in the proximity of these towers.”
The third stone is co-measurement and is represented as a pillar, the canon for excellence. Each operation must in fact be co-measured to the goal in order to evoke the creative action of fire. The Cosmos builds according to co-measurement, which is a factor of evolution.
Much energy is wasted and many actions fail just because they are not co-measured. Co-measurement is the fruit of knowledge and justifies action. It is understanding, vision, judgment, justice, consistency, balance, service.
Co-measurement dwells in the heart which knows how to relate earth to the infinite Heaven.
“Co-measuring the main issue and the dust of the threshold is that test which each one must have clearly before him. No one has a right to pierce a heart or cause a headache, while irreplaceable treasures go by! People do not consider irreplaceable that which they do not notice.” (Fiery World I § 147 – Agni Yoga collection).
The fourth stone is the Sun, the infinity of suns which are the shining abodes of God, His Temples and His many names, each of which is a Sound giving life, motion and existence at a certain level of consciousness.
Once again we see the concept of Hierarchy, where powerful solar Logoi govern interstellar spaces echoing the divine Agreement; an Accord which is reflected in a polyphonic canon taken up by all the spatial entities – the Music of the Spheres.
“The Higher Force is always tensed in creation in conformity with the universal energies. When the shifting requires the highest tension, the Guardians of Higher Tasks fulfill the higher mission. The creativeness of Light sets up corresponding affirmations. The constructiveness of the Guardians of Light seeks goal-fitness. Thus, the constructivity of the Higher Forces proceeds in highest concordance, and Infinity cosmically guards all tasks.” (Infinity II § 496 – Agni Yoga collection).
The four stones, carved with love for the glory of Hierarchy, can then be viewed as the faces of a single stone, that shiny stone put by the builders on the north-east edge, where the east merges with polar axis and the two Origins are combined. So the creative work unfolds.
