Agni Yoga. [Sanskrit. Agni: ’fire’. Yoga: ‘yoking’, akin to Latin jungere ‘to join’; divine union.] The union of man with God through the sacred fire. Agni Yoga, or the yoga of fire, is a yoga of action rather than asceticism. As explained in the book Agni Yoga, “Fire will not lead away from life; it will act as a trustworthy guide to the far-off worlds . . . He who would swim must dive fearlessly into the water. And he who has decided to master Agni Yoga must transform through it his entire life . . . Verily, all actions must be infused with the purifying fiery striving . . .

Just as Fire is the all-embracing principle, so does Agni Yoga permeate the whole of life. One can notice how the consciousness is gradually sharpened, how the real values of the surroundings emerge, how the immutability of the cooperation of worlds grows. Thus life is filled with the signs of highest understanding. Truth as a real concept enters the daily life” (Agni Yoga, 5th ed., rev. [New York: Agni Yoga Society, 1980], pp. 101, 103, 108).

The Ascended Masters teach that the path of Agni Yoga is the expression of the fire of the Word and Work of the Lord. Not only is it the invocation of the sacred fire through the science of the spoken Word and the violet flame, the raising up of the sacred fire of the Kundalini from the base chakra to the crown, but it is also fiery action for the right, for the truth and in defense of the living Christ in the children of God.

In Hinduism, raja yoga is considered to be the “royal” or highest path to union with God, hence “the royal road to reintegration.” In raja yoga, one seeks to realize God by the control of the mind and emotions through concentration and meditation. It is looked upon as a psychological process or experiment, wherein one enters into certain mental exercises and observes the inner spiritual effects. The goal, as explained by Huston Smith in The Religions of Man, is to attain the “direct personal experience of ‘the beyond that is within.’”

As defined in The Pearl of the Orient by Geoffrey A. Barborka, the term raja yoga “signifies ‘kingly union’ or the royal union of man’s faculties, spiritual, mental, moral and physical.” The Ascended Masters teach that raja yoga is a means of attaining integration in all of the chakras and in the I AM Presence; it is the royal road to reintegration with one’s Divine Self. The key to this reintegration is the violet flame and the science of the spoken Word, the resolution of one’s psychology and demonstrating union with God through acts beneficial to self and society. For the student of the Ascended Masters, raja yoga, as well as all other forms of yoga, must include the Path of the Ruby Ray under the Ruby Ray Masters

" . . . Therefore energy superimposed with the Darkness of mass hysteria does come tumbling into the vortex of Light of every devotee. This is why, beloved, once you set your path to be that of Agni Yoga and [your mind] to be that yogi or yogini, you must know that you cannot cease, you must not cease. For the more that fire is intensified in your heart, the more you become that flaming cauldron into which there is poured the Darkness; and you become the one who holds that vessel of world conflagration, world transmutation.

" . . . Leap into the fire, beloved, and emerge unscathed. Then you will understand the mystery of Agni. Blend into the flames and feel the mystical oneness with the lightning and the stars.

" . . .The life of the spiritual guardian is surely a life of the divine art. Let your expression be as one of the many hands of the Divine Mother—as the hands of Kuan Yin, even as the hands of Kali, of Shakti. The many hands of the Mother find expression through you. And I am in the Mother as the Mother is in my heart. This is the beauty of the Life everlasting."