page_title: Roerichism
section_title: The Agni Yoga Society
hierarchical_section_title: Roerichism / Teachers and their teachings / Agni Yoga as the spiritual foundation of Roerichism / The Agni Yoga Society
caption_attribution_description: Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York City
context_page_description: Roerichism or Rerikhism is a spiritual, cultural and social movement that emerged in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century, though it has been described as a "thoroughly Russian new religious movement", due to its close connection with Russia.
  The movement centers on the Neo-Theosophical religious doctrine of Agni Yoga, or the Living Ethics, transmitted by Helena Roerich and Nicholas Roerich. Agni Yoga draws ideas from Theosophy, Eastern and Western religions, Vedic and Buddhist traditions, molding them into Russian culture, too. Agni Yoga is the spiritual foundation of Roerichism.
  This movement played a significant role in bringing knowledge of Asian religions to the Western world. Roerichism has an international following and has many thousands of adherents. Some international and regional organizations, whose activity is based on the ideas of Roerichism, arose many years after the death of all the members of the Roerich family. Roerichism has exerted an influence on other esoteric movements and philosophies, among them New Age and transhumanism.
context_section_description: The Agni Yoga Society was founded in 1920 by Helena and Nicholas Roerich. It is a non-profit educational institution incorporated in 1946 under the laws of the State of New York, and is supported entirely by voluntary contributions and membership dues. This organization was located in the building called "Master Apartments". The aims of the Society are embodied in the philosophy that gives it its name — Agni Yoga — as contained in the books of the Agni Yoga series published by the Society. In them is found a synthesis of ancient Eastern beliefs and modern Western thought, and a bridge between the spiritual and the scientific.
  Unlike previous yogas, Agni Yoga is a path not of physical disciplines, meditation, or asceticism — but of practice in daily life. It is the yoga of fiery energy, of consciousness, of responsible, directed thought. It teaches that the evolution of the planetary consciousness is a pressing necessity and that, through individual striving, it is an attainable aspiration for mankind. It affirms the existence of the hierarchy of light and the center of the heart as the link with the hierarchy and with the far-off worlds. Though not systematized in an ordinary sense, Agni Yoga is a Teaching that helps the discerning student to discover moral and spiritual guide-posts by which to learn to govern his or her life and thus contribute to the common good. For this reason Agni Yoga has been called a "living ethic". Speaking about the individual's role in human spiritual evolution, Helena Roerich wrote "The greatest benefit that we can contribute consists in the broadening of consciousness, and the improvement and enrichment of our thinking, which, together with the purification of the heart, strengthens our emanations. And thus, raising our vibrations, we restore the health of all that surrounds us".
caption: Nicholas Roerich Museum
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