Light on Path and Karma

Author(s): M C
Publisher: Theosophical Publishing Society
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/011078/1

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* Light on the Path and Karma WRITTEN DOWN BY M.C. WITH NOTES AND COMMENTS nh LONDON THEOSOPHICAL Pubble Society*** . . 16: New Bond fo r some moremo i 1912 VIP 20

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MY STATE CENTRA LIDNY, W.. Boo. No. G... 356. Dt. EUR/2/04

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LIGHT ON THE PATH 19 1 httained the power of helping others; to have conquered desire is to have learned how to use and control the self; to have attained to selfknowledge is to have treated to the inner fortress whence the personal man can be viewed with impartiality; to have seen the soul in its bloom is to have obtained a momentary glimpse In thyself of the transfiguration which shall eventually make thee more than man; to ecognize is to achieve the great task of gazing pon the blazing light without dropping the eyes And not falling back in terror, as though before ome ghastly phantom. This happens to some, nd so when the victory is all but won it is lost. To hear the Voice of the Silence is to understand that from within comes the only true guidance: to go to the Hall of Learning is to enter the state in which learning becomes possible. Then vill, many words be written there for thee, and written in fiery letters for thee easily to reac For when the disciple is ready, the Master ready also. 1. Stand aside in the coming battle,.. und though thou fightest be not thou the varrior. 2. Look for the Warrior, and let him ght in thee. 3. Take his orders for battle, and obey em. 66356

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20 LIGHT ON THE 'PATH 4. Obey him, not as though he were af general, but as though he were thyself and his spoken words were the utti: of thy secret desires; for he is thyself yet infinitely wiser and stronger than thy. self. Look for him, else in the fever and hurry of the right thou mayest pass him and he will not kitow thee unless thou knowest him. If thy cry meet his listen ing ear, then will he fight in thee, and fill the dull void within. And if this is so then canst thou go through the fight cool and unwearied, standing aside and letting him battle for chee. Then it will be im Jossible for thea to strike one blow amiss But if taou Sook not for him, if thou pase chim by, then there is no safeguard for thee. They brain will reel, thy heart grow uncertain, and in the dust of the battlefield thy sight and senses will fail, and thou wilt not know thy frie: ds from thy enemie. He is thyself. Yet thou art but' fini and liable to error; he is eternal and

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Pant ON THE PATH 21. surt. He is eternal truth. When once he has entered thee and become thy Jr, he will neyer utterly desert kuee; and at the day of the great peace he will become one with thee. 1 5. Listen to the song of life.? * 7 Look for it, and listen to it, Arst in your own heart. At first you may say, "It is not there :-/ \vhen I search I find only discord." Look Heeper. If agar you are disappointed, pause and look deeper again. There is a natural melody, an obscure fount in every human heart. It may be hidden over and utterly concealed and silenced-but it is there. At the very base of pour nature you will find faith, hope, and love. He,that chooses evil refuses to look within Jimself, shuts his ears to the melody of his heart, as he blinds his eyes to the light of his soul. He does this because he finds it easier to live in desires. But underneath all life is the strong durrent that cannot be checked; the great waters are there in reality. Fin them, and You will perceive that none, not the most 'wretched of creatures, but is a part of it, mowever he blind himself to the fact and build in for himself a phantom mal outcr form of horror. "r: that sense it is than I say to you: All :!ose beings among whom you struggle on are igments of the Divine. And so deceptive is

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..22 LIOHT ON THE.PAT.1 the illlision in which you live, that it is hard to guess where you will Arst detect the sweet voice in the hearts of others. But know that it is certainly within yourself. Look for it there, and once having heard it, you will more readily: recognize it around you. 6. Store in your inemory the melody you hear. 7. Learn from it the lesson of harmony i 8. You can stand upright now,'firm as a rock amid the turmcil, obeying the Warrior who is thyself and thy king Unconcerned in the battle save to do his bidding, having no longer any cere as to the result of the battle; for one thing only is important, that the warrior shall win, and yqu know he is incapable of defeat; standing thus, cool and aivakened, use the hearing you have acquired by pain and by the destruction of pain. Only fragments of the grgat song come to your ears while yet you aps. but man. But it you listen to it, renkamber it faithfully, sc that none which has reached you is lost

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HIDHT ON THE PATH; 23 and endeavour to learn from it the mean. ing of the mystery which surrounds you In time you will need no teacher. Por has the individual has voice, so* has that in which the individual exists. Life itself has speech and is never silent. And its futterance is not, as you thatoare deaf may suppose, a cry:*it is a song. Learn fror.. it that you are part of the harmony; learn from it to obey the laws of the harmony. 9. Regard earnestly all the life that surrounds you. 10. Learn to look intelligently into the hearts of men.s 1 from an absolutely impersonal point of view, otherwise your sight is coloured. There. fore impersonality must first be understood. Intelligence is impartial: no man is you) enemy: no man is your friend. All alike are h your teachers. Your enemy becomes a mystery that must be solved, even though it take ages; 'for man must be understood. Your friend ffbecomes a part of you cself, an extension of your. self, griddle hard to rad. Only one thing is more difficult to know --your own heart. Not until the bonds of persohality are loosed can

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24 LIGHT ON THE PATA that profound mystery of self begin to be seen. Not till you stand aside from it, wiu it in any way reveal itself to your understanding. Then, and not till then, can you g99sp and guide it. Then, and not till then, can you use all its powers, and devote them to a worthy service. 11. Regard most earnestly your own heart. 12. For through your own heart comes the one light which can illuminate life and make it clear to your eyes. Study the hearts of men that you may know what is that world in which you live and of which you will to be a part., Regard the constantly changing moving life which surrounds you, for it is formed by the hearts of meq; and as inu learn to understand their constitutter and qocaning, you will hy degrees be able to read the larger word of life. 13. Speech comes pnly with knowledge. Attain to knowledge and you will attain to speech.' It is impossible to help others till you have

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LIGHT ON THE PATH 25 * obtained some certainty of your own. When you have learged the first twenty-one rules and have entered the Hall of Learning, with your powers developed and sense unchained, then you will find there is a fount within you from which speech will arise. After the thirteenth rule I can add no words to what is already written. My prace I give unto you. A. Thest notes age wristen only for those to whom I give my peace; those who can read what I have written with the inner as well as the outer sense.. * 14. Having obtained the use of the inner senses, having conquered the desires of the outer senses, having conquered the desires of the individual soul, and having obtained knowledge, prepare now, O disciple, to enter upon the way in reality. The path is found: make yourself ready to tread it. 15. Inquire of the earth, the air, and the water, of the secrets they hold for you. The development of your inner senses will enable you to do this. 16. Inquire of the 'Holy Ones of the

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26 LIOHT ON THE PATI. earth of the secrets they hold for you. The conquering of the desires of the outer senses will give you the right to do this.. 17. Inquire of the inmost, the One, of its final secret which it holds for you through the ages. The great and difficult victory, the conquering of the desires of the indivi. dual soul, is a work of ages; therefore expect not to obtain its rewards until ages of experience have been accumulated. When the time of learning this seven. teentde rule is reached, man is on the threshold of becoming more than man. ! 18. The knowledge which is pow yours is only yours because your soul has become one with all pure souls and with the inmost. It is a trust vested in you by the Most High. Betray it, misuse your knowledge or neglecting and it is possible even now for you to fall from the high estate you have attained. Great ones fall

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"LIGHT ON THB PATH 27 back, even from the threshold, unable to. sustain the weight of their responsibility, unable to pass on. Therefore look for. ward always with awe and trembling to this moment, and be prepared for the battle. . 19. It is written that for him who is on the creshold., of divinity no law can be framei, no guide can exist. Yet to en lighten the disciple, the Anal .struggle may be thus expressed: i Hold fast to that which has neither, substance nor existence. .. 20. Listen only to the voice which is foundless. .21. Look only on that which is invisible alikesu the inner and the outer 'sense. PEACE BE WITH YOU

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COMMENTS Before the eyes can see they must BE INCAPABL# of tears It should be very clearly remembered by all readers of this volume that it is a book .which may appear to have some little philosophy in it, but very little sense, to those who believe it to be written in ordinary English. To the many who read in this manner it will be--not cariare' so much as dives strong of their salt. Be warned and read but a little in this way. 'There is another way of reading, which

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OHT ON THE PATH alchemical works are written in the cipher of which I speak; it has been used by the great philosophers ard poets of all time. It is used systematically by the sAdepts in life and knowledge, who, seemingly giving out their decpest wisdom, bide in the very words which frame it its actual mystery. They cannot do more. There is a law of. Nature which insists that a man shall read these mysteries for himself. By no other method can he obtain them. A man who desires to live must eat hi: food himself ; this is the simple law of nature-which applies also to the higher life. A' man who would live and act in it cannot be fed like a habi' with a spoon he must eat for himself. Tipfopose to put into new and some.. times plainer language parts of LIGHT ON THB PATH; but whetlar this effort of mine will really he any interpretation I cannot say. To a deaf and dumb man a truth is made no more intelligible if, in order to

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30 LIGHT ON THE PATA make it so, some misguided linguist translate the words in which it is couched into every living or deadokinguage, and shouts these different phrases in his ear. But for those who are not deaf and dumb one language is generally casier than the rest; and it is to such as these I address myself. . The very first aphorisms of Light ON THE PATH, included under Part 1, have, I know well, remained sealed as to their inner meaning to many who have'otherwise followed blanc purpose of the book. There are four proven and certarli truths with regard to the entrance to occultism. The Gates of Gold bar that threshold; yet there are some who pass those Gates and discover the sublime and illimitable beyond. In the far spaces of Timg all will pass those gates. But I am one who wish that Time, the great deluder, were not so over-masterfy! To those, who know and love him I have no word to say; but to the others--and there are not

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LIGHT ON TIRE PATH 15 0 The amid the raging of the storm. silence may last a moment' of time or it may last a thousand But it will years. end. Yet you will carry its strength with you. Again and again the battle must be fought and won. It is only for an interval that Nature can be still.5 * 5 The apening of the bloom is the glorious moment when perception awakes: with it come confidence, knowledge, certainty. The pause of the soul is the moment of wonder, and the next moment of satisfaction, that is the silence. Know, O disciple, that those who have passed through the silence, and felt its peace and retained its strength, they long that you shall bass through it also. Therefore, in the Hall of Learning, when he is capable of entering there, the distiple will always find his Master. Those that ask Shall have. But though the ordinary man asks perpetually, his voice is not heard. For he asks with his mind only; and the voice of the mind is only heard on that plane on which the mind acts. Therefore, not until he first twenty-one rules are passed do I say $ hose that ask shall have. To real, in the occult sense, is to read with the eyes of the rpirit. I ask is to feel the unger within the yearning of spiritual aspira

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16 LIGHT ON THBO PATH tion. To be able to read means Iraving obtuinedf the power in a small degree of gratifying that hunger. When the disciple is ready to learn, then he is accepted, acknowledged, recognized. It must be so, for he has lit his lamp, and it cannot be hidden. But to learn is impossiblc until the first great battle has been won. The mind may recognize truth, but the spiri cannot receive it. Once having passed through the storm and attained the peace, it is the nlways possible to leann, even though the discipld vaver, hesitate, and turn aside. The Voiel of the Silence remaitis withit: him, and though se leave the *Path utterly, vet one day it wil resound, and rend him asunder and separati his passions from his divine possibilities. Then with pain and desperate cries from the desertei lower self, he will return. Therefore I say, Peace be with you, "M peace I give unto you," can only be said by the Master to the beloved disciples who are as hin self. There are some cven among those i ho ai ignorant of the Eastern wis lon, to whain th can be said, and to whom it can Guily be sa 'with more completeness. A Regard the three truths. They are equal. These written above are the first of t' rules which are, written on the walls the Hall of Learning. Those that a

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LIGHT ON THE PATH 17 shall have. Tiioso, that desire to read shall read. Those that desire to learn shall learn. PEACE BE WITH YOU,

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LIGHT ON TUB PATH 80 yery few tas somo may fancy--to whom the passage of time is as the stroke of a sledge-hammer, and the sense of space like the bars of an iron cage, I will translate and re-translate, until they under. stand fully. The four truths written on the Arst page of Light ON THB PATH refer to the trial initiation of the would-be Occultist.' Until he has passed it, he cannot even reach to the latch of the Gate which admits to knowledge., Knowledge is man's greatest inheritance; why, then, should he not attempt to reach it by every pos. sihle road? The laboratory is not the only.ground for experiment; science, we musi remember, is derived from sciens, present participle of scire, "to knw" its origin is similar to that of the word discern," "to ken." Science does not therefore deal only with nlatter, no, nut even its subtlest anal obscurest forms. Such an idea is born merely of the idle

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32 LIOHT ON THE PATH spirit of the age. Science is alword which covers all fornis of knowledge. It is exceedingly interesting to hear what chemists discover, and to see them finding their way through the densities of matter to its finer forms; but there are other kinds of knowledge than this, and it is not everyone who restricts his (strictly scien. tific) desire for knowledge to experiments." which are capable of being'tested by the physical senses. Everyone who is not a dullard, or a. man stupefied by some predominant vice, has guessed, or even perhaps discovered with some certainty, that there are suhtle renses lying within the physical senses ; there is nothing at all extraordinary in this; if we took the trouble to call Nature into the witness-box we should find that everything which is perceptible to the ordinary sight has something even more important than itself hidden within it; the microscope has opened a world to us, but

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LIOHT ON THE PATH 33 vithin those encasements which the microcope reveals, lies a mystery which no rachinery can probe. , The whole world is animated and lit, cown to its most material shapes, by a orld within it. This inner world is called stral by some people, and it is as good word as any other," though it merely picans skrry; but the stars, as Locke ointed out, are luminous bodies which live light of themselves. This quality s characteristic of the light which lies ithin matfer; for those who see it need lo lamp to see it by. The word "stan" horeover, is derived from the Anglo-Saxon stir-an," to steer, to stir, to move, and ndeniably it is the inner life which is haster of the outer, just as a man's brain uides the movements of his lips. So that though Astral is no very excellent word itself, I am contenit to use it for my Iresent purpose. The whole of LioHT ON THB Path is

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34 LIGHT ON THE PATH written in an astral "cipher and can there." fore only be deciphered by one who reads astrally. And its teaching is chiefly directed towards the cultivation and del velopment of the astral life. Until the first step has been maken in this develop ment the syvist knowledge which is calle intuition with certainty, is impossible to man. And this positive and certnin intui! tion is the only form of knowledge which enables a man to work rapidly or reach his true and high estate, within the lim of his conscious effort. To obtain know ledge by experiment is too tedious method for those who desire to accomplis real work; he who gets it by terta intuition lay's hands on its various forn with supreme rapidity, hy fierce effort. will; as a determined workman grasps : tools, indifferent to their weight or an other difficulty which may stand in way. He does not stay for each to t tested-he uses such as he sees are fittes

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LIGHT ON THE PATH 35 All the rules contained in Licht ON THE. Path are written for all disciples, but only for disciples-those who "take knowledge." To none else but the student in this school are its laws of any use or interest. To all who are interested seriously in Occultism, I say first--take knowledge To him who hath shall be given. It is useless to wait for it. The womb of Time will close before you, and in later years you will remain udborn, without power. I therefore say to those who have any hunger or thirst for knowledge, attend to these Rules. They are none of my handicraft or invention. They are merely the phrasing of laws, in super-nature, the putting into words truths as absolute in their own sphere as those laws which govern the conduct of the earth and its atmosphere. The senses spoken of in these four !tatements are the astral, or inner senses.

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36 LIGHT ON THE PATH No man desires to see that light which illumines the spaceless soul until . pain and sorrow and despair have driven him away fron the life of ordinary humanity. First he wears out pleasure, then he wears out pain--till, at last, his eyes become incapable of tears. This is a truism, althojigh I know perfectly well that it will meet with a vehe. ment denial from many who are in sympathy with thoughts which spring from the inner life. To 'see with the astra! sense of sight is a form of activity which it in difficult for us to understand imme diately. The scientist knows very well what a miracle is achieved by each chik that is born into the world, when it firs conquers its eyesight and compels it ti obey its brain. An equal miracle is per formed with each sense certainly, but thi ordering of sight is perhaps the mo: stupendous effort. Yet the child doe it almost unconsciously, by force of th

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LIPHT ON THE PATH 37 bowerful heredity of habit. No one now is aware that he has ever done it at all; just as we cannot recollect the individual movements which enabled us to walk up a hill a year ago. This arises from the fact that we move and live and have our being in matter. Our knowledge of it has become intuitive. With our astral life it is very much otherwise. For long years past, man has paid very little attention to it--so little that he has practically lost the use of his senses. It is true, in every civiliza. tion the star' arises and man confesses, with more or less of folly and confusion, that he knows himself to be. But most often he denies it, and in being a materi. alist becomes that strange being, a beirlg which cannot see its own light, a thing of life which will not live, an astral animal which has eyes, and cars, and speech, and power, yet will use none of these gifts. This is the case, and the habit of

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LIOHT ON THE PATH ignorance has become so confirmed, that now none will see with the inner vision till agony has made the physical eyes not only unseeing, but without tears--the moisture of life. To be incapable of tears is to have faced and conquered the simple human nature, and to have attained an equilibrium which cannot be shaken by personal emotions. ~ It does not imply any hardneso of heart, or any indifference. It does not imply the exhaustion of sor. row, when the suffering soul seems power. less to suffer acutely any longer it does not mean the deadness of old age, when emotion is becoming dull because the strings which vibrate to it are wearing out. None of these conditions are Alt for i disciple, and if any one of them exist in nim, it must be overcome before the Path can be entered upon. Hardness of heart belongs to the selfishi man, the egotist, to vhom the Gate is for ever closed. 'Indif. erence belongs to the fool and the false

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LIGHT ON THB PATH 39 hilosopher; those whose lukewarnyness lakes them mere puppets, not strong nough to face the realities of existence. Vhen pain or sorrow has worn out the eenness of suffering, the result is a lethrgy not unlike that which accompanies old age, as it is usually experienced hy men and women. Such a condition makes che entrance to the Path impossible, hecause the first step is one of difficulty and needs a strong man full of psychic and physical vigour to attempt it. It is a truth that, as Edgar Allan Poe said, the cyes are the windows for the soul, the windows of that haunted palace in which it dwells. This is the ver nearest interpretation into ordinary langurge of the meaning of the text. olf grief, dismay, disappointment or plea! sure can shalie the soul so that it loses its fixed hold on the can spirit which inspires it, and the moisture of life breaks forth, drowning knowledge in sensation,

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40 LIGHT ON THE PATH then all is blurred, tl.e windows are 'dari kened, the light is useless. This is as literal a fact as that if a man, at the edge of a precipice, loses his nerve through some sudden emotion he will certainly fall. The poise of the body, the balance, must be preserved, not only in dangerous places, but even on level ground, and with all the assistance Nature gives us by the law of gravitation. So it is with the soul: it is the link between the outer body and the starry : spirit beyond; the divine spark dwells in the still place where no convulsion of Nature can shake the air; this is so always. But the soul may lose its hold on that, its knowledge of it, even though these two are part of one whole; and it is by emotion, by: sen. Sation, that this hold is loosed. To suffer either pleasure or pain causes a vivid vibration which is, to the consciousness of man, life. Now this sensibility' dues not lessen when the disciple enters upon

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LIGHT ON THB PATH 41 nis. training; it increases. It is the first est of his strength; he must suffer, must Enjoy or endure, moro keenly than other nen, while yet he has taken on him a luty which does not exist for other men, hat of not allowing his suffering to shake sim from his Axed purpose., He has, in act, at the first step to take himself teadily, in hand and put the bit into Lis own mouth; no one else can do it or him. The first four aphorisms of Light On He Path refer entirely to astral developHent. This development must be accom. lished to a certain extent--that is to say, | must be fully entered upon --- before The mainder of the book is really in. Eslligintes except to the intellect; in fact, Hefore it can be read as a practical, not a Fhetaphysical treatise. | In one of the great mystic Brother. vous, there are four ceremonies that take Slace early in the year, which practically

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42 LIOHT ON THE PATH illustrate and clucidate these aphorisms They are ceremonies in which only novice take part, for they are simply services of the threshold. But it will show how serious a thing it is to become a dis! ciple, when it is understood that these are all ceremonies of sacrifice. The firse one is this of which I have been speak ing. The keenest enjoyment, the bitter est pain, the anguish of loss and despair are brought to bear on the trembling soul, which has not yet found light in the darkness, which is helpless a3 a blin man is: and until these shocks can' endured without loss of equilibrium astral senses must reman sealed. 'Th is the merciful law. The "medium," W spiritualist," who rushes into the psych world without preparation, is a law-breake: a breaker of the laws of super.naturd Those who break Nature's laws lose their physical health ; those who break the law: of the inner life lose their psychic health

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LIGHT ON THE PATH 43 " Mediums" become mad, suicides,'mis. able creatures devoid of moral sense ; nd often end as unbelievers, douhters pen of that which their own eyes have }en. The disciple is compelled to be. bme his own master before he advenbres on this perilous path and attempts face those beings who live and work the astral.world, and whom we call asters, because of their great knowledge d their ability to control not only them. Alves but the forces around them. The condition of the soul when it lives the life of 'sensation as distinguished pm that of knowledge, is vibratory or cillating, as distinguished from fixed. hat. the nearest literal representation thic fact; but it is only literal to the tellect, not to the intuition. For this furt of man's consciousness a different Scabulary is needed. The idea of "fixed " Might.perhaps be transposed into that of at home." In sensation no permanent

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44 LIGHT ON THE PI.TH home can be found, because change the law of this vibratory existence. Tha fact is the first one which must be learne by the disciple. It is useless to paus and weep for a scene in a kaleidoscop which has passed. It is a very well known fact, one with which Bulwer Lytton dealt with grea power, that an intolerable sadness is the very Arst experience of the Neophyte Occultism. A sense of blankness fall upon him which makes the world a wasta and life a vain exertion. This follow his first serious contemplation of th abstract. In gazing, or even in attemp ing to gaze, on the ineffable mystery his own higher nature, he himself cause the initial trial to fall on him. The oscil lation between pleasure and pain cease for perhaps an instant of time; but tha is enough to have cut him loose from hi fast moorings in the world of sensation He has experienced, however briefly, the <

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LIGHT ON THE PATH 45 seater life; and he goes on with ordinary Kistence weighted by a sense of unreality, blank, of horrid negation. This was he nightmare which visited Bulwer Lytton's neophyte in Zanoni; and even Janoni himself, who had learned great Luths, and been intrusted with great Powers, had not actually passed the hreshold where fear, and hope, despair and joy, seem at one moment absolute Palities, at the next mere forms of fancy. This initial trial is often brought on us life itself. For life is, after all, the seat teacher.. We return to study it, Eter we have acquired power over it, st as the master in chemistry learns ore, in the laboratory than his pupil bes. There are persons so near the for of knowledge that life itself pre ares them for it, and no individual hand Las to invoke the hideous guardian of he errance. These must naturally be cen and powerful organizations, capable

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46 LIGHT ON THE PATH of the most vivid pleasure; then. pain comes and Alls its great duty. The mos intense forms of suffering fall on such nature, till at last it arouses from it stupor of consciousness, and by the ford of its internal vitality steps over th threshold into a place of peace. The the vibration of life loses its power tyranny. The sensitive nature must su fer still; but the soul has freed itself ar stands aloof, guiding the 'life towards it greatness. Those who are the subject of Time, and go slowly through all hi spaces, live on through a long-draws series of sensations, and suffer a constar mingling of pleasure and of pain. * The do not dare to take the 'snac of self i a steady grasp and conquer it, so hecon ing divine ; but prefer to go on frettin through divers experiences, suffering blow from the opposingeforces. When one of the subjects on tim decides to enter on the path of Occultisni

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LIGHT ON THE PATH 47 t'is' this which is his first task. If life was not taught it to him, if he is not strong enough to teach himself, and if he has power enough to demand the help of a Master, then this fearful trial, de. picted in Zanoni, is put upon him. The pscillation in which he lives is for an instant stilled; and he has' to survive the shock of facing what seems to him fat first sight as the abyss of anothingness. Not till he hass learned to dwell in this Jabyss, and has found its peace, is it possible for his eyes to have become incapable of tears.

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BEFORE THE EAR CAN HEAR, IT MUST Have Lost its sexsitivBNESS The first four rules of Lioht on the Pati are undoubtedly, curious though the state ment may seem, the most ihmportant in the whole bouk, save one only. Why they ari so important is that they contain the vita law, the very creative essence of the astra man. And it is only in the astral (or seli oilluminated) consciousness that the ule which follow them have any living mean ing. Once attain to the use of the astra 'senses, and it becomes a matter of cours that one commences to use them; and th later rules are but guidance in their use When I speak like this I mean, nat'irally that the Arst four rules are the one

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LICHT ON THB PATH 49 hich are of importance and interest to hose, who read them in print upon a page. When they are engrayed on the man's kart and on his life, unmistakably, then he other rules become not merely interest g or extraordinary, metaphysical stateHents, but actual facts in life which have $ be grasped and experienced. The fur rules staad written in the cat chamber of cvery actual. lodge of a ing Brotherhood. Whether the man is out to sell his soal to the devil, like rust; whether he is to be worsted in the ttle, like Hamlet; or whether he is, to $$ on within the precincts; in any case ese words are for him. The man can loose between virtue and vice, but not til. he is a man; a babe or a wild animal nnot so choose. Thus with the disciple ; must first become a disciple before he in even sce the paths to choose between. his effort of creating himself as a disciple, Je rebirth, he must do for himself without

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50 LIGHT ON THE P.TH any eacher. Until the four rules a learned no teacher can be of any use him; and that is why "the Masters" a referred to in the way they are. No re Masters, whether Adepts in power, in lo or in blackness, can affect a man till the four rules are passed. Tears, as I have said, may be called t moisture of life. The soul must have li aside the ethotions of humanity, must ha secured a balance which cannot be shak by misfortune, before its eyes can op upon the super-human world. The voice of the Masters is always the world; but only those hear it whi ears are no longer receptive of the sout which affect the personal life. Laugh 'no longer lightens the heart, anger may longer enrage it, tender words hring it balm. For that within, to which the e are as an outer gateway, is an unshal place of peace in itself which na per can disturb.

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LICHT ON THE PATH 51 As the eyes are the windows of the soul, pare the ears its gateways or doors. hrough them comes knowledge of the onfusion of the world. The great ones ho have conquered life, who have become Ehore than disciples, stand at peace and Indisturbed amid the vibration and kaleido. copic movement, of humanity. They hold ithin themselves a certain knowledge, as ell as a perfect peace; and trus they are pt roused or excited by the partial and rroneous fragments of information which re brought to their cars by the changing Epices of those around them. Whep I beak of knowledge I mean intuitive know. dge. This certain information can never obtaincu hy hard work or by experiment; Ir these methods are only applicable to Latter, and matter is in itself a perfectly acertain substance, continually affected change. The most absolute and uni. ersal Jaws of natural and physical life, understood by the scientist, will pass

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52 LIGHT ON THB PATH away (when the life of this universe ha. passed away, and only its soul is left in the silence. What then will be the valu of the knowledge of its laws acquired b industry and observation ? I pray that no reader or critic wi imagine that by what I have said I inten to depreciate or disparage acquired kno ledge, or the work of scientists. On th contrary; l' hold that scientific men a the pioneers of modern thought. T days of literature and of art, when pou and sculptors saw the divine light, ai put it into their own great language these days lie buried in the long past wi the ante-Phidian sculptors and the pi Homeric poets. The Mysteries no long fule the world of thought and beaui human life is the governing power, i that which lies beyond it. But scientific workers are progressing, not much by their own will as by sheer fo of circumstances, towards the far 1

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LICHT ON THB PATH 53 hich divides things interpretable from things uninterpretable. Every fresh disbvery drives them a step onward, there. pre do I very highly esteem the knowledge btained by work and experiment. But intuitive knowledge is an entirely ifferent thing. It is not acquired in any ay, but is, so to speak, a faculty of the pul; rottbe. animal soul, that which comes a ghost after death, when lust liking or the memory of ill-deeds holds to the neighbourhood of human beings, hit the divine soul which animates all le external forms of the individualized Hng. This is, of course, a faculty which inKells in that soul, which is inherent. the:would be disciple has to arouse him. If to the consciousness of it by a fierce hi resolute and indomitable effort of 1. I use the word 'indomitable for a Jecial(r) reason. Only he who is untam. Je, who cannot be dominated, who

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54 LIOHT ON THE PATH knows he has to play the lord over mer over facts, over all things save his ow divinity, can arouse this faculty. "Wit faith all things are possible." The sce tical laugh at faith, and pride themselve on its absence from their own mind The truth is that faith is a great engin an enormous power, which, in fact, c: accomplish all things. For it is the cor nant or engagement between man's divir part and his lesser self. The use of this engine is quite necessa in order to obtain intuitive knowledg for, unless a man believes such knowled exists within himself how can he clai and use it ? Without it he is more helpless than a driftwood or wreckage on the great tid of the ocean. They are cast hither a thither indeed; so may a man be byt chances of fortune. But such adventui are puncly external and of very sntall : count. A slave may be dragged throu

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LIGHT ON THE PATH 55 e streets in chains, and yet retain the iet..soul of a philosopher, as was well en in the person of Epictetus. A man ay have every worldly prize in his posssion, and stand absolute master of his ersonal fate, to all appearance, and yet e knows no peace, no certainty, because e is shaken within himself by every de of thought that he touches on. And hese changing tides do not merely, sweep he man bodily hither and thither like riftwood on the water; that would be othing.. They enter into the gateways of is soul, and wash over that soul, and ake it blind and blank and void of all ermanent intelligence, so that passing mpressions affect it. To make my meaning plainer I will use n illustration. Take an author at his riting, a painter at his canvas, a comoser listening to the melodies that dawn pon his glad imagination; let any one f these workers pass his daily hours by *

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56 a wide window looking on a busy stre The power of the animating life blin sight and hearing alike, and the gre traffic of the city goes by like nothi but a passing pageant. But a man who mind is empty, whose day is objectles sitting at that same window, notes t passers-by and remembers the faces th chance to please or interest him. So is with the mind in its relation to etern truth. If it no longer transmits its flu tuations, its partial knowledge, its unr liable information to the soul; then LIGHT ON THE PATH P the inner place of peace, already fou when the first rule has been learnedthat inner place there leaps into flar the light of actual knowledge. Th the ears begin to hear. Very dimly, ve faintly at first. And, indeed, so faint an tender are these first indications of t commencement of true, actual life, th they are. sometimes pushed aside as me fancics, mere imaginings. But befo

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LIGHT ON THB PATH 57 lese are capable of becoming more than ere, imaginings, the abyss of nothing. ss has to be faced in another form. he utter silence which can only come closing the ears to all transitory sounds mes as a more appalling horror than en the formless emptiness of space. or only mental conception of blank Jace is, I think, when reduced to its rest element of thought, that of. black rkness. This is a great physical terror most persons, and when regarded as eternal and unchangeable fact, must an to the mind the idea of annihilan rather than anything else. But it is obliteration, of one sense only; and e sound of a voice may come and bring mfort, even in the profoundest dark ss. The disciple, having found his way o this blackness, which is the fearful yss, must then so situt the gates of his al that no comforter can enter there any enemy. And it is in making

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$8 LIOHT ON THB PATH this second effort that the fact of pa and pleasure being but one sensati becomes recognizatole by those who ha before been unable to perceive it. F when the solitude of silence is reach the soul hungers so kercely and passio ately for socie sensation on which to re that a painful one wowd be as keen welcomed as a pleasant one. Wirent consciousness is reached the courage man hy seizing and retaining it may stroy the "sensitiveness" at once. W the ear no longer discriminates betwe that which is pleasant or that which painful it will no longer he affected the voices of others. And then it is s and possible to open the doors of Soul. "Sight" is the first cffort, and easiest, hecause it is accomplished pai by an intellectual cffort. The inteli can conquer the heart, as is well kno in ordinary life. Therefore this preli

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LIOHT ON THE PATH 59 bry step still lies within the dominion matter. But the second step allows of. such assistance noe of any material whatever. Of course, I mean by aterial aid the action of the brain, or potions, or human soul. In compelling e ears to listen only to the eternal ence, the being we call man becomes mething which is no longer man. A ry superficial survey of the thousand d one influences which are brought to ar on us hy others will show that this ust be 60. A disciple will fulfill all the ties of his manhood; but he will fulll em according to his own sense of ht; and not according to that of any son or body of persons. This is a fy.evident result of following the creed knowledge instead of any of the blind eds. To obtain the purch silence necessary the disciple, the heart and emotions, brain and its intellectualisms, shave to

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60 LIOHT ON THB PATH be put aside. Both are but mechanisn which will perish with the span of mai life. It is the essence beyond, that whi is the motive power, and makes man li that is now compelled to rouse itself a act. Now is the greatest hour of dang In the first trial men go mad with fe: of this first trial Bulwer Lytton wro No novelist has followed to the seco trial, though some of the poets have. subtlety and great danger lie in the that in the measure of a man's stren is the measure of his chance of pass heyond it or coping with it at all. If has power cnough to awaken that un customed part of himself, the supre essence, then has he power to lift Gates of Gold, then he is the truc alc mist, in possession of the elixir of life It is at this point of experience t the Occultist fuccomics separated from other pen and enters on to a life-wi is his own; on to the path of indivic

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LIOHT ON THB PATH 61 plishment instead of mere obedience genii which rule our earth. This s of himself into an individual power in reality identify him with the * forces of life, and make him one them. For they stand beyond the s of this carth and the laws of this 'se. Here lies man's only hope of is in the great effort; to leap right from his present standpoint to his and at once become an intrinsic part e divine power as he has been an sic .part of the intellectual power, : great rrature to which he belongs. tands always in advance of himself, ha contradiction can he understood. he men who adhere to this position, believe in their innate power of ess, and that of the whole race, who the Elder Brothers, the pioneers. man has to accomplish the great for himself and without aid; yet it mething of it staff to lean on to

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62 LIGHT ON THE PATH know that others have gone on that road. It is possible that they have been lost in the abyss; no matter, they have had the courage to enter it. Why I say that it is possible that they have been lost in the abyss is because of this fact, that one who has passed through is unrecognizable until the other and altogether new condition is attained by both. It is unneces sary to enter upon the subject of what that condition is at present. I only say this, that in the early state in which man is entering upon the silence, , he loses knowledge of his friends, of his lovers, of all who have been near and dear to him; and also loses sight of his Teachers and of those who have preceded him on his way. I explain this because scarce, one passes through without bitter complaint. Could but the mind grasp beforehand that the silence most be complete, surely this complaint need not arise as a hirdrance on the. Path. Your Teacher or your pre

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LIGHT ON THE path 63 decessor may hold your hand in his, and give you the utmost sympathy the human heart is capable of. But when the silence and the darkness come, you lose all knowledge of him; you are alone and he cannot help you, not because his power is gone, but because you have invoked your great enemy. By your great enemy I mean yourself. If you have the power to face your own soul in the darkness and silence, you will have conquered the physical or animal self which dwells in sensation only. * This statement, I fear, will appear involved, but in reality it is quite simple. Man, when he has reached his fruition, and civilization is at its height, stands between two fires. Could he but claim his great inheritance, the encumbrance of the mere animal life would fall away from him without difficulty.. But he does not do this, and so the races of men flower and then droop, and die, and decay off *

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64 Light on the PATH the face of the earth, however splendid the bloom may have been. And it is left to the individual to make this great effort; to refuse to be terrified by his greater nature, to refuse to be drawn back by his lesser or more material self. Every individual who accomplishes this is a re. deemer of the race. He may not blazon forth his deeds, he may dwell in secret and silence, but it is a fact that he forms a link between man and his divine part; between the known and the unknown; be. tween the stir of the market-place and the stillness of the snow-capped Himalayas. He has not to go about among men in order to form this link; in the astral he is that link, and this fact *rfiakes him a being of another order from the rest of mankind. Even so early on the road towards knowledge, when he has but taken the secand step, he finds his footing * more certain, and becomes conscious that he is a recognized part of a whole.

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IGHT ON THE PATH 65 This is one of the contradictions in life which, occur so constantly that they afford fuel to the fiction writer. The Occultist finds them become much more marked as he endeavours to live the life he has chosen. As he retreats within himself and becomes self-dependent, he finds himself more definitely becoming part of a great tide of definite thought and feeling. When he has learned the iirst lesson, conquered the hunger of the heart, and refused to live on the love of others, he finds hingself more capable of inspiring love. As he flings life away, it comes to him in a new form and with a new meaning. The world has always been a place with many contradictions in it to man; when he becomes a disciple he finds life is describable as a series of paradoxes. This is a fact in Nature, and the reason for it is intelligible enough. Man's soul "dwells like a star apart," even that of the vilest among us; while his conscious

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66 LIGHT ON THE PATH ness rs under the law of vibratory and sensuous life. This alone is enough to cause those complications of character which are the material for the novelist; every man is a mystery to friend and enemy alike, and to himself. His motives are often yindiscoverable, and he cannot probe to them, or know why he does this or that. The disciple's effort is that of awaking' consciousness in this starry part of himself, where his power and divinity lie sleeping. As this conscious: ness becomes awakened, the contradictions in the man himself become more marked than ever ; and so do the paradoxes which he lives through. For,, of course, man creates his own life; and "adventures are to the adventurous" is one of those wise proverbs which are drawn from actual fact, and cover the whole area of human experience. Pressure on the divine part of man reacts upon the animal part. As the

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LIGIT ON THE PATH 67 silent soul awakes, it makes the ordinary life of the man more purposeful, more vital, more real and responsible. To keep to the two instances already men. tioned: the Occultist who has withdrawn into his own citadel has found his strength; immediately he becomes aware of the demands of duty, upon him. He does not obtain his strength dy his own right, but because he is a part of the whole; and as soon as he is safe from the vibration of life and can stand unshaken, the outer world cries out to him to come and labour in it. So with the heart. When it no longer wishes to take, it is called upon to give abundantly. Light ON THE PATH has been called a book of paradoxes, and very justly; what else could it be, when it deals with the actual personal experi. ence of the disciple ? To have acquired the dstral senses of sight and hearing; or, in other words, to have attained perception and opened

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68 LIGHT ON THE PATH the doors of the soul, are gigantic tasks, and may take the sacrifice of many.successive incarnations. And yet, when the will has reached its strength, the whole miracle may be worked in a second of time. Then is the disciple the servant of Time no longer. These first two steps are negative ; that is to say, they imply retreat from a present condition of things, rather than advance towards another. The next two are active, implying the advance into another state of being.

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III BEFORE THE voice CAN SPEAK IN THE PRESENCE OF THE MASTERS Speech is the power of communication; the moment of entrance into active life is marked by its attainment. And now, before I go any further, let me explain a little the way in which the rules written down in Light ON THE PATH are arranged. The first seven of those which are numbered are sub-divisions of the first two unnumbered rules, those with which I have dealt in the preceding pages. The numbered rules were simply an effort to make the unnumbered ones more intelligible. "Elght' to "fifteen" of these numbered rules belong to this unnumbered rule which is now my text. 69

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70 LIOHT ON THB PATH As I have said, these rules are written for all disciples, but for none else; they are not of interest to any other persons. Therefore I trust no one else will trouble to read these papers any further. The Arst two rules include the whole of that part of the effort which necessitates the use of the surgeon's knife. But the disciple is expected to deal with the snake, his lower self, unated; to suppress his human passions and emotions by the force of his own will." He can only demand assistance of a Master when this is accomplished, or, at all events, partially 80. Otherwise the gates and windows of his soul are blurred, and blinded, and darkened, and no knowledge can come to him. I am not, in these papers, purposing to tell a man how to deal with his own soul; I am simply giving, to the disciple, knowledgi. That I am not writing, even now, so that all who run 'may read, is owing to the fact that super-nature

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LIGHT ON THE PATH 71 prevents this by its own inmuitable laws. The four rules which I have written down for those in the West who wish to study them, are, as I have said, written in the ante-chamber of every living Brotherhood; I may add more, in the ante. chamber pf every living or dead Brotherhood, or Order yet to be formed. When I speak of a Brothethiood, or an Order, I do not mean an arbitrary constitution made by scholiasts and intellectualists; I mean an actual fact in super-nature; a stage of development to. wards the absolute God or Good. During this development the disciple encounters harmony, pure knowledge, pure truth, in different degrees, and, as he enters these degrees, he finds himself becoming part of what might be roughly described as . a layer of human consciousness. He en. counters his equals, men of his own self less character, and with them his associa

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72 LIGHT ON THE PATH tion becomes permanent and indissoluble because founded on a vital likeness of Nature. To them he becomes pledged by such vows as need no utterance or frame-. work in ordinary words. This is one aspect of what I mean by a Brotherhood. If the first rules are conquered, the disciple finds himself standing at the threshold. Then, if his will be suffici ently resolute his power of speech comes; a twofold power. For, as he advances now, he finds himself Entering into a state of blossoming, where every bud that opens throws out its several rays or petals. If he has to exercise his new gift, he must use it in its twofold character. He finds in himself the power to speak in the presence of the Masters; in other words, he' has the right to demand contact with the divinest element of that state of consciousness into which he has entered. But he finds himself compelled, by the nature of his position, to act in two ways at the

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LIGHT ON THE PATH 73: same time. He cannot send his voire up to the heights where sit the gods, till he has penetrated to the deep places where their light shines not at all. He has come within the grip of an iron law. If he demands to become a neophyte, he at once becomes a servant. Yet, his service is sublime, if only from the character of those who share it. For the Masters are also servants; they serve, and claim their reward afterwards. Part of their service is to let their knowledge touch him; his first act of service is to give some of that knowledge to 'those who are not yet, fit .to. stand where he stands. This is no arbitrary decision, made by any Master or Teacher or any such person, however divine. , It is a law of that life which the disciple has entered upon. Therefore was it written in the inner doorway of the Lodge, of(r)the old Egyptian Brotherhood, " The labourer is worthy of his hire."

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aur 74 LIGHT'ON THE PATH "Ask and ye shall have," sounds like something too easy and simple to be credible. But the disciple cannot "ask" in the mystic sense in which the word is used in this scripture, until he has attained the power of helping others. Why is this? Has the statement too dogmatic a sound ? Is it too dogmatic to say that a nan must have foothold before he can spring? The position is the same. If help is given, if work is done, then there is an actual claim -not what we call a personal claim of pay. ment, but the claim of co-nature. The divine give; they demaitd that you also shall give before you can be of their kin. This law is discovered as soon as the disciple endeavours to speak. For speech is a gist which only comes to the disciple of power and knowledge. The spiritualist enters the .psychic-astral world, but he does rot find there any certain speech, unless hie at once claims it and continues

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LIGHT ON THB PATH 75 to.do so. If he is interested in phenomena," or the mere circumstance and accident of astral life, then he enters no direct ray of thought or purpose; he merely exists and amuses himself in the astral life as he has existed and amused himself in the physical life. Certainly there are one or two simple lessons which the psychic-astral can teath him, just as there are simple lessons which material and intellectual life can teach him. And these lessons have to be learned; the man who proposes to enter upon the life of the disciple without having learned the early and simple lessons must always suffer from his ignorance. They are vital, and have to be studied in a vital manner; ex. perienced through and through, over and over again, so that each part of the nature has been penetrated by them. . To return. In claiming the power of speecil, as it is called, the Neophyte cries out to the Great One, Who stands fore.

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76 LIGHT ON THE PATH most" in the ray of knowledge on which he has entered, to give him guidance. When he does this, his voice is hurled back by the power he has approached; and echoes down to the deep recesses of human ignorance. Iti some confused and blurred manner the news that there is knowledge and a beneficent power which teaches, is carried to as many men as will listen to it. No disciple can cross the threshold without communicating this news, and placing it on record in some fashion or other. He stands horror-struck at the imperfect and unprepared manner in which he has done this; and then comes the desire to do it well, and with the desire thus to Help others comes the power, Por. It is a pure desire, this which comes upon him; he can gain no credit, no glory, no personal reward by fullillinu it. And therefore ho obtains the power to fulfil it. " The history of the who'e past, so far as

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LIGHT ON THE PATH 77 we can trace it, shows very plainly that there is neither credit, glory, nor reward to be gained by this first task which is given to the Neophyte. Mystics have always been sneered at, and seers disbelieved; those who have had the added power of intellect have left for posterity their written record, which to most men appears unmeaning and visionary, even when the authors have the advantage of speaking from a far-off past. The disciple who undertakes the task, secretly hoping for fame or success, to appear as a teacher and apostle before the world, fails even before his task is attempted, and his hidden hypocrisy poisons his own soul, and the souls of those He teaches. He is secretly worshipping himself, and this idolatrous' practice must bring its own reward. The disciple who has the power of en. trance, and is strong enough to pass each barriery will, when the divine nlessage comes to his spirit, forget himself utterly

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78 LIGHT ON THE PATH in the new consciousness which falls on him. If this lofty contact can really rouse him, he becomes as one of the Divine in his desire to give rather than to take, ir his wish to help rather than be helped, ir. his resolution to feed the hungry rather than take. manna from heaven himself, His nature is transformers, and the selfish. ness which prompts men's actions in ordi nary life suddenly deserts Jim.

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BEFORE THB VOICB CAN SPBAK IN THE PRE SENCB OF THE MASTERS, IT MUST HAVI? LOST THE POWER OTO WOUND Those who give a merely passing and superficial attention to the subject of Occultism--and their name is legionconstantly inquire why, if Adepts in life exist, They do not appear in the wosld and show their power. That the chief body of these Wise Ones should be under: stood to dwell beyond the fastnesses of the Himalayas, appears to be a sufficient proof that They are only figures of straw. Otherwise why place them so far off ? Unfortunately, Nature has done this and nol personal choice or arrangement. There are certain spots on the earth

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80 LIGHT ON THE PATH where the advance of "civilization is unfelt and the nineteenth-century. fever is kept at bay. In these favoured places there is always time, always opportunity, for the realities of life; they are not crowded out by the doings of an inchoate, noney - loving, pleasure - seeking society. While there are Adepts upon the carth, the carth must preserve to Themy places of seclusion. This is a fact in Nature which is only an external expression of a profound fact in supernature. The demand of the Neophyte remains unheard until the voice in which it is uttered has lost the power to wound. This is because the divine-astral life is a place in which order reigns, just as it does in natural life. There is, of course, always the centre and the circumference as there is in. Nature. Close to the cen. tral heart of life, on any plane, there is knowledge; there order reigns completely

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81 and chaos makes dim and confuse the outer margin of the circle. In fact, life in every form bears a more or less strong resemblance to a philosophic school. There are always the devotees of knowledge who forget their own lives in their pursuit of it; there are always the flippant crowd who come and go. Of such Epictetus said that it was as easy to teach them philosophy, as to cat custard with a fork. The same state exists in the superastral life; and the Adept has an even deeper and more profound seclusion there in which to dwell. This place of retreat is so safe, so sheltered, that no sound which has discord in it can reach His ears. Why should this be, will be asked at once, if He be a being of such great powers as those say who believe in His existence? The answer seems very apparent. He serves Humanity and identifies Himself with the whole world: 'He is ready to make vicarious sacrifice for it at 6 . LIGHT ON THE PATH

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82 LIGHT ON THE PATH any moment by living, not by dying. for it. Why should He not die for it? Because He is part of the great whole, and one of the most valuable parts of it. Be cause He lives under laws of order which He does not desire to break. His life is not His own, but that of the forces which work behind Him. He is the flower c Humanity, the bloom which contains th Divine Seed. He is, in His own person a treasure of the universal Nature, whic is guarded and made safe in order the the fruition shall be perfected. It is on at definite periods of the world's histor that He is allowed to go among the he of men as their Redeemer. But for tho who have the power to separate ther 1 selves from this herd, He is always hand. And for those who are stro enough to conquer the vices of the p sonal human nature, as set forth in the four rules, He is consciously at ha easily recognized, ready to answer. ng

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LIGHT ON THE PATH 83 . But this conquering of self implies a destruction of qualities which most men regard as not only indestructible but desirable. The power to wound" in. cludes much that men value, not only in themselves but in others. The instinct of self-defence and of self-preservation is part of it; the idea dhat one has any right or rights, 'either as citizen, or man, or individual, the pleasant consciousness of selfrespect and of virtue. These are hard sayings to many, yet they are true. For these words that I am writing now, and those which I have written on this subject, are not in any sense my own. They are drawn from the traditions of the Lodge of the Great Brotherhood, which was once the secret splendour of Egypt. The rules written in its ante-chamber were the same as those now written in the ante-chamber of existing schools. Through all time the wise raen have lived apart from the mass. And even' wiier some temporary purpose

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84 LIGHT ON THB PATH or object induces one of them to come into the midst of human life, His seclusion and safety are preserved as completely as ever. It is part of His inheritance, part of His . position. He has an actual title to it, and can no more put it asidu than the Duke of Westminstei can say he does not choose to be the Duke of Westrinster. In the various great qities of the world an Adept lives for a while from time to time, or perhaps only passes through; but all are occasionally aided by the actual power and presence of one of these men. Here in London, as in Paris and St. Petersburg, there are men high in development. But. They are only known as mystics by those who have the power to recognize; the power given by the conquering of self. Otherwise how could They exist, even for an hour, in such a mental and psychic atmosphere as is created by the confusion and disorder of a city? Unless prctected and made safe, Their own growth would be

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LIGHT ON THE PATH 85 interfered with, Their work injured? And the Neophyte may meet an Adept in the flesh, may live in the same house with Him, and yet be unable to recognize Him, and unable to make his own voice heard by Him. For no, nearness in space, no closeness of relations, no daily intimacy, can do away with the inexorable laws which give the. Adept His seclusion. No voice penetrates to His inner hearing till it has become a divine voice, a voice which gives no utterance to the cries of self. Any lesser appeal would he as use. less, as much a waste of energy and power, as for mere children who are learning their alphabet to be taught it by a professor of philology. Until a man has become, in heart and spirit, a disciple, he has no existence for those who are Teachers of disciples. And he becomes this by one method only--the surrender of his personal humanity." For the voice to have lost the power to

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86 LIGHT ON THB PATH woundt a man must have reached that point where he sees himself only as one of the vast multitudes that live; one of the sands washed hither and thither by the sea of vibratory existence. It is said that every grain of sand in the ocean bed does, in its turn, get washed up on to the shore and lie for a moment in the sun. shine. So with human beings; they are driven hither and thither by a great force, and each, in his turn, finds the sun-rays on him. When a man is able to regard his own life as part of a whole like this, he will no longer struggle. in order to obtain anything for himself. This is the surrender of personal rights. The ordinary man expects, not to take equal fortunes with the rest of the world, but in some points about which he cares, to fare better than the others. The disciple does not expect this. Therefore, though he be like Bpictetus, a chained slave, he has no word to say about it. He knows that the

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LIGHT ON THE PATH wheel of life turns ceaselessly. Burne Jones has shown it, in his marvellous picture; the wheel turns, and on it are bound the rich and the poor, the great and the small; each has his moment of good for. tune when the wheel brings him uppermost; the king rises and falls, the poet is feted and forgotten, the slave is happy and afterwards discarded. Each in his turn is crushed as the wheel turns on. The disciple knows that this is so, and though it is his duty to make the utmost of the life that is his, he neither complains of it nor is elated by it, nor does he complain against the better fortune of others. All alike, as he well knows, are but learning a lesson; and he smiles at the socialist and the reformer, who endeavour by sheer force to rearrange circumstances which arise out of the forces of human nature, itself. This is but kicking against the pricks, a waste of life and energy,

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88 LIGHT ON THE PATH In realising this a man surrenders his imagined individual rights, of whatever sort. That takes away one keen sting which is common to all ordinary men. When the disciple has fully recognized that the very thought of individual rights is only the outcome of the venomous quality in himself, that it is the hiss of the snake of self which poisons vith its sting his own life and the lives of those about him, then he is ready to take part in a yearly ceremonys which is open to all Neophytes who are prepared for it. All weapons of defence and offence are given up; all weapons of wind and heart and brain and spirit. Never again can another man be regarded as a person who can be criticized or condemned; never again can the Neophyte raise his voice ir self-defence or excuse. From that cere mony he returns into the world as help less, as vnprotected as a new-born child That, indeed, is what he is. He ha

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LIGHT ON THE PATH 89 begun to be born again on to the higher plane of life, that breezy and well-lit plateau whence the eyes see intelligently and regard the world with a new insight. I have said, a little way back, that after parting with the sense of individual rights, the disciple must part also with the sense of self-respect and of virtue. This may sound a terrible doctrine; yet all Occultists know well that it is not a doctrine, but a fact. He who thinks himself holier than another, he who has any pride in his exemption from vice or folly, he who be. lieves himself-wise, or in any way superior to his fellow.meh, is incapable of disciple. ship. A man must become as a little child before he can enter into the kingdom of heaven. Virtue and wisdom are sublime things ; but if they create pride and a conscious. ness of separateness from the rest of humanity, in the mind of a man, then they are only the snakes of self reappearing

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go LIGHT ON THE PATH in a ftier form. At any moment he may put on his grosser shape and sting as fiercely as when he inspired the actions of a murderer who kills for gain or hatred, or a politician who sacrifices the mass for his own or his party's interests. In fact, to have lost the power to wound implies that the snake is not only scotched, but killed. When it is merely stupefiled or lulled to sleep it awakes again, and the disciple uses his knowledge and his power for his own ends, and is a pupil of the many masters of the Black Art, for the road to destruction is very broad and easy, and the way can be found blindfold. That it is the way to destruction is evident, for when a man begins to live for self he narrows his horizon steadily, tillo at last the fierce driving inwards' leaves him but the space of a pin's head to dwell in. We have all seen this phenomenon occur in ordinary life. A man who be. comes selfish isolates himself, grows less

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LIGHT ON THE PATH 91. interesting and less agreeable to cthers. The sight is an awful one, and people shirink from a very selfish person at last as from a beast of prey. How much more awful is it when it occurs on the more advanced plane of life, with the added powers of knowledge, and through the greater sweep of successive incarnations! . . Therefore I say, pause and think well upon the threshold. For if the demand of the Neophyte is made without the complete purification, it will not penetrate the seclusion of the Divine Adept, but will evoke the terrible forces which attend upon the black side of our human nature.

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BEFORE THE SOUL CAN STAND IN THE PRESENCE OF THE MASTERS ITS Feet MUST BE WASHED IN THB BLOOD OP" THE HEART. The word Soul, as used here, means the Divine Soul or "stany Spirit." "To be able to stand is to have confi. dence"; and to have confidence means that the disciple is sure of himself, that he has surrendered his emotions, his very self, even his humanity;" that he is incapable of fear and unconscious of pain; that his whole consciousness is centred in the Divine Life, which is expressed symbolically by the term, "the Masters"; that he has neither eyes, nor ears, nor speech, 'nor power, save in and for the

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LIGHT ON THE PATH 93 Divine Ray on which his highest sense has touched. Then is he fearless, free from suffering, free from anxiety or dismay; his soul stands without shrinking or desire of postponement, in the full blaze of the Divine Light which pene. trates through and through his being. Then he has come into his inheritance and can claim his kinship with the Teachers of men; he is upright, he has raised his head, he breathes the same air that They do. But before it is in any way possible for him to do this, the feet of the soul must be washed in the blood of the heart. The sacrifice, or surrender, of the heart of man, and his emotions, is the first of the rules; it involves the "attaining of an equilibrium which cannot be shaken by personal emotion." This is done by the_stoic philosopher; bg, too, stands aside and looks equally upon his own sufferings, as well as on those of others.

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94 LIOHT ON THE PATH In the same way that "tears" in the language of Occultists expresses the soul of emotion, not its material appearance, so blood expresses, not that blood which is an essential of physical life, but the vital creative principe in man's nature, which drives him into human life in order to experience pain and pleasure, joy anda sorrow. When he has let the blood flow from the heart, he stands before the Masters as a pure Spirit, which no longer wishes to incarnate for the sake of emotion and experience. Through great cycles of time successive incarnations in gross mattero may yet be his lot; but he no longer desires them, the crude wish to live has departed from him. When he takes upon him man's form in the flesh he does it in the pursuit of a divine object, to accomplish the work of "the Masters," and for no other end. He looks neither for pleasure nor pair, asks for no heaven, and fears nc hell; yet be

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LIGHT ON THE PATH 95 has entered upon a great inheritance, which is not so much a compensation for these things surrendered, as a state which . simply blots out the memory of them. He lives now not in the world, but with it; his horizon has extended itself to the width of the whole universe.

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KARMA Consider with ine that the individual existence is a rope which stretches from the infinite to the infinite, and has no end and no commencement, neither is it capable of being broken. This rope is formed of innumerable fine thruads, which, lying closely together, form its thickness. These threads are colourless, are perfect in their qualities. of straightness, strength, and. levelness. This rope, passing as it does through all places, suffers strange accidents. Very often a thread is caught and becomes attached, or perhaps is only violently pulled away from its even way. Then for a great time it is disordered and it disorders tae whole. Some imes one is stained with dirt or with colour, and 96

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KARMA 97 not only does the stain run on further than the spot of contact, but it discolours other of the threads. And remember that the threads are living-are like electric wires; more, are like quivering nerves. How far, then, must the stain, the drag awry, be communicated. But eventually the long strands, the living threads which in the unbroken Continuity form the individual, pass out of the shadow into the shine. Then the threads are no longer colourless, but golden; once more they lie together, level. Once more harmony is established between them: and from that harmony within the greater harmony is perceived. * This illustration presents but a small 'portion---a single side of the truth: it is less than a fragment. Yet, dwell on it; by its aid you may be led to perceive more. What it is necessary first to understand is not that the future is arbitrarily formed by any separate acts of the present, but 7

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98 KARMA that the whole of the future is in unbroke i continuity with the present, as the preser is with the past. On one plane, from on point of view, the illustration of the rop is correct. It is said that a little attention to o cultism produces great karmic result That is because it is impossible to give an attention to occultism without making definite choice between what are familiari called good and evil. The first step i occultism brings the student to the tree knowledge. He must pluck and eat; ! must choose. No longer is he capable the indecision of ignorance. He goes o either on the good or on the evil pat And to step definitely and knowingly eve but one step on either path produces gre karmic results. The mass of men wa waveringly, uncertain as to the goal the aim at; their standard of life is indefinite consequently their-karma operates sin confused manner. But when once ti

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KARNA 99 :n ihreshold of knowledge is reached, the conhtlusion begins to lessen, and consequently je ihe karmic results increase enormously, De pecause all are acting in the same direc ion on all the different planes: for the c-Dccultist cannot behalf-hearted, nor can he is. return when he has passed the threshold. wy These things are as impossible as that the a man should become the child again. The ly ndividuality has approached the state to in 'esponsibility by reason of growth; it of annot recede from it. ne He who would escape from the bondage of pf Karma must raise his individuality out . the shadow'into the shine; must so h. levate his existence that these threads en lo not come in contact with soiling subat tances, do not become so attached as to Ukse pulled awry. He simply lifts himself ey sut of the region in which Karma operates. e; te does not leave the existence which he as experiencing because of that. They he may be rough and dirty, or full of rich

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1bo **KARMA flowers whose pollen stains, and of swee substances that cling and become attach ments--but overhead there is always th free sky. He who desires to be karma less must look to the air for a home; an after that to the ether. He who desire to form good karma will meet with mar confusions, and in the effort to sow ric seed for his own harvesting may plant thousand weeds, and among them ti giant. Desire to sow no seed for your ov harvesting : desire only to sow that se the fruit of which shall feed the wor You are a part of the world, in giving food you feed yourself. Yet in even ti thought there lurks a great danger whi starts forward and faces the disciple w has for long thought himself working good, while in his inmost soul het perceived only evil; that is, he has thoux himself to be intending great benefit the worid while all the time he has upc sciously embraced the thought of Kari

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KARMA :" 101 d the great benefit he works for' is for ifmself. A man may refuse to allow him. elf to think of reward. But in that very apfusal is seen the fact that reward is desired. And it is useless for the disciple esp strive to learn by means of checking ny&mself. The soul must be unfettered, the chesires free. But until they are fixed anly or that state wherein there is neither haeward nor pupishment, good not evil, it wat in vain that he endeavours. He may edeem to make greit progress, but some iday.he will come face to face with his own ipul, and will.recognize that when he came hip the tree of knowledge he chose the ichitter fruit and not the sweet; and then zhche veil will fall utterly, and he will give foip his freedom and become a slave of desire. hafherefore be warned, you who are but turn. ghhg toward the life of occultism. Learn now : that there is no cure for desire, no cure for onhe love of reward, no cure for the misery mit longing, szve, in the fixing of the sight

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102 **KARMA and hearing upon that which is invisibl. , and soundless. Begin even now to practis it, and so a thousand serpents will be kept from your path. Live in the eternal. The operation of the actual laws Karma are not to be studied until the difs ciple has reached the point at which the no longer affect himself. The initiate het a right to demand the secrets of Nature and to kriow the rules which govern huma life. He obtains this right by haviit escaped from the limits of Nature and having freed himself from the rules whiy govern human life. He has become recognized portion of the divine elemen and is no longer affected by that whid is temporary. He then obtaints a knoy ledge of the laws which govern tempora! conditions. Therefore you who ursire understand the laws of Karma, attempt fir to free yourself from these laws; and the can oniy be done by fixing your att us *id on that which is unaffected by those laws PRINTED BY NEILL AND CO., 1.TD., EDINBURGX'.

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SERIES OF SMALL BOOKS ON DEVOTIONAL SUBJECTS. At Is. each in Cloth. JIE BUILDERS. By MABEL COLLins. OVE'S CHAPLET. By MABEL COLLINS. NE LIFE ONE LAW. By MABKU. Collins, CRY FROM AFAR. By MARET COLLINS. N THE FOREST, By BAEDA. IIE CROWN OF ASPHODELS. By Dr H. BOUCHER. * At Is. 6d. each in Cloth. JIE VOICE OF THE SILENCE. By II. P. ! BL.AVATSKY. LE DOCTRINE OF THE TIEART. By ANNIE BESAYT. IGIIT ON THE PATII. By MABETCOLLINS. T THE FEET OF THE MASTER. By J. KRISHNAMURTI. JE BHAGAVAD GITA. Translated by Angie BESANT. SE GOLDEN VERSES OF PYTIIAGORAS. fan be ordered throuth any Bookseller or, direct i from the Publishers, 161 New Bond Street, London, W.

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A LIST OF SMALL BOOKS 0 GREAT SUBJECTS : ISKE THE PATH TO THE MASTERS OF WISDOI Selected from the Writings of ANNIE BESANr. THE SEVEN RAYS OF DEVELOPMENT. 1 ARTHUR WARD. THE STANZAS OF DZYAN. By H. BLAVATSKY. EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGSU CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA. THEONOSIS OF THE MIND. By G. R. MEAD.' ATIE THYMNS OF HERMEs. By G, R. Memi. THE VISION OF ARIDAEUS. By G. R. MEAD., THE HYMN.OF JESUS By G. R. S. Mead THE MYSTERIES OF MITHRA. By G. R. MEAD: JA MITHRIAC RITUAL. By G. R. S. Mea). SE GNOSTIC, CRUCIFIXION. By G. R. MEAD. THE CHALDAEAN ORACLES (Vols. I. and I By G.R.S. MEAD. THE HYMN OF THE ROBE OF GLORY. G. R. S. MEAD. THE WEDDING SONG OF WISDOM. G. R. S. MEAD. All the above in cloth 1s. cach net, or in leati. with gilt, lops 2s.,6d, each net. . The Theosoph-al Publishing many 161 New Bond Street, Londonaws

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