rs i i r> i n 
 
THOUGHTS ON 
 'AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER' 
 
THOUGHTS ON 
 "AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER" 
 
 BT 
 
 GEORGE S. ARUNDALE 
 
 Of the National Educational Service (India) 
 
 Theosophical Publishing House 
 
 (American Branch) 
 
 Krotona, 
 Hollywood, Los Angeles, Cal. 
 
 1919 
 
w 
 
PKEFATORY NOTE 
 
 The following chapters are reprinted from a series of Cor- 
 respondence Studies on At the Feet of the Master which I have 
 been writing for the last two years on behalf of members of 
 the Order of the Servants of the Star. 
 
 I have left the studies practically as I originally wrote 
 them permitting myself only a verbal alteration here and 
 there. There may be a certain amount of repetition, since I 
 began writing the series in Bude, Cornwall, in 1914, and only 
 finished them in Adyar, Madras, in 1918. And there has been 
 no time to rewrite them or even to submit them to a thorough 
 revision. 
 
 But some of my friends think them helpful, and at least 
 they may draw the attention of their readers to the won- 
 derful book which inspired them. For myself, I can truly say 
 that At the Feet of the Master is my constant companion, 
 guide, and mentor. Ever by my side is the little copy given 
 me by my young teacher. That which he heard, I am trying 
 to understand ; and I find in the priceless words in which the 
 teaching is clothed all that, indeed far, far more than, I need 
 for discipline and training. At tjie Feet of the Master has an 
 appropriate message for every human being who at all strives 
 to lead an unselfish life. 
 
 I earnestly commend it to teachers and students of all faiths 
 and of all races. With the companion volume Education as 
 Service, a teacher or student has a complete guide for daily 
 life. And the truths these two great volumes enshrine are the 
 truths upon the recognition and following of which all true 
 citizenship depends. At the Feet of the Master and Education 
 as Service are Heralds of the New Age, Signs of the Coming 
 Times, and should be carefully studied by those who seek to 
 co-operate with the future, and who are not slaves of preju- 
 dice and custom. 
 
 Adyar, Madras, S. George S. Arundale 
 
 11918. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Giving of the Teachings 5 
 
 Alcyone's Foreword 18 
 
 The Qualifications for Discipleship 27 
 
 There is Time to Achieve Perfection 38 
 
 The Living of the Life 47 
 
 Training of the Body 59 
 
 The Astral and Mental Bodies 76 
 
 The Hidden Laws of Nature 86 
 
 "A Small Thing" 92 
 
 Service as Education 100 
 
 Discrimination . . 106 
 
 Desirelessness 114 
 
 Desirelessness (Concluded) 122 
 
 The Six Points of Conduct 133 
 
 The Six Points of Conduct (Continued) .... 141 
 
 The Six Points of Conduct (Continued) .... 147 
 
 The Six Points of Conduct (Continued) .... 156 
 
 The Six Points of Conduct (Concluded) .... 165 
 
 Love 171 
 
 Sins against Love 178 
 
 Tests of Love 185 
 
 The Growth of Love . ....... 193 
 
 Love and Service 198 
 
 Conclusion 203 
 
CHAPTER I 
 THE GIVING OF THE TEACHINGS 
 
 In many ways the little book we are going to study to- 
 gether is the most important gift the world has received for 
 hundreds of years, for the words are from the lips of a mighty 
 Teacher, known to the world as Pythagoras and to some of us 
 as the blessed Master Koot Hoomi, the Master K. H., as He 
 is generally called in Theosophical literature. I must take for 
 granted that you know who Masters are if not you will find 
 plenty of information in such a book as Herbert Whyte 's The 
 Great Teachers, or Mrs. Besant's The Masters and the Way to 
 Them. Let us proceed to see how these instructions apply, so 
 that we may follow them intelligently. 
 
 In the Preface, Mrs. Besant writes: "The teachings 
 . . . were given to him by his Master in preparing him 
 for Initiation." Several questions arise here: How were 
 they given to him? Where were they given to him? What 
 is Initiation? 
 
 
 How the Teachings Were Given 
 
 Question No. 1. You probably know that some people 
 are able to be quite useful on the astral plane I must leave 
 the explanation of this term to some friend, if you do not un- 
 derstand it and try to help in all good work as much as 
 they can. Many of you who are reading these lines probably 
 help very much when the physical body is asleep and the 
 astral body is the vehicle in which for the time you are living 
 and working. But there is quite as much learning as helping, 
 and many young people, or those who are not yet very far 
 advanced, gather round some one more advanced and learn 
 much that is not only useful to them on the astral plane but 
 helpful on the physical plane also. These elders in turn sit 
 
at the feet* of someone who knows yet more, while a few will 
 be receiving instructions from the Masters Themselves. 
 
 Now Alcyone to give the name used to mark the soul 
 apart from the various bodies he has been wearing life after 
 life is one of these elders, " young in body verily, but not 
 in Soul/' as Mrs. Besant tells us in the Preface. Marked out 
 for a special destiny, he is privileged to receive instruction di- 
 rect from the Master's lips, and he is told to write down each 
 morning the phrases which sum up and express the teachings 
 he has received during the night. Alcyone is in a special 
 position because he was already a pupil of the Master when 
 these particular teachings were begun, and they were, there- 
 fore, intended to help him to reach quickly the next stage of 
 his spiritual journey Initiation. The language, it will be 
 noticed, is very simple, for the Master was, in this case, ad- 
 dressing Himself to a physical brain which was still very 
 young, and so was careful to speak in such terms that the 
 young brain might remember and understand the next day. 
 Every sentence, indeed, is exceedingly clear, because Alcyone 
 did not then know much English the teachings were given 
 in the autumn and winter of 1909 and only a very little 
 was taught at a time, partly in order that he might remember 
 all that was said and partly in order that he might practice 
 each suggestion as it came. Out of the body he knew much 
 more, of course; but each lower body is a limitation of the 
 one next above (of less dense matter, perhaps I should say, as 
 there is no " above' ' or M below"), and the teaching had to 
 be adapted to the needs of the lower bodies, so that they 
 might be brought under perfect control. 
 
 I do not know whether the Master's physical body was 
 asleep when He gave the teachings. Probably the Master re- 
 tires early, for He can use all His bodies perfectly, and 
 therefore, functions as easily out of the physical body as in 
 perhaps more easily, since the matter of other bodies is less 
 dense. If so, as Alcyone would not be at the Master's house 
 until, perhaps, nine or even later, the teaching would be 
 
 * An expression which figuratively expresses "learning from" and in the 
 East is literally true. 
 

 given by the Master in a subtle body and would, of course, be 
 received by Alcyone astrally, i.e., on the astral plane. On the 
 other hand, there may have been occasions on which the 
 Master was still using the physical body, in which case you 
 may imagine Him seated in the big arm chair in the large 
 room where He often receives visitors, or perhaps in His 
 study adjoining; Alcyone receiving the instructions "at His 
 Feet." To the Master, all planes are equally accessible, and 
 though awake in His physical body He would see and talk to 
 astral Alcyone as well as He could see and talk to any one on 
 the physical plane. He would probably withdraw His at- 
 tention from the physical plane to the astral, simultaneously 
 bringing into play the organs of His subtle body. Physical 
 objects would then be thrown out of focus, just as nearer ob- 
 ects appear vague when we are looking at objects far off. 
 Perhaps the Master experiences no dimness with regard to 
 objects at which He is not looking; I do not know. At any 
 rate, our astral Alcyone would be as real to Him as, perhaps 
 more real than, any physical object near Him the sofas or 
 the table; and He would talk to His pupil using the astral 
 plane as the medium for His voice. 
 
 Where the Teachings Were Given 
 
 Question No. 2. I have already told you that the teachings 
 were probably given at the Master's house in Tibet. If you 
 turn to the map of Asia and find Tibet north of the great 
 Himalayan range, you may see the name of a town called 
 Shigatse. In the vicinity of this town the Master lives in His 
 physical body, and so Alcyone, living right down in the south 
 of India at Adyar, quite close to Madras, could hardly re- 
 ceive the teaching in his physical body. Adyar is a village 
 whose main distinction is the headquarters of the Theosophi- 
 cal Society situated on a large piece of land facing the sea 
 and bordered by the Adyar river. In this headquarters is a 
 fine building containing rooms for various workers and, on 
 the first floor, the abode of the President of the Society to- 
 gether with a few other rooms appropriated to the use of 
 
various members of the headquarters staff. Close to Mrs. 
 Besant's rooms lived Alcyone and his younger brother, fur- 
 ther off being Mr. Leadbeater's big room, and thence, night 
 after night, the physical bodies were left asleep while their 
 owners sailed away over the snow-topped peaks of the Him- 
 alayas to their Master's home. A long journey, which would 
 occupy many days if the physical body had to do the travel- 
 ling, but almost as quick as thought for inhabitants of the as- 
 tral plane. No doubt our travellers stopped on their way to 
 look at scenery, or perhaps to help someone in trouble, but it 
 would not do to be late at the Master's house for He is ex- 
 ceedingly busy and must not be inconvenienced by our care- 
 lessness. Probably the teaching did not take a very long time 
 about fifteen minutes; so, when the party was dismissed, 
 the rest of the night would be filled with all kinds of useful 
 experience in the training of Alcyone's astral and other 
 bodies for future work. At about 5:30 in the morning the 
 physical body would be awakened by its owner, and, after a 
 bath and some food, and then exercises and study, Alcyone 
 would go into Mrs. Besant's room to take his seat at a table 
 in the verandah. There he wrote out very carefully by him- 
 self that which had been taught him by the Master, the Master 
 having summed up in a single sentence or so the gist of the 
 quarter of an hour's teaching. Thus At the Feet of the 
 Master came gradually to be written, "the greater part . . 
 a reproduction of the Master's own words; that which is not 
 such a verbal reproduction is the Master's thought clothed in 
 the pupil's words." 
 
 What Initiation Is 
 
 Question No. 3. "Preparing him for Initiation." What 
 does this mean ? Well, we must begin some way back if we are 
 to understand what Initiation means. I hope you all 
 know that the real "ourselves" behind the bodies we happen 
 to be using in this particular life are immortal sparks of the 
 flame of God, and that each little spark which is one of us has 
 been through the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms be- 
 
 8 
 
fore entering the human kingdom to which we now belong. 
 In the early stages, millions of years ago and not on this earth 
 at all, the little sparks were not so much separated off from 
 one another as they now are in the human kingdom; they 
 were not, to use a difficult word, " self-conscious' ' or alive to 
 the world around them. In the mineral kingdom these little 
 sparks were hardly awake at all. In the vegetable kingdom, 
 however, they were somewhat less sleepy ; while in the animal 
 kingdom they really began to stir about. So much so that in- 
 dividual sparks began to live separated existences instead of 
 being content, as heretofore, to share their experiences with 
 brother-sparks and live a common life. You have perhaps 
 noticed that while most animals of a particular species have 
 many peculiarities in common, some have very distinct indi- 
 vidualities of their own. This is the beginning of the road 
 which is leading them direct to the human kingdom, and then 
 comes a time in the case of each animal when it begins to live 
 so definite a life of its own that the spark inhabiting it finally 
 breaks off from fellow-sparks and, to use a Theosophical 
 phrase, "becomes individualised," i.e., enters the human king- 
 dom. 
 
 The First Step 
 
 Now this individualisation is the first great step made by 
 the divine spark on its way to the realisation of what divinity 
 really means. The first definite step on the road to perfection 
 has been taken when the soul, if I may use the term, traverses 
 the bridge that leads from the animal to the human kingdom, 
 that separates definite individual existence from a more or 
 less conscious existence shared with other souls. In the lower 
 kingdoms of nature, souls are joined in groups according to 
 their kind, and the stage of separated existence, when the 
 soul in the animal enters the human kingdom is, as I have 
 said, the first great step on the path of evolution. 
 
 The Second Step 
 
 The second great step is when the human being at last 
 begins to develop a definite sense of right and wrong and to 
 
realise, however faintly, that wrong must not be done, while 
 right must be followed. This may be called the dawning of 
 conscience, aroused through ages of experience that happiness 
 follows the less selfish action while pain follows the more sel- 
 fish action. At last the individual begins to realise that he 
 cannot live for himself alone, and the God within him thank- 
 fully looks upon a vehicle gradually tuning itself to the divine 
 harmony. The battle is by no means over. Indeed it is hard- 
 ly begun ; but the man 's face is set towards the goal and the 
 higher nature begins at last to receive conscious response to 
 the training and moulding of its lower vestures, so that both 
 become better instruments in the plan of Him Who is our 
 world. 
 
 Each of these steps is an expansion of consciousness, the 
 soul from having been but an unconscious cell in the body of 
 God begins to awaken and to take the first definite steps 
 towards becoming a God itself ; and this is God's object in 
 spreading self -consciousness in each part of the organism that 
 is Himself. 
 
 The Third Step Initiation 
 
 Now Initiation is the third great step another expan- 
 sion of consciousness, a further growth of the soul. The sec- 
 ond great step was, as we have seen, the awakening of con- 
 science. But conscience had to become definitely established 
 as the dominant factor in the man's nature, and he had yet 
 to learn to realise that while self-preservation might be a nec- 
 essary law at a certain stage, self-sacrifice is the only true 
 guide for the soul eager to know itself divine. Indeed, while 
 conscience had doubtless been aroused, the individual had yet 
 to realise himself and his powers, had yet to assert himself 
 and, for the time, to become entirely centered in himself and 
 his individual growth. In other words, he had to practise his 
 conscience in all kinds of ways. To borrow a phrase from Mr. 
 Leadbeater, he had to become "the centre of his circle," to 
 learn the powers of the lower vehicles and their limitation, and 
 to apply his conscience to their use. At last, developing 
 slowly his various faculties, and gradually coming to the con- 
 
 10 
 
elusion that self-sacrifice brings more lasting happiness than 
 self-seeking, he begins to live for the world instead of ex- 
 pecting the world to live for him. Now and again he doubt- 
 less lapses into the more selfish mode of living, but unselfish- 
 ness begins to predominate over selfishness; and when the 
 Masters see that nothing will in the long run affect his de- 
 termination to serve the world, one of Them, who has been 
 watching the man for lives, determines to give him special 
 teaching so that he may quickly gain added power to help. 
 
 Discipleship 
 
 The individual enters into an apprenticeship in the 
 school of a particular Master and begins a series of very hard 
 but very helpful lives. 
 
 Perhaps you know that the government of the world is 
 in the hands of a graded band of Mighty Brethren Whom we 
 call the Great White Lodge using the word " Lodge' ' in its 
 masonic sense of an organised fraternity. At Their head 
 stands the Great Euler of the world and around Him are 
 grouped His Ministers, some functioning as organisers, rul- 
 ers, heads of the races of the world, others as teachers of re- 
 ligions, others guiding the various continents and countries, 
 others influencing non-human races such as Angels and Devas, 
 yet others acting as assistants to these Greater Ones and pre- 
 paring to take Their places when They shall have passed on to 
 still higher work. Now most of you young people belong to one 
 or to another of these departments in the world's govern- 
 ment, and some great Master has His eye upon you, watching 
 for the time when you intend from your heart to give your- 
 self to the world's service, showing unmistakable signs of 
 earnestness. Alcyone, for example, belongs to the teaching 
 department and will some day become a great teacher of re- 
 ligion. The Master who teaches him is therefore Himself a 
 mighty Teacher destined to precede Alcyone in a great office 
 in the teaching department. Just as would-be engineers 
 enter an engineering shop to be trained by a thoroughly 
 qualified engineer, so in the real professions of life still more 
 
 11 
 
scientific training is available, and the Master Koot Hoomi 
 will train Alcyone to fulfil perfectly the destiny to which he 
 is to be called. This training has definite stages the first 
 being when the Master determines to take a possible pupil 
 on trial, this stage being called probationary discipleship. 
 Passing successfully through the period of probation or trial, 
 long or short according to circumstances, the pupil is definite- 
 ly enrolled as a member of the Master's school and becomes 
 an accepted disciple. Very often many years pass seven or 
 or even more before a candidate reaches this second stage, 
 but Alcyone had in previous lives satisfied the Master as to 
 his fitness for discipleship, so in his case these two stages and 
 the third, sonship of the Master, a specially intimate relation- 
 ship, were passed in the course of a few months, his Initiation 
 following on January 11th, 1910. The object of the Master's 
 school is to prepare its pupils for the world's service and ex- 
 ists partly to train them in such self-control and purity as 
 may enable them to present themselves as candidates for ad- 
 mission to the lowest rank in the Great White Lodge. Such 
 admission is the third great stage on the pathway of evolu- 
 tion you remember, I hope, the other two and is called 
 Initiation because it not only means the entry of the approv- 
 ed candidate into an organised fraternity with all that such 
 entry involves, c.f. the masonic initiation ceremony, but be- 
 cause the candidate is for the first time brought into touch, 
 during the ceremony, with certain great truths of life which, 
 heretofore, he has only dimly sensed. These truths will have 
 been known to him intellectually long before and he will for 
 long have striven to practise them; but not until the cere- 
 mony of Initiation will he feel them as laws of his nature, 
 will he experience them as living realities. His conscious- 
 ness, his touch with God, expands, and truths which were 
 outside him, however much he may have realised them with 
 his mind, now become part of his very being and he can never 
 again think or feel or act as if they were outside him. 
 
 Expansion of Consciousness 
 Imagine a circle to include all you are and know. 
 
 12 
 

 Imagine much knowledge outside yourself and a constant 
 pressure from within the circle to include the knowledge 
 outside. In many places the circle expands in the endeavour 
 to touch the truths beyond. After a time some truth outside, 
 which has persistently been touched, is drawn within the circle, 
 and the circle increases its size by the amount of the knowl- 
 edge gained. Initiation is, as it were, the moment at which 
 some special truths, notably the law of unity, pass within the 
 circle. Until this time, the truths were accepted, their exist- 
 ence was admitted. Henceforth, these truths are realised as 
 part of consciousness itself. 
 
 The Value op Initiation 
 
 To be accurate, I should observe that the object of Initia- 
 tion is to confer upon its recipient power for service derived 
 partly from the added truths, and partly from the fact that 
 the individual is now a member of a Great Brotherhood and 
 shares, for use, the power Their unity generates. The word 
 "Initiation" as used in At the Feet of the Master means ad- 
 mission to membership of the lowest rank in that great Hier- 
 archy which governs the world, the ranks stretching upwards 
 until alone in His degree towers the Ruler of our world Him- 
 self. Each rank is separated from the rank below by deeper 
 knowledge and more selfless service, and admission from a 
 lower rank to that next higher depends upon proved self-sur- 
 render, in the world of men, to the needs of others. Initia- 
 tion is the third great expansion of consciousness, expansion 
 meaning here an increasing realisation by the individual con- 
 sciousness of the unity of all life, of the God within us as 
 identical with the God without. At the ceremony itself the 
 Master presents His pupil for admission, having previously 
 satisfied Himself as to the pupil's worthiness, and the candi- 
 date being approved, enters the Brotherhood, formally dedi- 
 cating himself thence-forward to lives lived for the world's 
 helping. You will notice that in the Preface Mrs. Besant 
 calls Alcyone "brother," and you must remember that this 
 word is deliberately used to mark the special relationship be- 
 
 13 
 
tween them as both Brothers (there is no sex distinction) 
 in one Brotherhood. 
 
 The Purpose of Initiation 
 
 People often wonder why it is necessary to pass through 
 the ceremony of Initiation at all. What can a ceremony do 
 to increase our capacity for service? As a matter of fact, I 
 imagine that by a very slow process of growth mankind as 
 a whole may reach the results of Initiation without passing 
 through any ceremony whatever, drifting almost uncon- 
 sciously through this third great step. But some people are 
 eager to do quickly that which otherwise would take a long 
 time, and they submit to what may be called a kind of forced 
 growth, so as to complete within a few lives that which is 
 usually spread over many. This involves very hard work in 
 a Master's school, and the student needs much help. As the 
 eagerness for progress is entirely unselfish, the student is 
 shown, after a certain amount of training, how to wield 
 powers which normally would come to him much later. Purity 
 of life, and self -discipline, added to definite teaching from a 
 Master, are the certificates entitling him to a spiritual degree 
 which confers upon him definite powers, and these powers are 
 explained to him during the ceremony of Initiation by a dele- 
 gate from The One in whose Hands our destinies lie. The 
 ceremony of Initiation is an official examination demonstrat- 
 ing the candidate's fitness so to use the new powers to be con- 
 ferred on him that he may become a better helper in the 
 world of men. Such powers are not common to the period in 
 which the world is now living, and if an individual is to re- 
 ceive them he must prove his fitness before Those Who alone 
 can confer them before the normal time. 
 
 "To Those Who Knock' ' 
 
 Notice also, please, how Mrs. Besant writes of the ' ' great 
 Portal" as having swung open to receive the new brother, 
 and in this connection see the words which precede the pre- 
 face "To Those Who Knock." The Great White Lodge 
 "white" because white is the symbol of purity and spiritual- 
 
 14 
 
ity is believed to be a Temple of Wisdom, entry to which is 
 through its " great Portal/' a door li which opens to those 
 who knock' ' in the spirit of a great love for the world in 
 which they live, of an eager willingness to use their powers 
 for the benefit of others, and of a humble gratitude to Those 
 Who may deign to guide them to wider usefulness and to a 
 love more beautiful. 
 
 Live the Teaching 
 
 Initiation, then, is the third great step, the step which 
 many of you are now, I hope, approaching. Another great step 
 is reached when from the human kingdom a Brother passes to 
 the super-human kingdom, the region of perfected Men, 
 gains the expansion of consciousness associated with the fifth 
 great Initiation the one referred to in At the Feet of the 
 Master being the first and becomes a Master, a Man who has 
 learned all this world can teach. We need not, however, con- 
 sider this step. Enough that the teachings which fitted Aly- 
 cone for admission to the great White Brotherhood have been 
 given to us at the command of the great World-Teacher Him- 
 self. Enough that we too are privileged to know how our lives 
 should be lived if we would become one of the band of serv- 
 ers and helpers. 
 
 "But," says Mrs. Besant, "the teaching can only be 
 fruitful if it is lived, as he has lived it since it fell from his 
 Master's lips." So we must now try to see what this teach- 
 ing is, how we are to apply it to our daily lives. Remember, 
 as an encouragement that we are not expected to live the 
 teaching perfectly to do that would need the soul of a 
 Master Himself. But in the effort will lie the measure of 
 success, and there is nothing in this world that we cannot try 
 to do. Young people in many parts of the world are trying 
 hard, and some of them have gained admission to a Master's 
 school. The great World Teacher needs many helpers for 
 His work in the world. Will you not try to become useful to 
 Him by training yourself beforehand, so that when He comes 
 He may find a disciplined band of workers ready to go any- 
 
 15 
 
where and do anything, a band bringing to Him not mere 
 willingness to help, but, which is far more important, trained 
 capacity to help as well? 
 
 The Real and the Unreal 
 
 The Sanskrit verse which precedes Alcyone's own Fore- 
 word or Introduction sums up, as it were, the whole of the 
 teaching that any Master can give His pupil. "From the 
 unreal lead me to the real" is the cry of all who are in ear- 
 nest. More than anything else we desire to distinguish be- 
 tween the true and the false, between that which gives pain 
 and that which brings joy; and in every life the lessons we 
 learn from pain are teaching us to recognise more unerringly, 
 and, therefore, to cast aside, those thoughts, feelings and ac- 
 tions which belong to the unreal, to that which separates us 
 from the knowledge of God. The unreal is that which does 
 not last, it is the form which veils the soul, and if only we 
 were better able to distinguish the self from its sheaths there 
 would be much less unhappiness in the world. It is not enough 
 to know with the mind, you must know with the heart. Most 
 of us know with our minds that the body is merely a tem- 
 porary form chosen by the soul for this particular life, but 
 so much is the form associated with the life within that we 
 feel we have lost the soul when the form breaks up at death. 
 So you see we are still very much bound up in the unreal, 
 however much in theory we may be able to distinguish it 
 from the real. But you must not therefore think that the 
 unreal is useless. It is through the unreal that we reach the 
 real, which shows up the more vividly by contrast. The 
 stars are shining on us as much in the daytime as at night, 
 but it is because of the contrast with the darkness of the night 
 that we are able to gaze awe -struck at the splendour of the 
 starlit heavens. 
 
 The world of matter corresponds to the blackness of 
 night, and the souls of men may be likened to the stars. 
 Living in the world of matter we learn to realise from its 
 ever changing forms that there is something which remains 
 
 16 
 

 unchanged behind these changing forms. Living in the midst 
 of change, the unreal, we are forced to seek the changeless, 
 the real, and each one of us is gradually learning to under- 
 stand that every changing mood and feeling is no more the 
 full expression of ourselves than is the child-body the com- 
 plete expression of the soul within. The child-body grows 
 into the youth-body, and the youth-body becomes the man. 
 Behind each the soul has been pressing to express itself more 
 fully, and so it is with each mood and feeling. The mood 
 passes, another comes, and yet another. And the soul may 
 look back upon those that are past and say : ^1 was not that 
 mood, for it is dead and I remain." So the object of all the 
 teaching is to discover what is this "I" that ever remains 
 and how best it may be expressed that ttoe form shall be the 
 perfect mirror of the soul. Even then the form must still be un- 
 real, for all that veils the soul is as a fleeting shadow, but the 
 purer the form the longer it lasts, and even the coarse physical 
 body lasts the longer if its particles are pure. We are told, 
 indeed, that those Masters who use physical bodies may cause 
 one body to last for several hundred years if so They choose, 
 and this shows us that purity is more real than impurity, for 
 our own bodies could never endure so long. 
 
 Darkness and Light 
 
 The second line "From darkness lead me to light' ' is 
 another form for the same idea, as is also the third "From 
 death lead me to immortality. ' ' We may look upon the word 
 "darkness" as symbolising ignorance, while "Light" is ever 
 the sign of wisdom, as the sun is the source of all life. I write 
 the word "wisdom" and not "knowledge", for knowledge 
 belongs but to the mind, while wisdom is the science of the 
 spirit. "From death lead me to immortality" let the lower 
 nature pass away and the higher shine forth for ever. 
 
 Much more might, of course, be written in explanation 
 of this beautiful verse, but I must leave any difficult points 
 for elucidation by some elder friend. 
 
 17 
 
CHAPTEE II 
 
 ALCYONE'S FOREWOKD 
 
 We now come to the Foreword itself, and from the first 
 Alcyone makes it clear that he is merely passing on teaching 
 which has enabled him to knock successfully at the portal 
 giving access to the Temple of Initiation*. " These are not 
 my words; they are the words of the Master who taught me". 
 And then comes what is to me one of the most important sen- 
 tences in the whole book. "Without Him I could have done 
 nothing; but through His help I have set my feet upon the 
 Path." Many people continually wonder how it is that so 
 many earnest and selfless workers seem to be toiling day after 
 day, year after year, and yet make no apparent progress. 
 Surely X, or Y, or Z, who seem to practice perfectly the teach- 
 ings given in At the Feet of the Master, are in special 
 touch with some Elder Brother, are pupils of some Master, 
 have become members of the great White Lodge. Now we 
 must face this difficulty frankly. Mere goodness is not 
 enough to win admission to a Master's school, else there were 
 hundreds of thousands of members. Mere knowledge, how- 
 ever deep, is not enough, else all our foremost scientists and 
 scholars were pupils. Not even a combination of goodness 
 and knowledge suffices. What, then, is a standard? A 
 definite spiritual tone, certainly, and a record either in 
 this life or in those gone by, of effort devoted to the 
 needs of the world. Also, a certain intellectual level, 
 not necessarily that of a genius, but that of an ordinarily 
 well-educated man or woman. But beyond this there must 
 be elements of true wisdom, of a true understanding of the 
 
 * I might note here that the actual ceremony of Initiation does take place in 
 a kind of temple, so the simile is true literally as well as symbolically. 
 
 18 
 
purpose of life. It is not for me to presume to suggest a 
 general standard below which a Master would not look for 
 recruits to His school, but, so far as I have been taught, there 
 must not only be a realisation of the general plan of the 
 world's government but also an acceptance of the Elder 
 Brethren as Guides and Teachers. How can any one enter 
 a school unless he recognises its existence? How can we ex- 
 pect the Masters to spend Their time in teaching the elemen- 
 tary lessons of life to those who could learn them from elders 
 less evolved than the great Teachers Themselves, but at least 
 sufficiently informed to impart the teaching required? It is 
 not until we have already learned, during our course of lives, 
 many of the lessons life in the outer world teaches us, that 
 we are qualified to enter the Master's world the world of 
 realities for which ours is as a preparatory school. 
 
 Alcyone at once proclaims his fitness for membership 
 of the Master's school by declaring that "without Him I could 
 have done nothing." Many people believe, no doubt, in the 
 Christ, in Sri Krishna, in the Lord Buddha, in the Lord Mu- 
 hammad ; but either they expect some return for their belief, 
 for example, salvation for themselves, or they regard the object 
 of their devotion as a pillar of strength whose principal func- 
 tion is to stand between themselves and the mistakes of their 
 weaknesses. In other words, the belief of most people as re- 
 gards one or another of these Mighty Brethren is based rather 
 on the longing for personal salvation than on a recognition that 
 where These great Ones are there we may one day stand if 
 we gradually learn to live our lives as They lived Theirs be- 
 fore reaching the present summits of Their achievements. 
 Some spiritual* people are content to live their lives in feeble 
 yet sincere imitation of the example set them by their Lord, 
 asking nothing for themselves and giving to all who need irre- 
 spective of creed or race, and these are drawing near to that 
 
 * I think I ought to point out that in using the term "spiritual" as applied 
 to people who are drawing near to discipleship I do not wish to suggest "that they 
 are paragons of virtue. The higher ranks of discipleship are only to be won 
 through the constant practice of all the virtues, but the entry to discipleship and 
 the passing through the portal of Initiation may be gained while the candidate is 
 still very far from adequately displaying the perfect life. If you know any among 
 
 19 
 
formal discipleship which comes to those who strive, without 
 desire for reward but out of great love, to live as disciples in 
 the outer world. But there must inevitably be much ignor- 
 ant belief as. regards the Great Teachers, however sincere it 
 may be, before Their true place in our lives can become 
 known, and where many people shut themselves off from 
 much inspiration they might otherwise receive, is in imagin- 
 ing that their special Teacher is the only source of truth for 
 all. There is a whole age of growth between the statement 
 that Christ is the only Saviour of the world and the knowl- 
 edge that there are many Saviours, and until we learn through 
 experience that there are many roads to God, that each 
 human being is travelling along a road as direct as our own, 
 though he may be behind us on his pathway, we shall not 
 have gained the power to help each person on his own road 
 an indispensable qualification for admission to a Master's 
 school. Out of goodness we may strive to bring others to our 
 own road, but that is a narrow and ignorant goodness, and a 
 Master's school trains its pupils to serve and honour all faiths, 
 to help each individual to tread his own way according to the 
 plan marked out for him by the God-to-be within him. 
 
 The Upward Climb 
 
 If you understand what I have written, you will realise 
 that once we begin to gain a glimpse of the real principles of 
 evolution and know that others are in front of us on life's 
 
 the lower ranks of disciples you will realise that all have many weaknesses, whilt 
 some may by no means conform to the world's conventional standard of behaviour. 
 Pure-minded the disciple must be, reverent at heart, loving by nature, tolerant in 
 attitude, and eager in his Master's service. Having these qualities in a reasonable 
 state of development, there must be some comparatively outstanding power which 
 lifts him above the normal level as regards usefulness to the Master. Perhaps 
 he is a great speaker, a great writer, a great inspirer, a great artist, a great 
 healer possessing some force which may be employed in drawing people nearer 
 to realities. Then Karma must be favourable, for he must have exhausted all 
 Karma which might considerably hinder the Master from employing him. We 
 should not be Very useful if we had to spend much time in paying off our own 
 debts. But the outstanding power may have its own outstanding weakness, and 
 while the disciple is likely to have himself fairly well in hand, you would gain a 
 very false idea of discipleship if you were to imagine that it involved a personality 
 of negative rather than of positive and, in consequence, a somewhat turbulent, dis- 
 position. You do not look for perfection in young disciples, but you will certainly 
 see power of one kind or another. 
 
 20 
 
pathway just as many are behind us, we must naturally long 
 for the guidance of those who know more, not that we may 
 know for ourselves alone, but that our power of helping 
 others may increase. Struggling hard to know the truth, giv- 
 ing up all that the world prizes if only truth may shine upon 
 us, we break asunder the bonds of convention, we reject the 
 dogmas in which lies concealed the spirit of the religion to 
 which we happen to belong. Read Mrs. Besant's Autobiography 
 and see how rocky and steep was her pathway to the Masters. 
 At last, clinging only to a passionate determination to serve the 
 world as best she might, giving to it her ignorance if she can 
 find no better offering, she wins her way to her Master's feet. 
 She longs for power and wisdom only that she may use them 
 for others, and when no personal sorrow or despair prevents, 
 her from giving all encouragement in her power to those who 
 cry for protection, then at last she shows herself worthy of 
 that true knowledge which may be given only to those who 
 could never use it for themselves alone. Through such battle, 
 you and I, young friends, must pass. Perhaps the struggle 
 will not yet be so hard for us as it was for her, for she is at 
 the end of her pilgrimages to a world from which she has 
 learned all it can teach her, and has in this life for the last 
 time re-lived within the short space of a few years the hard- 
 ships of man's upward climbing. She has, as it were, recapit- 
 ulated the lessons learned during many lives in the world- 
 school, so that she may stand before the Masters to prove she 
 knows those lessons perfectly. We are still in the world- 
 school, and the lessons we learn are adapted to our powers of 
 understanding. But, knowing of Those in front, we are sure 
 that They live but to show us the way to eternal life, and how- 
 ever little we may be able consciously to feel Their guidance, in 
 some dim way at least we know that They are with us, and that 
 without Them we could do nothing. For the time, we may for- 
 get Their presence, and then we must still struggle on as did 
 Mrs. Besant, but sooner or later we come to Them, and as a 
 ray of sunlight illumines a dark room so do we then know 
 that without Them we could have done nothing, that all we 
 
 21 
 
have done is because of Them. Do not think , my young 
 friends, that this is dependence upon another, for not only 
 in Their service is perfect freedom, but there is the One Life 
 ensouling us all, and They cannot do without us, reverently 
 be it said, any more than we can do without Them. We are 
 one in spirit ; what They are we shall be ; what we are They 
 have been ; and to the great Shepherd we are all sheep of His 
 world-wide fold. 
 
 I have written on this subject at length, for I think it 
 very necessary that you should understand these important 
 facts, since, rightly understood, they will protect you from 
 much doubt and difficulty when you enter the outside world. 
 
 Success Consists in Repeated Effort 
 
 I should like you to pay special attention to the rest of 
 the Foreword. "It is not enough to say that they [the Mas- 
 ter's words] are true and beautiful; a man who wishes to 
 succeed must do exactly what is said.'' Again: "you must 
 do what He says, attending to every word, taking every hint 
 .... He does not speak twice." How many of us are ready 
 to sit at the Master's feet under conditions such as these? 
 How often we hear Mrs. Besant, or Mr. Leadbeater, or other 
 elders, tell us the same thing over and over again. Do we not 
 often think that our lecturers are constantly repeating them- 
 selves, that they continually reiterate the same truths over 
 and over again, until we are almost tired of hearing them? 
 Such, however, is the task of the disciple in the outer world 
 to recapitulate over and over again the same truths until 
 at last we begin to live within the truths instead of outside 
 them. The Master could not spare the time to do this, but, 
 because the world must learn, He permits a pupil to take His 
 teachings to the outer world and to win for them an accept- 
 ance, overcoming indifference, hostility, ridicule ; gaining for 
 them enquiry and finally understanding. On very import- 
 ant occasions a Master has been known to repeat directions 
 which have not been properly carried out, but the circum- 
 
 22 
 

 stances were very exceptional and of vital importance. If, 
 therefore, you desire to become a pupil of one of the Masters 
 ask yourselves whether, for example, you persevere in try- 
 ing to make your daily life conform to the wisdom of At the 
 Feet of the Master. This little book ought always to be at 
 hand, so that you may constantly refer to it, and test in the 
 light of its precepts that which for the moment may be occu- 
 pying you. I may perhaps be allowed to bear personal testi- 
 mony to the fact that any progress I may have made or any 
 increased power of usefulness I may have acquired has been 
 very largely due to my continual reference to At the Feet 
 of the Master when in difficulty or doubt. The book is a 
 kind of modern commentary on the Ancient Scriptures, and 
 our gratitude goes to Alcyone for enabling us to refer many 
 times to advice which we are not yet enough in earnest to 
 hear direct from the Master's lips. One of the privileges of 
 a disciple, as I have said, is to be able to repeat many times 
 that which his Master will only utter once. But do not for- 
 get that you who have this priceless teaching always at hand, 
 are worse off, not more fortunate, than people who have 
 never had it at all, if you do not at least try to follow its ad- 
 vice. It is sad to receive no gift at all, but it is positively harm- 
 ful to receive a gift from such a source and to treat it with in- 
 difference, for the result will be that in a future life you will 
 long in vain for that which you now neglect. You are not asked 
 to accomplish. You are asked to try not to be downcast at 
 failure. The effort to attend to what the Master says may 
 bring you within the circle of His pupils, for above all He 
 asks for earnestness and perseverance. He does not count 
 as failures mistakes from which springs a still stronger de- 
 termination to succeed. 
 
 Remember that the Master's teaching applies everywhere 
 and to all. It applies as much in the parliament as in the 
 home, as much to those whom the world counts greatest as to- 
 the humblest toiler living as an unknown and uncared-for 
 unit in our midst. The teaching is indeed a counsel of per- 
 fection, but has its teaching and its value at every stage of 
 
 unit in 
 fection. 
 
 23 
 
the upward climb, and one of the greatest mistakes we 
 make is to imagine that perfection cannot be reached. 
 Utopia is not unattainable, for some have reached it, 
 and if you try your best to fashion every thought, 
 word and deed according to the Master's advice you 
 will find yourselves much nearer your goal than in your 
 rosiest dreams. Whatever is of noble purpose in you am- 
 bition, love, hope, endeavour will come to you the more cer- 
 tainly for the attention you pay to the Master's words, and 
 one day you will say, with the conviction of experience be- 
 hind the words, "without Him I could have done nothing; 
 but through His help I have set my feet upon the Path." 
 
 Note 
 
 If you are seriously taking up the study of At the 
 Feet of the Master you will find that much of the Master's 
 advice conflicts with conventional attitudes and opinions, and 
 I have known people doubt the Master's capacity to under- 
 stand wordly conditions, "being so far removed from the 
 troubles and turmoil amidst which we live." Certain stu- 
 dents, for example, who have wished to translate At the 
 Feet of the Master into the language of their country have 
 sometimes desired to omit or modify so-called "inapplicable" 
 suggestions imagining that their limited knowledge is of 
 greater practical value than the Master's wisdom. For ex- 
 ample, the passage "If you see anyone breaking the law of 
 the country, you should inform the authorities" is thought 
 by some to be in direct opposition to conventional ideas as to 
 loyalty and honour. The Master, it is urged, tells us to betray 
 a comrade if we notice him breaking a law of the country in 
 which we live ! 
 
 Now I do not wish at this stage of our study to consider 
 the important duty underlying the advice contained in the 
 sentence I have quoted. We will consider it when it comes 
 before us in its regular order. But I think it necessary to 
 
 24 
 
point out the great principle underling the whole of the 
 teaching given us. The Master is emphasising the real, and 
 it is our business to test all that we are, and all that sur- 
 rounds us, in the light of the reality as presented to us by a 
 Master of Wisdom One who has, through ages of hard strug- 
 gle, gained the power at once to discriminate between the 
 real and the unreal. 
 
 In taking up the study of this book we are sitting at the 
 feet of One who knows, not of one who only thinks and 
 judges. Take any ordinary ethical book written by the deep- 
 est thinker the world has seen and you will merely be reading 
 the thoughts of someone in the world like yourself, though 
 perhaps of greater ability and deeper intuition. His line of 
 thought need not necessarily be yours, and it is your duty 
 to be respectfully critical though, of course, modesty enquir- 
 ing. But in At the Feet of the Master you have the wis- 
 dom of One who has learned all the world can teach, who has 
 in the past faced all the troubles and sorrows through which 
 you have passed, are passing, and have yet to pass. He has 
 conquered the world, and not one single difficulty the world 
 can produce could perplex Him for an instant. He has mas- 
 tered the principles of life, and whether He be living in the 
 world of the 20th century or in that of the 50th or of the 5th 
 all that surrounds Him is but an aspect of these great princi- 
 ples, an application of the laws they enforce. 
 
 He states in very simple language certain of these gen- 
 eral principles and does not at all limit His teaching to any 
 particular country or to any special religion. True, he is 
 addressing those who desire admission to a Master's school, 
 but such candidates are people who know more than most 
 others and who are expected to live in stricter honour than the 
 majority. So all the advice He gives must be of a tone infi- 
 nitely finer than that to which conventional morality vibrates. 
 
 "What you have to do, therefore, is to try to understand 
 what is the matter with your point of view when it conflicts 
 with the Master's rather than to think that either the Master 
 is not conversant with the world's affairs or that His teach- 
 
 
 25 
 
ing does not apply to you and to your country. The Master 
 does not ask you to accept His teaching and to follow it 
 blindly, neither would He recommend you to reject it be- 
 cause it does not fit in with your scheme of life. That which 
 you do not understand try to understand. That which you 
 cannot understand leave to the enlightening power of time 
 and of experience. If you reject the truth it will only re- 
 turn to you after infinite wooing, while if you merely leave 
 it for future consideration when opportunity offers you will 
 find that in the meantime you have been unconsciously grow- 
 ing towards its understanding. 
 
 Use the world's conventions while truer attitudes are 
 hidden from you, for the wisdom of the world is the standard 
 for the average man and woman. But when a Master conde- 
 scends to speak listen. Come to no hasty conclusions in 
 your eagerness to follow His precepts, for while He seeks to 
 shatter out-worn superstitions He will not undermine beliefs 
 still necessary for the world's growth. Think over carefully 
 what He says and try to understand its application to ordi- 
 nary every-day life, remembering that in far-off Shigatse He 
 knows infinitely more of the world than our greatest states- 
 man, our wisest philosopher, our most beneficent philanthro- 
 pist, our cleverest man of business. 
 
 When you doubt reflect; where you oppose* suspend 
 judgment; but when you realise follow unflinchingly how- 
 ever much convention may be against you, provided you are 
 willing to take courage into your own hands, asking help from 
 none, and acting gently and tolerantly towards all. 
 
 26 
 
CHAPTER ni 
 
 THE QUALIFICATIONS FOE DISCIPLESHIP 
 
 We now consider the qualifications to be practised if 
 we would gain that special power of service which is con- 
 ferred upon all who are admitted to the great White Brother- 
 hood through passing the first of the great Initiations. I 
 might just remark here that the Mysteries of Greece and 
 Rome, of which you will find much written in ancient books, 
 as well as modern Freemasonry, are faint imitations of the 
 real ceremony itself and of the tests which the candidate un- 
 dergoes. The Ancient Mysteries, 'especially in their purer 
 form, did indeed demand from their votaries very definite 
 qualifications not unlike those with which we are about to 
 deal. Freemasonry in modern times has so little spiritual 
 life in it that one can only honour it for its far-off origin and 
 for its charity ; but even Freemasonry admits to membership 
 those alone who are deemed to be of unblemished reputation. 
 And in the insistence everywhere on qualifications, in the ex- 
 istence of ceremonial, and in the conferment of certain pow- 
 ers, you have the endeavour on the part of men to remember 
 that there are real ceremonies, to which real powers are at- 
 tached, through which entry is sought into a Brotherhood 
 which is the nucleus on the spiritual plane of a brotherhood 
 which some day shall exist in the outer world. 
 
 The Four Principles of Life 
 
 The Qualifications as given by the Master are (1) Dis- 
 crimination, (2) Desirelessness, (3) Good Conduct, and (4) 
 Love; and He adopts here the Eastern classification, prob- 
 
 27 
 
ably because it would specially appeal to the understanding 
 of His Indian pupil. Remember that in each religion men- 
 tion is made of the great Path on which the successive Initia- 
 tions are stages, and in each religion may be found enumer- 
 ated the qualifications which alone will enable men to tread 
 it. In Esoteric Christianity Mrs. Besant has traced for us 
 the Christian terminology for the various Initiations and for 
 the qualifications leading thereto, and I recommend you to 
 read what she has to tell us on this subject. Similarly, other 
 religions yield identical information, but we will adopt the 
 Hindu classification as given by the Master, partly because 
 it is so clear that we can easily understand it no matter to 
 what religion we belong, and partly because its practical 
 value has been demonstrated by the fact that others have fol- 
 lowed Alcyone through the Portal, basing their endeavours 
 on the counsel they have received from At the Feet of the 
 Master. Do not think, therefore, that you are studying 
 something of no practical application. The precepts of this 
 little book have been brought down into practice in every- 
 day life in the present day by comparatively ordinary people, 
 and they have found their way to the Path. Remember, 
 again, that perfection in the practice of these precepts may 
 only be obtained by one who has passed that great Initiation 
 which confers on him the rank of Masterhood. 
 
 You are trying but to enter the Courtyard of the Tem- 
 ple itself the Master's school; so it would be foolish to ex- 
 pect to accomplish now that which can only come after many 
 lives. Keep on trying, and remember that an achievement 
 far, far short of perfection will bring you to your Master's 
 feet. When Mrs. Besant says in the Preface that we must 
 live the teaching, I think she means we must take it seriously 
 and concentrate ourselves on it. All our living is imperfect, 
 but the more we are in earnest the less imperfect it becomes. 
 Many people write to Alcyone telling him what beautiful 
 teaching He has given to the world, but all the use most peo- 
 ple make of it is to wish that others would pay more atten- 
 tion to it than they do. Living according to a certain stan- 
 
 28 
 
dard, we are not easily shaken out of it, and when valuable 
 advice is put before us we imagine that we are already doing 
 our best to follow it. More vigorous effort is expected from 
 you, my dear young friends, and you should try to realise 
 that you have been given a higher standard towards which to 
 strive and that you have accordingly to revise your ideas, at- 
 titudes and actions in the clear light which has come to you. 
 Be positive in your study of the book, and follow Alcyone's 
 own method of "living" his Master's teaching by taking the 
 various points one by one and practising them for definite 
 periods of time. 
 
 
 Discrimination 
 
 The first two or three pages of the book itself are occu- 
 pied in laying stress on the importance of the distinction be- 
 tween people who have real knowledge and those who have 
 not. Some of you may wonder why the Master should have 
 insisted upon so very obvious a fact. "Of course there are 
 only two kinds of people, those who know and those who do 
 not know." It is a simple matter of logic. As a matter of 
 fact, however, this obvious truth is by no means generally 
 applied even by those who ought to know it, and unless you 
 begin to apply it in your relations with the outside world you 
 will not make much progress towards the Path on which you 
 desire to set your feet. 
 
 The people who know have the power of discrimination. 
 What is this discrimination? The knowledge which enables 
 a man to distinguish between that which is fleeting, imper- 
 manent, and that which lasts, is eternal. "Men who do not 
 know work to gain wealth and power, but these are at most 
 for one life only, and therefore unreal," says the Master. 
 And later on He amplifies this definition by stating that 
 "discrimination must ... be made between the right and 
 the wrong, the important, and the unimportant, the useful 
 and the useless, the true and the false, the selfish and the un- 
 
 29 
 
selfish." So you see that this quality of discrimination enters 
 into the ordinary life of each one of us. 
 
 Do not think that the Master is blaming those who do not 
 know. Ignorance is not a crime, it is an episode of growth; 
 and you become one of those who do not know when you are 
 impatient with ignorance. But while you do not blame, nor 
 even pity, you must at least be able to distinguish between 
 that which is ignorance and that which is knowledge, so 
 that you may yourself abstain from error and may help those 
 who know less. All knowledge is relative, and you must bear 
 in mind the Masters words: "However wise you may be al- 
 ready, on this Path you have much to learn." Those who 
 know more than you do are quite patient with the know- 
 ledge you have, but which is ignorance compared with their 
 wisdom. They know that the blend of knowledge and ignor- 
 ance which you possess is the blend appropriate to your stage 
 of evolution, and that you can help efficiently many people 
 who are at a lower level. But however certain you may be of 
 your own infallibility people wiser than yourself will never 
 allow you to influence them, as to their own thoughts and 
 actions, except in special matters on which you have acquired 
 information more accurate than their own. Similarly, you 
 must be careful not to fall into the illusion that because any 
 one speaks with conviction, therefore he is right. You must 
 use your discrimination. Many people are very lazy, and 
 subsist on thoughts which come to them from the outside 
 without caring to exercise their own powers in determining 
 what to accept and what to reject. "Orthodoxy" is one 
 name for this laziness ; ' ' custom, " " conventionality, ' ' are other 
 names. I gather these under the heading "laziness" because 
 you would be lazy were you to allow yourself to follow the 
 smooth and beaten road trodden by the majority of mankind. 
 If the Master speaks of a " Path " it is because it is a " Path ' ' 
 and not a road ; because few there be that tread it. On the 
 other hand, while using your discrimination, you will re- 
 member that the more limited knowledge of those who do 
 not know may be adequate to the instruction of people less 
 
 30 
 
evolved than themselves. For example, the Master tells us 
 that no ceremonies are necessary. Therefore we may do with- 
 out them. But to some ceremonies may be necessary, and it 
 would be very undiscriminative to think contemptuously of 
 people who find much value in ceremonial, or of priests who 
 inculcate it. Let others grow as suits them, only neither 
 imagine that because "everybody" thinks in one particular 
 way therefore you must think in that way also, nor be so lazy 
 in thought that because some people are positive that they 
 are right and express themselves emphatically therefore you 
 allow yourself to be influenced by a nature more positive than 
 your own. Keen and independent thinking is an essential 
 feature in the character of one who would tread the Path, for, 
 however much the Master may help him, in the long run his 
 rock of certainty must be based on the God within himself, 
 and a time comes for students who are treading the Path 
 when all external help seems to fail and strength must per- 
 force be drawn from within. Let me finally observe that you 
 should not rush to the conclusion that you must forswear 
 completely all that to you is no longer necessary. It may be 
 your duty to take part in ceremonies for the sake of others 
 who still need them. It may be your duty to surround your- 
 self with many customs, conventionalities and orthodoxies, 
 but only for the sake of others. Your primary duty is ser- 
 vice, and you will not be a successful teacher unless you modi- 
 fy your teaching to suit the intelligence of your class. Neither 
 will you be a successful teacher, however, unless your know- 
 ledge is far in advance of that of your class, and while you 
 may yourself use crutches to show a lame man how to support 
 himself you will not therefore use them at other times as well. 
 If you confine yourself within outgrown forms, except in 
 order to help, you are indeed lazy, but there is no laziness on 
 the part of those for whom such forms exist. So, while 
 avoiding laziness yourself you will remember that others find 
 a temporary salvation in that which to you would be stagna- 
 tion, and you will minister to their needs by giving them that 
 vhich will help them best. 
 
 31 
 
The Eeal Knowledge 
 
 Now what is this knowledge, which should mark you off 
 from those who do not know? I have already told you that 
 it partly consists in being able to distinguish between that 
 which is fleeting and that which endures. Indeed, throughout 
 this little book the Master is continually explaining to us by 
 way of contrast how the real differs from the unreal. For 
 example : ' i you must discriminate between the selfish and the 
 unselfish," "feel no anger or impatience," "never allow 
 yourself to feel sad or depressed." Why? Because if you 
 do feel anger or impatience or depression you are for the 
 time living in something which will pass away, while in the 
 long run serenity and cheerfulness will carry you to your 
 goal. So the answer to my question is partly to be found in 
 the study of these contrasts. But the Master also points out 
 that the really "important thing is ... . the knowledge of 
 God's plan for men." All the qualities which you have to 
 acquire are, of course, part of God's plan for men. But 
 the qualities are to be acquired for a purpose. "For 
 God has a plan and that plan is evolution," and the 
 qualities you are slowly building into your nature are 
 intended so to purify it that it may be "in tune with the 
 Infinite," in harmony with the working of God's own nature. 
 The laws of nature are the rules of evolution, the signs of 
 God becoming self-conscious in every spark of His Being, 
 and you must understand these laws so as to be "on God's 
 side, standing for good and resisting evil, working for evolu- 
 tion and not for selfishness." Certain of these laws are already 
 known to the world. We speak of the laws of science, the 
 laws of art, the laws of literature; we know of the law of 
 gravitation and of other laws relating to matter. These you 
 must study sooner or later, if not in this life then in another ; 
 for you cannot help perfectly unless you know God's laws for 
 His unf oldment. But we are not concerned with these particu- 
 lar laws at present, for the Master guides us to begin from 
 within rather than from without. First learn some- 
 
 32 
 
thing about the laws of the spirit, and the laws of matter 
 are seen to be but their reflection in grosser form. Under- 
 stand the basis of the spiritual life and you will the more easily 
 familiarise yourselves with the principles of the arts and 
 sciences as at present known. Moreover, the world will give 
 you the latter, while, except, perhaps, in Hindu philosophy, 
 there is as yet little science of the soul worthy of the name. 
 
 The Laws op the Higher Life 
 
 "We younger souls can know but little of these higher 
 laws "laws of the higher life," as Mrs. Besant has called 
 them and I cannot, therefore, hope to enumerate even a 
 very few. But the Master gives us several hints as to where 
 to look for them, and His suggestions will help us to gain a 
 general idea of the kind of laws we may expect to find. He 
 says : * * All are one, and . . . only what the One wills can really 
 be pleasant for anyone." Here is a law of unity. "All are one." 
 Therefore "only what the One wills can ever be really pleas- 
 ant for any one" the law of a common purpose. We share a 
 common brotherhood and are moving towards a common goal. 
 If your discrimination has led you to this you are on the right 
 road, for, says the Master, "this discrimination is the first 
 step." These two laws of our being give the key to the state- 
 ment that "those who are on His side know why they are here 
 and what they should do." They are here because the God 
 within them wills them to be here, and they know that what 
 they have to do is to combine with others in the effort to reach 
 the common goal. I do not suggest that our knowledge of these 
 two laws is clear and definite. We but dimly sense them, 
 and the object of developing qualifications is that we may 
 gain a clearer understanding. Nevertheless, when we are 
 nearest to our higher natures, nearest to that part of the One 
 which dwells within us, we are sure of these laws, however 
 much we may sometimes "act foolishly and try to invent ways" 
 for ourselves which we think will be pleasant for ourselves. 
 Now what evidences have we of the working of these 
 two laws? First, the ever-growing appreciation of the value 
 f brotherhood as conducive to peace and happiness. I need 
 
 
 33 
 
not give examples from the outer world, for you can think 
 of many yourselves. The world is taking slow but unmis- 
 takable steps on the road towards the goal of brotherhood, 
 and because life is all the better for these steps we know that 
 the One is willing us to take them. Then again, we know from 
 the statements of philanthropists, mystics, seers, founders of 
 movements intended to spread the spirit of brotherhood, that 
 the moments of real and therefore abiding joy come when they 
 share what they are and have with others. There comes the 
 sense of a larger life, of a freer spirit, when we share with 
 others and when we live for them. The selfish man gains no 
 lasting pleasure from acts of selfishness, though he may 
 doubtless experience temporary thrills at each successful self- 
 seeking. But these thrills are followed by reaction, and the 
 more the selfish man gains the less he is satisfied, until in 
 despair at the impossibility of satisfying his increasing crav- 
 ings he seeks some other road. The joy of sharing is far dif- 
 ferent from the fleeting exultation at having gained at an- 
 other's expense. The joy of sharing has no reaction, is fol- 
 lowed by no unhappiness, brings an ever-increasing peace 
 and an ever-growing power of giving more. Unselfishness 
 that is to say, working for the larger self instead of for the 
 smaller is its own reward, while selfishness must ever seek 
 outside itself for a reward which becomes more and more 
 elusive as time goes on. Are these facts not evidence of the 
 truth of the statement "that only what the One wills can 
 ever be really pleasant for any one," since the more we live 
 for an increasing number of others not only do we grow the 
 happier but we are thereby expressing more of the One who 
 is in us all? The more we identify the One with ourselves 
 the happier we become. 
 
 Service is the Heart of Sacrifice 
 
 Let us try now to see a little more clearly the nature of 
 that Will which governs the world. We see at once that the 
 Will of the One is a perpetual sacrifice, for our own sacrifices 
 lead us nearer to Him. Not a sacrifice involving regret, but a 
 joyful sacrifice, though doubtless involving pain, for without 
 
 34 
 
the contrast of pain the beauty of the joy would be the less. It 
 is all sacrifice willing or unwilling. The servant who min- 
 isters to the needs of the household, the tradesmen who sup- 
 ply us with food, the officers of the government who admin- 
 ister the State, the teacher who teaches and the scholar who 
 learns all perform daily acts of sacrifice, and the degree of 
 happiness in the sacrifice determines the nearness of the doer 
 to the One whose great sacrifice is in training each one of us- 
 parts of Him to become self-conscious of His and our divin- 
 ity. In the East, great stress is laid on sacrifice and part of 
 the regular daily duty consists in offering sacrifice to the An- 
 cestors, to the Angels (Devas), to the animals and so forth. 
 Of course, we do not go through life thinking of 
 each act as a sacrifice, for we have acquired the evil habit 
 of imagining that a sacrifice involves denying ourselves some 
 pleasure, and thus many try to avoid sacrifice for fear lest 
 the joy of life be lost, when in fact the true spirit of sac- 
 rifice secures to us abiding peace. "We must make some 
 sacrifices for our son's education' ' "You must sac- 
 rifice something, if you want this or that." A sacri- 
 fice only involves the giving up of something lower, 
 never of something higher, and if our servants, our 
 officials, our teachers, our students, our tradesmen, above all 
 ourselves, lived lives in which the dominating purpose was 
 sacrifice the sacrifice of the lower on the altar of the higher 
 our work would be far better done, and the world would be 
 a far happier place to live in. There is no trade, no profes- 
 sion, no calling of any kind, no act however trivial, which 
 does not gain beauty if performed in a true spirit of sacrifice 
 as an offering to the Lord. This is indeed a difficult task 
 for us all, but we must make a beginning, and the best way 
 is to perform every day a conscious act of sacrifice an act 
 deliberately performed in the name of, and in homage to, the 
 Great Sacrificer through whose own act of sacrifice we live 
 and move and have our being. The Boy Scouts speak of a 
 "good turn," the Sons and Daughters of the Empire enjoin 
 "a daily act of service" these are true sacrifices, for ser- 
 vice is the heart of sacrifice. 
 
 vice is me 
 
 35 
 
The Higher and the Lower Self 
 
 All sacrifice, if of value, must be ordered sacrifice, and 
 the more we learn of the laws under which it acts the more 
 effective our sacrifice will be. Many volumes might, indeed, 
 be written by a competent authority on the principles of sac- 
 rifice, and most fascinating volumes they would be. But with- 
 in the limits of these talks I must confine myself to one or 
 two special laws of the higher life which it is essential for 
 you to know. 
 
 In the first place, your principal duty is to realize that 
 the individual you call "I" is only a portion of that real "I" 
 which is a spark in the flame of God. In other words there is 
 the eternal "I" which sends forth a feeler into this outer 
 world to gain all that the outer world can give. The feeler 
 is not the "I," any more than the root is the whole tree. 
 There is more of you than ensouls your waking consciousness 
 in your physical body, and it is this bigger "you" which 
 guides you to those experiences in which your life is passed. 
 You may call this bigger "you" your higher self if you wish, 
 but do not identify it with the lower vehicles in which it has 
 to live. The higher self desires only the purest form of life, 
 has no leanings in the direction of your weaknesses, is not 
 cast down by your failures, and above all knows on its own 
 plane of existence all that the lower "you" has to learn 
 down here. Many young people think that the higher self 
 ought to have been content with its knowledge. But the sac- 
 rifice is not complete until knowledge is everywhere, until 
 divinity is self conscious in all its parts. God is all-knowing 
 on His own plane, but He desires that His own self -conscious- 
 ness shall awaken on all the planes of His Being so that we 
 the cells of His Body becoming awake to the divinity in 
 which we share may by the very act of awakening become 
 Gods ourselves. First, however, we must master the various 
 grades of matter from the highest, which is hardly matter at 
 all but rather spirit, down to the matter of which our phy- 
 sical bodies are composed, and perhaps lower still. 
 
 36 
 
The Flowering of Our Divinity 
 
 Having mastered them, we may one by one cast them 
 aside, until we live on the highest plane of spiritual existence, 
 on the plane of Divinity, only to come forth when the time 
 approaches for an act of sacrifice like unto that which God 
 Himself is making now. This lies in the infinite future, but 
 it is certain so certain that even at this stage of our growth 
 we can notice that the God within us, our higher nature, is 
 gradually acquiring mastery over the lower vehicles through 
 which He comes into definite contact with the lower planes. 
 Daily He works, and while self-control takes long to practise, 
 and the instruments do not always function as they should, 
 nevertheless every day sees some advance for each one of us, 
 and there is none so low or so degraded that he is not rising 
 according to the measure of his possibility. I want you, if 
 you will, to remember this overwhelmingly strengthening fact 
 as often as you can that within you is perfection undevel- 
 oped, a bud to become a flower. But the bud is there, and in 
 your worst moments, when you feel that you have failed 
 utterly and, perhaps, irretrievably, the perfection-to-be still 
 remains within you and is the constant source from which 
 fresh effort to lead the higher life must keep on coming 
 no matter what you do. Immersed in matter as we are, sur- 
 rounded by the objects of the senses, we become confused, 
 imagine that we are lost within their whirl. But the matter 
 which surrounds us, of which our lower bodies are consti- 
 tuted, and the objects of the senses whether mental, astral 
 or physical are themselves only waiting to be controlled. 
 Master them, ray upon them your divinity, and they become 
 powers for use instead of forces to be fought and of which, 
 perhaps, to be afraid. 
 
 37 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 THERE IS TIME TO ACHIEVE PERFECTION 
 
 I think that the truth I have endeavoured to express 
 in the preceding talk is of vital importance, for the more we 
 meditate on it the more real it becomes, and we begin to realise 
 that however far off we may be from the successful practice 
 of the qualifications as given in At the Feet of the Master, per- 
 fection must some day come and with it the happiness of per- 
 fect service. 
 
 Time for accomplishment is, indeed, necessary, but if 
 one law of our being is that there is a divinity within us 
 gradually unfolding into its perfect flower, another law tells 
 us that the unfoldment takes place slowly but surely (i) in 
 accordance with the principle of action and re-action, or 
 cause and effect, (ii) through a continuous series of dippings 
 down into and withdrawals from the matter of the lower 
 planes, in other words reincarnation. Let us glance at 
 this law of time which, within itself, involves the opportunity 
 as well, since time would be valueless without the possibility of 
 making use of it. Expressing the law in other terms we 
 might say that the unfoldment of the divinity within us takes 
 place under the coercion of experience experience which is 
 ever sifting the real from the unreal, the permanent from the 
 temporary. In Christian phraseology we are told that as 
 we sow so shall we reap, Hinduism speaks of Karma, a Theo- 
 sophist might talk of the law of cause and effect. Put plainly, 
 the law states that as we think and act so shall we become, 
 and, as time is needed if we are to think and act perfectly, we 
 are continually being immersed in the densest matter of our 
 globes in order by degrees to become indifferent to it and there- 
 fore its master. The life you are leading now, the body in 
 which this latest immersion has taken place, are only incidents 
 in a long series of lives. You have had many lives before, and 
 
 38 
 
you have used many bodies before. Between each life you 
 have, as it were, made up your debit and credit accounts in- 
 curred during the lifetime on earth ; and then, with an ever- 
 increasing spiritual balance, using this word in its financial 
 sense, you go into physical plane business again, both to pay 
 off old debts, to acquire new ones, and thus to amass an in- 
 creasing spiritual fortune. As by degrees the new debts be- 
 come less and less and your wisdom grows more and more 
 you keep on doing this for hundreds of thousands of 
 years, for millions of years if you take into con- 
 sideration the sleep-life, the dream-life, and the dawn- 
 ing wakefulness in the mineral, vegetable and animal king- 
 doms respectively. God gave you the capital to start with 
 your spiritual possibilities; and though from time to time 
 your capital may seem to have become very much tied up, it 
 can never be utterly unreachable since He will temporarily 
 withdraw you from active partnership in the business in 
 which He is engaged if you act so recklessly that you cannot 
 be trusted to manage [your and His] affairs properly. Indeed, 
 you might conceivably be required to make a fresh start, not 
 perhaps at the beginning, but some little way back from the 
 place at which you began to grow improvident. This is prob- 
 ably a comparatively rare event, for most of us are develop- 
 ing our capital by slow but sure degrees. 
 
 The Two Laws of the Higher Life 
 
 The knowledge of the way in which each one of us ulti- 
 mately attains perfection is of the utmost value and import- 
 ance, since not only can we never be completely overwhelmed 
 by despair or reduce the power of drawing on our capital 
 almost to the vanishing point through an insensate accumu- 
 lation of debts, but we are able to give the most strengthening 
 assistance to those who see nothing before them but debts 
 due and only the generosity of the great Creator however 
 certain to depend upon, if even that. And as it is so im- 
 portant to grasp as clearly as we can the essential features 
 of the laws of the higher life, let me recapitulate brieflly the 
 
 39 
 
truths so far stated. First, the unity of all. If I may 
 be allowed to use the simile of a banking establishment, I 
 would say that the Euler of our world* is the supreme Direc- 
 tor of a great family spiritual banking concern. He Himself 
 started with capital He had developed through experience in 
 countless previous ages, capital which originally came from 
 God, as does all capital. His function is to enable all the mem- 
 bers of His family to develop their capital as He has developed 
 His. He is, as it were, pledged so to arrange His business that 
 sooner or later every member of His family must, even though 
 failure come time after time, eventually develop his capital 
 to its utmost value. Herein lies both the unity and the state- 
 ment of the second law the existence of a common goal. In- 
 deed the first law involves the second, for unity would not be 
 complete unless our destinies were common, unless the future 
 involves the same unity as did the past to which we trace 
 our common source. I have called this common destiny per- 
 fection, and, using words to express the simile of the bank- 
 ing concern, I might say that the object of the firm is to de- 
 velop for each of its partners a substantial spiritual capital, 
 so that each partner may, in course of time, set up in busi- 
 ness on his own account. Then comes the question: How 
 does each partner reach this level? The answer is as clear 
 in the spiritual world as it is in the actual business industry 
 on the physical plane. Through experience; in course of 
 time; by setting up in business in a very small way to start 
 with, after going through a certain amount of preliminary 
 training ; by accumulating a large number of debts which are 
 not only hard to pay off but take time to pay off too. What 
 was the first stage which I mentioned in the very beginning 
 of this series of talks? Individualisation the passing from 
 the animal to the human kingdom. Before this, the partner 
 was only a sleeping partner. He was learning the rudiments 
 
 * I distinguish between the terms "God" and "The Ruler of our world". By 
 the word "God" I mean the divine principle animating all life everywhere God. 
 the Father. "The Ruler of our world", on the other hand, is the official wh 
 is at the head of the Great White Lodge, the Highest of its members, alone in His 
 rank. Mightier than all others, not a member of our own humanity at all, He is 
 God's Regent upon this earth. In Hindu scriptures He is mentioned under the 
 name of SANAT KUMARA. 
 
 40 
 
of subjects whose deeper study would come later on. He was 
 hardly in the business at all a shareholder, truly, but with 
 no more conscious share in the business than has a bank man- 
 ager's baby an active share in his father's affairs. But the 
 baby grows and becomes a young boy with a vague 
 idea as to what his father is. The newly individualised 
 man has a vague idea as to the existence of a purpose 
 in life around him, but he cares nothing for it as yet 
 save as it affects his personal and immediate well-being. 
 But in time comes the second stage the awakening of 
 conscience. The youth becomes a clerk in his father's 
 firm, begins at the lowest rank, has very little responsibility. 
 By degrees he is entrusted with small portions of his capital 
 on which to experiment, he is sent out into the world to see 
 what he can do with the capital (conscience) of whose ex- 
 istence he has been hitherto unaware. "I have a conscience, 
 I have the power to distinguish between right and wrong. 
 Hitherto I have shared unthinkingly in the universal con- 
 science of which my own is a part, but now I know that I 
 have a conscience of my own and I must use it and make as 
 much of it as I can, so that it may grow big and strong." So 
 the shareholder, now increasingly conscious of being not 
 only a shareholder to receive dividends but a partner to pro- 
 duce them, goes out into the world the lower planes as an 
 active agent and builder of his own fortunes. 
 
 Just as a business man goes home, after office hours are 
 over, to rest from the day's labours, to think over what good 
 and what bad business he has done during the day, and to 
 enjoy happiness with those dear to him, so each one of us 
 after one life is over rests in other worlds and gathers fresh 
 energy born of striving in lives gone by for the life to 
 come, for the new "day" of business on the physical plane. 
 "We cannot in one day develop all the capital required. We 
 have to learn how to employ it, what transactions to avoid, 
 what transactions are profitable, and the time taken is the 
 expression of the law of reincarnation. But not only do we 
 need time, we need also experience. We must suffer from 
 
 41 
 
the bad transactions and reap happiness from the good ones. 
 Unless we see results, we shall not know how to compare the 
 relative values of various transactions, of whose nature we 
 know for the time being nothing. It is the result far more 
 than the cause that tells us the nature of the cause itself. 
 The law of cause and effect states that as the cause is so the 
 result will be, but in actual experience we first learn that as 
 the result is, so the cause must have been also. It is 
 only after experiencing many results that we either avoid 
 their cause or set it in motion, according as to whether it 
 brings happiness or pain. Even then we are temporarily sat- 
 isfied with causes which produce results whose pleasure-pro- 
 ducing power is but very limited. We are, in other words, 
 content with the immediate however fleeting, provided it sat- 
 isfies for the moment. This is the case with most people, and 
 places them within the ranks of those who do not know. You 
 will remember, however, that there is a third stage the stage 
 at which the individual definitely pledges himself to a cer- 
 tain line of conduct, at which he shows himself as among 
 those who are at least learning to know, by passing through 
 Initiation into the wider life beyond. He is the partner 
 who, having shown himself capable of wisely managing his 
 capital within comparatively narrow limits, is not only given 
 opportunities of developing it much more rapidly and widely 
 than would normally be possible, but is allowed to share the 
 responsibilities devolving upon the directors of the firm 
 itself, those whose business it is, under the guidance of the 
 Ruler, to help the junior partners to gain the necessary ex- 
 perience. A young director, truly, but none the less a direc- 
 tor, though there are those above him with still greater re- 
 sponsibilities upon their shoulders those who belong to the 
 ranks of the higher Initiates. 
 
 The Eoad of Evolution 
 In this way are the various stages passed, and the indi- 
 vidual gradually learns how to develop his spiritual capital 
 so as one day, in the far-off distant future, to become the 
 head of a firm himself, a Ruler in a universe. We already 
 
 42 
 
know that the one class of transactions which is profitable, 
 using this word in its best sense, is the class involving the 
 service which is the heart of sacrifice. God is the great Sac- 
 rifice^ for, instead of living on His capital He not only 
 shares it among us all, but trains us, through the Ruler of 
 our world, to develop our capital to the utmost. Without ir- 
 reverence may I say that even our mighty Ruler Himself is 
 the greater for the sacrifice He makes in guiding our evolu- 
 tion, and grows at his exalted level into still further spiritual 
 splendour. When we reach the level at which He made the 
 great and supreme Sacrifice of remaining to toil when He 
 might have passed on to enjoy, at which the development of 
 our spiritual capital has been such as to enable us to make 
 this stupendous outlay, we too shall make the sacrifice and 
 win its reward. To do so, we must pass through all the in- 
 tervening sacrifices step by step, the less leading to the greater ; 
 and only as we serve and sacrifice in proportion to the capi- 
 tal we have can we hope to develop the capital and so increase 
 the service. The art of service should I not rather call it the 
 "science" is not, however, to be learned in a day, or within 
 the brief space of one lifetime. First comes the service of 
 the smaller self. The whole tendency in modern times, as 
 far as the West is concerned, and increasingly so in the East, 
 has been to force the individual to emphasise himself. He 
 has been learning through competition of all kinds, through 
 strife, through the dictates of personal ambition, to consider 
 his own welfare and that, perhaps, of those immediately de- 
 pendent upon him. Personal wealth, personal power, per- 
 sonal influence, personal ability all have been pursued, and 
 the futility of all save as used for wider service is the lesson 
 learned. Often at the close of a life devoted to such pursuits, 
 a man has at last seen how little true happiness they have 
 given him through life, and hurriedly he strives to tread the 
 other path by lavishing his gains upon a world from which 
 erstwhile he took them. If there were no other lives, the act 
 would be too late, for you cannot atone in a year for a life- 
 time of selfishness. But the future is before him, and per- 
 
 
 43 
 
haps the lesson has so been learned that in the period of rest 
 between that life and the next he will have had the leisure 
 (and the clearer vision the inner planes allow) to decide 
 upon a life less circumscribed than that which he devoted to 
 the interests of his own small self. Payment will indeed be 
 exacted for all harm done, the debts on the mistaken transac 
 tions must be paid in full, but not only has he time in which to 
 pay them, but also time and opportunity in which to plan fresh 
 schemes to harmonise with the wider vision he has gained :* 
 
 Much more might be written on these great and dom- 
 inant truths. Many other laws might have been mentioned, 
 and innumerable are the ways of their application. But I 
 can only hope that you will think over these things and fill 
 in for yourselves the gaps I have been forced to leave un- 
 filled. In At the Feet of the Master we are taught to dis- 
 criminate between transactions which are profitable and 
 those which are not. We are shown, as it were, how to invest 
 our capital so that it may multiply. Invest in a kind thought, 
 feeling, word or action, and much will come to you in return 
 above all, an increased power to think, feel, speak and act 
 kindly. Invest in selfishness and your capital your power 
 diminishes. As your capital diminishes perhaps it would 
 be more accurate to say "is increasingly neglected" your own 
 happiness, as well as that of others, proportionately di- 
 minishes, until you become so barren of happiness that in 
 despair you seek another road than that of selfishness. 
 
 * Compare the growth of the soul to a house with a large number of win- 
 dows and doors, most of which are closed. Outside, the sun is shining, but into 
 one or two rooms only do the rays at first enter. Gradually, the occupier of the 
 house the soul begins to appreciate the life-giving warmth from the sun, 
 though he still lives partly in the darkness and imagines it to be all he needs. 
 But when he goes into the rooms whose windows and doors he has opened to the 
 sunlight, the contrast between the darkness and the light begins to strike him. 
 G-oing back into the darkness, he remembers the light and looks for the windows 
 and doors so that he may open them too. Room after room is brightened, until 
 the house is hardly a house at all only a number of walls between the doorg 
 and windows and serves but the purpose of concentrating the sunlight within 
 its limits. The house is the lower part of man his mental, emotional and physi- 
 cal bodies. Each room is a power or faculty, and the owner of the house is the 
 higher self the ego, the soul. The darker the house the greater the unhealthiness, 
 the greater the dirt, the greater the sordidness. But the Master's "houses" are 
 merely passage ways for the sunlight, and Their bodies are but lenses to use 
 another simile from which the rays of life spread outwards with concentrated 
 intensity. Think this over and follow its symbolism if such be your temperament. 
 
 44 
 
NOTE 
 
 The whole question as to the purpose of the world, as to 
 the existence of God, as to the origin of being, is most intri- 
 cate, and a fruitful source of mental confusion. A young 
 friend of my acquaintance, hearing that God made the world, 
 wanted to know who made God, and his question was most 
 reasonable. On the other hand it would be better policy on 
 the part of parents and elders to realise that they cannot 
 expect to be able to answer every question put to them by 
 children ; it would be more honest, too. Personally I take the 
 position that as an insignificant unit in this complex world I 
 can only hope to understand a very limited portion of God's 
 plan for men. All that I can hope to acquire is a compara- 
 tively imperfect working hypothesis adequate to my tempera- 
 ment and destiny, and though the hypothesis may be illumi- 
 native to others they must nevertheless think out their own hy- 
 potheses for themselves building in such features in the hy- 
 potheses of others as may harmonise with the general plan of 
 their structure. The keystone of my hypothesis centers round 
 the fact that there is sorrow and unhappiness in the world, and 
 that while I may bring a certain amount of physical and 
 emotional consolation and strength to those who are suscep- 
 tible to my influence, I must also bring mental consolation 
 and strength first by trying to understand the purpose of 
 existence myself and then by applying such understanding 
 as I may have acquired to the helping of my fellow-creatures 
 both practically and in striving to assist them, too, to see more 
 clearly the splendour of their future however it may be hidden 
 by the intervening clouds of ignorance and discouragement. 
 
 Let me just restate in other language the ideas that help 
 me in establishing my hypothesis. 
 
 A God-Soul conscious of Himself as Divine lives only 
 on the plane of pure divinity, is limited by no matter grosser 
 than that of the plane or level on which He lives. In the 
 infinite past He has been as we ourselves are now, a spark 
 heating itself into flame through the friction of matter in all 
 its forms and densities. Now a Flame, He showers out sparks 
 
 45 
 
potential flames and encloses them in layer after layer of 
 denser and denser matter itself the substance of which the 
 flame is made. In course of time the spark burns through 
 the layers one by one and in the process we call it experi- 
 ence gains increasing brilliance, at last bursting into a 
 glorious Flame. A spark from a fire may, appropriately 
 placed, become itself a fire similar to the one from which it 
 came. The fanning of the spark is accomplished through the 
 laws of nature, by means of karma, reincarnation, and all 
 the innumerable actions and reactions, connected with the 
 world outside us, which we undergo incessantly. The very 
 matter in which we are embedded is itself growing so that 
 out of it shall come sparks, similar to those which are our- 
 selves. The difference between the matter around me, the trees, 
 the sea, the animals, the minerals, is that within me is con- 
 centrated sufficient of God's divine heat to make a spark 
 capable of expansion into a separate flame, while the divinity 
 ensouling the trees and the animals and the minerals is spread 
 over a wider area, has not been narrowed down and focussed 
 to a point. A number of animals, a larger number of trees, a 
 still greater mass of metals, share the heat of divinity be- 
 tween them, and ages must pass before any individual form 
 shall, through the experiences of its class, have concentrated 
 within itself such heat as may burst into a spark ; and metals 
 must enter the vegetable kingdom for further sub-division 
 and thence pass to the animal kingdom for further sub- 
 division still, until the human kingdom is reached in which 
 each unit is in itself a spark. 
 
 To reach God, therefore, we must become Gods ourselves, 
 and no greater reverence can be offered Him, no more con- 
 vincing testimony to His omniscience and omnipotence, than 
 to ascribe to Him the will of making each one of us perfections 
 in His own image. For He can do no more than make us as 
 Himself. I might write much more on this, even that which I 
 have set down itself bristles with difficulties and doubts and 
 possibilities, bnt perhaps if my readers think it over they may 
 find themselves started on a line of thought which may bring 
 order into a world of apparent chaos and purposelessness. 
 
 46 
 
CHAPTEE V 
 
 THE LIVING OF THE LIFE 
 
 The Master proceeds to point out "that of the real and the 
 unreal there are many varities," and He has previously men- 
 tioned one variety when He observed that ' ' it does not matter 
 in the least whether [a man] calls himself a Hindu or a Bud- 
 dhist, a Christian or a Muhammadan, whether he is an Indian 
 or an Englishman, a Chinaman or a Russian.' ' For "if he is 
 on God's side he is one of us." Now you must not conclude 
 from this statement that religion does not matter, has very 
 little value ; although we are told further on that ceremonies 
 do not matter for those who are at a certain stage of growth. 
 Religion matters considerably, but truth matters infinitely 
 more, and those who know while using some special form of 
 the truth as displayed in a particular religion seek the truth 
 within the form, and know that God who is Truth Incarnate 
 manifests Himself in many ways. In reality, a special 
 form of religion is of the utmost value to those who do not yet 
 know that all religions spring from one source the great 
 Head of the world's teaching department who is even now 
 waiting for the world to be ready to receive Him once more. 
 Religion makes truth tangible to those who have still to 
 realise that there are many roads to the One, on each of which 
 He welcomes His devotee to quote a Hindu scripture. Most 
 people need rules of life to be imposed from without before 
 they learn to evolve them from within, and great Teachers 
 come from time to time either to frame special rules for the 
 special circumstances under which a race is being trained or 
 to modify the old rules in the light of progress made. Chris- 
 tianity was given to the western world as a statement of the 
 special set of ideals towards which it was to work its way. 
 
 47 
 
Hinduism strikes an entirely different note, but one none the 
 less needed for the fulfilment of the universal harmony. Un- 
 fortunately, people tend to imagine not only that their own 
 rules express the whole of the truth for all the world, but that 
 they are appointed by God to declare the valuelessness of all 
 other rules and to induce the followers of these to come into 
 the true and only fold. Obviously this is a case of pride, self- 
 righteousness, and in the days of the Inquisition violent means 
 were employed to force those who gripped another form of 
 truth either to recant or to be destroyed. In modern times 
 we have the missionary movements to the so-called " heathen' ' 
 admirable in their purely medical and educational work, 
 and when directed towards aboriginal tribes, but marred by 
 an intolerable egoism and self-complacency which imagines 
 that God has made them His elect. If missionaries would con- 
 tinue to do all they are now doing along secular lines and 
 were to combine this with an enquiring reverence for the re- 
 ligion in the midst of which their work has placed them, they 
 would be among those who know instead of among the ignor- 
 ant who say : ' ' What I believe is true, what I do not believe 
 is false.' ' 
 
 All Keligions Have One Source 
 
 We learn from the Master's statement that the form of 
 religion into which a man is born does not matter. In other 
 words, we are born into a special religion either because its 
 peculiar influences are needed for the development of our na- 
 tures or to learn to break through its binding form without 
 losing reverence for the ensouling truth. Most Christians, 
 for example, are best advised to follow the general principles 
 of their own religion, without, however, paying more attention 
 to form than is helpful. Christian rites and ceremonies will 
 probably be valuable to them, but they should gradually, 
 through the practice of the form, find their way to the spirit 
 within, so that ultimately the form drops away because its 
 work is done. Look around you, at people, at animals, at 
 
 48 
 
trees, at flowers, at the sea in its various moods, at the tower- 
 ing rocks. The divine spirit is indeed pervading all, but it is 
 the form which leads you to seek the occupier within, and 
 small wonder that for the time the form suffices. You know 
 that God is beneath the form, but God and the form are so 
 much one to you that you cling to the form you can touch and 
 feel, and you take God for granted. So it is with religious 
 ceremonies they appeal to the senses, and their inner sig- 
 nificance is so much taken for granted that in course of time 
 it becomes ignored altogether, perhaps even lost to outer view. 
 Sooner or later, however, God can no longer be taken for 
 granted, and it is time to begin learning the lesson that forms 
 are but temporary sparks thrown out by God to draw at- 
 tention to His nature. Play with the sparks and learn to love 
 them that is inevitable, for even the sparks are part of God. 
 But sooner or later the sparks will flicker and vanish and new 
 sparks will be showered forth, new forms will take the place 
 of old; and in the hopelessness of clinging to forms which 
 must inevitably die is born the desire to find something which 
 endures behind all passing manifestations. Then do we begin 
 to realise that the Hindu, the Buddhist, the Christian, the 
 Muhammadan, are all living within their respective portions 
 of the truth. They are like people living in different rooms 
 within the same house. Some are proud of their own rooms, 
 and do not know that there are other rooms as beautiful as 
 theirs. Seeing people in other rooms, they say to them: "Come 
 into my room. It is so much more beautiful than yours. 
 Your room is bare and ill-furnished. See how much more 
 habitable my room is!" And the answer is: "My room suits 
 me. I am used to it. It is furnished in the manner most help- 
 ful to the work I have to do. It contains conveniences which 
 yours lacks, just as yours contains conveniences for you which 
 mine lacks.' ' We all live in the same house. Until we can 
 move from room to room uncritically and in appreciation of 
 the arrangements of the rooms of others, each had better keep 
 to his own room. But the time comes when it is no longer pleas- 
 ant to live in one room only, and the true inhabitant of the 
 
 49 
 
house is he who makes himself equally at home and apprecia- 
 tive in all the rooms to the delight of their respective occu- 
 pants, though no doubt preferring the room which is specially 
 his own. 
 
 Races are Classes in God's School 
 
 Similarly, it does not matter to what race a man or wo- 
 man belongs " whether he is an Indian or an Englishman, a 
 Chinaman or a Russian." Each race has its work to do, as 
 has each religion, and those who know are not only without 
 race-prejudice, able to appreciate the qualities in all races, 
 but are thankful to help in any land to which the Master's 
 service calls them. Respecting the customs and beliefs of 
 those among whom their work for the time being finds them, 
 they seek to discover the purpose for which the race exists 
 and strive to forward this to the utmost of their power. Each 
 race has its own note in the universal harmony, as has each re- 
 ligion, and if we dislike a religion or a race it is probable that 
 we shall have one day to be born within their ranks to over- 
 come our ignorance as to the part they play in the growth of 
 us all. 
 
 We then come to a variety of general principles on which 
 certain kinds of discrimination are based discrimination 
 "between the right and the wrong, the important and the 
 unimportant, the useful and the useless, the true and the 
 false, the selfish and the unselfish." 
 
 The Masters and Ourselves 
 
 "Between right and wrong," says the Master, "it should 
 not be difficult to choose, for those who wish to follow the 
 Master have already decided to take the right at all costs." 
 Here is a great truth put in a somewhat peculiar way. Prob- 
 ably you wonder whether the Master was speaking of Him- 
 self. Personally I imagine He was speaking of Those greater 
 even than Himself, Alcyone translating the Master's thought 
 
 50 
 

 about His own superiors into terms expressing his own re- 
 lationship to the Master. The point is unimportant; but we 
 do learn the very significant fact that the individual who s^eks 
 a Master of the Wisdom for his guide has made the great de- 
 cision which separates him from those who do not know. Truth 
 is, indeed, our ultimate goal ; but sooner or later we must in- 
 evitably unite with Those who are nearer to the goal than our- 
 selves. You will find people at various intermediate stages, 
 and it is well to bear in mind what some of these stages are. 
 Some people, for example, are devoted to abstract ideals, and 
 do not for the time feel the need of a Master's guidance. 
 Others, engaged in work involving the utmost self-sacrifice, 
 do not in their lower bodies know of the existence of Masters 
 and even perhaps deny Their existence. Some, again, desire 
 to follow a Master but do not know Whom to follow. Re- 
 member that whatever the attitude of any one may be to the 
 Masters, the Masters Themselves know each and every one 
 of us and guide us to our destiny along the road we have 
 chosen to tread. How could it be otherwise ? In what family, 
 worthy of the name, does not the father, the mother, the elder 
 brother or sister, love, protect and guide the younger mem- 
 bers? The purer the love, the more perfect the guidance; 
 and in the world-family the Perfect Men our Elder Breth- 
 ren give perfect guidance. People may wish to reject the 
 help or rebel against an apparent interference ; but they can 
 no more avoid the Masters' care than they can escape from 
 the unity which binds us all in one ; while the Masters ' know 
 full well that no man can grow into perfection save through 
 perfect freedom. But the very brotherhood of all mankind 
 makes Them one with us, and the guidance They give us is 
 the outward symbol of the unity we share. If unity is a re- 
 striction on freedom, then indeed we are not free ; but unity 
 gives power to freedom and is the living witness of our divin- 
 ity. Each individual is for the time satisfied with his ideals, 
 and people will often tell you that the idea of discipleship to 
 a Master does not help them, or that their temperament pre- 
 cludes any idea of dependence or reliance on aught save the 
 
 51 
 
God within. If they are content, it is not your task to attempt 
 to disturb them. They are learning the lessons their stage 
 teaches, and when they have really found the God within they 
 will awaken to the fact that they cannot dissociate themselves 
 from other parts of the one great whole. Then they will 
 know the Masters as Elder Brethren and will realise that just 
 as they themselves owe guidance to those more ignorant so 
 must the Masters give to them the help that greater wisdom 
 ever owes to less. The God within is conscious of the guidance, 
 and it matters not for the time that the lower self remains 
 unconscious or denies. The babe sleeps safely in its mother's 
 arms; the youth, growing into self -consciousness, seeks to 
 gauge his power by standing alone; the man knowing his 
 power and limitations, begins to appreciate his mother's 
 brooding tenderness and reverences her now as perhaps he 
 has never done before. Looking back over his life he sees the 
 part she played in guiding him through the troubles of the 
 world, and he notices how in times of apparently greatest 
 freedom her watchfulness and care were none the less active, 
 though unrecognised and unnoticed. As with the mother, im- 
 perfectly, so with the Master perfectly, and we have all to 
 pass through the stages from babyhood to manhood. Like 
 little children we must learn to think we walk alone, but the 
 happiest walks are in reality those in which we may gaze at 
 loved Elders in front, with our friends at our side, and those 
 younger in knowledge than ourselves treading in places made 
 smooth by our footsteps. 
 
 "The Body and the Man are Two" 
 
 "We now come to the Master's lucid summing up of the 
 conflict through which we all must go. "The body and the 
 man are two, and the man's will is not always what the body 
 wishes. ' ' Remember that ' ' those who wish to follow the Master 
 have already decided to take the right at all costs." At all 
 costs. But this decision is taken by the highest in us, and 
 while the lower bodies are influenced by the decision, they do 
 
 52 
 
not always want to carry it out within their respective spheres. 
 "At all costs" means, therefore, at whatever cost to the bodies 
 in which the highest in us is gaining control over matter of 
 various densities. That which is highest in us cannot help 
 taking the decision, the decision belongs to its very essence, 
 but ages have had to pass before the lower bodies can be 
 taught to respond to their master's wishes, just as it takes a 
 long time to train an animal perfectly. So the efficacy of 
 the decision only begins when, after ages of slow evolution, the 
 God-to-be within us at last begins to receive a conscious re- 
 sponse from its lower nature. The response must for a long 
 time, however, be of a very intermittent nature, for the two 
 poles have not as yet been adjusted to produce a constant 
 spark. So the Master explains to us various ways in which 
 these lower bodies refrain from responding as they should. 
 He warns us : ' i When your body wishes something, stop and 
 think whether you really wish it. For you are God, and you 
 will only what God wills; but you must dig deep down into 
 yourself to find the God within you, and listen to His voice, 
 which is your voice.' In explanation of this He reminds us 
 that we must not mistake our bodies for our real selves 
 "neither the physical body, nor the astral, nor the mental." 
 "Each one of them will pretend to be the Self, in order to 
 gain what it wants. But you must know them all, and know 
 yourself as their master." 
 
 The difficulty consists in knowing at the moment. After 
 some time we can look back upon the various ways in which 
 our lower bodies have pretended to be the Self, and we say: 
 "How stupid I was," or "what a fuss I made over nothing," 
 or "I thought there was nothing else but that at the time." 
 But why should these bodies pretend to be the Self ? Because 
 it is to their interest to make evolution as slow as possible. 
 In them the life and the form seem bound up together so that 
 if the form perishes the life appears to have no further value 
 or even existence. Form is their world the world of the phy- 
 sical, astral, and mental bodies and any process which tends 
 to do away with form is an attack upon their world's existence. 
 
 53 
 
Think how many people there are who still believe that with 
 death comes annihilation. Does the God within think this ? The 
 God within knows Himself eternal, and yet the vehicles down 
 here "pretend" that the destruction of the vehicle means the 
 destruction of the life. It is not true, but in his lower bodies 
 the man knows no better. The bodies are anxious, therefore, 
 to preserve themselves for as long a period as possible and 
 imagine that their preservation depends upon self-seeking 
 rather than upon self-sacrifice. Much of the competition in 
 modern life, much of the oppression of the weak by the strong, 
 of the poor by the rich, of animals by mankind, has its origin 
 in the very successful pretence on the part of our lower bodies 
 to be the Self. Indeed we are all living more or less under the 
 shadow of this pretence, for much that is luxurious in 20th 
 century civilization is produced by the selfishness of our lower 
 selves. The vivisector maintains, for example, that we are 
 justified in experimenting on animals so as to increase our 
 own power to resist disease and thus to prolong the life of the 
 lower bodies. I am not one to condemn the vivisector he 
 expresses a pretence of the lower self ; and we all are victims 
 of its cunning in one way or another. Again, we consider 
 ourselves entitled to kill animals for food; and most of us 
 would not hesitate to eat meat, even supposing that we have 
 hitherto been vegetarians, if we were assured by our doctor 
 that we had to choose between eating meat and dying. But 
 let me for a moment disclose to you the attitude of one who 
 no longer yields to the snare. Mrs. Besant has often told me 
 that she would rather die than eat meat, partly as a matter 
 of principle and partly because the introduction of coarse 
 meat particles would hinder some of her special work. Such 
 a declaration is no heroic outburst, it is simply the statement 
 that while the body must be properly looked after it cannot 
 expect to be honoured at every turn. If it says: "Since you 
 don't give me meat I shall die," the answer must be "my 
 friend, you are not my only hope. I can get another body, 
 and though it is my duty to keep you alive as long as possi- 
 ble, I cannot preserve you at the expense of work I have de- 
 
 54 
 
termined to do. Therefore you must go." "Whether any par- 
 ticular individual has the duty of disciplining his bodies as 
 Mrs. Besant does hers, whether under all circumstances we 
 must never give way to them, is not for me to say. Each per- 
 son must judge his own duty for himself. Let the body have 
 its pleasures and amusements as well as its discipline and its 
 exercises, but see that it does not try to draw its master away 
 from that which is the link between him and God his prin- 
 ciples of life. You must know your bodies "and know your- 
 self as their master." 
 
 The Objects op the Senses 
 
 I think I ought to lay stress on the fact that we are not 
 told to shun the objects of the senses all that makes our 
 physical, our emotional, our mental, worlds. To possess beau- 
 tiful objects and to desire them, to submit to the influence of 
 an uplifting emotion and to seek it, to take pleasure in the 
 things of the intellect and to strive for knowledge all this 
 is not only useful but essential to our growth. We have in 
 these three lower worlds to become familiar with the objects 
 of the senses, but we must not identify ourselves with them 
 if we wish to qualify for admission to a Master's school. Peo- 
 ple at a certain stage of evolution do identify themselves with 
 the world in which they live, are its slaves, and were they not 
 they could not be ready for the further stage of being its 
 masters. Unless they have experienced its clutch they will 
 be unable to sympathise usefully with those who still remain 
 victims of their bodies' pretence. But you and I must hope 
 we have passed the earlier stage, though the young will doubt- 
 less recapitulate it as they once again grow accustomed in 
 their new bodies to a world full of objects of the senses new 
 since last they visited it. We must know what the objects of 
 the senses are, with what thoughts and feelings and objects 
 the mental, astral and physical worlds are respectively filled. 
 And this is the true basis of the "pretense" of the various 
 bodies concerned. The Self is indeed in each of these bodies, 
 
 55 
 
and so far each body may rightly claim that it is animated 
 by a portion of the Self. To this extent in each of these bodies 
 we must seek the objects of the senses, for in such seeking 
 lies our growth. Unfortunately the bodies take themselves 
 too seriously, imagine they are indispensable, ignore the law 
 of reincarnation which dismisses that pretence at once, and 
 then claim that they are the Self. "I am angry", "I am 
 jealous", "I believe this; I disbelieve that", U I am fond of 
 such and such amusements", "I enjoy food, or special kinds 
 of food" These are a few of the many statements our bodies 
 are making day after day. The real Self is never angry ; the 
 real Self is never jealous ; the real Self knows ; the real Self 
 tolerates amusements but could hardly be said to be fond of 
 them; the real Self looks upon food as a means to preserve 
 the physical body so long as the body is needed, and cares for 
 the purity of the food and not for its power of exciting the 
 astral vehicle. Use these conventional phrases if you will, 
 but see to it that you are able to distinguish all the time be- 
 tween your Self and its bodies. At least know in theory that 
 the real "you" is not at the mercy of the objects of the 
 senses, and you will have begun to be their master in reality. 
 At least know in theory that the real "you" is never angry 
 and you have begun to lay the foundations of a calm that can 
 never be ruffled. 
 
 How to begin? "When your body wishes something, 
 stop and think whether you really wish it". A very hard 
 task to be continually stopping and thinking all day long. 
 But Mrs. Besant told her hearers on the day when she first be- 
 gan a series of talks on At the Feet of the Master November 
 27th, 1910 that however irksome the task it had to be faced. 
 It is part of the preparation, she said, and only those achieve 
 who do not get tired of trying. It means no hasty speech, no 
 hasty action, no hasty thinking even: all must be under con- 
 trol. Do not feel appalled at the prospect, young friends. 
 To gain the immense privilege of membership of a Master's 
 school we must expect to work hard, and if you will but try 
 you are bound to succeed. By stopping even only one hasty 
 
 56 
 
word, or thought or action during the week you are far nearer 
 to your Master than those who are content to say : * ' I wish I 
 could do all this, but I can't, so it is useless to try." The 
 Master acknowledges effort; He knows us too well to expect 
 success. 
 
 The Word " Pretend' ' 
 
 The word ' ' pretend ' ' as used by the Master in the phrase 
 "each one of them [the physical, astral and mental bodies] 
 will pretend to be the Self" seems to suggest a deception on 
 the part of the lower bodies, something of an underhand na- 
 ture, against which we ought to be on our guard. I think the 
 word was deliberately used to emphasise the fact that the 
 pupil to whom the teachings were being given was expected 
 to live in his higher self rather than to allow himself to be at 
 the mercy of his lower bodies. The desires of the physical, 
 astral and mental bodies had to be labelled as unreal with re- 
 spect to one who was learning to live from above and to whom 
 the lower bodies were but as instruments in the service of an 
 awakened higher consciousness. The Alcyone of the inner 
 worlds would fully know how to distinguish between their 
 realities and the fleeting circumstances of the worlds without. 
 But in each outgoing into denser matter through the mental 
 to the physical the higher self must needs undergo a limita- 
 tion, so that its powers would be correspondingly weakened. 
 In addition, while the soul of Alcyone was old, its new bodies 
 were young and untrained. These two circumstances, I think, 
 caused the choice of the word " pretend," so that in the lower 
 worlds Alcyone might remember that however real their ob- 
 jects might temporarily seem, however much his bodies, still 
 young, might long for them, yet their reality was but a pre- 
 tence compared with the realities of the Masters' world. 
 
 From a certain standpoint, there can be no pretence in 
 that which God has created. Nothing is without its value in 
 evolution, and 'even the most fleeting of the objects of the 
 senses has its part to play in helping us to grow. At every 
 stage of our growth objects of the senses surround us and, 
 according to our stage we ignore some, reject others, long for 
 
 57 
 
these, are repelled by those. We grow by experiencing obj- 
 ects of the senses, thus learning to reach the realities of which 
 they are the shadows in this world of ours. Until we know 
 the realities, as I have already said, their shadows must suffice. 
 And the shadow's pretence to be the reality is not an unrea- 
 sonable one, for after all it is a, shadow of a reality and de- 
 pends for its existence on the reality it represents. But you 
 and I ought, at least so far as regards most objects of the 
 senses in the lower worlds, to have reached the realities of 
 which they are the expressions, and still to accept the shadow 
 as the reality would be a pretence, an imagination, since the 
 reality is known apart. We in our bodies would be pre- 
 tending, and to make our position clear the Master dissociates 
 us from our bodies and explains that only in a lower body 
 could we imagine the part to be the whole. 
 
 58 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 TRAINING THE BODY 
 
 The next few pages of "At the Feet of the Master'' eon- 
 tain commentaries on the central fact that "the astral body 
 is your animal the horse upon which you ride." It may 
 be the physical body, or the astral body, or the body in which 
 lives the mind all are your animals, and a very hard team to 
 drive they are too ! The Master makes this perfectly clear in 
 the common every day instances in which the animals refuse 
 to be ridden and throw their rider. "When there is work 
 that must be done, the physical body wants to rest, to go out 
 walking, to eat and drink; and the man who does not know 
 says to himself: l I want to do these things and I must do 
 them'. But the man who knows says: 'This that wants is not 
 I, and it must wait awhile.' " "You shall not hinder me in 
 doing good work" says the rider to the particular steed he is 
 specially using at the time or to the particular steed which 
 for the moment is inclined to be restive. Now you will find 
 that many excellent people think it their duty to drive their 
 bodies all they possibly can. Monks and nuns who inflict self- 
 tortue upon themselves, so-called ascetics in India who hope 
 to obtain liberation by making the body do that for which it 
 is not intended these are examples of such people. Many 
 people in our own country think it wrong to do various really 
 harmless actions so that they may have the morbid, unnatural, 
 satisfaction of mortifying or starving the lower bodies that 
 the higher may shine through more clearly because of their 
 emaciation and weakness. The higher self asks for beauty 
 and not for ugliness, asks for joyousness and not for gloom, 
 asks for a well-nourished, contented instrument and not for 
 a half-starved body beaten into submission instead of evolved 
 into co-operation. 
 
 As the Master says: "you must treat it well, and take 
 
 
 
good care of it; you must not overwork it, you must feed it 
 properly on pure food and drink only, and keep it strictly 
 clean always, even from the minutest speck of dirt. For with- 
 out a perfectly clean and healthy body you cannot do the 
 arduous work of preparation, you cannot bear its ceaseless 
 strain." We who are learning to fit ourselves for admission 
 to a Master's school must bear these points in mind all the 
 time. Notice that the Master nowhere condemns healthy and 
 harmless amusements, provided, of course, that they neither 
 injure you nor cause injury to those connected with their 
 production. But your lower bodies must not be allowed to 
 indulge in such pleasures at the expense of doing good work. 
 Periodical amusements, even those which have no specially 
 beneficent effect one way or the other are amusements pure 
 and simple help, I think to keep our lower bodies in fit con- 
 dition; but we must be careful not to lose sight of the goal 
 before us, lest by indulging our bodies too freely we wake 
 some day to find that we have become their slaves instead of 
 being their masters. "But it must always be you who con- 
 trol that body, not it that controls you." 
 
 Amusements 
 
 "You must not overwork it", says the Master. For ac- 
 tive temperaments this seems a somewhat hard injunction. 
 There come times of special stress, we think, when the physi- 
 cal body ought not to be spared in any way. Perhaps in rare 
 instances this may be true, especially if you have to choose 
 between sparing your body and standing firm to your prin- 
 ciples. But most of us are not confronted by such a situation, 
 and it may be safely taken for granted that whenever we over- 
 work whatever the cause we are doing injury to ourselves 
 and to others as well. Over-exercise, over-study, over-eating, 
 over-sleeping, denying the body that which it needs for per- 
 fect health all these are forbidden because they hinder your 
 utility in the Master's service. Especially while you are 
 young the body, so glad to be in existence, tends to conceal 
 from you the mischief you may be doing. You feel quite well 
 
 60 
 
even though your elders tell you that the body is being over- 
 strained, and it is not until later that the body is forced into 
 the confession that having at the time insufficient force to 
 meet your demands it drew upon the future, and now there is 
 barely enough force left to keep it alive. Nothing is more 
 important than to know our limitations, for, knowing them, 
 we not only realise where the points of strain are, but we 
 learn how to replace with strength weaknesses which in later 
 years may give us much trouble. A part from the obvious 
 absurdity of competitive examinations as indications of real 
 worth, see how much wear and tear they cause to the body, 
 especially to the brain, and remember that though the few 
 may be able to stand the drain on their physical resources, 
 most of those who have taken part in competitions have defi- 
 
 Initely lowered their vitality, if they have not impaired it al- 
 together. So it is with many features of modern life, and you 
 must make up your minds whether you are going to fit your- 
 selves for the world's appreciation or for the Master's. 
 Note that I write "appreciation" and not " service." The 
 world is best served by those who make themselves fit instru- 
 ments for the Master's work, and though the world may ig- 
 nore them, it is better for their unrecognised efforts than for 
 the work of most of those who stand high in worldly favor. 
 I admit freely that young people are encouraged by the ap- 
 proval of those whose opinions weigh with them, and it is 
 natural that they should find in the world an infinite number 
 of fleeting satisfactions. By all means enjoy life, provided 
 that no one suffers through your enjoyment and that you do 
 not allow the enjoyments of the lower bodies to interfere with 
 the real enjoyments, if I may use the word in this connection, 
 of the higher self. The lower needs its enjoyments as well as 
 the higher, but most of us live so much in the lower worlds 
 that there is a danger of our being in our lower selves 
 cruel to the higher. You are often impatient with people 
 who say you ought not to have this, that or the other pleasure 
 on which you have counted, but do not forget that you your- 
 selves often deny your higher selves pleasures which they too 
 
 i 
 
 61 
 
would be glad to enjoy pleasures of an infinitely more last- 
 ing kind than those which, in your lower selves, you have 
 been pursuing with so much eagerness. The greatest happi- 
 ness you can give your higher self is to adapt your lower 
 vehicles to the Master's needs, but the higher self is not un- 
 reasonable, is quite willing that the lower should enjoy itself, 
 and only suggests that the more the lower and the higher 
 pleasures can be harmonised and made lasting, the happier 
 for both parties concerned. In the long run, everything will 
 proceed so much more smoothly if both pull together and in 
 the same direction. 
 
 Food for the Body 
 
 The Master continues: "You must feed it properly on 
 pure food and drink only, and keep it strictly clean always, 
 even from the minutest speck of dirt." The word "properly" 
 means at regular intervals, at such times as may conduce to 
 the best health, the right quantity, and the right kind "pure 
 food and drink only". 
 
 Now I am not going to furnish you with a complete table 
 of all the kinds of food you ought to eat, how you ought to eat 
 them, and when you ought to eat them. You must find this out 
 for yourselves, since each body reacts differently to different 
 kinds of foodstuffs. But I must lay the very greatest stress 
 on the necessity for vegetarianism, not because I happen to be 
 a vegetarian, but because the Master speaks, towards the end 
 of the book, on the "cruel superstition that man needs flesh 
 for food". Doubtless we are all under the influence of certain 
 kinds of superstition, but at least we must try to avoid cruel 
 superstitions, and as meat-eating is a cruel superstition the 
 Master says so we must get rid of it. I want you to look at 
 the matter from the standpoint of reason. We inflict suffer- 
 ing on animals in order to provide ourselves with unnecessary 
 food. This is the bare statement of the fact as the Master 
 sees it. Innumerable difficulties in the way of carrying out 
 the Master's hint will, of course, present themselves. Your 
 body cannot stand vegetarian food. Your parents would dis- 
 
 62 
 
approve of your becoming a vegetarian. "Are we to give up 
 the use of all leather articles, including boots, railway trunks, 
 etc? Are we to inconvenience our friends by eating prac- 
 tically nothing when we take meals with them ? 
 
 Don't you think that your animals are becoming some- 
 what restive when you allow them thus to argue? For all 
 these difficulties should be thought of afterwards, if at all, 
 and not at first. So many people are eager to see the Masters, 
 to receive instructions from Them, and envy those who have 
 the privilege. But remember that one of the conditions of re- 
 ceiving direct guidance is to pay prompt attention to what 
 the Master says. i l You must do what He says, ' ' observes 
 Alcyone in the Foreword, "attending to every word, taking 
 every hint.' 9 The Master tells us to be vegetarians. Are we 
 trying to become vegetarians, or are we suffering our lower 
 bodies to dictate to the higher? Are we deceived by the 
 ' ' pre tendings ' ' of the bodies which ought to be subservient to 
 us? I do not wish to suggest that it is easy to change from 
 meat-eating to vegetarianism all at once, partly because the 
 physical and astral bodies suddenly lose a food which has 
 been stimulating them and intensifying their lower aspects, 
 and partly because relatives and friends, who have not been 
 as fortunate as ourselves, will be unable to see any method 
 in, to them, an apparent madness. But in the Master's ser- 
 vice we need to start at once when a hint is given and do the 
 best we can with the difficulties as they come along. In other 
 words we do not think of building bridges until we actually 
 come to the rivers which have to be crossed. Cautious people 
 will exclaim against me here ' * But surely we must see where 
 we are going before we start. Perhaps the difficulties will be 
 insuperable. Perhaps our relatives and friends, for example, 
 will be unable to tolerate our new departure." To which I 
 reply: "A hint from a Master involves a practicable course 
 of action. He does not suggest impossibilities, nor is He un- 
 aware though you may find it difficult to believe this of 
 the individual circumstances of us all. If At the Feet of 
 the Master has come to us, we may take it that He knows it 
 
 63 
 
has come. So His words become a message to us through His 
 young brother Alcyone.' ' No doubt you will fail. Many 
 lapses into meat-eating will occur, unless your nature is par- 
 ticularly wiry. But were serious efforts made before the 
 failures, and will serious efforts be made again after the fail- 
 ures? This is what the Master wants. Let us repeat here 
 emphatically that He looks for effort, not expecting success 
 until many failures and many efforts have taken place. "Rome 
 was not built in a day." 
 
 The moment you know that the Master has condemned 
 meat-eating as a cruel superstition and that He wishes the 
 body to be fed on pure food and drink, you immediately be- 
 gin to stop eating meat and any other form of food you think 
 included in the condemnation. Do not quibble as to whether 
 fish or eggs or cheese or milk are to be considered vegetarian 
 or otherwise. Use your judgment, for the Master as a perfect 
 Teacher merely lays down the principle and leaves you to 
 apply it in every day life. Personally I have very little 
 patience with people so hypnotised by the letter that they fail 
 to observe the spirit. They tell me that if we are to be con- 
 sistent we must avoid this and that and the other article of 
 food we use. I do not pretend to be consistent, but I am try- 
 ing to be as consistent as I can ; and if in my effort to be con- 
 sistent I make the mistake of including in my articles of diet 
 and use something which ought to be left out, I do not feel 
 that I have vitally disregarded the spirit of the principles un- 
 der which I have been acting, though no doubt I have violated 
 the letter. Some day I shall do all things perfectly, in the 
 meantime I am not going to sit idle or be unhappy because I 
 cannot now be what I can only be later on. If you cannot 
 be a vegetarian be as much of a vegetarian as you can, and 
 ignore those who do nothing because they cannot do every- 
 thing. 
 
 Principles of Life 
 
 You are expected, however, to use tact and discretion 
 neither obtruding your principles nor concealing them. Be 
 restrained and quiet in your actions, and above all avoid ag- 
 
 64 
 
gressiveness and feelings of superiority because you think 
 you possess a truth not yet shared by others. Indeed, you do 
 not possess a truth until its effect on your nature is to pro- 
 duce a greater understanding and sympathy than you had 
 without it. Every additional truth you know should make 
 you so much the more tolerant and appreciative, for you are 
 by that truth the nearer to a knowledge of the unity which 
 makes us one with all. If knowledge brings pride and shuts 
 you off from your fellow-creatures you are only in possession 
 of its intellectual aspect. You have not yet reached its spirit- 
 ual 'essence. So, when you begin to take the Master's hint as 
 regards vegetarianism, I want you to show that you have 
 a new truth in your possession, first by manifesting a little 
 more of the spirit of good-will than you have previously been 
 able to show, second by holding fast to it gently and unob- 
 trusively. I think you ought not to give way. No parent or 
 friend with understanding would ask you to give up a matter 
 of principle, if you show by your conduct that the principle 
 has an ennobling effect upon you. But you cannot expect them 
 to regard as a principle something which makes you more 
 fussy and troublesome than before. If, on the other hand, 
 your principle is not respected, then the course of action you 
 should take depends upon the amount of strength you possess. 
 In India young men often write to Mrs. Besant asking her 
 advice as to various courses of action which would involve 
 conflict with established custom and would consequently place 
 the individual concerned in great difficulty. As far as I re- 
 member her general position is that if advice is asked it often 
 means that the applicant, not being strong enough to decide 
 for himself and take the responsibility, wishes to have behind 
 him someone who will share whatever difficulties come. Also, 
 the advice to be given depends upon the power of the indi- 
 vidual to carry it out, and it is useless to recommend heroic 
 measures to a well-meaning but negative personality. People 
 who give advice must to some extent become involved in its 
 results, and by far the best plan is, knowing the ideal, to get 
 as near to it as you can on your own account alone. By all 
 
 as near t 
 
 65 
 
means learn from your elders the principles of right action 
 you have them in "At the Feet of the Master' >: but work 
 them out in your own way according to circumstance and 
 capacity, ever striving to act as truly as you can, combining 
 thoroughness with deference to the wishes of others in all 
 matters not involving principle. 
 
 Reading this, young people will often object that they 
 hardly have any definite principles, and hesitate to act on those 
 for the moment swaying them lest they make themselves a nui- 
 sance, not to say ridiculous, but upsetting the household with 
 a zeal which may last but a very short time. I grant that this 
 is a difficulty, but it seems to me, that, first, all reasonable 
 parents would be willing to submit to such family disturbances 
 as might occur in the course of efforts made by young people 
 to find their moral footing; second, it is better to have a 
 temporary principle and to have lost it, than never to have 
 had a principle at all! Young people must inevitably feel 
 their way. The higher self must take some time to settle 
 down in its new surroundings; and it is most natural to ex- 
 pect a forceful ego to throw itself headlong into innumerable 
 attitudes of mind and feeling, rushing from one to another 
 until sufficient experiences are gained to enable the choice to 
 be made of outlooks upon life which will last for some time. 
 We are growing incessantly, and even the most cherished 
 principles of the wisest among us undergo much modification 
 as the years pass, may even in course of time be totally 
 abandoned. So it is after all a matter of growth, and youth 
 must not be blamed if it grow jerkily and spasmodically. Be 
 as true to the reigning principle as you can, and though peo- 
 ple may laugh at your bubbling enthusiasms, you will never 
 in after-life regret them, for their influence is all for good. 
 On the other hand train yourselves by degrees to approach a 
 new principle cautiously and to discard it reluctantly, for it 
 must be a matter of honour with you to treat it reverently 
 neither accepting it unless you feel sure that you can profi- 
 tably follow it, nor relinquishing it without a sense of grati- 
 tude for the good it has done you. We may at least say with ' 
 
 66 
 
truth that whatever other effect a principle has had on you 
 its temporary place in your heart will have given you the 
 power of understanding, and sympathising with, those who are 
 under an influence which you yourself may long ago have 
 passed beyond. 
 
 Be True to your Own Self 
 
 Let me conclude this portion of our subject by warning 
 you against people who argue that because a leader is or is not 
 a vegetarian, therefore we ought to follow his or her example. 
 A common line of argument is that there can be no particular 
 harm in eating meat or smoking since the great founder of 
 the Theosophical Society Madame H. P. Blavatsky herself 
 both ate meat and smoked cigarettes. Or, to take the opposite 
 standpoint, if Mrs. Besant and Mr. C. W. Leadbeater are both 
 rigid vegetarians and non-smokers we should do well to follow 
 them. Which is it to be, then, H. P. Blavatsky or Annie 
 Besant? Clearly we cannot follow both! 
 
 The fact is that we are not at all concerned with the 
 special circumstances under which all great people necessar- 
 ily live. To be great, an individual must possess a peculiar 
 temperament, and to be an occultist requires conditions quite 
 outside the understanding of ordinary human beings. Great- 
 ness is always out of the ordinary, and rules appropriate to 
 mediocrity are often fetters to genius. Then, again, there are 
 varying types of greatness with widely differing functions; 
 and it is illogical to argue that because someone whom we 
 recognise as great acts in a peculiar way, therefore, no one is 
 great who does not behave similarly. Further, it is quite con- 
 ceivable that a pupil 's work in the world is so necessary to his 
 Master's plans that He has to submit to a special piece of 
 karma, belonging to the pupil, which prevents the pupil's 
 body from bearing the strain of the service required unless 
 it be coarsened with animal food. In fact, we may reasonably 
 imagine numberless circumstances in which rules quite suit- 
 able for us at our level, and perhaps of general suitablity at 
 levels, have to be waived for special reasons. Emphatically 
 
 
 67 
 
this is not our business. It is a matter between Master and 
 pupil, and, in the ease of Madame Blavatsky or of Mrs. Besant 
 or of Mr. Leadbeater, it is more seemly in us to be grateful 
 for the beauty of their teachings than to intrude upon the 
 conditions under which the teachings were given. My reply 
 to people who want to probe into the private lives of those 
 who teach us is that if I find their teaching inspiring I shall 
 have enough to do in translating the inspiration into action 
 without wasting precious time in ascertaining whether the 
 teacher lives perfectly that is, to my own idea of perfection 
 the words he utters. I might add that we smaller peo- 
 ple commit a great mistake if we venture to judge 
 those greater than ourselves by the standards which, per- 
 haps, they have long out-grown. One of the greatest obstacles 
 in the way of the average man or woman recognising the 
 great World-Teacher when He comes will be that of expecting 
 Him to limit Himself to their own conception of spiritual 
 greatness. Each little narrow sect of Christianity or Hindu- 
 ism or Buddhism or Islam will expect Him to be its special 
 champion as against all other little sects. Every faddist will 
 expect Him to be an ardent disciple of the special fad from 
 which he derives his spiritual livelihood. He must surely 
 wear such and such clothes, eat such and such foods, proclaim 
 such and such truths, live in such and such a way. He will 
 live as the world needs Him to live, not as individuals want 
 Him to live. He comes to help all mankind to live better lives, 
 not to flatter the spiritual pride of a few. You and I know 
 that He is the Teacher of the world, and instead of asking 
 Him so to live when He comes that we shall recognise Him 
 without difficulty, we ask that we may so live now as to be- 
 come worthy to recognise Him when He is in our midst. How 
 the Greatest shall live and what He shall teach is for the 
 Greatest to decide else we ourselves were greater than He, 
 if our own standard could guide Him. "What concerns us is 
 how we shall live and what we shall teach so that He may 
 recognise us as His servants. The world has not made so 
 conspicuous a success of its affairs that it can afford to point 
 
 68 
 
out to the great World-Teacher Himself the lines along which 
 reform and teaching are needed. He comes because we need 
 His help, and what the world needs just now is to develop suf- 
 ficient humility to receive guidance which may be diamet- 
 rically opposed to all existing conventional theories of life. 
 Devotion, Steadfastness and Gentleness all these the world 
 needs, but pride has in the past been the outstanding barrier 
 between the Teacher and His generation. May it not be so in 
 the 20th century. 
 
 Cleanliness 
 
 The Master proceeds to lay stress on the fact that ' ' with- 
 out a perfectly clean and healthy body you cannot do the 
 arduous work of preparation, you cannot bear its ceaseless 
 strain. " No one who is not undergoing the discipline of 
 preparation for a more thorough service of the Masters can 
 have the slightest conception of the strain it involves. Every 
 individual who deliberately places himself at a Master's dis- 
 posal by that very act begins to tune his various bodies to 
 respond to the finer vibrations of the Master's worlds, and to 
 become infinitely more sensitive to the life of the world in 
 which he lives. The disciple must not only hear the Master's 
 "faintest whisper above earth's loudest song," he must auto- 
 matically sense the misery and trouble and need of those who 
 people the world in which he lives, and he must send out to 
 them the Master's force in terms of courage and compassion. 
 This means that the body must be pure, as free as possible from 
 all coarseness, must gradually substitute particles for its com- 
 position purer than those in use among the majority of 
 mankind. The disciple is in advance of his generation 
 what he now is the world as a whole will become after many 
 years. He must embody in his daily life a new ideal or prin- 
 ciple of living: in other words, he must be a living example 
 to those around him of the stage immediately in front of 
 them, the stage towards which they now are passing. 
 
 The Ceaseless Strain 
 
 In At the Feet of the Master we are given a model on 
 
 69 
 
which to build our various bodies, and we must expect that 
 people who do not realise the necessity for the efforts we are 
 making, will laugh at us, will regard us as tiresome disturbers 
 of the soporific policy of drifting with the stream. I am 
 often told that reformers are so unsociable that it is almost a 
 nuisance to live with them; certainly it is almost impossible 
 to treat them as ordinary, conventional mortals. I quite 
 agree, and I heartily sympathise with those who, content 
 with life as it is, find themselves forced to have to do with 
 people who clash with conventional codes, the observance of 
 which makes life so much more negative and, therefore, easy. 
 But if you mean business, you are bound to set yourself 
 against the majority of accepted modes of living, and herein 
 lies part of the "ceaseless strain' ' of which the Master speaks. 
 The force of habit, the pressure of public opinion, a natural 
 tendency to comparative inertia, all combine to keep you 
 within the narrow limits of conventional life. But then you 
 are not fulfilling your role as a leader, as a forerunner, as 
 an active force in the direction of bringing about a better 
 mode of living than that to which for the present we are con- 
 tent to conform. You must stand outside the pale of " so- 
 ciety " to a very considerable extent. You are required to 
 guide your life by principles which do not yet appeal to the 
 majority, and you cannot expect people as a whole to accept 
 you for what you try to be. 
 
 You are continually warring against the lower self in 
 yourself as well as against the lower self in the world outside. 
 You are continually setting up a standard of living higher 
 than that to which the world for the time being conforms, 
 and you have to strain every nerve to live up to it yourself; 
 for only as you yourself approach the standard will you be 
 able effectively to champion it among your surroundings. 
 The world is ever pressing against you and your efforts, 
 while on your part you have ever to be striving to carry the 
 world with you as you tune your lower vehicles to co-operate 
 more harmoniously with the realities to which they are to be 
 attuned. You are one with the world, and such unity tends to 
 
 70 
 
keep you within the limits of the world 's average progress. On 
 the other hand, you are trying to make that unity more living 
 by yourself becoming an example of what the world may hope 
 to be at no distant date, thus stimulating the whole to in- 
 crease its lustre by harmonising with the special brightness of 
 a part. 
 
 Indeed is the strain ' * ceaseless. ' ' Vigilance cannot for 
 a moment be relaxed. There is every temptation from the 
 lower to give up the struggle and to resume the far easier path 
 of being led. Innumerable actions which the world approves 
 are denied to you. Many pleasures in which the world in- 
 dulges must be foresworn by you if you would give the world 
 what it needs rather than what it asks. As I write these 
 words, I can hear some of my readers exclaim: "What is 
 the use of it all, then? It seems so lonely a struggle, so grey 
 a life. Are there no compensations V ' When all goes well 
 and there is no trouble, I admit that the compensations seem 
 as if they were non-existent. When life is easy for the world 
 or for the individual, it seems almost absurd to go out of one 's 
 way to keep up a strain for which there is apparently no call. 
 But life is never easy for long, nor is life easy for most peo- 
 ple; and the value of the disciple who trains all his bodies 
 as the athlete trains only the physical, is that he is able not 
 only to bear trouble which overwhelms the ordinary indi- 
 vidual, but he has accumulated a reserve of courage from 
 which those in trouble may draw the strength to meet disas- 
 ters which otherwise might render them hopeless and 
 crushed. 
 
 Eemember that however much you and your friends may 
 be living a life of ease and happiness, there are others near 
 you who are struggling with care, with want, with sickness, 
 with sorrow. Remember that no individual happiness lasts 
 long from which the world is excluded. Who are you that 
 you should enjoy comfort, luxury, the satiety of your de- 
 sires, while others, in the moments of your supremest joy, 
 are weighed down by the seeming hopelessness of everything. 
 Joy which is shared endures according to the number who 
 
 71 
 
share it, and the disciple strives to ascertain the conditions of 
 true joy, so that through leading others to the knowledge, 
 peace and happiness may begin to become permanent instead 
 of being fleeting because restricted to the few. In reality, there- 
 fore, while the strain of discipleship is great, there is an ever- 
 increasing tendency to peace and joy because the would-be 
 disciple is always engaged in trying to emphasise these aspect* 
 in those around him. He is learning to be a peace-bringer 
 and a joy-bringer, and he must not complain if the process 
 of education sometimes shuts him off from many of the fleet- 
 ing joys on which his fellows set such store. A child practising 
 a musical instrument may often long to leave his lesson and 
 join the happy laughter of his young companions in the 
 garden outside, but if he can persevere in the training of 
 his body to reproduce, however feebly, God's message through 
 music, he will some day bring peace to thousands, and to him- 
 self a joy well worth the little sacrifice of the temporary hap- 
 piness which at the time seemed so enticing. 
 
 It would sometimes be so much simpler to eat meat, to 
 follow conventional habits of thought, to accept the conven- 
 tional dicta of one's class, but one would be giving up the 
 permanent for the temporary. A bird in the hand is by no 
 means worth two in the bush, provided you know that if you 
 try hard enough you are bound in course of time to catch 
 those in the bush. People sometimes think that they can 
 have the bird in the hand as well as those in the bush, but 
 we have been clearly told we cannot serve both God and 
 Mammon ; and so far as I know the experience of most earnest 
 students is that the search after the peace of God is only 
 fruitful in proportion to the exclusion of all pleasures which 
 make for selfishness and self-indulgence at an expense to 
 others. I admit that to a certain extent it is possible to com- 
 bine the two, and, as I said before, there is no reason 
 why one should not enjoy innocent and harmless amuse- 
 ments. But selfishness must ever be a drag on one's effort! 
 to lead the disciple's life, and the less selfishness one shows 
 the quicker the progress. Most of us are more or less selfish, 
 and the result is that we are only more or less successful in 
 
 72 
 
our search for truth. It behoves us therefore so to order 
 our lives, that we are continually planning for the greater 
 welfare of our surroundings, partly by active help and partly 
 by self-training. All such preparation involves strain, for 
 we are in effect all day long, and all night long too, striving 
 to transmute into finer forces all coarse vibrations that come 
 to us from without. Hate, dislike, ill-feeling, suspicion, 
 doubt all come to us, and in return we have to train our- 
 selves to send out good-will. At first we cannot always do it, 
 we cannot often do it; but those who once have been able 
 to return good for evil know the peace it brings to all one's 
 bodies and the feeling of fire and vigour it imparts to one's 
 whole being. I feel very strongly that just at present any 
 efforts I may have made in the past are more than repaid by 
 the strength of which I am conscious in these difficult times, 
 and by the eagerness I experience to be of service to the 
 many to whom the war has brought misery and trouble. The 
 war has brought us all nearer to each other. Above all it has 
 brought the Masters nearer to us than we have ever allowed 
 Them to come before, and it has given some of us the happi- 
 ness of knowing that Theosophy is the one great source from 
 which it is possible to draw courage and cheer for the use 
 of the afflicted. Such times as these are abundant evidence 
 that the "ceaseless strain" is well worth while bearing for 
 the power it generates to serve mankind. "When life is smooth 
 the strain may sometimes seem an unnecessary torture, but 
 when times are hard it is known to have been the basis for a 
 confidence which otherwise could not have existed. 
 
 
 The "I" Outside the Body 
 
 The Master then shows us how the training is to proceed. 
 "It must always be you who control that body, not it that 
 controls you." With regard to this Mrs. Besant gave the 
 following instruction the words are not hers: "What you 
 have to do is to judge for your body as you would for an 
 animal in your charge; you must not overwork it because 
 
 73 
 
if you do it has not sufficient physical energy left for efforts 
 in other parts of your work. You must give it as much sleep 
 and food as it requires to keep it in the highest state of 
 efficiency not necessarily all that it wants. Many of you 
 still give the body too much food, and this is incompatible 
 with the highest point of efficiency, at which we should 
 always be aiming. Young bodies, of course, need consid- 
 erable more food than do elderly ones; the body must have 
 enough, but you must not let it have more than that. Plenty 
 of kind-hearted people make that very mistake with their 
 animals, with the result that the animals have imperfect 
 health and suffer when they have to walk. You must judge for 
 your body. You ought to have such complete control over 
 your body that you can make it wait without trouble, say- 
 ing: "This that wants it is not I. I have something more im- 
 portant to do at present, you must wait till I can attend to 
 you/ 
 
 "This is the point that I should advise you to think over 
 and to work upon . . . pull yourselves up constantly and 
 ask: is it I, or my body, that is wanting this or that? This 
 will gradually lead you to that state of self-recollectedness 
 which is so essential, and which is a thing that untrained 
 people never have . . . whenever you wish something, ex- 
 amine if it is really you who wish it. It is one great lesson 
 that has to be learned, this identifying of oneself with the 
 God who is Oneself, instead of with the animal which is one 's 
 instrument. ' ' 
 
 Let me lay stress on the word ' ' self-recollectedness. ' ' 
 We have to remember ourselves, we have to remember to dis- 
 tinguish between the machine and the motive power, be- 
 tween the instrument and the user. In the next couple of 
 pages the Master explains to us how we may recollect our- 
 selves, by showing us what the astral and mental bodies re- 
 spectively desire on their own account. He has already told 
 us how the physical body tries to bring into submission the 
 self within "the physical body wants to rest, to go out 
 walking, to eat and drink; and the man who does not know 
 
 74 
 
says to himself : ' I want to do these things. ' ' : But we must 
 say to all three bodies physical, astral, mental "you shall 
 not hinder me in doing good work." In other words we 
 must recollect our higher self, however much our lower ve- 
 hicles its instruments may strive to make themselves 
 heard for their much speaking. People who do not know 
 are so much occupied with their lower bodies that they iden- 
 tify themselves with them almost entirely, and it is only 
 under some great moral pressure that they realise too late 
 that the indulgence of the lower selves has meant the with- 
 drawal of the higher self from the position it might have 
 taken, from the power with which it might have endowed its 
 instruments. The value of the lower bodies consists in their 
 capacity to glean the necessary experiences of the plane to 
 which the matter composing them belongs. If they simply 
 immerse themselves in the activities of their own plane, in- 
 stead of allowing the higher plane bodies to select as far as 
 possible such experiences as may help the growth of the 
 individual as a whole, the result will be that the bodies will 
 become more and more entangled in increasingly lower strata 
 of their respective planes and will finally with great suf- 
 fering be discarded by the Self whose bidding they have 
 scorned. The law of Karma is very rigid, and a body de- 
 graded to base uses in one life when it might have listened 
 to the God within, becomes unable to serve its owner at some 
 future time, and in the misery of a longing to help united to 
 instruments through which no work can be done, is gradually 
 learned the lesson that true happiness and progress are alone 
 possible when the lower acts in perfect deference to the will 
 of the higher. How often is not the spirit willing while the 
 flesh is weak the result of not having yet learned the rela- 
 tive values of the various bodies through which we contact the 
 many depths of God's manifested universe? The flesh is 
 weak when it tries to depend on itself alone, but it becomes 
 infinitely strong when serving but as the reflection of its 
 spiritual counterpart. 
 
 75 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE ASTRAL AND MENTAL BODIES 
 
 "The astral body/' says the Master, "has its desires 
 dozens of them ; it wants you to be angry, to say sharp words, 
 to feel jealous, to be greedy for money, to envy other peo- 
 ple their possessions, to yield yourself to depression . . . 
 not because it wishes to harm you, but because it likes vio- 
 lent vibrations, and likes to change them constantly. But 
 you want none of these things, and therefore you must dis- 
 criminiate between your wants and your bodies.' ' 
 
 Let me quote again from notes taken of Mrs. Besant's 
 instructions on this paragraph: "You must exercise con- 
 tinual watchfulness, constant care, because it is more diffi- 
 cult to realise that you are not your astral body, than to 
 realise that you are not your physical body. But if you 
 look at the examples which the Master gives, you will see 
 how continually you identify yourselves with your astral 
 body. 'I am angry or irritable,' you will say. Probably 
 you will not say 'I am jealous' if you are conscious of the 
 feeling of jealousy; for though we may identify ourselves 
 with our feelings, we try to veil the lower ones so you 
 might call this feeling, not jealousy, but love. 'I am hurt 
 because so and so whom I love, loves some one better than 
 me!' Love is such a far-reaching all-embracing virtue, that 
 we like to shelter under it and attribute to it all sorts of 
 things with which it has nothing whatsoever to do. Far 
 better is it to examine honestly our feelings and not to play 
 with ourselves and deceive ourselves with pretty words. In 
 the case under consideration, you are not hurt because you 
 love your friend, but because you desire to appropriate that 
 friend to yourself. Wherever there is this feeling of being 
 
 76 
 
hurt, it springs from selfishness, which is at the opposite pole 
 to love. YOU the Self, cannot feel jealous, but your astral 
 body can, neither are YOU angry or irritable : these are all 
 moods of the astral body." 
 
 I wish to lay stress on the fact that when we feel hurt 
 or offended we are as a matter of fact giving way to selfish- 
 ness. People will tell you that it is only natural sometimes 
 to feel hurt or offended, and I entirely agree if by the word 
 " natural' ' they mean "inevitable at a certain stage of 
 growth.' ' We could not feel sympathy with people who feel 
 hurt or offended had we not experienced the feeling ourselves. 
 On the other hand we cannot show them the way to over- 
 come the feeling unless we ourselves have more or less over- 
 come it; and the Master emphasises the fact that the real "I" 
 in each one of us, the ' ' I " we express so loosely in words in 
 daily life continually identifying it with bodies which only 
 last a short time can never feel these fleeting moods. From my 
 own experience, although I have only just begun real work, 
 I can bear emphatic testimony to the fact that the more I 
 pay attention to the "I" within the more clearly do I realise 
 that my moods and feelings of the lower kind are obnoxious 
 to it. I often give way to temptations of various kinds, to 
 moods and feelings, but I am growing increasingly conscious 
 of a sense of strong discomfort whenever the lower has its 
 way unchecked. Not being yet sufficiently master of my 
 lower bodies, they often carry all before them, but I am 
 not happy in their victory and even while they are tempo- 
 rarily triumphant I know full well that I am not well that 
 the real "I" is, as it were, ailing. We know much about 
 physical ill-health, but as soon as we begin to place our feet 
 upon the path we learn the meaning of spiritual ill-health, 
 the remedies for which are to be found within the covers of 
 At the Feet of the Master. Spiritual ill-health is as painful 
 as physical ill-health I think more so; for with the eager- 
 ness to serve comes the lack of power, a lack due to giving 
 way to the fleeting moods of vehicles which ought to have 
 been servants and not masters. And there is nothing more 
 
 77 
 
racking than an inability to make the bodies obey the be- 
 hests of the spirit. 
 
 I wish to lay stress on the Master's statement that the 
 astral body wants things, ' ' not because it wishes to harm you 
 but because it likes violent vibrations and likes to change 
 them constantly." 
 
 You must remember that our various bodies are made 
 up of matter which is still on the downward arc of evolu- 
 tion, and the result is that this matter evolves by violent and 
 constantly changing vibrations. Mrs. Besant remarks: "Stu- 
 dents have sometimes put to me a curious question: ' Ought 
 we not to give it the opportunity of evolving V No! You 
 can, without any fear of being selfish, refuse to give these 
 vibrations. It can find them in savages, in animals ; they need 
 them as experiences to bring out moods of consciousness, and 
 you must not sacrifice your higher evolution for this. The 
 constant desire of the astral body for violent changes is a 
 thing which should help you to realise that it is not you. 
 Moods come over you for no apparent cause, and not ap- 
 proved by your reason; they have nothing to do with you, 
 but are the independent activities of the astral body. You 
 must realise this, and not allow yourself to be made the play- 
 ground for all these changing moods." 
 
 The Master emphasises the fact that you want none of 
 these things, and, therefore, you must discriminate between 
 your wants and your body's. I think it is well to remember 
 that the more we make progress the greater the force which 
 pours through our various bodies. The result is that while 
 our higher emotions are infinitely more powerful than they 
 were before, our lower emotions also gain in strength. Each 
 one of us, who has set himself deliberately to tread the path 
 of Service, experiences the difficulty that, while he can do 
 much better work than before, he seems to have many more 
 obstacles than he has hitherto known of; in fact all his 
 bodies become more highly vitalised, and the force flowing 
 through them affects the lower as well as the higher. So it 
 is only safe to make special effort when one feels sure that, 
 
 78 
 

 however much the lower may gain in vitality, the higher will 
 always be able to dominate. 
 
 Everyone who deliberately places himself on the side of 
 evolution, on the side of self-sacrifice rather than on that 
 of self-seeking, must be prepared to pay the price of the 
 deeper sympathies he will inevitably experience, by laying 
 himself open to greater temptations than those which have 
 hitherto come his way. If he is really in earnest, success is 
 bound to come sooner or later, and when he feels that trou- 
 bles are overwhelming him he may well say to himself: 
 " These added difficulties are the price I am paying for the 
 greater power of service which I have gained." "Whatever 
 happens, it is at least unwise to brood over your failures, or 
 to imagine that a past mistake can never be rectified. It is 
 one of the most ancient of maxims that we should not look 
 behind. If we do look behind we feel despair, repentance, 
 remorse. All of these moods, as Mrs. Besant tells us, are a 
 waste of strength. The energy you put into repentance 
 would be better spent on cultivating the emotion opposite to 
 that which causes the repentance. "Do not look back; . . . 
 pick out all the opposite moods and practice them all day 
 long. If your astral body wants you to be impatient, set 
 your mind on patience; think of patience in your morning 
 meditation and practice it throughout the whole day. If 
 your astral body wants you to feel jealous, do not think any 
 more about jealousy, think of unselfishness and practice it 
 hard, there will be no room for jealousy then. Your mind 
 cannot be filled with two opposing things at the same time." 
 In other words we must strive to be as positive as we can, 
 as long as we can. "We must strive to emphasise our better 
 natures rather than to feel grieved at the mistakes we have 
 made. 
 
 Personally, I believe most strongly that the past can be 
 modified, both by the present and by the future. I think 
 that our attitude in the present can so modify the past that 
 we may transmute a mistake into a force for good. Similarly, 
 by being careful in the present the future will be made se- 
 
 79 
 
eurfc, and will, in its turn, react upon the past. From a certain 
 standpoint of consciousness everything is in the "Eternal 
 Now." And all that we have done, all that we are doing, 
 all that we shall do, is summed up in the "Now." The mis- 
 chief I may have done to my friend last year, I may consid- 
 erably repair by striving to be of special service to him 
 today. The jealous thought I may have had some time ago, 
 I may render comparatively impotent by surrounding my 
 friend with strong thoughts of unselfish good-will at every 
 possible opportunity. I do not wish to suggest that every 
 action is not followed by its appropriate Karma. But who 
 shall say where an action begins and where it ends? Down 
 here we see things separated off into compartments: the 
 Master is able to see much more of unity than we can in this 
 world of separated existences. 
 
 The Mental Body 
 
 The Master proceeds to point out in what ways the 
 mental body strives through lower thought forms to minister 
 to the needs of the matter of which it is composed. Pride 
 seems to be one of the most common conditions of our mental 
 bodies. "Your mental body wishes to think itself proudly 
 separate, to think much of itself and little of others. Even 
 when you have turned it away from worldly things, it still 
 tries to calculate for self, to make you think of your own pro- 
 gress, instead of thinking of the Master's work and of help- 
 ing others." Mrs. Besant remarks that probably the mind 
 body is the most difficult of all to control. In my own ex- 
 perience, the mind body seems able to deceive us more suc- 
 cessfully than the other bodies, for the mind associates itself 
 with each individual's personal progress, and makes him 
 think how he is getting on. "How near am I to the next 
 definite stage on life's pathway?" is a thought which often 
 comes to those who are striving to lead the spiritual life, and 
 it is undoubtedly a very natural thought. On the other 
 hand, spiritual progress depends on service to others and not 
 
 80 
 
upon individual growth, except in so far as it is undoubtedly 
 true that the more you grow the greater your capacity to be 
 of use. 
 
 We must not forget the essential unity of all, and this 
 means that no individual growth is possible save as others 
 grow too, while the growth of those around us inevitably 
 stimulates our own. In other words, it is no use thinking 
 in terms of ourselves alone or of the few, we have to think 
 in terms of the many, so as gradually to reach the Master's 
 position of thinking in terms of all. 
 
 Undoubtedly the mind body depends for the complete- 
 ness of its lower aspect upon the development of its special 
 capacities and powers, and such development begins with 
 making these capacities and powers grow under the forcing 
 impulse of competition and individualism. But all who read 
 these pages should have passed this stage of growth, and 
 should have come to the point of realising that there is no 
 value in power save as it is used to help the one whole. And 
 so when the mental body wishes to think it is proudly sep- 
 arate, we must look upon this condition as a survival of the 
 past, as something we have, in reality, outgrown and to which 
 we should no longer pay attention. In my own experience, 
 the quickest way of developing the mental faculties at our 
 stage of growth is to use them in the service of others. A 
 boy who is weak in any special subject of study can best 
 stimulate what he lacks by trying to find someone even weaker 
 than himself, so that he may find it possible usefully to em- 
 ploy even the little power he possesses. 
 
 Each one of us has the germ of perfection in us, and we 
 are only weak in any special direction by comparison with 
 others who are strong. Compared with those who are weaker, 
 we ourselves are strong. Remember, always, that behind the 
 apparent imperfections are the germs of perfection, en- 
 shrined within the God within us. We are Gods in the mak- 
 ing, and however negligible our capacities may seem when 
 compared with those of our elder Brethren, they have very 
 appreciable value towards those who know less than we do 
 
 81 
 
ourselves. And by helping those to whom our weakness is 
 as strength we gradually emphasise that strength and so 
 develop faculties hitherto apparently of little force. 
 
 So you see that, in the long run, the great fact of unity 
 is the assurance to each one of us that we have it in our 
 power, in course of time, to become even as the Masters are. 
 "We all depend upon each other, we all grow through failures, 
 and every weakness is but an undeveloped strength. 
 
 Temptations and Opportunities 
 
 Mrs. Besant has often told us that the true server and 
 occultist sees in all surrounding life opportunities rather than 
 temptations. To the ordinary individual temptations must 
 be avoided or at least guarded against. A temptation is 
 something we may succumb to, through which we may 
 stumble. But to an earnest worker who is beginning to un- 
 derstand the true value of life, a temptation is an occasion 
 for the fortifying of a weak place, for the building up of a 
 virtue, of a strength in place of a weakness. He does not 
 try to avoid temptations, but rather to stand firm in their midst 
 and to put forth that very strength whose absence made the 
 temptation possible at all. I quite admit that certain people 
 would do well to run away from temptations, but anyone 
 who means business must endeavour to gain strength to sur- 
 mount them from the reserve force of earnestness which will 
 carry him through most troubles if he will only let it. Let 
 me emphasise once more in this connection the need for self- 
 recollectedness. Eemember who you are and for what you 
 are striving, and remember this especially when a difficulty 
 or temptation threatens to distract an all too willing mind 
 from its Self. The mere endeavour to remember, still more 
 the act of memory, brings its own strength and makes you 
 master of the difficulty or temptation instead of its slave. 
 "You must watch unceasingly," says the Master, "or you 
 will fail." Habit is everything in these matters and you 
 will either fall into the habit of succumbing to temptations 
 
 82 
 
or you will fall into the habit of transmuting them into added 
 capacity. Set up a good habit and it will carry you through 
 troubles you would never have thought it possible to endure. 
 Set up a bad habit and it will take you a long time to unravel 
 the knot into which you have twisted yourself it cannot be 
 cut! Self-recollectedness means " thinking of the Master's 
 work and of helping others, ' ' and when you think in this way 
 you are learning to become the alchemist of your temptations. 
 
 Right and Wrong 
 
 We now come to a most important statement by the 
 Master: "Between Right and Wrong Occultism knows no 
 compromise. At whatever apparent cost that which is right 
 you must do, that which is wrong you must not do, no matter 
 what the ignorant may think or say." Who is an occultist? 
 To this question we have an answer in an earlier portion of 
 At the Feet of the Master: "What religion a man holds, to 
 what race he belongs these things are not important; the 
 really important thing is . . . the knowledge of God's plan 
 for men." I have italicised the last sentence because I be- 
 lieve the occultist to be one who is at least beginning to know 
 God's plan, no one can know it in its entirety. An occultist 
 has begun to use his discrimination to distinguish between 
 the real and the unreal, between darkness and light, and 
 knows that death is but the instrument of immortality. You 
 who are servants of the Star, perhaps members of the Theo- 
 sophical Society, are occultists in the becoming, because you 
 know some of the truths at present hidden from the major- 
 ity of mankind. So it is you whom the Master addresses when 
 He declares that at whatever apparent cost the right must be 
 chosen. Note the word "apparent." There is no real cost 
 to yourself or to others when you choose the right and turn 
 away from the wrong. Great indeed is the truth and it shall 
 prevail, however much error may seem for the time to tri- 
 umph. Pain comes because of wrong-doing, and though it 
 is true that a right action often causes considerable pain to 
 
 83 
 
us ix wo are breaking through hi 
 
 : .ng, and ;r nature is still striving to t 
 
 the lower is but the inevitable 
 
 ne and joy ause 
 
 He is in a all that 
 
 a bondage the m hieh it has grown to and 
 
 There is onl; 
 
 m the p ..nt than cur- 
 
 se who do not understand the n. r our ae- 
 
 tion. In I purify 
 
 lower nature, and this looked - 
 
 when we idei the lower which 
 
 them much n shly than tl 
 
 uiueh upon the opinion 
 
 D the hope o: 
 the judgment of our fell vhat, I think, is meai 
 
 .11 find, if you look hon ordinary life 
 
 is a . the outer world, people are al- 
 
 ii that which they know to be 
 right, in order to r. r for themselves, in 
 
 meet t! 
 
 r people's opinions is p 
 a weakness which is amiable at lease 
 
 . . . Plent - and 
 
 social qu :i reform. . . I know 
 
 our highest ideals immediately, any 
 more than you can get from :om of a mountain to the 
 
 top by taking . to scale your moun- 
 
 tain, taken with I of reaching the 
 
 summit. u nean 
 
 lower your ideal. That is fa: a'.. One thing is right, while 
 
 84 
 
the pleasant is another/ says a Hindu scripture, ' right unto 
 pleasant the wise man preferreth.' " 
 
 I grant you that the path thus shown to us is hard, be- 
 cause we have hitherto been living in a world of compromises. 
 But the less we compromise the more real joy life brings to 
 us and the more definite consciousness we gain of the Mas- 
 ter's world to which we all belong. Later I shall take 
 up the latter portion of the whole question as to right and 
 wrong in the light of the Master's direction as to how we 
 reach the right, and how we may distinguish our whims, 
 prejudices and fancies from that which is really right. 
 
 85 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE HIDDEN LAWS OF NATUEE 
 
 I do not want to trouble you much about the hidden laws 
 of nature, because as you grow you will begin to find out for 
 yourselves what these hidden laws are. Briefly, you must try 
 to understand that the world 's laws, those which we call ' ' con- 
 ventions ' ' and ' ' customs, ' ' are by no means necessarily binding 
 upon you. People are far too apt to accept the world as it 
 is, and to allow themselves to drift with it rather than take 
 the trouble of trying to guide. Each one of us must try to 
 find his own footing, and take his stand on principles he has 
 tested for himself before accepting. To do this you must 
 not rest satisfied with things as they are, nor with the ordi- 
 nary interpretation of life as accepted by the average indi- 
 vidual. Your conscience and your reason are the God within 
 you, and you must ever seek to give these two forces all pos- 
 sible opportunities to guide you to right thought, right speech 
 and right action. If you do this, you will find that they will 
 tell you much about nature that the ordinary person does not 
 know simply because he regulates his conduct in life from that 
 which is outside him than from the God within. You will 
 thus come into contact with laws of nature, hidden from the 
 gaze of most people, which will powerfully aid you in estab- 
 lishing yourself upon right lines of growth. For example, 
 most people have thought that the greatest good of the great- 
 est number should be the aim and object of all legislation 
 and statecraft, but the law of nature is that only that which 
 is pleasant for all can really be pleasant for any single indi- 
 vidual, to quote the Master's statement. Under modern con- 
 ditions we tend to ignore minorities, because we do not yet 
 
 86 
 
know how to deal with them; but to the One minorities are 
 of equal importance with majorities. And you and I have to 
 learn how to bring this as yet hidden law into operation, so 
 as to do only those things which God wills these being the 
 only things really useful for all. Our hidden law, is, then, 
 that we are concerned neither with majorities nor with 
 minorities, but with the will of God, and if we can only un- 
 derstand His will we shall see how all the various modes of 
 life however opposed on the surface' are but aspects of 
 Him seen from a certain angle. This will give us tolerance, 
 while at the same time we may feel it our duty strongly to 
 press any particular aspect of His will, seen from some 
 special aspect, which our conscience and our reason tell us to 
 be of dominant value for the moment. When we come later 
 on to deal with tolerance, I shall have much to say on the 
 need for virility in tolerance. I content myself here with 
 asking you to remember that however tolerant you may be of 
 others' views and attitudes, never forget that you, too, have 
 your message to give to the world you, too, have your angle 
 of vision to emphasise, and you need be no less tolerant of 
 other angles of vision because you pour your whole soul 
 through your own. 
 
 Then again, to take up other as yet hidden laws of na- 
 ture, there is the knowledge as to the various bodies which 
 each one of us possesses, knowledge as to portions of God 's plan 
 for men which the world has yet to discover, knowledge as 
 to the existence of Elder Brethren, knowledge as to the laws 
 of health and magnetism. Much of such knowledge is at 
 present veiled from the gaze of most of us. But you will 
 gradually learn, as some of us have learned, and then you will 
 be much more careful, more deliberate, more thoughtful be- 
 cause you will know that, though nothing matters much and 
 most things do not matter at all, yet the motive behind the 
 " things,' ' the attitude of mind and feeling towards them 
 these matter considerably. And you can only serve the 
 Master truly when you think before you speak or act, or, as 
 the phrase goes on, when you "look before you leap." Hasti- 
 
 Itne pnras 
 
 87 
 
ness and impulsiveness, however common, must not be looked 
 upon as natural, and so excused. Hastiness is carelessness, 
 carelessness is slovenliness, and slovenliness, from this stand- 
 point, is spiritual dirtiness. We need spiritual cleanliness, 
 and to obtain it we must take care to reflect beforehand on 
 the result of the proposed feeling or action or thought. So 
 you see how a knowledge of some of these hidden laws 
 strikes at the root of your very being, and carries you along 
 lines often far removed from the road on which the world at 
 present travels. 
 
 The Important and the Unimportant 
 
 The Master now teaches us as to the relative importance 
 of various courses of action, from His standpoint and not 
 from that of the world. "Firm as a rock where right and 
 wrong are concerned, yield always to others in things which 
 do not matter.' ' Or, as He has put it in another way: "be- 
 tween right and wrong, Occultism knows no compromise. ' ' 
 
 The sentence I quoted just before this one acts as com- 
 mentary on it, and shows how firmness must always be pre- 
 ceded by discrimination a quality which, as Mrs. Besant 
 has pointed out, is translated in the outer world as "tact." 
 The difficulty for most people is to decide as to what is really 
 right and as to what is really wrong. They say: "If only 
 we knew that, there would be no difficulty at all, and we 
 could quite easily let all else go." Now the Master has been 
 telling us in an earlier part of the book that we must try to 
 realise that our bodies are not ourselves. "You must dig 
 deep down into yourself to find the God within you, and listen 
 to His voice, which is your voice. Do not mistake your 
 bodies for yourself, neither the physical body, nor the astral, 
 nor the mental. Each one of them will pretend to be the 
 Self, in order to gain what it wants." What you have to do 
 then is to try to be as sure as you can that any idea you may 
 for the moment have as to right and wrong is not one of your 
 bodies pretending to be the God within you so as to get some- 
 
 88 
 
thing it wants for itself. If you avoid acting hastily, if you 
 will give yourself time to do a little of that digging deep 
 down of which the Master speaks, you will be almost certain 
 to know whether what is wanted is really right or not. It is 
 all a matter of practice, for, the more you practice, the big- 
 ger the channel leading to the real "you," the more quickly 
 you can at any time travel into yourself and know the will 
 of the God within you. Then, again, the more you reach the 
 God within you, the more you become the master of your 
 various bodies, instead of allowing them in turn to dominate 
 you. Their various desires, therefore, will grow feebler and 
 feebler, until you will at once be able to distinguish between 
 that which they want and that which you the real you 
 want. Do not expect to be able at once unerringly to dis- 
 criminate between right and wrong, between the fictitious 
 "right" of your bodies and the real "right" of yourself. 
 At first, just try to stop, when you are about to do something 
 apparently "right," and dig a little, that is to say, make a 
 little appeal to the best in you. If you allow yourself to be 
 carried away at once, the chances are that you are allowing 
 one of your bodies to put its own interpretation on "right" 
 and "wrong," and you begin to juggle with conscience by 
 saying: "Well, at any rate there is no harm in doing this." 
 Kemember that nothing matters much, most things not at all ; 
 so that ninety-nine out of the hundred occasions on which 
 you think you are following a principle you are, as a matter 
 of actual fact, simply being led by bodies which ought to be 
 your servants and not your masters. No man can serve two 
 masters, still less the three astral, physical and mental. We 
 can only serve one master the God within us. 
 
 Mrs. Besant puts the same idea in another way when 
 she tells us i l Give way in everything, save in matters of prin- 
 ciple." And the fact is that while you must be as firm as a 
 rock as far as regards the general line or principle of conduct 
 on which your life is based, in almost every act of daily life, 
 in almost all your relations with other people, you will be 
 able to give way. "You must be always gentle, and kindly, 
 
 89 
 
reasonable and accommodating, leaving to others the same full 
 liberty which you need for yourself. ' ' To do this is to exercise 
 true discrimination, or, to employ the worldly phrase, "tact." 
 But remember that tact in this sense does not mean what it so 
 often is supposed to mean making things pleasant at the 
 expense of truth. It means sympathy and sweet reasonable- 
 ness, "leaving to others the same full liberty which you need 
 for yourself." You could have no truer definition of tact 
 than that. 
 
 Listen to Mrs. Besant's words on this important point: 
 "You see what is important in a certain thing that has 
 to be done, and look after that; in all the rest you let the 
 people do exactly what they like, and you point your will to 
 the one thing in the middle that matters. They will think 
 what a delightfully yielding person you are and follow you 
 quite happily on the important point, hardly conscious that 
 they are following at all. You have used discrimination; 
 you have thrown with both hands to people all the other 
 things the things which they think matter, and have gone 
 steadily on to the one thing you wanted. This is the thing 
 which the fanatic forgets, and therefore he does not succeed, 
 while the Occultist always succeeds. Yoga, you remember, 
 is ' skill in action. ' The fanatic will not yield on things which 
 do not matter; he does not discriminate between the import- 
 ant and the unimportant, so he rubs people's fur all up the 
 wrong way, and then they will not follow him, however right 
 he may be, and however important his main object. If, in- 
 stead, you smooth the fur down, they purr and come along 
 after you. This fact is based on an important fact in nature. 
 In both men and animals it is an instinct to pull in opposi- 
 tion to anyone who is trying to pull them. Do not pull and 
 do not push the people, then they will come with you will- 
 ingly. I saw a little instance of this fact here the other day. 
 A man was trying to pull a calf along and, of course, the 
 calf had planted its four feet into the ground, stuck its tail 
 out, and was pulling against the man for all it was worth. If 
 the man had been sensible he would have stopped pulling, 
 
 90 
 
and then the other animal would have stopped pulling against 
 him, and with a little patting he would have got it to follow 
 him willingly. Take a lesson from that. If people will not 
 do what you want, look for the fault in yourself. You will 
 generally find that it is something in your way of acting that 
 indisposes them. I follow this plan myself. When there is 
 friction and trouble in a place, I sit down and think what it 
 is I am doing that produces these, and find another way. It 
 is no use trying to force people. You can force them to a 
 certain extent, no doubt, but you only create opposition and 
 trouble by doing so. But put a considerable attraction be- 
 fore them, and they will all come round it of their own 
 accord. This implies a faculty of leadership, and it is a 
 faculty which the Masters will want of you in the future, so 
 try to develop it. The Masters will want you to know how 
 to lead, so that you may help people along, instead of ham- 
 mering them along/ ' 
 
 91 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 "A SMALL THING' ' 
 
 The Master proceeds to draw a very important distinc- 
 tion between that which is worth doing and that which is not. 
 He says: "Try to see what is worth doing: and remember 
 that you must not judge by the size of the thing. A small 
 thing which is directly useful in the Master's work is far 
 better worth doing than a large thing which the world 
 would call good." 
 
 In the course of a varied experience I have come across 
 many people who wish to take part in some kind of activity, 
 many of whom come and offer themselves for service. I have 
 always been in a difficulty with regard to these people, for I 
 never can tell whether they are in earnest or not. One does 
 not want to put them off in any way, nor, on the other 
 hand, does one desire to have round one a number of people 
 for whom special kinds of work have to be found. If a per- 
 son really wishes to serve the Master he does not mind in the 
 least what he does. But most people are not content to do 
 whatever comes to hand. Either there is some special kind 
 of work which they want to do, and they do not care about 
 doing any other kind, or they expect that some activity shall 
 be created for them. Again, many people are quite unwill- 
 ing to begin at the beginning. They want to do work which 
 shall draw to them the favorable notice of their fellows, and 
 they desire, therefore, to begin in the middle rather than 
 plod through the early stages through which all good work 
 must inevitably be built up. 
 
 The Spirit of Service 
 
 Now I want you who read these lines to look to see 
 
 in what spirit you offer yourself for service. The Master 
 
 makes the matter quite clear. "A small thing which is 
 
 directly useful in the Master's work is far better worth 
 
 92 
 
doing than a large thing which the world would call good/' 
 Try to see, therefore, whether there is a piece of work being 
 done which may be called the Master's work: it is for you, 
 individually, to judge what the Master's work is. The Theo- 
 sophical Society, the Order of the Star in the East, and all 
 activities subsidiary to these are obviously the Master's work, 
 and if you can find a little place which enables you definitely 
 to be occupied in the service of such organisations, you are 
 doing something which is far better worth doing than some 
 other piece of work perhaps more showy, but less connected 
 directly with the Master's service. If I might be allowed to 
 indulge in a little personal reminiscence I began my own ser- 
 vice to the Masters by putting postage stamps on envelopes, 
 and writing out addresses for the Theosophical Society when 
 its Headquarters were at 28, Albermarle Street. I remem- 
 ber being thoroughly determined to get a footing in the Office, 
 and while of course my occupation was not very inspiring. 
 I felt that I had put in the thin edge of the wedge, and that 
 it rested with me to hammer that wedge firmly home. I 
 knew that I could do that work, and that probably I should 
 not be turned away, provided I did not show any discontent 
 or desire for other work which might not at the moment, be 
 available for me. On the other hand, I was on the spot and 
 if any work should turn up I would be there ready to take 
 it if no one better could be found. 
 
 One must, of course, be willing to go on with a special 
 piece of work for an indefinite period. We ought to believe 
 that the Master directly guides the affairs of our Theo- 
 sophical Society and of the Order of the Star in the East, 
 just as He guides many other movements in the world, and 
 we should be able to realise that He knows who are working 
 for Him, in however humble a capacity and that when the op- 
 portunity offers he will give them suitable work. As a Master- 
 Organiser you can trust Him to make the best use of such ca- 
 pacities as you possess. Let me lay stress on the desirability of 
 being on the spot. To me, in the early days, it proved invalu- 
 able, for when Mr. Keightley had to leave for India the Theo- 
 
 93 
 
sophical Society authorities had to look round for someone 
 temporarily to take his place, and there I was at hand. I 
 did not ask to take his place, but they knew at least I hope 
 they did that I meant business, and I was not going to be 
 turned away from the Master's service by the fact that there 
 was not much for me to do. The result was that while there 
 may have been many other better candidates for the tempo- 
 rary post, I was selected because they had not far to go to 
 look for me. 
 
 Try to think how glad you are to render even 
 the slightest little service to those whom you love. You do 
 not want necessarily to do big things for them. It is not 
 always possible to render big acts of service, but those whom 
 you love are as happy with the small, kindly deeds as they 
 would be with the big ones. Indeed I cannot help thinking 
 it is the little things that make life go smoothly, and though 
 big pieces of work have to be done, they generally affect peo- 
 ple in the mass rather than individuals. So if you can bring 
 yourself to realise that the Master is one of those whom you 
 love with all reverence, you will then find out more clearly 
 the meaning of the phrase, "a small thing directly useful 
 in the Master's work is far better worth doing than a large 
 thing: which the world would call good.'' 
 
 Begin at the Beginning 
 
 It is all a question of quiet determination. If you wish 
 to become an engineer you must begin at the beginning. 
 Many people are able to drive motor cars, but most of those 
 who can drive are helpless on the occasion of a break-down. 
 They then have to engage the services of someone who has 
 been for years learning all about engines, and how to con- 
 struct and repair them. The same applies equally to the 
 Master's service. When everything goes quite smoothly we 
 all of us can do quite well, but every now and then something 
 goes wrong. It may be in the office ; it may be in the attitude 
 of people either towards the work or towards ourselves; it 
 may be there is some friction between our fellow-workers. 
 
 94 
 
To put things straight, you must have had experience of the 
 way in which things work, whether they be office things, or 
 human temperaments. Ella Wheeler Wilcox said once in 
 one of her poems: " Laugh and the world laughs with you, 
 weep and you weep alone." We can all laugh together, but 
 Theosophists and members of the Order of the Star in the 
 East have to train themselves to stand helpfully beside those 
 who weep. To do this, you must try to learn wisdom through 
 the small things before you can hope to achieve wisdom in 
 the larger issues of the outside world. 
 
 I repeat once more, the great thing is willingness to do 
 anything that comes to hand. During this present war many 
 people who never used to put their hands to anything, scrub 
 floors, wash utensils, do all kinds of so-called dirty jobs, be- 
 cause they feel now they must help and because they know help 
 is needed. It is sad that we should have needed a war to teach 
 us this very obvious lesson. As a matter of fact, help is always 
 being needed, and we want people who will do all kinds of 
 simple things, which, however trivial they may appear in 
 the eyes of the world are little bright sparks of light illumi- 
 nating the nobility of the soul who is doing them. Such actions 
 immediately attract the Master's attention, and thenceforth 
 His blessing plays upon that individual, and so from the doing 
 simple things will come the power to be of greater service. 
 
 Eemember that when we are reading At the Feet of the 
 Master we have come out of our world into the Master's 
 world, and in His world things seem so very different from 
 what they appear down here in the ordinary world by which 
 we are normally surrounded. Never think of the world's judg- 
 ment about what you do or about what you want to do. Try 
 to remember that the Master looks into your heart to see 
 the spirit in which you are doing the work, and pays much 
 less attention than does the outside world to the actual work 
 in which you are engaged. Your circle of influence may be 
 at first very much restricted, but if you do your duty within 
 that limited sphere, the Master will take upon Himself to 
 enlarge the circle and will give you an opportunity of doing 
 
 95 
 
His work in a wider field. To sum it all up : begin at the be- 
 ginning, and go on at the beginning as long as you may be 
 needed. 
 
 Discrimination in Service 
 
 The Master then tells us to try and distinguish between 
 the more useful and the less useful. "To feed the poor," 
 He says "is a good and noble and useful work; yet to feed 
 their souls is nobler and more useful than to feed their 
 bodies. Any rich man can feed the body, but only those who 
 know can feed the soul. If you know, it is your duty to help 
 others to know." 
 
 These words contain a very important truth. We, who 
 are members of the Order of the Star in the East and of the 
 Theosophical Society, are supposed to be in possession of 
 truths which will help the world to grow stronger, more use- 
 ful, and more able to cope with its difficulties. There are 
 not many of us who possess these truths consciously, and the 
 greatest blessing we can offer the world is to spread abroad 
 that which means so much to us. As the Master says, any 
 rich man can feed the body. We expect a man who has 
 wealth to give his first attention to the right distribution of 
 his wealth that is his business. Those of us who may have 
 riches belonging to the spiritual world have, as our first care, 
 the duty of distributing these spiritual riches as wisely as we 
 can. We are so apt to become slaves to the world's attitude 
 toward things, and to forget that though the world may not 
 recognise the value of our riches, we, at least, have for our- 
 selves and for many of our friends, proved their worth. 
 Few Theosophists may have worldly wealth, but all Theo- 
 sophists have a little spiritual knowledge. If they cannot 
 spread their spiritual knowledge far and wide, they prob- 
 ably would not, were they wealthy people, give of their riches 
 generously. 
 
 Spread Your Truth 
 
 People sometimes say to me: "I can do so little. You see 
 I have no influence. Money seems to be everything. ' ' My 
 
 96 
 
reply to them is: "What do you know that has helped you in 
 life's difficulties?" The knowledge that has helped you is 
 certain to help others. Many people may not be ready for 
 that knowledge. For such, the voice of the Theosophist will 
 fall on unheeding ears. But there are always some, some- 
 where, who need the truths we possess, and it behooves us so 
 to spread these truths that they may reach the ears of those 
 to whom they are necessary. 
 
 I quite grant that we can do but little without a certain 
 amount of material prosperity. Money certainly does help, 
 and without it life is indeed more difficult. On the other 
 hand, we must give what we can. If we do this, then will 
 the Master add to our work the power that money gives. 
 Money is always ready to the hand of those who will use it 
 in the Master's service. And while we all of us have, from 
 time to time, to know what it is to struggle without the help 
 of money, while we have often to see many of our schemes 
 fail for want of money, in the long run perseverance with 
 the little we have will bring to us all kinds of help, including 
 financial. The run may be a long one; the length of it de- 
 pends, to a very large extent, upon the training which the 
 individual has to receive. It may be necessary that he shall 
 go through a long course of poverty to see how far the truths 
 he knows sustain him in trouble. But, as I have said before, 
 he wins through his experience, and no great truth for which 
 some part of the world is ready can ever fail to reach its 
 object because of lack of money. It may fail to reach its 
 object from lack of capacity, from lack of enthusiasm, 
 from lack of perseverance. But once these qualities are pres- 
 ent, all other things shall be added. 
 
 So take care of that which you already possess, and 
 invest it according to your best knowledge. No possession 
 is of greater value than the spiritual knowledge which gives 
 us stability, peace, confidence, strength. All these things 
 come to us by building into our characters the truths for 
 which the Theosophical Society and the Order of the Star in 
 the East stand. Let us, therefore, make use of these truths 
 
 97 
 
in our own daily life, and use them in service among all who 
 surround us. Life is always more or less hard and difficult. 
 It should be less hard and less difficult to those of us who know. 
 And we should be able to give of that which helps us to 
 courage to all who have a less sure source from which to draw. 
 At the present time, when the whole world is in the 
 throes of war, we must be careful to see that the knowledge 
 we possess is spread far and wide, we must be careful to see 
 that we live it more truly than we have ever lived it before, 
 and we must be careful to see that through our example the 
 preaching of this knowledge may be made more insistent 
 and attention-compelling. Personally, speaking as the Gen- 
 eral Secretary of the Theosophical Society in England and 
 Wales, I feel it to be a special duty to do all I can to make 
 Theosophy widely known, so that those whom the war has 
 caused to seek help and peace, may be able to find something 
 which shall give them courage to endure. I might have joined 
 the army, had my physical health been equal to the strain. But 
 the truths of Theosophy are everything to me, and have pulled 
 me through many hard times. I could have given my body to 
 my country, but I feel I do not think I shall be accused of 
 cowardice in saying so that I would far rather give my 
 soul. That which has given me strength I must give to 
 those around me who are in need of strength. The world 
 may call this conceit, but it is the principle of my life, and I 
 should feel untrue to my higher self were I not, in such a 
 crisis as this, to spread in the most helpful manner possible, 
 truths for which the world is looking, and without which the 
 world can make but little progress. I quite agree that the 
 majority of the youth of the country owe their bodies to 
 the nation, for the war is being partly fought with bodies, 
 but I am equally convinced of the truth underlying the 
 letter of Lord Derby to the Archbishop of Canterbury, in 
 which he agreed as to the need of service to the country of 
 the ministers of religion. If a man shirks the gift of his 
 body, how shall he offer the gift of his soul. For the soul is 
 a far greater gift than ever the body could be. Yet, if a man 
 
 98 
 
feels himself to be a channel for the Master's force, and 
 every minister of the Church should feel this, then he can 
 ordinarily do his best work by leading a life of special 
 purity so as to become an ever-deepening channel through 
 which the Master's strength and blessing may pass untainted. 
 
 How Shall We Serve? 
 
 The question as to what you ought to do depends, there- 
 fore, upon the position which you occupy. It is, indeed, the 
 duty of most to set an example to those around them, and this 
 often involves the putting aside of occupations you like for 
 the sake of duties you owe. I have often and often thought 
 over this question with regard to my own special circum- 
 stances, and I have come to the very definite conclusion that 
 as long as I can give the best of myself to my fellow-country- 
 men, and as long as I can maintain the highest standard of 
 living within my power, for so long it is my duty to make as 
 many useful channels as I can through which our Theo- 
 sophical movement may spread its message. The world may 
 not agree with me, but when I am making big decisions I 
 strive for the time to live in the Master's world, and to make 
 my decisions from that standpoint. With the pressure of 
 public opinion around one, and with the strong thought 
 forms which press upon one from all sides, it is not always 
 easy to keep clear the memory of that temporary life in the 
 Master's world. But I strongly feel the truth of those words 
 of Shakespeare 's : * ' To thine own self be true and it must fol- 
 low as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any 
 man." Men may think you false, but that is a far different 
 matter from actually being so. I quite admit that people 
 often suffer their own inclinations, their own weaknesses, to 
 enter into their judgments. They try to reconcile desire with 
 duty, and then seek to persuade themselves that it is duty 
 which is moving them and not desire. The question is one 
 between a man and his conscience, and when once one's con- 
 science is clear, one is bound to have adequate strength to 
 meet any difficulties which such a judgment may entail. 
 
 
 99 
 
CHAPTEE X 
 SEKVICE AS EDUCATION 
 
 The Master remarks that: "However wise you may be 
 already, on this Path you have much to learn; so much that 
 here also there must be discrimination, and you must think 
 carefully what is worth learning." He answers the thought 
 by telling us that we must study, because ' ' God is Wisdom as 
 well as Love," and that we must study especially that which 
 will most help us to help others. 
 
 This statement of the Master seems to me to be at the 
 basis of all true education, for I myself hold strongly that 
 no education can be regarded as satisfactory which does not 
 include within it the service of other people. It is sometimes 
 said that the great object of education is first to make a child 
 happy in his child-life, and then to give him useful know- 
 ledge. As a matter of fact, happiness, knowledge and ser- 
 vice are, in reality, so far as the Master's world is concerned, 
 interchangeable terms. No boy or girl is truly happy unless 
 he begins, even while young, to transmute his knowledge into 
 service. In many of the more advanced schools this truth is 
 well understood, but, on the whole, educational authorities are 
 far too much occupied with conventional method and subject 
 matter, and pay far too little attention to the choice of method 
 and subject from the point of view of the way in which the 
 child may easily make use of the knowledge he daily gains in 
 school for the helping of those less advanced than himself. 
 In the Central Hindu College at Benares it was always our 
 habit to encourage every single student not only to study 
 but to serve, and, indeed, we found it to be true that any 
 boy who lacked capacity along any special line could very 
 considerably decrease his ignorance by trying to help along 
 that line some one who knew even less than he did. There is 
 no better way of growing oneself than endeavouring to make 
 oneself useful to one's surroundings; and in helping other 
 people we increase our own capacity to learn. 
 
 100 
 
Unfortunately under modern, 'conditions ..-we* fae very 
 often face to face with the statement that young people must 
 not be distracted from their studies; that their time for ser- 
 vice is not yet ; that they have enough to do in learning with- 
 out going into the outside world. With such statements I 
 entirely disagree. I do not think that children are nearly as 
 happy as they ought to be, nor is the world nearly as joyous 
 a place to live in as it should be. There may be many rea- 
 sons for this, but at least one of the reasons is that the child 
 does not bring into the outer world the joyous childish nature 
 that the world needs, and I long for the time when part of a 
 child's school life shall consist in moving among his sur- 
 roundings, bringing to them the song that children alone can 
 sing. I do not, for a moment, suggest that children should 
 take an active part in politics, or in the discussion of social 
 questions. But I do say, most emphatically, that there are 
 very definite acts of service which children alone can per- 
 form, and which are very much needed both by the elder gen- 
 eration, and by the young themselves. 
 
 
 Two Kinds of Study 
 
 The child, therefore, has two kinds of study to under- 
 take: (1) that which vitalises and makes sensitive his mind, 
 and (2) that which enables him to be immediately of use in 
 his own way. There are many subjects to study; much he 
 needs to know; partly because these things will be definitely 
 useful to him in after life, partly because they give the mind a 
 certain tone, partly because they give the mind a certain disci- 
 pline, and partly because they bring him, through the mind, 
 into touch with the world, past, present and future. And, 
 on the same lines, training must be given both to the physi- 
 cal and emotional bodies. With these, for the moment, we 
 are not concerned. He must also be taught to study his 
 actual place in the world in which he lives that which the 
 world brings to him, and that which he exists, even as a child, 
 to offer to the world. He has his definite note to strike in the 
 
 
 101 
 
world's ii&rmony, as mush when a child as when he is grown 
 up. The child, therefore," who is not encouraged to turn his 
 study into service cannot be truly happy. For one of the 
 conditions of growth is that we gradually find that the less 
 our selfishness is narrow, the more our happiness grows per- 
 manent. Children soon get tired of most of their toys, and 
 many parents are distracted at the thought of how they are 
 going to occupy their young people from day to day when 
 studies are over. It is a part of a child's nature that he 
 should, from time to time, get into mischief this is but the 
 result of that groping which leads us all to covet experience 
 of one kind or another. The child would get into mischief 
 much less, however, if he could be made to realise that he has 
 a power in himself which he can make use of if he likes the 
 power to join himself to others, and so to gain a more satis- 
 fying kind of happiness than if he were to live for himself 
 alone. I consider, therefore, that every boy and girl who 
 goes to school, or who goes to a University, should combine 
 study with service of one kind or another. I consider all 
 education one-sided which does not provide for each student 
 an appropriate service. 
 
 The Primary Principle 
 
 The Master lays down the primary principle upon which 
 all study and service must be based. He says: "You must 
 learn to be true all through, in thought and word, and deed. ' ' 
 He thus emphasises that the world is built upon a foundation 
 of truth, and He shows us that this is the first lesson every 
 one of us has to learn, whether in school or out of it. Truth, 
 indeed, is the basis of all growth, and the rate at which we 
 grow depends upon the extent to which we allow truth to 
 permeate our thoughts, our words, our actions. All in the 
 world that is bad, impure, wrong, unhappy, is in reality, 
 untrue. This is to say, it is all a distortion of the true the 
 force of truth has been mis-applied. Absence of knowledge 
 is the cause of all the trouble in the world, and the world 
 needs, above all things, that truth which is the same as 
 
 102 
 
knowledge should be spread far and wide, in forms suited 
 to the varying understandings of the different stages of evo- 
 lution to which the peoples of the world belong. The Master 
 tells us how we are to arrive at the truth, and He says that 
 we must not believe that a thing is true because many other 
 people hold it to be true, nor because it has been believed for 
 centuries, nor because it is written in some book which man 
 thinks sacred. He tells us that we must think things out for 
 ourselves, and judge for ourselves. '*He who would walk 
 upon the Path must learn to think for himself, for supersti- 
 tion is one of the greatest evils in the world, one of the fet- 
 ters from which you must utterly free yourself.' ' 
 
 Form is not Reality 
 
 That is why it is so important to have as teachers people 
 who have a certain amount of real knowledge, and who are 
 as free from prejudice as possible. I do not for a moment 
 suggest that forms are not valuable, and during childhood 
 there are many forms with which children are to be associ- 
 ated. But the teacher should never lose sight of the fact 
 that forms are but forms, no matter how beautiful the forms 
 may be, and that the existence of the form depends upon the 
 reality within. Young people are so much brought up to be- 
 lieve that the forms which surround them are the only forms 
 of any real value that, either they rebel against them, or they 
 become dwarfed by them. In either case mischief has been 
 done, and suffering inevitably follows any belief that form is 
 reality. We must try, therefore, to consider all forms as 
 sign-posts pointing to the reality which they enclose. In the 
 early stages of child life, the form attracts most, and we can- 
 not expect any considerable effort to look through the form 
 into the reality beyond. But, as education proceeds, forms 
 become increasingly insignificant, and should serve but to 
 emphasise the beauty of an underlying unity which can find 
 expression in so much apparent diversity. We all of us, there- 
 fore, have to see how much we are at the mercy of conventional 
 habits of thought. It is, of course, the reverse of sensible to 
 
 103 
 
disbelieve simply because a large number of people believe, 
 though that is the attitude of many otherwise independent 
 thinkers. We must be continually on the alert to see that we 
 do not unconsciously drift, either with our surroundings or 
 with the general current of thought along which our nation, 
 or the world as a whole, is drifting. Those who would serve 
 the Master must learn to think for themselves, and this in- 
 volves a very searching analysis of the motives which precede 
 our thought, our words, our deeds. 
 
 Causes of Misunderstanding 
 
 The Master then remarks that we must not think of 
 other people what we do not know. This is, of course, one 
 of the most difficult lessons to learn, and one of the most 
 valuable acts of service which both young and old can offer 
 in helpfulness to others. We are all of us far too prone to 
 imagine, and then to treat the imagination as if it were know- 
 ledge. Much of the ill-feeling which exists among people 
 is simply because they often think that which they do not 
 know, and which frequently turns out to be untrue. A per- 
 sonal talk with someone, whom one imagines to be in opposi- 
 tion to one, frequently removes the misunderstanding. In- 
 deed, most people are much more antagonistic away from 
 their objects of disapproval than when they come face to 
 face. As a general rule, when two people come together, a 
 very slight effort is always made by the underlying Unity to 
 assert itself, and with the good-will this little effort often 
 overcomes the misunderstanding w T hich has been largely 
 born of distance and ignorance. 
 
 Then, again, there is in most people a very definite ten- 
 dency to exaggeration, and this also causes much misunder- 
 standing and difficulty. As the Master observes, we often 
 imagine that people are thinking of us: " If a man does 
 something which you think will harm you, or says something 
 which you think applies to you, do not think at once, 'he 
 meant to injure me.' " Nothing is more true than the fact 
 that each soul has its own troubles, and that its thoughts turn 
 
 104 
 
chiefly around itself. Our attitude towards others very 
 largely depends on the way we ourselves are getting on in 
 the world at the moment on the state of our physical health, 
 on the hopes we have for the future, on our memories of the 
 past. Generally speaking, it is not so much what someone 
 else does that matters, as the relation of that action to the 
 little world in which we live. A little matter which I thought 
 nothing of yesterday, I may today regard as of essential im- 
 portance because toothache has entered my little world, and has 
 upset my nerves. All kinds of apparently trivial conditions 
 may combine to make us take a very uncharitable view of the 
 actions of other people. Mrs. Besant has often told us that to 
 feel hurt is a condition of selfishness, because our business is 
 what we ourselves do, and not the attitude of others towards us. 
 This is a hard lesson to learn, because in the past we 
 have so much depended upon the world outside us. If we 
 would become pupils of a Master we must become far more 
 positive in character, and make our condition depend upon 
 what we give out rather than upon what we take in. I often 
 think that the lives of clerks in the city depend far more 
 upon what happens to their employers in the domesticity of 
 home than upon the carelessness or cleverness with which 
 they attend to their employers' business. An employer finds 
 that his morning egg is rotten, has a few words with his wife, 
 is disturbed by the boisterousness of his children, could not 
 find his collar stud while dressing, lost his favourite train, 
 found his favourite seat occupied by someone else, and the 
 result is that the office becomes unbearable, and everything 
 his subordinates do is wrong. The subordinates may imagine 
 that their employer dislikes them, or has some grudge against 
 them, whereas the fact of the matter is that the whole mis- 
 chief began with the loss of that collar stud! I do not, for 
 a moment, wish to suggest that this is always the case, but it 
 very often is. As the Master observes: "Probably some one 
 or something else has made him angry, and because he hap- 
 pens to meet you he turns his anger upon you. He is acting 
 foolishly, for all anger is foolish, but you must not therefore 
 think untruly of him." 
 
 105 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 DISCRIMINATION 
 
 The Master proceeds to explain that when you become a 
 pupil of one of the great Masters "you may always try the 
 truth of your thought by laying it beside His." He explains 
 that the pupil is one with the Master, and only needs to put 
 back his thought into the Master's to see at once whether it 
 agrees. This remark obviously does not apply to pupils yet 
 on probation, but only to those whose consciousness is in some 
 wonderful way blended with that of their Master. Many 
 people have said to me that they cannot understand how 
 this laying of the thought beside that of the Master can be ac- 
 complished. The only explanation I can think of is that the 
 pupil who is accepted by the Master may always listen, if 
 he will, to the great harmony which the Master sends forth 
 into the world. Any thought the pupil has either harmonises 
 with the Master's harmony, or is a discord, and in this way 
 the pupil somehow feels whether his thought is true or not. 
 If it is true it gives him a sense of fuller life and causes him, 
 as it were, to glow throughout his being. If the thought is 
 not true, it gives him a sense of discomfort and of being ill 
 at ease. He feels, in some way, out of tune with things, and 
 intuitively knows that he is not as genuine as he ought to be. 
 Probably most people have this feeling in greater or lesser 
 degree. At a certain stage when conscience becomes active 
 we know in a general way what thoughts are constructive and 
 what thoughts are destructive in our nature. We have cer- 
 tain ideals and we know, at least, whether we are, on the 
 whole, living up to these ideals or not. Indeed such people 
 may always ask the question : * ' What would the Master think 
 about this? What would the Master say or do under these 
 circumstances V ' But the pupil of the Masters has these 
 
 106 
 

 
 feelings with very much greater intensity, and the only way 
 in which I can describe the difference between the thought 
 which harmonises and the thought which does not is by tell- 
 ing you that the former gives a sense of freshness and clear- 
 ness, while the latter causes a clouded and uncomfortable 
 sensation. It is of course possible to be so immersed in one's 
 thoughts and actions as to shut oneself off from the Master's 
 consciousness, and very often thoughtlessly think or do or 
 feel things which do not make us feel nearly as uncomfortable 
 as they ought to do, because we do not take the trouble to 
 test them in the light of the Master's consciousness. We 
 identify ourselves so entirely with the lower planes of Nature 
 that we cannot listen to the voice of the spirit, and it very 
 often happens that we go through a whole series of wrong 
 thoughts or feelings or actions before awakening to the fact 
 that we have made a mistake. Especially in times like the 
 present, when the great world crisis concentrates our energy 
 so very much in purely worldly activities, there is a danger 
 of forgetting that it is the Great Teachers who order the 
 destinies of Nations and who will guide their peoples to 
 right action. 
 
 Live in Your Ideals 
 
 We cannot expect, therefore that the ordinary individual 
 will be able continually to think what the Master would think, 
 or say, or do under such and such circumstances. But anyone 
 who has a definite link with his Teacher ought to be able con- 
 stantly to hear the harmony of his Master's life, and so al- 
 most automatically to accept this, and to reject that, thought 
 or action which may come to him in the course of his daily 
 life. As a piece of general advice I would urge students to 
 live, just at present especially, as much in their ideals as 
 possible, so as to allow these ideals to become as dominant as 
 may be. The ideal may be a great Teacher or a great prin- 
 ciple, but now is the time to keep it strongly in mind, and to 
 prevent all attacks upon it from becoming successful. At 
 the present time we are at the stage of a conflict between 
 
 107 
 
ideals and worn-out forms, between the New Age and the Old, 
 and our ideals are therefore specially susceptible of attack 
 because the Old wishes to remain in possession, and strives to 
 kill that which would take its place. In some ways at the 
 present time it is easier to have ideals because the dawn of the 
 New Age stimulates them prematurely. On the other hand 
 it is easier also to abandon ideals and to accept the worn-out 
 conventionalities and general world conditions. 
 
 Towards Leadership 
 
 There is always a temptation to move slowly with the 
 majority rather than to lead with the few. Leadership is 
 hard work and involves not only much sacrifice, but also much 
 sorrow and disappointment. It involves also the ridicule, 
 contempt and disapproval of your ordinary surroundings. 
 Do not imagine for a moment that any leader the world has 
 ever produced has gone through life to the plaudits of his 
 fellow men. We may not, at present, be ready for leadership, 
 but now is the time to make a beginning, and the making of 
 a beginning consists in trying to understand what your ideals 
 are, and to adhere firmly to them. That is the first stage to- 
 wards leadership, for the Master does not need among His 
 pupils any who are not ready for leadership or who are not, 
 at least, ready for that training which shall lead to leadership. 
 The preliminary stage is always to learn to stand on your own 
 feet; to give such help as you can to others, and to ask as 
 little as you can from them. It is good that others should 
 help you, but it is your business to do without such help as 
 much as you can. I do not suggest that the help, if offered, 
 should be rejected. It is as blessed to receive as it is to give, 
 and the blessing comes both to the receiver as well as to the 
 one who gives. But what I wish to lay stress on is that we 
 must not depend on the help of others, because our task in 
 life is to help others who still need to depend upon the 
 strength they may be able to get from the outside. The way 
 in which this works out in practice is more a subject for psy- 
 
 108 
 
chology than for these elementary papers on At the Feet of 
 the Master. Nothing is more complicated than progress on 
 the Path. I only wish to indicate here a few general princi- 
 ples, so that these may be known and studied. Each of them 
 will work out differently in different people according to 
 their respective temperaments, but the principle remains the 
 same in all cases. 
 
 Dangers of Exaggeration 
 
 I do not suppose that it is possible for any of us to prac- 
 tice perfectly the Master's statement "You must never do 
 or say or think what you cannot imagine the Master as doing 
 or saying or thinking. " He places that as an ideal and asks 
 you to work towards it as earnestly as you can. It takes a 
 long time to get one's various bodies in order, and no one 
 should be despondent either because he cannot bring order out 
 of chaos all at once, or because he often fails. I have never 
 yet heard that the Master condemns failure, but I do know 
 that He expects one to go on trying, however often we fail. 
 
 "We are then told of various ways in which we must try 
 to harmonise our own lives with those of the great Teachers. 
 We are told to be true in speech accurate without exaggera- 
 tion. Exaggeration is a most common fault among us all, 
 specially among those of a highly imaginative temperament. 
 We do not exaggerate because we are wilfully desirous of per- 
 verting the truth, but because our astral bodies like violent vi- 
 brations, and because we like to create a definite effect upon 
 our surroundings. Facts as they are might not have the effect 
 either of stimulating the astral body, or of arresting the at- 
 tention of our surroundings. When they do not have this 
 effect we intensify them so as to get the result we want. The 
 effect is to acquire a loose habit of thinking, of feeling, 
 and speaking, and sooner or later people will cease to trust 
 us and so our power of usefulness in the world will be con- 
 siderably diminished, and we shall be further from, and not 
 nearer to, the Master's service. In the pain produced by hav- 
 
 109 
 
ing great eagerness to help, and at the same time being power- 
 less to help, we shall learn how to help without exaggerating, 
 o r in a ny other way causing things to appear that which, in 
 reality, they are not. Many people complain that their cir- 
 cumstances interfere so seriously with their eagerness to be 
 of service. One of the causes of this may be that in the past 
 they have not used truthfully the powers they then had. So 
 they have to learn in the present life what it is to have eager- 
 ness, and yet be shut off from its application. 
 
 We are told not to attribute motives to another, which, 
 again, is one of the commonest of our faults. We see the act 
 or the thought or the feeling and we immediately interpret 
 the cause. My own experience has been that most people act 
 from reasons that never enter one's mind when one is criti- 
 cising them. In my own case I know to how small an extent 
 people really know the motives which underlie my actions, and 
 I must assume that that is true of other people as well. People 
 have their own troubles and sorrows and griefs, and very 
 often they act under the influence of these troubles and sor- 
 rows or griefs, although the action itself, from the stand- 
 point of the outsider, cannot have any possible connection 
 with them. The -greater the leader, the more he interprets 
 kindly the attitude of other people to him. I have often won- 
 dered why Mrs. Besant allowed herself so often to be de- 
 ceived, when she must surely have known that those who were 
 deceiving her were doing so from evil motives, but I believe 
 that at a certain stage you can only think in a kindly way 
 about people, and while it is true that you may in some ways 
 be more easily deceived, yet because your thoughts are 
 thoughts of goodwill the deceit recoils upon the deceiver and 
 earns for him a terrible lesson. Moreover by thus generating 
 a continuous stream of goodwill you acquire a power that 
 somehow or other prevents people acting towards you as they 
 might were you less pure of heart, and it is clear that your 
 capacity for serving the Master is immensely increased by a 
 purity of thought which no adverse external circumstances 
 can besmirch. 
 
 110 
 

 One of the most valuable pieces of advice given in At the 
 Feet of the Master is: "If you hear a story against anyone, 
 do not repeat it; it may not be true and even if it is, it is 
 kinder to say nothing/' The human race seems to have a 
 special penchant for repeating stories about other people, and 
 I imagine that half, at least, of the world's sorrows and 
 troubles are caused by this pernicious habit of exaggeration, 
 which is due to lack of power of controlling our various 
 bodies, which are always craving for excitement of some kind. 
 
 We are told also "td think well before speaking lest you 
 fall into inaccuracy. ' ' We are far too impetuous and im- 
 pulsive both in speech and action, and if we could be a little 
 calmer, more contemplative, more self-controlled, we should 
 speak more deliberately and with a greater sense of responsi- 
 bility. But many of us, I am sorry to say, are like butter- 
 flies, flying hither and thither and caring little about the re- 
 sult of speech or feeling or action, provided we enjoy them 
 at the time. We are too prone to imagine that the future can 
 take care of itself, but when the future comes we often wish 
 that we had paid a little more attention beforehand to its 
 construction. 
 
 Imagination versus Pretence 
 
 Then, again, we must avoid pretending to be that which 
 we are not. This is a most difficult matter for many people. 
 We are often in the habit of pretending in order to create an 
 effect, in order to induce other people to give us more at- 
 tention and respect than that to which we are, from our con- 
 dition, entitled. If only people would realise that the more 
 natural they are the more effective and useful they must 
 necessarily be. Sooner or later people cannot help seeing 
 through pretence, and then the castle which you have been 
 at such pains to build up dissolves into thin air. You are 
 left in your nakedness and the world turns away from you. 
 Many people try to induce others to believe that they have 
 powers which they do not possess, and then of course begins 
 
 111 
 
a series of deceptions which some day overwhelm them. On 
 the other hand I do not think it is a mistake for people to 
 imagine themselves sometimes as they hope to be in the fu- 
 ture, provided they do not allow this imagination to deceive 
 others. If you can imagine yourself to be more kindly than 
 you are, and if you try to make that imagination a fact in the 
 outer world, then the imagination may be valuable. If you 
 imagine yourself to be truthful when, as a matter of fact, 
 you are untruthful, then your imagination if carried out into 
 practice as far as you are able, will help to stimulate in you 
 the growth of truth. If you imagine yourself to be purer 
 than you normally are, and if you make this imagination 
 a kind of embodied reminder to you of the need of purity, 
 then you are likely to grow in this respect. Imagination of 
 this kind is far different from the pretence of which 
 the Master speaks, for it is a clearing away of the obstruction 
 between the outer world and the light of your soul, while 
 pretence is an effort to deceive the world into believing that 
 your nature is better than you are actually trying to make it. 
 It is good that your friends should think well of you, that 
 they should think better of you than you deserve, but you 
 must not yourself try to deceive them. If they think that 
 you are really better than you are, it may not be necessarily 
 wise for you to disillusion them, but at least you must try to 
 live up to the standard which they have created for you. A 
 leader is very often much greater in the eyes of his followers 
 than in reality, and may feel, therefore, almost as if he were 
 deceiving his followers, and that he ought to make them un- 
 derstand that he is far more ordinary than they think. I do 
 not think he is at all bound to take this course, partly because 
 it would not help his followers at all, and partly because if 
 he is a true leader he is striving day by day to rise to the 
 needs of his followers, and to the ideal which he is to them. 
 Apart from this, remember the Master's words: "All pre- 
 tence is a hindrance to the pure light of truth, which should 
 shine through you as sunlight shines through clear glass. ' ' 
 
 112 
 

 The Good in All 
 
 Two more points are emphasised. One, that we must 
 learn to distinguish between the selfish and the unselfish, and 
 the second that we must learn gradually to realise that good 
 is in everyone and everything, "no matter how evil he or it 
 may appear on the surface.' ' "Selfishness/' says the Master, 
 "has many forms, and when you think you have finally killed 
 it in one of them, it arises in another as strongly as ever." 
 The only way to get rid of selfishness is to concentrate your 
 thoughts or feelings, or your actions, on the service of other 
 people, then you will have no room for selfishness. Selfish- 
 ness only arises when we think too much of our small selves, 
 and too little of those larger selves to which others too belong. 
 
 Finally, let me quote that beautiful passage which con- 
 cludes the Master's observations on discrimination: "You 
 can help your brother through that which you have in com- 
 mon with him, and that is the Divine Life; learn how to 
 arouse that in him, learn how to appeal to that in him; so 
 shall you save your brother from wrong." It is essential that 
 we should realise that we are not apart from the sinner any 
 more than we are apart from the saint. Mrs. Besant has often 
 laid stress on the fact that while we are very eager to claim 
 unity with the saint, we are far less eager to claim unity with 
 the sinner. Sinners and saints share a common life, and are 
 striving towards a common goal, and the condition of our 
 gaining strength and help from the saint is that of giving 
 strength and help to the so-called sinner. After all the sinner 
 is merely ignorant, and we ought to know by this time how 
 ignorant we ourselves are. We are all sinners in some 
 degree, and we are all thankful for whatever help we 
 can get. Let us earn the help from others above us by cheer- 
 fully and thankfully giving help and strength to others less 
 evolved than ourselves. 
 
 113 
 
CHAPTEE XII 
 
 DESIRELESSNESS 
 
 We have now come to the second of the great qualifica- 
 tions given by the Master that of Desirelessness, and at the 
 outset of His remarks He points out that people feel that they 
 are their desires. I suppose that this feeling of unity is part 
 of growth, for unless we have it we do not fully 
 understand the desire with which we identify ourselves. We 
 are all made up of our likings and dislikings, and so 
 much are these part of our daily life that we feel that if these 
 were taken away "there will be no self left." As we pass 
 through the portal of death into the intermediate stages which 
 precede rebirth we are taught that these desires and likings 
 and dislikings are not really part of ourselves, for we learn 
 that only by withdrawing from them can we reach the higher 
 regions of the heaven world. But we need not wait until 
 death for the lesson as to the need for desirelessness. Alcyone 
 remarks for it is he who speaks in this sentence, not the 
 Master those who think there will be no self left if their de- 
 sires are taken away "are only they who have not seen the 
 Master ; in the light of His holy Presence all desire dies, but 
 the desire to be like Him." 
 
 Alcyone makes this remark with the memory of the great 
 unifying fact of standing in the presence of the Master. I 
 myself remember on one occasion standing in the presence of 
 one of the Greatest of earth's Teachers and experiencing the 
 most complete sense of unity I have ever known. In the first 
 moment I felt acutely my own unworthiness, but in a flash 
 that was past. He lifted me into Himself, as it were, and I 
 was one with Him seeing with Him, being with Him. So I 
 can of my own experience testify to the truth of the statement 
 that "in the light of the Master's presence all desire dies, 
 
 114 
 
save the desire to be like him." And the desire to be like 
 Him is immediately accomplished by the Master's power of 
 drawing us away from the smaller self. The Master feels so 
 strongly His unity with us that it temporarily compels the 
 feeling on our part of unity with Him. But we must re- 
 member that this feeling is a temporary one, and that when 
 out of His presence, away from His compelling influence, we 
 tend to fall back into the illusion that if our likings and dis- 
 likings are taken away from us there will be no self left. For- 
 tunately, as we are told, desirelessness does not depend upon 
 being in the presence of the Master. His great value to us 
 consists in His continually emphasising the true desirelessness 
 in His own nature, and sending out strong impulses which 
 gradually tend to awaken wise desirelessness in us. We, on our 
 side, must be alive to these great impulses, and we must gradu- 
 ally train ourselves to make use of them. Now they are always 
 playing about us, but they cannot affect the God within, save 
 infinitesimally, unless and until the God within, of Its own 
 volition, wills Its upward climb. In connection with desire- 
 lessness the Master points out that "discrimination has already 
 shown you that the things which most men desire, such as 
 wealth and power, are not worth having; when this is really 
 felt, not merely said, all desire for them ceases." Hence we 
 must begin by finding out what things are worth having and 
 what things are not worth having, and gradually we eliminate 
 those we realise to be no longer worth having, until at last we 
 find, so far as our own evolution is concerned, the only thing 
 remaining worth having. 
 
 Eelativity of Right Desires 
 
 At our varying stages of evolution various things are 
 right to be desired. Most men, we are told, desire wealth and 
 power, and it may be that these desires are a necessary stage 
 for them. For we only reach the higher desires by climbing 
 upon the down-trodden forms to those which are higher. So 
 unless men desire wealth and power, and through such desire 
 proceed to realise that wealth and power confer merely tem- 
 
 115 
 
porary benefits, they will not be ready for the next stage 
 which may be " to gain heaven, or to attain personal liberation 
 from rebirth.' ' So you must not imagine that because an in- 
 dividual has a desire which you have outgrown, therefore he 
 ought to have outgrown it too. In the matter of desire al- 
 ways learn "to mind your own business,' ' and do not expect 
 other people to conform to your standards, any more than 
 you can imagine the Master as limited by ideals which, to you, 
 are the highest conceivable. It is not for you or for me to 
 say at what stage an individual ought to have realised that 
 any particular desire ceases to be worth having. If he wants 
 an experience, if he desires an experience, it is probably be- 
 cause he has not yet passed the stage appropriate to the ex- 
 perience. Of course if we are in charge of young people it 
 becomes our duty to try and make their desires as noble and 
 unselfish as possible, but we must, at the same time, remember 
 that they may wish in their young lives to run rapidly through 
 a series of desires which we, in this particular life, have man- 
 aged for the time being to outgrow. I often hear of young peo- 
 ple saying that while they feel that in the long run Theosophy 
 is the only thing worth working for, for a little time they 
 would like to experience the ordinary worldly life. You and I 
 perhaps, having experienced the ordinary worldly life, know 
 its valuelessness and desire it no longer. Possibly we may have 
 substituted that which, to us, is a higher desire. Our young 
 friends will doubtless come to this stage, but there is no reason 
 to suppose that they may not have to pass through a series 
 of experiences similar to those which have led you and me to 
 our present position. The young physical body desires above 
 all things contact with an outer world which it has not had 
 so great an opportunity of knowing as have had older people. 
 We sometimes jump to the conclusion, therefore, that young 
 people are not as earnest as we are ourselves. This may have 
 been a conclusion to which elder people may have come when 
 we were young, and when we ourselves turned from those 
 ideals which the elder people of our generation had already 
 reached. A desire is a desire, and does not cease to be desire 
 
 116 
 
because it ought not to be desired. The only way to cause 
 cessation of desire is to experience its object, and while I do 
 not by this wish to suggest that we should rush headlong into 
 the satisfaction of all possible desires that come haphazard 
 into our consciousness, I nevertheless feel that it is not in the 
 least degree helpful to baulk desires which are insistent. I 
 should, in the case of young people, proceed along the lines of 
 strengthening the powers of discrimination, so that they 
 themselves may be able to decide between the various types 
 of desire, and to select the more noble as against the less 
 noble, the less selfish as against the more selfish. 
 
 -, 
 
 Discrimination in Desire 
 
 That is why in At the Feet of the Master the qualification 
 of Discrimination comes first. First get a standard based up- 
 on past experience, and upon the realisation that certain de- 
 sires afford less permanent satisfaction than others. This 
 standard will be the main factor in helping people to turn 
 away from desires which tend to make them identify them- 
 selves with their lower bodies. I do not say to young people 
 that they ought to have this desire, and ought not to have 
 that; I say to them that they should pay attention to their 
 experience, and make their experience their guide. Those 
 who feel to a very considerable extent at the mercy of their 
 desires, may very well make a point of carefully reading all 
 that the Master says with regard to discrimination. Remem- 
 ber how He asks us to distinguish between our various bodies 
 and ourselves ; between right and wrong ; between the import- 
 ant and the unimportant; between the more useful and the 
 less useful. Remember how He advises us "that the small 
 thing which is directly useful in the Master's work is far bet- 
 ter worth doing than a large thing which the world would 
 call good. ' ' Then again, remember how He tells us that ' ' God 
 is Wisdom as well as Love, ' ' and that the more wisdom we have 
 the more we can manifest God. Then He emphasises the need 
 for truth, for unselfishness, and for realising the God in every- 
 
 117 
 
one and everything. In these various ways our discrimina- 
 tion becomes reliable and helpful, and so we are led to a 
 realisation of what desirelessness really means. 
 
 We must not forget when we are reading what the Master 
 tells us about desirelessness, that He is addressing a pupil 
 about to pass through the portal of Initiation, and His re- 
 marks do not necessarily therefore apply to those who have 
 not reached that stage. They do, however, represent an ideal, 
 and as those who read these pages should be within reasonable 
 distance of discipleship, it is well that they should standardise 
 their ideals as far as possible in conformity with those re- 
 quired by men and women already accepted as the Master's 
 apprentices. The spiritual condition of the pupil addressed 
 in these pages becomes clear when we read that he must not 
 fall into the error of desiring heaven, or personal liberation 
 from rebirth. "If you have forgotten self altogether, you 
 cannot be thinking when that self shall be set free, or what 
 kind of heaven it shall have." I think the Master in this 
 passage is probably referring to the fact that the candidate 
 for Initiation dedicates himself to the service of the world, 
 and so no longer desires heaven for himself, or his own per- 
 sonal liberation from the round of births and deaths. This 
 does not mean that for many people such desires may not be 
 entirely proper. They are only not appropriate for those of 
 us who wish to prepare ourselves for the Master's service, 
 since the Master's service means the service of the world, and 
 forgetfulness of the individual self. 
 
 How difficult that service is, is made clear when the 
 Master tells us "that all selfish desire binds, however high 
 may be its object, and until you have got rid of it you are not 
 wholly free to devote yourself to the work of the Master." 
 There are very few pupils ready to devote themselves to the 
 work of the Master! Speaking as one of the humblest, I 
 notice how even my own selfish desires bind, and interfere with 
 the duties I owe to my Teachers. But my own condition may 
 give, perhaps, comfort to others, in that they may realise that 
 we are not expected to get rid of all selfish desire before we 
 
 118 
 
I 
 
 can hope to become pupils of one or other of the great Teach- 
 ers. But we are expected, at least, to make Their work the 
 dominant object of our lives, and to be willing at all times to 
 subordinate our individual concerns to the needs of the world 
 for which we live. However this may be, selfish desire does 
 bind, and so there are but few who can consider themselves as 
 true servants of the Master. Indeed desire is a most subtle 
 form of illusion, and the Master shows us how many subtle de- 
 sires there are which, perhaps, we are inclined to call quite 
 natural. 
 
 Desire for the Fruits of Action 
 
 "Surely there is no harm in wanting to see the result of 
 work, or to see how we help other people?" I quite agree 
 that for most of us such desires are natural, inevitable, and 
 perhaps helpful, inasmuch as they may make us work and help 
 other people. On the other hand, the Master tells us that 
 such desires imply want of trust. "When you pour out your 
 strength to help, there must be a result, whether you can see 
 it or not ; if you know the Law you know this must be so. ' ' So 
 far as I am concerned, it may be well to confess at once that 
 I often desire to see the result of my work, and to see how 
 much I have helped people. I think I may go so far as to 
 disclaim any desire for people's gratitude, though gratitude 
 is certainly a most pleasant experience. But I realise quite 
 clearly how necessary it is to have desirelessness as regards 
 the result of work, and as regards the amount of helpfulness 
 an individual receives in relation to the amount given. So I 
 am trying gradually to work towards this, and to do right 
 for the sake of right and not in the hope of reward not in 
 the hope of seeing the result. The Master points out it is 
 a question of love. The intensity and purity of the love de- 
 termines the amount of desirelessness. If we love an indi- 
 vidual we give him of our best, whatever the result may be; 
 if we love our work we pour our whole hearts into it and 
 have no time to think of the result accomplished. We leave 
 
 119 
 
results to take care of themselves, as indeed we are justified 
 in doing. Love is the great purifier of desire, and while 
 it is true that many people are inclined to mistake passion 
 for love, true love is utterly self-sacrificing and derives the 
 completest joy from the mere process of giving. As the 
 Master says: "You must give yourself to the service of the 
 world because you love it, and cannot help giving yourself 
 to it." 
 
 Service Our Standard 
 
 The Master proceeds to explain to us that it is very un- 
 wise to desire further powers until we have adequate control 
 of those we already possess. As He says, they will come when 
 He knows that it is best for us to have them. Most of us who 
 are really in earnest soon find out that we have as much as 
 we can do, indeed more than we can do, to use wisely and 
 moderately the powers we already possess the powers that 
 ordinary people possess. We find, too, that we are very far 
 from having learned how to use the force already at our com- 
 mand, and that it will take us a very long time indeed to be 
 sure of ourselves. I always wonder at the conceit of people 
 who want to acquire psychic powers, in other words, powers 
 beyond those which we normally possess. Psychic powers 
 belong to a world different from the physical, and it 
 seems to me to be very undesirable to want to add the ex- 
 periences of another world until we are fairly sure of our 
 attitude in connection with the experiences the physical world 
 affords us. Some people have certain psychic faculties. Per- 
 haps they see nature spirits, or auras, or they can read the 
 thoughts and feelings of other people. But the fact that they 
 can see these things does not mean that, therefore, they are 
 able to draw correct judgments from such sight. We know 
 how difficult it is with the waking consciousness in the phy- 
 sical brain to draw just conclusions from all that we see 
 around us. This is none the less difficult when our waking 
 consciousness is transferred to the astral plane, and is in con- 
 
 120 
 
tact with the experiences appropriate to that plane. To un- 
 derstand the world in which we live for many hours of the 
 day is difficult enough, and for my part I think it is just as 
 well to confine our attention to that world until those wiser 
 than ourselves deem it desirable to impose a greater burden 
 on our judgment than has hitherto existed. If I see a certain 
 colour in a person's aura, how can I be really sure what that 
 colour means in connection with that special individual ? And 
 even if I am certain, what means has that individual, who 
 perhaps is not a clairvoyant as I am myself, of judging the 
 extent of my infallibility? In the Theosophical Society we 
 have many people who profess to see this, to experience that, 
 to hear messages, and so forth. Personally, if I ever judge at 
 all, I judge of people by their actions as I see them, and by the 
 extent to which self-sacrifice seems to dominate their lives. Un- 
 fortunately, however, we also have in our ranks people who 
 long to be continually in contact with the mysterious, and who 
 are willing to believe, to almost any extent, that which is out of 
 the ordinary. The Master teaches us that we belong to Him ac- 
 cording as we make service of our fellow creatures an ever-in- 
 creasing part of our lives. That is the standard, and those who 
 live lives of continual self -surrender are alone entitled to re- 
 ceive respect for statements made in connection with condi- 
 tions which the ordinary individual has no means of judging. 
 The fact of the matter is that the more an individual really has 
 these psychic powers the less he talks about them, the less he 
 imposes them upon other people. He uses them for helping, but 
 realises at the same time that it is not wise to ask other people 
 to attach credence to that of which they have so far had no ex- 
 perience. As the Master observes: "In any case the time and 
 strength that it takes to gain them might be spent in work for 
 others.' ' In the course of development these powers will un- 
 doubtedly come, and those who truly rely upon the Master will 
 not trouble about them until He gives directions as to their 
 unfoldment, or unless they have come naturally and without 
 effort. If only people would remember that it ought to take 
 us all our time to use the powers we already have in the ser- 
 
 Ivice of our surroundings! 
 
 121 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 DESIRELESSNESS (Concluded) 
 
 The Master then lays stress upon a few very common de- 
 sires which the candidate for Initiation or discipleship must 
 strive to avoid. It is a great pleasure to many of us to appear 
 clever, to shine in conversation. But in the Master's world 
 nothing is said save that which is true, kind, and helpful. 
 I say deliberately, "In the Master's world," because I am 
 afraid that this direction can only be successfully carried out 
 by those who either are Adepts, or approaching Adept level. 
 Nevertheless, we must gradually strive towards this ideal, 
 and perhaps take one of the conditions at a time. We might, 
 for example, determine for a certain period of time to be ut- 
 terly truthful, and then by degrees qualify truth with kind- 
 ness and helpfulness. It is a matter for experiment and 
 gradual development. The useful maxim: "Think twice be- 
 fore you speak," might, for you and me, be extended to 
 "Think seven times before you speak." I am often told by 
 people to whom I give this advice that anyone following these 
 directions would hardly ever be able to say anything at all, 
 or that by the time he had thought seven times the necessity 
 for the remark would have passed! That is quite probable, 
 and it might be worth while to remember that most of our 
 conversation is both useless and unprofitable, and there are 
 many remarks which after reflection we wish we had not 
 made. The teaching comes to this: that we should be delib- 
 erate and not impulsive ; that we should realise that truth 
 is far more helpful than outward splendour, and as the Master 
 points out we must get used to thinking carefully before 
 speaking, for as we grow truths are given to us which it 
 would not necessarily be helpful to utter to the outside world. 
 Above all we want to be helpful, not to appear learned. 
 
 122 
 
The Duty of Non-Interference 
 
 "Another common desire which you must sternly re- 
 press," says the Master, "is the wish to meddle in other 
 men's business/ ' Note that the Master uses the word 
 " sternly/ ' indicating this is a desire to which we are all un- 
 commonly susceptible. I suppose that more harm is done by 
 yielding to this desire than people at all realise, not only be- 
 cause we interfere with another person's responsibilities, but 
 also because we imagine that everyone else must look upon 
 things from the same point of view from which we ourselves 
 regard them. We are all at different levels of evolution: all 
 have different duties, different conceptions of life, different 
 lines of activity, and have different parts of the plan to help in 
 working out. So we must never forget that each individual is 
 working out his destiny in his own way, and while there is no 
 reason why we should not help him if he asks for help, or if 
 we feel we can usefully be of assistance to him, we must never 
 forget that we cannot possibly see things from his stand- 
 point, nor can we imagine what his "dharma" under certain 
 circumstances would be. There are circumstances, of course, 
 in which certain steps have to be taken, in which a certain 
 course of action has to be adopted, and such steps, or such 
 course of action, may possibly be in opposition to the views 
 and principles of some members of the body which has to 
 take the decision. For example, in the present war there are 
 people who believe that the war ought never to have been 
 begun at all, and yet it is quite possible to imagine that the 
 war is inevitable, and people who believe that it ought never 
 to have been begun must, to a certain extent, be ignored. 
 Sometimes the will of the majority must prevail ; sometimes 
 the will of the minority ; at all events, it does not follow that 
 everybody must have his, or her, way at all times. 
 
 But this is a far different matter from judging other 
 people, or from trying to interfere with what, after all, is 
 their business. "Everyone," says the Master, "has full right 
 to free thought and speech and action." But, of course, 
 
 123 
 
He must not interfere with the freedom of other people, ex- 
 cept under very abnormal circumstances. We constantly 
 hear, at the present time, of such freedom being interfered 
 with, and of various kinds of oppression being directed to- 
 wards those who do not think with the majority. The point 
 is a very difficult one because, in such difficult times as these, 
 I can conceive it necessary, on occasion, for much individual 
 freedom to be surrendered for the sake of the freedom of the 
 whole. I do not wish to lay stress on this aspect of the situa- 
 tion, because it would involve me in a long line of argument 
 outside the particular object with which At the Feet of the 
 Master was written. Suffice it to say that much turns upon 
 the way in which we define that word "freedom," and be- 
 fore you allow yourself to suppose that the Master has laid 
 a ban on all restriction, just think over the question as to 
 what freedom really means, and try to fit in your definition 
 with the fact that perfect freedom means perfect service. 
 The point on which I imagine the Master is laying stress in 
 this particular paragraph is that we must not imagine that 
 that which is true for us is necessarily true for everybody else 
 or ought to be ! In other words we must grow increasingly 
 tolerant. You claim the freedom to do what you think proper. 
 Other people must have the same freedom, and are entitled 
 to the same respect and appreciation for their sincerity of pur- 
 pose as you would unhesitatingly claim for your own. These 
 remarks apply specially, of course, to the outer differences 
 which people often think of supreme importance. The colour 
 of a man's skin; his religion; his customs! All these largely 
 affect the judgments of many people. Some of us believe 
 that our religion alone is the true one, that our customs alone 
 are sensible customs, that the colour of our skin is typical of 
 the highest stage of evolution at present reached. "We in- 
 stinctively depreciate those who do not conform to the stand- 
 ards to which we ourselves imagine that we conform. "He 
 is not in our set. He belongs to the lower classes, he does 
 not eat as we eat, his habits are not ours" all these may, 
 no doubt, be statements of fact, but they should not be im- 
 
 124 
 

 plications of inferiority. It is for this reason that the Theo- 
 uophical Society couples with its declaration as to Universal 
 Brotherhood an insistence on the unity of all great religions, 
 and a declaration that distinctions of sex and colour do not 
 affect the essential unity of mankind. 
 
 Man, the Master of His Destiny 
 
 People who are keen about other peopled business are 
 generally uncertain about their own, and are eager that other 
 people should conform to their own standards in order that 
 these standards may have behind them the strength of many. 
 On the other hand, behind your own standards of life should 
 be the strength of your own purity of conviction. Strength 
 does not lie in numbers but in sincerity of belief. People 
 sometimes believe that law ultimately rests upon force, but 
 as a matter of fact law rests upon consent, for it is impossi- 
 ble to force a law upon an individual who does not choose to 
 obey it. You may kill the body but you cannot kill the spirit, 
 and that is what many governments have found to their cost. 
 The Komans killed the bodies of the Christian martyrs, but 
 the spirit of the Christian martyrs built the Church which 
 has endured long after imperial Rome ceased to exist. 
 
 You will notice that the Master takes care to observe 
 that there is no harm in suggesting to an individual that he 
 is doing wrong if you feel that it would be helpful to tell 
 him so. Parents, for example, often have the duty of telling 
 their children that they think they are wrong, and they 
 sometimes have to restrain them from doing what they think 
 to be wrong or unwise. There is never any harm in placing 
 your knowledge at the disposal of other people, but you must 
 not imagine that you can force them to believe that which you 
 happen to know and believe. Experience must always come 
 from within, and while people may sometimes act according 
 to your advice, even though they do not necessarily under- 
 stand it, the only good karma they will get will lie in the 
 action and not in the motive, for the motive is yours. Theirs 
 is the good karma of obedience but yours is the karma of 
 
 is xne gc 
 
 125 
 
knowledge, and the karma of Knowledge is better than that 
 of obedience. 
 
 People are very anxious to live near one of the great 
 Teachers so as, probably, to be relieved of responsibility and 
 anxiety for using their own judgment, thus learning through 
 mistakes. They do not understand that they would, 
 under these circumstances, only be using the Master's 
 judgment instead of striving to develop their own. 
 From time to time the Master can stimulate, but the man is 
 indeed the master of his destiny and must work it out for 
 himself. Those people are most helpful in the world who 
 have themselves gone through many experiences, who have 
 had to suffer the " slings and arrows of outrageous fortune," 
 and who have gained from the buffeting a strength which 
 they can use, not only for themselves but in the service of 
 others also. "When, through experience, our judgment and 
 discrimination have become keen and strong, then is it that 
 the actual presence of the Master might be of very great ad- 
 vantage. In the meantime, while He exercises a parental 
 watchfulness over us, He leaves us to mind our own business, 
 and to learn what is the nature of true freedom. 
 
 Gossip 
 
 I should like to lay great stress upon the Master's warn- 
 ing that we should not go and gossip with some third person 
 about another person unless, of course, there is some special, 
 and helpful, reason for so doing. But many people spend 
 their time in taking other people to pieces, enjoying the gos- 
 sip because it has a stimulating effect upon the astral or men- 
 tal bodies. But such action is, as the Master says, i ' extremely 
 wicked. " It is wicked because it creates thought-forms which 
 tend to fasten upon the individual weakness, and make it 
 more difficult for the victim to overcome, his deficiencies. "We 
 irritate the sore places and the result, of course, is that they 
 take infinitely longer to heal. It is very difficult to bear this 
 advice in mind because gossip is so extraordinarily common a 
 failing, and many people would have nothing to say at all 
 
 126 
 
were they to cease gossiping. Nevertheless, we are contin- 
 ually being told that our speech should be helpful, and gos- 
 sip is very distinctly harmful. 
 
 Recognition of the Ego 
 
 I can quite imagine people saying that they would not 
 like anyone to tell them if they were doing wrong, not so 
 much because they dislike to be told but, probably, because 
 they fear the manner of the telling. It is perfectly true that 
 some people take a delight in pointing out to others their 
 mistakes and weaknesses, and pointing them out in a com- 
 paratively cruel manner. They point them out harshly and 
 unsympathetically without making the person feel they are 
 with him in the effort to correct his fault. Everything de- 
 pends on the way in which you do things. There are some 
 people who have the faculty of saying anything without giv- 
 ing offense, no matter what they say. Others can hardly open 
 their lips without causing trouble. It all depends on what 
 is behind the action, behind the speech, behind the thought, 
 behind the feeling. Anyone who is genuinely desirous 
 of helping, and who has a strong feeling of sym- 
 pathy for others, can always safely point out to 
 their friends any faults he may think they have, be- 
 cause his manner of pointing out would be to show these 
 individuals that he had a real brotherly sympathy for them, 
 and that he assumed no superior attitude, being conscious of 
 his own defects. On the whole, however, we should realise 
 that we have as much as we can do in strengthening our own 
 weak places, and the more we can do to emphasise other peo- 
 ple ? s good qualities, the more we shall help them to grow. In 
 this connection I should like to point out the value of a book 
 written by Jerome K. Jerome, entitled The Passing of the 
 Third Floor Back. In this book one of the characters a 
 stranger is continually laying stress on people's potential 
 quality. He goes to a boarding house in which are a num- 
 ber of quite ordinary people, and by identifying him- 
 self with their higher natures he causes them automatically 
 
 127 
 
to drop the foolishness which had been making their lives so 
 ineffective. Hitherto they had all been looking contemptu- 
 ously at each other and had been criticising each other, 
 and the result was that each became confirmed in 
 his own vulgarities and he found himself estranged 
 from his fellows. The coming of the stranger al- 
 tered all this, and when he came into the room everybody's 
 lower nature retreated into the background and the higher 
 stood forth triumphant. You may say, if you like, that he 
 idealised people. Indeed Mrs. Besant is often accused of 
 being deceived by people because she trusts them or because 
 she idealises them, "because she does not know them as they 
 really are," people would say. As a matter of fact it is be- 
 cause she does know them as they really are that she idealises 
 them. What we see in them is merely a temporary phase; 
 what she sees in them is the eternal reality and it is the 
 reality that she is trusting. The reality is thankful for the 
 trust, however much the temporary lower nature may seem 
 to be unworthy of it, and the result is that the individual 
 whom Mrs. Besant trusts, or whom she idealises, is infinitely 
 the better for the trust and the idealisation. People 's lower na- 
 tures may sometimes take advantage of her, but the ego has 
 been respected and recognised, the result being that it re- 
 quires increased strength to dominate its lower vehicles. I 
 believe that this attitude is the attitude we should all strive 
 increasingly to adopt. The test of spirituality in an indi- 
 vidual is his capacity to pierce through the outer form into 
 the inner reality, to dismiss as fleeting that which many of 
 us might regard as of the essence, and to associate himself 
 with the reality which most of us may be unable to see. Each 
 one of us has his defects, and many of our friends stop short 
 at these defects, but the leader draws out from the individual 
 his higher self and calls upon that to dominate the ignor- 
 ances, and gradually to diminish their obstructive power. 
 The leader is one who induces a sense of capacity, of life, of 
 energy, of power to surmount obstacles, to overcome diffi- 
 culties. He is able to do this by evoking the God within, and 
 
 128 
 
his power to evoke the God within is determined by the ex- 
 tent to which his own inner nature has become strong 
 through experience. 
 
 The Duty of Interference 
 
 The Master points out that it is our duty to interfere 
 in cases of cruelty. In such cases it is not a question of 
 "minding your own business " but of protecting the weak 
 against the ignorance of the strong. And there are, of 
 course, certain ignorances which cannot be tolerated. If we 
 see a case of cruelty to an animal or child it is our duty to 
 interfere, but not with brutality or passion. We sometimes 
 become furious at the wrongs done to other people, and such 
 fury is a necessary stage, but the power and force of the 
 fury could be better employed in other ways. Anger never 
 really helps in the long run; people are much more domi- 
 nated by calm than they are by storm. 
 
 We are told also that if we see anyone breaking the law of 
 the country we must inform the authorities. This is one of 
 the phrases least understood by readers of this little book. 
 They do not see that our primary duty is to be on the alert 
 against laws which we conceive to be wrong, and to fight bad 
 law as actively as we can. So long as we acquiesce in the 
 law we must accept it as part of the machinery for establish- 
 ing peace throughout the land. Those who break the law are, 
 under the circumstances, therefore, disturbers of the peace 
 and our business as good citizens is to see that the peace is 
 as little disturbed as possible. People so often declaim 
 against a law without taking the slightest trouble, either to 
 agitate for its repeal, or deliberately to submit themselves 
 to its provisions in order to show its injustice. Our first 
 duty is to help to make the laws of the land as righteous as 
 we can make them. If we are so doing, then we must help to 
 see that they are not broken. The difficulty is that people 
 pay little attention to the laws of the land, and only take 
 an interest in them when they are strongly brought into con- 
 
 129 
 
flict with them. You will notice in Mrs. Besant's Autobiog- 
 raphy how she always gave notice when she was going to do 
 anything wrong, in order that the law might be applied, be- 
 cause she knew that the existence of law in the country was 
 the only safeguard for individual freedom, and while she 
 thought it her duty sometimes to fight the law, she fought it 
 openly, and with a willingness to come under its authority. 
 Indeed she always went out of her way to assist the authori- 
 ties to take cognisance of her actions, so that while she 
 might be breaking the law she would not actually be break- 
 ing the peace. 
 
 People sometimes tell me that they would not be traitors 
 to individuals fleeing from justice and who trust in them. 
 I do not believe that such an attitude is necessarily true loy- 
 alty, either to the individual or to the State. If an indi- 
 vidual has offended against the laws of the country it is 
 necessary that his offence should be brought home to him for 
 the sake of experience. If the laws of the country are un- 
 just, we should already have been busy in striving to have 
 them replaced by better edicts. It means that people do not 
 take their citizenship sufficiently earnestly, do not take suffi- 
 cient trouble about their civic duties, do not realise their in- 
 dividual responsibility for the laws of the land. Those who 
 have no responsibility for the law of the land, and who can- 
 not affect it in any way, are, indeed, in a difficult position, 
 but most of us have such a responsibility, and, having it, 
 must stand by the law while it is law, and seek, if we think 
 proper, to modify such portions as may seem to us unjust. 
 It means, of course, that not only must we be watchful about 
 the laws, but also about the authorities. It often happens 
 that the authorities are men or women who have no business 
 to be authorities at all; who do not know how to use their 
 power wisely, in which case, by informing the authorities, 
 we might be placing the individual in the hands of those 
 whose sense of power overwhelms their sense of justice. So 
 we must be careful to see that we place in positions of au- 
 thority only those who are worthy of the trust. I quite agree 
 
 130 
 
that this takes time, but we must be ceaseless in our efforts 
 to improve the conditions of society, and it is because we do 
 not take these duties seriously enough that we find ourselves 
 in the difficulty of having to choose between our duty to the 
 country in which we live, and our sense of justice in regard 
 to the individual who asks for our protection. The country 
 ought to be able to protect as justly as ourselves, and if it 
 cannot we must help it to do so. Remember also that the wel- 
 fare of the many is of greater importance than the needs of 
 the one, and we must not allow our personal sympathy for 
 the individual entirely to override the conditions which make 
 for the peace of the country as a whole. 
 
 The Ethics of a Lie 
 
 In this connection there often arises the question as to 
 whether it is right to tell a lie to protect another. I have 
 been sometimes asked in meetings whether, if I wanted to 
 protect a refugee from justice, I should be willing to indicate 
 to his pursuers that he had gone in a direction different 
 from that actually taken. My answer is that it all depends 
 upon the circumstances ; upon the nature of the wrong done ; 
 upon the various points to which I have just alluded. 
 On the other hand, if I choose to tell a lie and to accept the 
 karma for so doing it is my own business and no one else's. 
 It is quite clear, of course, that people should not lie, but I 
 can conceive, personally, that circumstances might arise in 
 which, rather than tell the truth, I would tell a lie and ac- 
 cept the karma of the evil action. The question is, of course, 
 a very thorny one, and the motive for lying would have to be 
 an extreme one. Under very few circumstances are we justi- 
 fied in telling lies, but I am not, myself, prepared to say 
 that I would never tell one. In asking the question people 
 seem to me to be laying too great a stress on their own per- 
 sonal progress. They do not want to lie, not so much because 
 it is wrong as because it would interfere with their personal 
 progress, and because it would increase their burden of 
 karma. I consider this to be a selfish reason ! 
 
 131 
 
Conclusion 
 
 The Master concludes by telling us that it is sometimes 
 our duty gently to tell people of their faults, especially if we 
 are placed in charge of them, and I would venture to empha- 
 sise that word "gently." Harshness is far too general an 
 attitude of those who desire to correct. I close this with the 
 priceless words "Mind your own business, and learn the 
 virtue of silence !" 
 
 132 
 
CHAPTEE XIV 
 
 THE SIX POINTS OF CONDUCT 
 
 We now come to the six points of conduct to which at- 
 tention must be paid by those who are seeking to serve the 
 Master. These six points are, of course, well known to all 
 Hindus since they are specifically dealt with in Hindu re- 
 ligious literature. I do not want to trouble you with the 
 Samskrit names for the various lines of development indi- 
 cated by the Master. He has used certain English words by 
 way of translation, and we need not trouble about the original 
 terminology. 
 
 You probably have noticed that the Master gave us 
 at the outset Discrimination, because by discrimination we 
 are taught how to distinguish between right and wrong. This 
 capacity is, of course, the foundation of our evolution in the 
 human kingdom. We possess a conscience, that is to say we 
 possess in ourselves the result of past experience whereby 
 we are able to test experiences as they come along and to ac- 
 cept or reject them according to their uplifting or degrading 
 effect. 
 
 Stress is then laid on the qualification of Desirelessness, 
 using the word desirelessness in the true sense of not allow- 
 ing yourself to be dominated by your desires. As the Master 
 says: "The Qualification of Desirelessness shows that the 
 astral body must be controlled, ' ' and we are told that the first 
 of the six points of conduct, namely self-control as to the 
 mind, shows that the mental body must be controlled. You 
 may perhaps wonder why this particular qualification is not 
 given a chapter all to itself as was the qualification of desire- 
 lessness with reference to the astral body. As a matter of 
 fact, with most of us, the astral body is more fully developed 
 
 133 
 
than the mental body. Our mental body comes to us when we 
 pass from the animal to the human kingdom, and is therefore 
 a comparatively recent growth. The astral body, on the other 
 hand, has been with us during our life in the animal king- 
 dom, and has to a very large extent been the medium through 
 which our growth so far has taken place the animal, for 
 example, depends for its growth largely on the vibrations of 
 its astral body. The result is that coming over into the hu- 
 man kingdom with an astral body trained to vibrate in many 
 directions, the new lesson we have to learn is to control it, 
 largely through the help of the new mental body which is, up 
 to a certain point, in the human kingdom the special medium 
 for growth. The Master therefore lays great stress on the 
 need for controlling the astral or emotion body, and places 
 this particular qualification in its natural position after the 
 supreme quality of discrimination. 
 
 Control of Mind 
 
 At once the Master takes us to the most important aspect 
 of control of mind control of temper and of nerves. Calm- 
 ness of mind is one of the most important qualifications, for 
 unless we possess it there is very little chance of our being able 
 to control our emotions. An agitated thought inevitably 
 reacts on the astral body, and, since the mental body is a 
 more powerful vehicle than the astral, the effect of a dis- 
 turbed mental body is largely to increase the disturbance of 
 the astral. Then again as regards the nerves which are the 
 means of conveying impressions to and from the brain, it is 
 very necessary to have them under control so that both their 
 receptive and their expressive power may be even. The dif- 
 ficulty always is, especially to those who really mean business 
 and are trying to acquire sympathy and love, that in order 
 to do this they must inevitably make their bodies much more 
 sensitive to outside impressions so that they may respond to 
 them more readily than hitherto. This means that every out- 
 side impression affects them much more easily than it would 
 the ordinary individual, and the result is that the nerves 
 
 134 
 
become tired of communicating so many responses and im- 
 pressions, and so tend to get out of hand. Hence irritability 
 and depression in other words nerve exhaustion. At the 
 higher levels individuals are able to control the response of 
 the nerves to the outside stimuli, and may refuse to part with 
 more nerve power than they can afford to spare, so, while 
 being as sensitive as their younger brethren they husband 
 their resources more carefully and respond to the best advan- 
 tage instead of in a haphazard manner. Those of you who 
 have been trying to put into practice the principles given us 
 in At the Feet of the Master may very likely have noticed 
 an increased tendency towards irritability, towards an ab- 
 sence of calmness, towards even a passage through the mind, 
 or through the emotions, of undesirable thoughts and feel- 
 ings. If you really mean business you may take comfort in 
 the fact that probably much of this is an inevitable concomi- 
 tant of your efforts towards progress, and much of it be- 
 longs rather to the outside than to you comes from outside 
 sources but is regarded by you as yours because of your 
 power of imagination. Remember that sympathy and good 
 will are largely dependent on imagination, and if you train 
 yourself to imagine along one line you cannot help tending 
 to imagine along another line as well, and you can control 
 your imagination only after you have already exercised it to 
 considerable extent. I should like to lay great stress on this 
 matter of the imagination, for many people who are doing 
 their best become almost martyrs to imagination 1 imagine 
 all kinds of difficulties and troubles unnecessarily, imagine 
 all kinds of evil things unnecessarily. On the other hand, just 
 so far as they are able accurately to imagine the sorrows and 
 troubles of those around them so far will they be able use- 
 fully to help them. At present the world is a very difficult 
 place to live in. There is so much disturbance both on the men- 
 tal and emotional planes that those who are highly sensitive 
 find life in a big town, where masses of people are sending 
 violent forces through these planes, a very difficult business. 
 In the first place, ' there is much anxiety, much trouble and 
 
 In the 
 
 135 
 
sorrow, much hopelessness and despair, much doubt and 
 confusion. All these are like so many blows to the sensitive 
 person, and he often becomes confused as to whether the blow 
 comes from within or without. The world is in a whirl of 
 excitement, and unless one has sufficient power to steady 
 oneself against the whirling forces, one hardly knows whether 
 the excitement is from within or from without. 
 
 The Difficulty of the Training 
 
 It is for this reason that religious training generally 
 takes place away from the world, in the sense of away from 
 its outer activities. In older days the teacher and his pupil 
 retired to the forest and lived under the soothing and unify- 
 ing influences of nature. I am told that the experiment is 
 now being tried of allowing some part of this training to 
 take place in the outer world. If the experiment is success- 
 ful, progress can obviously become much more rapid, be- 
 cause a large number of experiences can be crowded within a 
 comparatively short time. On the other hand the strain is 
 infinitely greater, however much more rapid the progress 
 may be, and we have to pay in terms of strain for the quick- 
 ness with which we may be able to grow. Speaking from 
 my own experience, I would never recommend anyone to 
 offer himself without very careful consideration for such 
 special training as At the Feet of the Master is intended to 
 give. It is all infinitely worth while if you can do it, but it 
 is no use pretending that it is easy or that it has not its mo- 
 ments of extreme sorrow and unhappiness. Such sorrow and 
 unhappiness are undoubtedly due to the lower bodies, and 
 need have no place in the training at all. The fact of the 
 matter is however that they are there, and I do not know 
 anyone now on the Path who would not say that, while the 
 goal is worth any effort, nevertheless it does indeed demand an 
 effort of no inconsiderable magnitude. Fortunately there 
 is the normal and ordinary rate of growth, and I myself some- 
 times wonder why I was not contented with that. Remember, 
 
 136 
 
no one can be forced against his will to move more rapidly 
 than the normal rate. No one could have said to me: "You 
 must move . more quickly than you want to. ' ' What they 
 might say would be : " If you want to move more quickly the 
 opportunity is open to you it is for you to decide.' ' I can 
 imagine my readers saying it is difficult to know what to de- 
 cide if you do not know in fact what is before you; you can 
 only decide on the basis of past experience, not on the result 
 of experiences of other people. This is true, but I think that 
 the Ego probably knows what is likely to be before him, that 
 he makes the choice with that knowledge, and that the whole 
 difficulty consists in making the lower bodies do that which 
 their master wants them to do. Down here, on the physical 
 and on the emotional planes, we are more ignorant than is the 
 Ego, for the Ego is the direct reflection of the Monad a 
 spark in the flame of God. Further, our physical and emo- 
 tional bodies have had things a good deal their own way in 
 the past ; we have used them for the purposes of growth, and 
 they want to go on being used, even though we no longer need 
 them for this purpose. What we need them for now is that 
 they may become vehicles for the expression of the Ego's will. 
 We want them more as messengers than as independent in- 
 dividualities. They have already grown, in the case of those 
 who are candidates for the Path, as fully as is necessary. Their 
 respective functions are established. Force has been gener- 
 ated, and it is now the ego's business to direct it into the 
 proper channels. I do not say that this is the case with every- 
 one. Doubtless there are many people who need much more 
 expression for their physical and emotional bodies than they 
 have hitherto been able to obtain. But that does not apply to 
 us, for our special business is to acquire the qualification of 
 desirelessness. 
 
 Remember that our great objective is to vibrate as much 
 as possible in harmony with the vibrations of our Master, so 
 that His force may be able to flow through us uninterruptedly. 
 While we vibrate at one rate, and He at another, the 
 passage of the force through us is very much more difficult, 
 
 137 
 
and in many cases almost impossible. What He is telling 
 us, therefore, in At the Feet of the Master is how to harmonise 
 our vibrations with His, so that, all being more or less at the 
 same rate, He may be able with comparatively little effort 
 to send through us His message to the outer world. Calm- 
 ness of mind is needed, not only that we may not think hast- 
 ily, and not only that we may have a peaceful atmosphere 
 into which, and through which the Master's force may flow, 
 but also that we may be able to meet fearlessly all the troubles 
 and difficulties that come to us when we are being tested as 
 to our strength. The Master wants us, as He says, to 
 make light of the troubles which come into our lives, 
 and to avoid worrying about little things. I think 
 one of the most wonderful passages in the book is where 
 the Master tells us that all that happens to us from 
 the outside sorrows, troubles, sickness, losses belong to the 
 past and are therefore of no importance. I must candidly 
 confess that I find myself a long way from being able to 
 reach the standard set by our Teacher in this respect. I know 
 it in theory, which I hope is some progress in the right direc- 
 tion, but I cannot at present put it into practice. Then I 
 cannot always remember that troublesome things are as 
 transitory as happy ones, although the Master tells us that 
 they are. The fact of the matter is that the Master wants 
 us to remember all the time that we should be the masters of 
 our destinies and not be enslaved by them. What comes to 
 us in the present is what is due to us from the past, and the 
 more cheerfully and happily we bear it the quicker it will be 
 over. That is of course obvious, but when one is in the midst 
 of trouble one does not know how long it will be before it is 
 over, for it would not be trouble if one could detach oneself 
 from it. 
 
 Worry and Depression 
 
 We are told that we cannot alter our sorrows and trou- 
 bles so it is useless to worry about them, and indeed I have 
 heard some young friends of mine express these sentiments 
 
 138 
 

 with the most cordial approval. But I cannot help thinking 
 these young friends of mine refuse to worry because, as a 
 matter of fact, they have nothing to worry about. It is not 
 very wonderful to avoid worrying when you have no worries, 
 but it is a very definite spiritual advance when, having wor- 
 ries, you refuse to allow them to worry you. If I may be al- 
 lowed to hazard a guess, I imagine that only those of the 
 rank of Master are likely to remain at all times completely 
 joyous and serene. I do not say this in order to give people 
 an opportunity of thinking that they cannot be expected to 
 be joyous and serene. We are all expected to be joyous and 
 serene, but the lesson takes time to learn, and it does not very 
 much matter if there are a certain number of backslidings 
 on the way. People pay far too much attention to their 
 lapses from successful striving in the direction of the Quali- 
 fications not realising that these are inevitable. As little at- 
 tention as possible should be paid to them. If we did not 
 often fall by the wayside we should not learn how to sympa- 
 thise with those who fall perhaps more frequently than we 
 do ourselves if possible. Out of failure comes success, and 
 unless we ourselves have had the experience of failure we can- 
 not help others at times when they most need help, namely 
 when they themselves fail. 
 
 Then again we are told never to allow ourselves to feel 
 sad or depressed because it makes other people's lives more 
 difficult. Here again we have a long way to go before we can 
 hope to accomplish the duty thus laid upon us by the Master. 
 At such a time as this its accomplishment is doubly hard, for 
 there are many people who naturally feel depressed because 
 they have no knowledge, as we have, of the laws of Karma 
 and Reincarnation to help them. They have no knowledge of 
 the fact that much that they cannot do in this life they can 
 do in another; of the fact that things they have longed 
 for, but have been unable to accomplish, in this life 
 some day they will be able to achieve nor do they 
 know that there is no such thing as separation from 
 those they love. With ignorance on all these points 
 
 139 
 
it is not astonishing they should be depressed, es- 
 pecially since we, with all this knowledge, cannot help be- 
 ing depressed ourselves. But we must recognise that de- 
 pression is a manifestation of ignorance, of inability to apply 
 in the right way the knowledge we possess. We must try to 
 throw it off as soon as possible, but this is of course all the 
 more difficult in the midst of a great war which sends its sor- 
 rows into the hearts and homes of everyone. Above all things 
 we need knowledge if we would dispel depression, and it is 
 for this reason that every effort must be made for movements 
 like the Theosophical Society and the Order of the Star in 
 the East to spread the knowledge they have, especially 
 through books such as At the Feet of the Master, for in this 
 way people may acquire the strength to bear the pressure of 
 evolving life. 
 
 One of the ways of avoiding depression is, as we are told 
 in the next paragraph, not to allow our thoughts to wander. 
 If we have had troubles, these troubles have made grooves 
 along which thought and feeling flow easily, and if we allow 
 our thoughts and feelings to wander they naturally take the 
 easiest channel and that channel may be the channel fash- 
 ioned by trouble or by pain. If we let our thoughts wander they 
 may flow along the channel of pain and trouble, and so resus- 
 citate difficulties which perhaps in reality have passed away. 
 Also if we let our thoughts wander, all kinds of evil thoughts 
 from outside can come into a mind of which we have not full 
 control, and so our brains may become receptacles for unde- 
 sirable thoughts which we very likely think to be our own 
 and which cause us great trouble to reject. The Master 
 points out that we ought always to try to keep good thoughts 
 in the background of the mind so that when it has nothing 
 special to think of these may come into the foreground and 
 keep us not only steady but conscious of that relation which 
 subsists between ourselves and our Elder Brethren. In this 
 way the channel is always kept open, and at any time the 
 Master can send through us His helpfulness to the world. 
 
 140 
 

 
 CHAPTEB XV 
 
 THE SIX POINTS OF CONDUCT (Continued) 
 
 We now come to a very important observation with ref- 
 erence to the practical ways in which we should strive to 
 control the mind. 
 
 Practical Ways of Mind Control 
 
 The Master suggests that we should think each day of 
 some one who is in trouble, surrounding him with loving 
 thought, so that from the loving thought he may draw 
 courage and power of endurance. In most Occult 
 Schools there are definite systems of training whereby 
 the members are shown how to control the kinds of 
 thought that enter the brain, how to get rid of those they do 
 not wish to receive, and how at any time to draw the mind 
 from any special line in which it is engaged and to focus it 
 elsewhere. When I was Principal of the Central Hindu Col- 
 lege, Benares, I was in the habit of helping large numbers of 
 students in this direction, and I suggested to them that they 
 should set aside three special times during the day during 
 which they would allow only a special kind of thought to pass 
 through the mind. The first of these times was in the morning 
 just before rising, the second was about mid-day, and the third 
 was just before retiring to rest. In the morning I advised 
 them first to think of what they were going to do during the 
 day and to try to make up their minds to do everything de- 
 liberately, at the proper time, and without haste. In this 
 way they were to fill their day as usefully as possible, allow- 
 ing, of course ample time for recreation and rest. Having 
 made a mental plan of the day, they were then to turn their 
 
 141 
 
thoughts in the direction of those who needed their help. 
 There would be fellow students or friends, or there might be 
 people in distress and sorrow to whom they could send, as 
 the Master directs, a loving thought. They were then to turn 
 their attention to their families, to send thoughts of good 
 will to the brothers and sisters and other relatives. After 
 this they would pass to the elders father and mother, teach- 
 ers and professors. Finally their thoughts were to be turned 
 to their highest conception, whatever it might be. I gener- 
 ally recommended the Hindu students to think of their Gur- 
 udeva and mentally to bow in reverence before Him. Some 
 might turn with thoughts of love to a revered teacher, others 
 possibly might think of Mrs. Besant, others might think of 
 one of the great Masters of the Wisdom. It would not mat- 
 ter to whom they turned, provided they lifted themselves up 
 at this moment to the highest they knew. In this way they 
 would become permeated at the beginning of the day with 
 the greatest thoughts they could reach, and a note would be 
 struck which, in course of time, by frequent repetition, would 
 continually be sending its sound vibrating through the day. 
 As a result a definite force would be created, tending to mini- 
 mise the chances of mistake, and the individuals concerned 
 would be centers through which the Master's force could more 
 easily flow. The whole process need not take longer than five 
 minutes or at the outside ten and ought to give a dignity 
 to the day's proceedings which these do not possess when we 
 hurry unprepared from the night's rest into the ordinary ac- 
 tivities of what is called the waking world. 
 
 Then at noon, no matter what they were doing, I asked 
 these young people to turn their thoughts to their ideal what- 
 ever it might be, so as to show themselves capable in the midst 
 of worldly occupations of withdrawing the mind from that 
 in which it might, for the time being, appear to be absorbed. 
 The thought of the ideal should never be absent from us, no 
 matter what we are doing, no matter how strenuously we are 
 working, and in order that the ideal may not lose its position 
 I would recommend people in the middle day to switch them- 
 
 142 
 
selves off, as it were, from that in which they are engaged 
 and turn to the highest reality they know. This would mean 
 but a second's distraction, and far from injuring the work 
 in hand would produce increased energy and power of con- 
 centration. 
 
 In the evening I asked my students mentally to look 
 through the day's proceedings in order to see what was well 
 done and what ill done, not in order that they should worry 
 over the mistakes, but that they should take note of them so 
 as to strive to prevent them recurring. Having done this, I 
 asked them to offer themselves in thought for such service as 
 they might be capable of performing during the night, and 
 they were to end by striving to lose themselves in the thought 
 of their ideal, so that that might carry them through safely 
 on the astral plane. Of course there are many other ways of 
 bringing about the same result, but this is not a difficult 
 method, and from the experience I have had I know it can 
 be extraordinarily successful. 
 
 After a time the thought of the ideal becomes a habit, 
 and during the course of the day the individual tends auto- 
 matically to refer to this thought the various actions which 
 he has in contemplation. He sets them by the side of his ideal 
 and accepts or rejects them accordingly. This is a most de- 
 sirable condition of mind, and although it certainly takes 
 time to establish, it is worth any amount of effort because, 
 through it, we gradually learn the value and possibility of 
 laying our thought beside that of the Master, a statement 
 which many people find difficult to understand. As a matter 
 of fact, unless one has already had practice in trying to com- 
 pare one's ordinary thoughts with one's highest thought, it is 
 difficult to imagine how the Master's thought may similarly be 
 used for purposes of comparison. The process is easier in 
 the East than in the West, because in the West there is so 
 much competition and hurry and rush that people seem 
 to have hardly any time in which to be deliberate and, above 
 all, in which to draw down their highest spiritual conscious- 
 ness. But sooner or later all who mean business must make 
 
 143 
 
up their minds to follow some such scheme as that I have 
 outlined above, and they must be willing to carry it on 
 whether results show themselves or not. People are far too 
 inclined to feel that the system is wrong if results do not 
 come when they expect them, or that they are incapable and 
 so need not try further. We have to learn to be far more 
 careless as to results than we actually are the motive is all- 
 important, and there is nothing we cannot accomplish if we 
 have both the will and an infinite power of perseverance. 
 
 The Ignorance of Pride 
 
 We are then told to hold back the mind from pride 
 for, as the Master says, " pride comes only from ignorance/ ' 
 I do not know what opportunity my readers have had for 
 observing those who are truly great, but for my own part I 
 have specially noticed that the greater the spiritual stature 
 the greater the true sense of humility. You will find, for ex- 
 ample, that Mrs. Besant refers back to the Master all her 
 successes, and recognises that it is such ignorance as she 
 has that accounts for such mistakes as she may make. In other 
 words she is as the "wise man" who "knows that only God 
 is great, and that all good work is done by God alone ' ' and by 
 "God" we can, if we like, mean either the Master, or our 
 higher Self, or whatever our ideal may be. People who are 
 proud are generally those who, knowing very little wish to 
 make the most of the little they know, for the more people 
 know the more they realise that they have yet to learn many 
 things, and those who know most have the keenest sense of 
 their weaknesses. I can truly say, from my own experience, 
 that since I have begun to learn from my leaders I have in- 
 creasingly realised, not only how little I know, but also how 
 many more imperfections I have than I had before thought 
 possible. The fact of the matter is that if we offer ourselves 
 for the Master's service we have to be tested before we can 
 be trusted, and the testing partly consists in making us aware 
 of our weaknesses so that we may as far as possible not only 
 get rid of them, but try to prevent them from hindering such 
 
 144 
 
good work as we may be capable of accomplishing. So you 
 must not be surprised when you start on your life's true ca- 
 reer either by joining the Order of the Star in the East, or 
 the Servants of the Star, or the Theosophical Society if diffi- 
 culties seem to multiply and if, somehow or other, life not 
 only becomes more troublesome but the worst sides of your 
 nature seem to spring into activity. They were there before 
 you associated yourself with one of these great spiritual 
 movements, but they were slumbering. Now that you spring 
 forward and vitalise your higher nature you must not be 
 surprised if the vitality flows through the lower nature as 
 well and makes it emerge in its true colours. People some- 
 times become depressed when this happens. They say they 
 did not know how wicked they were, or that they did not 
 know that would be the effect of joining a spiritual movement. 
 Sometimes they blame themselves and say that they are un- 
 worthy to join, but sometimes, if they are especially selfish, 
 they blame the movement, thinking that the movement is 
 really not as spiritual as they had imagined, for otherwise 
 how is it that they seem so much worse after joining it! They 
 have not learned that force is force, and that it depends on 
 us as to how we use it. What we gain from joining some 
 great forward movement is added force, an added force which 
 is capable of being turned with comparative ease in the right 
 direction. On the other hand, it is also capable of being 
 turned in the wrong direction, and we have, therefore, to be 
 careful not to allow the lower nature to gain any control of 
 the added force which has been given to us through mem- 
 bership of one of these movements. 
 
 A great Teacher can give a person power. It depends 
 upon the person as to how he uses that power. Indeed, it does 
 not at all follow that he may not sometimes use the power un- 
 wisely, but this does not mean that the Master has made a 
 mistake in entrusting it to him. If the Master sees that on 
 the whole the power will be used wisely, He may feel able to 
 take the risk of such unwisdom as may from time to time 
 appear. An individual who joins the Order of the Star in 
 
 145 
 
the East, or the Theosophical Society, is in reality given a 
 little added power, and the force rushes through the whole 
 of his nature, and it is only if his nature rests mainly on the 
 higher and not on the lower that he will be able to maka 
 good use of his membership. I have always thought that 
 people would not probably be allowed, save for some special 
 reason, to join one of these movements, because of the added 
 responsibility involved, unless there seemed to be a fair cer- 
 tainty of the force being used for the good purposes on the 
 whole and only rarely in the wrong way. Mistakes we must 
 make, and when we join one of these movements we shall 
 probably make more mistakes than before, but on the other 
 hand we may hope to do more good than before, and grad- 
 ually we shall learn through the mistakes to direct the force 
 more and more wisely. But pride is a fatal barrier to the useful 
 exercise of spiritual capacity. Those who are proud, even 
 of their spiritual knowledge, are of comparatively little use. 
 I have been told that it is impossible entirely to get rid of 
 pride until very far up in the evolutionary scale, but we 
 must make a beginning now and do all we can to realise, not 
 only how little we ourselves individually know, but how 
 little there is we really know of even those around us. So 
 our advice must always be very tentative. As has been said 
 in At the Feet of the Master, only the Master knows about 
 His people. Only the Master knows a man's motives, and 
 it is motives which count more than anything else in the 
 spiritual world. I do not wish to suggest by this that actions 
 do not matter. Actions matter on their own plane, but mo- 
 tives matter even more than actions. There is karma from 
 both, but the karma of motive is more powerful than the 
 karma of action. 
 
 146 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE SIX POINTS OF CONDUCT (Continued) 
 
 We now turn to the consideration of Self-Control in 
 Action. The Master remarks that thought alone will not 
 suffice ; there must be no laziness in action ; but He points out 
 that we must not therefore try to do other people's work 
 as well as our own, unless we are asked to help. As He says : 
 "For many people the most difficult thing in the world to 
 learn is to mind their own business." People seem to find 
 it very difficult to understand that if they try to do other 
 people's work they are preventing those people from evolv- 
 ing as rapidly as they might. People grow through the work 
 they do, and if you try to do so much that you prevent other 
 people from exerting themselves to the utmost, not only will 
 you do your own work badly but you will be stultifying the 
 growth of those around you. It should be clearly understood 
 that the true leader is he who helps other people to work 
 along their own lines more successfully. It is not so much a 
 question of what the leader himself does as the extent to 
 which he inspires other people to do things. If he helps them 
 to take a more active part in life, to feel more vital, to feel 
 more interested in their work then he is truly leading and 
 guiding. But if when he takes up a piece of work he centers 
 it all in himself, and makes other people feel that they are 
 entirely dependent on him for all originative effort, he is one 
 of those who do not know how to mind their own business. We 
 are often told that none of us are indispensable, and the reason 
 we are not indispensable is that there are always people to 
 do the work if the work has to be done. We need to have 
 among us people who will try to understand what it is that 
 those around them have to do, and, while doubtless being in 
 general charge of a special piece of work, they will take care to 
 
 147 
 
be behind the scenes as much as possible, and to give everyone 
 about them the opportunity of growing through independent, 
 and yet harmonious, action. This is what I think is at the 
 bottom of the Master's statement that we should leave every 
 man to do his own work in his own way. Of course we should 
 be ready to give help when asked or when needed, but it is 
 far better for people, as a general rule, to learn through the 
 making of mistakes, and to feel themselves free agents within 
 reasonable limits. It is of course true that in times of emer- 
 gency the leader may have to take full control and demand 
 from his followers obedience rather than initiative. But such 
 times are rare and in most cases what we have to stimulate 
 is initiative and the sense of independent, yet co-operative, 
 capacity. 
 
 "The Daily Round, the Daily Task" 
 
 Then the Master observes that however much we may be 
 interested in what is called "higher work" we must not neg- 
 lect the ordinary duties of life. Indeed, upon the fulfilling 
 of these ordinary duties depends our progress and our use- 
 fulness. If we cannot do the ordinary things well we are not 
 likely to do well what are called the "higher things." Just 
 for the time being, under the influence of their glamour, we 
 may put our energies into them, and so appear to do them 
 better than the ordinary things. But the glamour will not 
 last, and if we have been in the habit of doing ordinary things 
 badly we shall find ourselves in course of time doing the 
 higher things badly too. And it is much more serious to do 
 the higher things badly even than to do the ordinary things 
 in a slipshod manner. The fact of the matter is, of course, 
 that there is very little distinction to be drawn between the' 
 higher and the lower. We learn to grow as rapidly through 
 the performance of the humblest duty as we do through the 
 accomplishment of higher tasks. The Master tells us that 
 until the ordinary duties of life are done we are not free for 
 other service. Notice that He uses the word "other" and not 
 "higher." We have been told, in fact, that until an indi- 
 
 148 
 
vidual gets rid of the more obstructive portions of his karma 
 he is not free to undertake the burdens of discipleship. And 
 the only way to get rid of obstructive karma: indeed of any 
 karma is to try to do the little things as well as possible. 
 Of course little things seem rather humdrum and uninterest- 
 ing, but while they seem so to us, we must remember that we 
 should soon lose our interest in the "higher things' ' if we 
 had the opportunity. It is only while they seem new and 
 out of the ordinary that our attention is turned more di- 
 rectly toward them, and so in fact we prove that our attention 
 turns more to that which excites us than to that which needs 
 doing. Until the attention is so trained that it turns automatic- 
 
 Ially to that which needs doing, we have not gone very far. 
 Hence we must try to remember that the little things are the 
 stepping stones to bigger things. I have no doubt that what I 
 am writing here does not sound particularly interesting, or 
 helpful, or inspiring. I can hear my readers exclaiming there 
 is so much more drudgery in making progress than they had 
 thought. Perfectly true ! There is a great deal of drudgery 
 until we begin to realise in fact that nothing is drudgery. 
 We have none of us yet reached that stage, but the great 
 principle of life is that nothing which is needed to be done 
 has in it the essence of drudgery. Such drudgery as there 
 seems to be is due to our ignorance, and to the fact that for 
 
 I many of us nothing seems worth while save that which causes 
 an unusual excitation of the astral or mental bodies. 
 . 
 8 
 v 
 t 
 
 Concentration of Energy 
 
 We are then told that we should undertake no new 
 worldly duties. I do not suppose that this means that we 
 are never to attempt anything fresh but, rather, that it is 
 very unwise to keep on trying to take up new work, to ex- 
 tend our attention to new interests, when we are not really 
 fulfilling our duty to the work and to the interests we have 
 already in hand. Many people always wish, for example, to 
 belong to everything new, to join every new movement, to 
 take part in every possible new activity. The result is that 
 
 149 
 
they fritter their energies away, and neither give to these 
 activities, nor receive from them, that which should be the 
 result an increase of vital power, both to the movement and 
 to the individual. On the other hand if one feels that one 
 can help some new activity by taking part in it, there is no 
 reason why one should not join it after careful consideration 
 as to the amount of time we can place at its disposal, and as 
 to whether such amount of time would be an adequate ful- 
 filment of any obligation involved. In other words one must 
 proceed deliberately, and not take on new worldly duties 
 simply in order to be "in" with everybody else, and to get 
 as much as we can from them. We must not forget that there 
 is the karma of wow-fulfilment of obligations, whether the 
 obligations be undertaken deliberately or lightly. The link 
 is made, and we must not imagine that we can avoid our 
 karmic responsibility if we drop the activity when we no 
 longer feel interested. In a word we must do as much as we 
 can and not more than we ought. The fact of the matter is 
 that those of us who mean business, and who are striving to 
 get into touch with one or the other of the great Teachers, 
 have to remember that the Master tells us that we have to do 
 ordinary work better than other people do it. If we perform 
 our duties no better than other people perform theirs we 
 should not be worthy of the special tie we hope to make be- 
 tween ourselves and the Elder Brethren. Indeed, every hu- 
 man being has his tie with an Elder Brother, but if we want 
 to make our respective ties stronger and brighter, we must 
 show our worthiness, and in order to show our worthiness we 
 must live more intensely and more vigorously, with more 
 attention to detail. Any who have had the privi- 
 lege of watching the Masters at work will know how extra- 
 ordinarily careful They are with regard to the slightest and, 
 apparently, most trivial details. Not a moment is wasted and 
 every moment is used to its fullest extent, and with it all 
 there is no appearance of rush or hurry. On the contrary 
 there is every indication of calm, strength, and power, be- 
 cause there is no waste. "Waste inevitably means weakness 
 
 150 
 
and looseness of purpose, and a dulling of faculty. So it is 
 not so much a question of the kind of work that is done as 
 the way in which it is done, and the man who manages affairs 
 of State lazily and carelessly has much to learn from the 
 crossing-sweeper who is careful to keep in the utmost clean- 
 liness the crossing upon whose cleanliness his attention is 
 concentrated. As the Master says : "If you are to be His, 
 you must do ordinary work better than others, not worse; 
 because you must do that also for His sake." 
 
 True Independence 
 
 I should like to lay special stress upon the Master's 
 
 I statement that the work that we must do must be work that 
 one recognises as part of one's duty and not the imaginary 
 duties which others think we ought to perform. There are 
 many people in the world to-day who are trying to make 
 other people do that which they conceive to be the duty of 
 these other people. They seem to know so much better what 
 is good for others than they know what is good for them- 
 selves. The position is obviously absurd, but we have become 
 so much dependent upon outside opinion that we are much 
 more likely to pay attention to another's views with regard 
 to our duties than we should be likely to hearken to any per- 
 sonal intuition. Obviously, when people are quite young 
 it is the duty of parents and teachers to help them 
 discover what are their individual duties, and sometimes 
 t may even be necessary to impose duties upon them, 
 lut teachers and parents should be extremely careful not to 
 ake their charges think that parents and teachers inevitably 
 low better what is good for children than the children 
 emselves can know. In the long run each individual must 
 e a law unto himself, and the duty of the parent or teacher 
 to help the boy or girl to find out what their particular 
 iW is. In other words it is their duty to stimulate the dis- 
 criminative power of those placed in their charge, and not to 
 impose their own discriminative faculties upon them. Chil- 
 dren who have not been trained to think and act for them- 
 
 151 
 
selves are of very little use in the world, and are much at the 
 mercy of the opinions and influences of their surroundings, 
 and depend for their actions upon the advice and opinion of 
 their friends. "We have to learn not to believe things be- 
 cause other people believe them, or to perform action in a 
 particular way just because other people perform them in 
 that way. We have to become independent, and to learn that 
 true independence by no means involves antagonism. So 
 many people are inclined to believe that you cannot be truly 
 independent unless you are rude and disagreeable, unless 
 you deliberately try to do things in ways entirely different 
 from the ways in which other people do them. It is sometimes 
 thought that you must strike out a fresh note for yourself. I do 
 not object to the phrase provided the note is a harmonious one, 
 but if it be discord, then, unless there be some specially strong 
 motive for its existence, it had better not appear. With re- 
 gard to the question, for example, of religious observance, I 
 think it highly desirable that every boy and girl should be 
 trained in the beliefs and ceremonies of the faith into which 
 they have been born, but I also think it most important that 
 parents and teachers should explain to children that they are 
 given these ceremonies and beliefs, which have been very 
 helpful to large numbers of people, only until they find out 
 something which may perhaps be more appropriate to their 
 particular temperaments. I should never think it my duty 
 to try and make a child believe that any special form, or any 
 special truth, is the only form or truth he ought to accept. 
 Since karma has brought him within the teaching of certain 
 definite forms of truth, he may as well grow up in them, but 
 a loophole should always be left for his judgment, so that 
 he may feel that he can act freely without becoming a 
 traitor either to his elders or to his traditions. There is no 
 reason why a child who begins as a Hindu should not be a 
 Christian later, if he feels irresistibly impelled, but if he is 
 born a Hindu he had better remain one until he has arrived at 
 maturity of judgment sufficient to enable him to decide 
 whether he wishes to make a change. There is never any 
 
 152 
 

 harm in training a child to understand the forms and truths 
 which have been helpful to a large number of people, for such 
 training will bring into being a sympathy which will enable 
 him later on to help, even though he, himself, finds other forms 
 and other truths more appropriate to his own special line of 
 evolution. 
 
 Tolerance 
 
 All this brings us to the consideration of the third point 
 of Conduct, namely Tolerance. Above all the Master lays 
 stress on the need for our feeling a hearty interest in the be- 
 liefs of those of another religion. Religious differences have 
 done an infinite amount of harm in the world, and now we 
 have to begin to realise that religious differences should no 
 longer imperil the real unity beneath. As the Master re- 
 marks: "Their religion is a path to the highest just as yours 
 is," and then He says what is probably at the back of His 
 mind through the whole of these teachings: "To help all, 
 you must understand all." This is indeed the keynote of the 
 teaching. Every word that is written in At the Feet of the 
 Master is intended to give the reader power to be of more 
 service to those around him. If you wish to belong to the 
 Master you must be able to go anywhere and do anything. 
 You must be able to help all kinds of people, you must be 
 able to adapt yourself to all kinds of circumstances, and to 
 sympathise practically with troubles which perhaps you have 
 never yourself experienced. In order to be free to serve in 
 this way you must take care that you yourself are not bound 
 by the very fetters from which you seek to free others. If 
 you yourself think that your religion is the only true religion, 
 if you yourself think that your customs are the only useful 
 customs, if you think that your nation is the only truly 
 great nation, if you think that your modes of life are the 
 only really useful modes of life then you yourself are a 
 blind man, however much you may be trying to help others 
 as blind as yourself. As the Master tells us, we must "be 
 free from bigotry and superstition." This does not mean that 
 
 153 
 
everyone must be free from bigotry and superstition, but 
 rather that those who wish to be servants of the Master must 
 themselves be free from conditions which would hamper their 
 activity, however much these conditions may help other people. 
 At certain stages, no doubt, bigotry and superstition are inevi- 
 table. They are the scaffolding by means of which the build- 
 ing is erected. But when the building is completed there is 
 no further need for the scaffolding, and our own spiritual 
 building should be in such a forward state that these 
 two pieces of scaffolding can usefully be dispensed with. For 
 you and me most ordinary ceremonies are no longer necessary, 
 that is to say such ceremonies are no longer necessary for 
 those who may expect to be taken within a comparatively 
 short time as apprentices in a Master's school. We may take 
 part in them if we like; we may enjoy them: but they must 
 cease to be necessary parts of our existence, otherwise, as the 
 Master points out, we shall think ourselves in some way better 
 than the people who do not perform the special kind of cere- 
 mony which interests us. 
 
 Here again the Master's statement is not meant to convey 
 to us that no one should perform any ceremonies. Remember 
 He is addressing one already a pupil in His school and there- 
 fore subject to very special teaching. Ceremonies may pos- 
 sibly be necessary for some of us, and, indeed, for most, but 
 it is laid down that they are no longer necessary for those who 
 are being specially trained. You will obviously be wrong to 
 feel contempt for those who still need them. The Masters 
 feel no contempt for our colossal ignorance in many very es- 
 sential matters. They desire to help us where we stand, and 
 this should be our attitude towards those less evolved than 
 ourselves. We must try to help people where they are and 
 through their own special lines of growth. This is why it is 
 so very necessary to "understand all." In other words, be- 
 fore anyone can become a pupil of the Master he must have 
 passed in previous lives through such a wide series of experi- 
 ences as may enable him intuitively to grasp the varied condi- 
 tions and stages of belief even though he, himself, may not 
 
 154 
 
actually have passed through these conditions. He must have 
 acquired the spirit of the experience, though, he may not, 
 necessarily, have passed through the individual form. But 
 again we must take care that people do not try to force upon 
 us things which they know to be essential to themselves and 
 which they think, therefore, to be equally essential to us. Peo- 
 ple often strive to do this. They feel so greatly the need of a 
 certain experience themselves that they cannot imagine for a 
 moment how it is that other people do not need it equally, 
 and in this way have arisen the Inquisition and other forms 
 of narrow cruelty. People must not be allowed to interfere 
 with us in the performance of what we conceive to be our 
 duty, however much that duty may differ from the duties of 
 those around us. But while we must insist upon our 
 rights, nevertheless we must "make allowance for everything; 
 be kindly towards everything. ' ' 
 
 155 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 THE SIX POINTS OF CONDUCT (Continued) 
 
 One of the most informing similes in At the Feet of the 
 Master is where the Master tells us that many customs, cere- 
 monies, and beliefs, which individually we may have out- 
 grown, may still be needed by large numbers of people, just 
 as children need double lines to help them to write straightly 
 and evenly until they have learned to write better without 
 them. The position is, as the Master explains, that we must 
 remain in sympathetic touch with those who possibly may 
 not have yet reached our level of evolution. "He who has 
 forgotten his childhood and lost sympathy with the children 
 is not the man who can teach them or help them." There 
 is a very general tendency on the part of people as they grow 
 older to become impatient with children and to find no in- 
 terest in the ways in which children live. Children's inter- 
 ests cease to interest them, and gradually they drift into 
 what I may call a crabbed old age, out of touch with the as- 
 pirations and impulses of the younger generation, and con- 
 vinced that everything is gradually going wrong. Many 
 middle-aged people are convinced that in their young days 
 everything was very much better than it is now. 
 They feel quite certain that children were brought 
 up in a better way, that the government of the 
 country was less vacillating and weak, that there was less 
 license and more true liberty. They feel that people no longer 
 know their place. The fact is that these middle-aged and old 
 people do not know their place. In other words, they have 
 lost their place and cannot find it, and the result is that they 
 feel out of harmony with the world which has really left 
 them far behind. 
 
 156 
 

 The Need for Adaptability 
 
 Now this attitude will not do. The older we grow, the 
 more we must make every effort to keep in touch with the 
 young, to be young with them, and, above all to realise that 
 the ideals which have sufficed for our generation need not 
 necessarily be the ideals appropriate to the new. The fact 
 of the matter is that a true server must do all he can to adapt 
 himself to the ever-changing conditions necessitated by the 
 world's growth. I consider that one of Mrs. Besant's most 
 remarkable characteristics is that she understands young peo- 
 ple and is able to voice their aspirations. She unites the wis- 
 dom of age with the enthusiasm of youth and so you will find 
 her always in the forefront of all new movements restrain- 
 ing impetuous and inexperienced ardour, but not hindering 
 good work. The same may be said of Mr. Leadbeater: in- 
 deed all true helpers of the world have this special character- 
 istic of being able to live in the spirit of the time and of re- 
 sponding to the changing needs of the world. This means 
 of course an intuitive and adaptable temperament; we must 
 ever be on the alert to discover the signs of the times and to 
 understand in the aspirations of youth the dawning of the 
 New Age. The older a person grows the more valuable be- 
 comes his experience, and the more therefore he should be 
 revered and honoured, provided he places his experience at 
 the disposal of those who have not yet had time to acquire it. 
 You should remember always that the world in its future 
 condition belongs to the coming generation, and all we have 
 to do is to help the transition from the old to the new to be 
 as easy and simple as possible. The French Revolution was 
 largely due to the fact that the older generation had no un- 
 derstanding of the new. They came into terrific conflict, and 
 the result was a transition period of terrible suffering. Just 
 at present we are in a similar transition stage, and much de- 
 pends upon the wisdom and co-operation of the elders. We 
 must unceasingly study the lines of thought of the young 
 people. We must ever be on the alert to watch for the signs 
 
 157 
 
of the new conditions which may manifest themselves in the 
 lives of the younger generation. We must keep ourselves 
 up to date, and must give not a sneer but a welcome to the 
 new order which is taking the place of the old. It is all a 
 question of sympathy and realisation that other people's 
 ways may be just as helpful as, possibly more helpful than, 
 our own. Above all, if we are in the position of having out- 
 grown certain customs and beliefs appropriate to the world 
 as a whole, we must not therefore imagine that everybody else 
 has also outgrown such customs and beliefs. Our business is 
 to help people where they are, and not to force them along a 
 line for which they are not yet ready. It must of course be con- 
 ceded that, for the sake of example, one might occasionally feel 
 it one's duty to associate oneself with some special custom or 
 belief. For example, if I were living in the country I might 
 find it helpful to go regularly to church, not so much for my 
 own sake as for the sake of those for whom church ought to 
 mean much spiritual guidance. But I must not be bound by 
 customs or beliefs which I have outgrown, although I may, if 
 it is desirable, occasionally clothe myself in them. 
 
 Cheerfulness 
 
 The Master then lays stress upon Cheerfulness, and He 
 tells us many important truths. In the first place we have to 
 try to understand that it is an honour that suffering comes to 
 us. I presume that He means here that it is an honour if 
 suffering comes to us in larger doses than would normally 
 be the case, for all suffering is of course the result of past 
 actions, so from this standpoint it is hardly a matter of 
 1 honour' or dishonour, but a matter of law. On the other hand, 
 if we offer ourselves to the Master, such suffering as we need 
 for the purpose of purification becomes concentrated 
 within a comparatively short time so that we may 
 get rid as quickly as possible of our evil Karma. 
 As the Master says, in this way we work through in one or 
 two lives that which might otherwise have been spread over 
 a hundred. Until we have got rid of the most obstructive 
 
 158 
 
portion of our Karma we are not free to share with our 
 Teacher the burden of the world. Our shoulders must be 
 comparatively free of past Karma if we are to go into the 
 world and stand side by side with those who need our help. 
 This does not mean, of course, that before we can become 
 pupils we must exhaust practically all obstructive Karma. 
 Not only is this not the case, but, on the contrary, our debts 
 come tumbling down upon us when we offer ourselves for 
 service. But they are not debts which stand hopelessly in the 
 way of continued service. Debts which bar us from prac- 
 tically any strenuous service must first be got rid of, for, if 
 we would offer ourselves to the Master there must be some- 
 thing worth offering. So we must be comparatively free from 
 burdens, as I have said. But it would be very foolish to ex- 
 pect lives of ease : on the contrary, there will be lives of ex- 
 ceeding difficulty, but it would be unwise to complain. We 
 have offered to pay our debts as quickly as possible, and if 
 this works out in pain we must not be surprised. We shall 
 the sooner be free, although the process may, for the time 
 being, be agonising. 
 
 The Master tells us that, however hard our Karma is, 
 we should be thankful that it is not worse. I must confess 
 that one very often cannot see how it possibly could be 
 worse ! But I have no doubt that it may be to a certain ex- 
 
 Itent a comfort to think this. I try to imagine that it might 
 be worse, so that I may realise that, however far down I may 
 be, I am not actually at the bottom ! All I would say, how- 
 ever, is that it would seem in some ways almost more satis- 
 factory if one could feel that one were at the bottom, so as to 
 know that things could not be worse than they are. If you 
 are thankful that things are not worse you may possibly be 
 wondering whether in a short time they may not become so. 
 What of course the Master wishes us to understand is that 
 we must keep cheerful and always look on the bright side of 
 things. Part of the payment of our karmic debts consists 
 in paying them cheerfully: our karmic enemies soon cease 
 to trouble us if we take their hostility our OAvn creation 
 
 
 159 
 
cheerfully and good-humouredly. Perhaps we can do this 
 more satisfactorily if we continually try to realise that all that 
 comes to us is part of the inevitable training that we have to 
 go through as we proceed from un-consciousness to self-con- 
 sciousness. 
 
 The Master then goes on to observe that we must give 
 up all feeling of possession, because "possession" is an aspect 
 of the lower nature. The higher Self expresses itself through 
 the sense of Unity; the lower through a sense of possession. 
 Hence the Master urges us to get rid of this feeling because 
 by so doing we get rid of that which obstructs. He points 
 out that karma may take from us even the people whom we 
 love most. That is to say, karma may appear to take them 
 from us; we can never lose that which we have drawn into 
 the universal Unity. Loss is entirely of the lower planes. 
 It is an illusion, although I know full well it is an illusion 
 which causes an infinite amount of suffering. There can be 
 no doubt but that the physical plane exerts its inevitable 
 plane influence, and a physical plane loss cannot but be 
 felt while we are for the time being immersed in physical 
 plane matter. But however hard the parting may be, it 
 does not follow that it is a real parting. Personally, the 
 more I learn, the more I find that physical plane partings 
 are less depressing as I establish myself more firmly in the 
 larger life. A physical plane parting undoubtedly has its 
 disturbing features, but the more we live in the Masters' 
 world, the more we definitely find that those whom we love 
 are in reality always with us, and every parting is intended 
 to bring this lesson home to us. 
 
 The Master concludes His observations on cheerfulness 
 by re-asserting the truth that depression is wicked. He ob- 
 serves that He often needs to use His servants in order to 
 pour force through them for the helping of others, and He 
 remarks that He cannot do this if we yield to depression 
 because depression builds a black wall round us through 
 which little comfort may come from outside, and through 
 which little of the Master's light can pierce into the outer 
 
 160 
 
world. It is worth while to remember that depression is as 
 often caused either by an unhealthy body or by outside cir- 
 cumstances as it is caused by some disturbance of our own 
 centers of life. We must not therefore conclude that be- 
 cause we are depressed, therefore the depression comes from 
 within. To help to guard against depression it is necessary 
 to have as healthy a body as possible and to take care that 
 it keeps healthy. When our nervous system becomes de- 
 vitalised through over-strain or through some other form of 
 ill-health, then cheerfulness is more difficult to maintain, 
 because the channels of communication with the Master's 
 world are, for the time being, out of repair. Similarly, we 
 must guard against disturbances from the outside. Many 
 thoughts and feelings which appear to be ours are, as a mat- 
 ter of fact, visitors, and we ought to try to imagine as far 
 as we can that all undesirable thoughts and feelings are 
 visitors, and that we can turn them out if we like. Never 
 let us suppose that any thought or feeling is an inalienable 
 part of our nature. 
 
 One-Pointedness 
 
 We now go on to One-Pointedness, which means 
 the Master's work. Everything, as a matter of fact, 
 which is helpful and unselfish is the Master's work. 
 We must not imagine that only work connected with the 
 Order of the Star in the East, or with the Theosophical So- 
 ciety, is the Master's work. Living helpfully at home is 
 just as much the Master's work. Playing our games well, 
 studying well, are just as much the Master's work. People 
 sometimes wish they could do more in the Master's service 
 than for the moment seems possible. They say their karma 
 is against them ! karma, as a matter of fact, is never against 
 anybody, for it is nothing more than a stepping stone to the 
 higher life we spring to a higher position from the spring- 
 ing-board which our karma has fashioned for us. However 
 lonely you may be, however isolated from Theosophical sur- 
 roundings, you can none the less do the Master's work, and 
 
 161 
 
the Master's work consists in the way in which you do that 
 which comes to you to do day by day. Everything that 
 comes to us, of however trivial a nature, is a little piece of 
 training specially given to us to bring us nearer to the 
 Master's world. You and I may not be able to realise this, 
 We may wonder how an apparently trivial piece of busi- 
 ness can possibly have any relation to the Master. A clerk 
 in an office, for example, may wonder how writing an un- 
 important letter on behalf of his firm can possibly be of ser- 
 vice to the Master. As a matter of fact if he can write that un- 
 important letter well, he will be able to write a less unimport- 
 ant letter well, till the time will come when he can write im- 
 portant letters well, and some day he will perhaps have the 
 opportunity of writing the Master's letters well. Every act 
 of life is a step on the ladder of evolution, and leads prac- 
 tically to the step next above. No matter what the act may 
 be, it is a step nearer than the act before it, and definitely leads 
 to the step beyond. The fact is that every action be- 
 comes part of the Master's work if we remember Him while 
 doing it. Try to understand, therefore, that the nature of 
 the action is of no importance; what matters is your recog- 
 nition of the fact that the Master watches everything you do 
 and in this way makes everything you do a possible link be- 
 tween Him and yourself. 
 
 The rest of the remarks on one-pointedness merely em- 
 phasise the need for realising that every day of your life 
 can so be used that it shall draw us appreciably nearer to 
 our Master. As the Master says, we "must become one 
 with the Path," and the Path is everywhere. People some- 
 times think that the Path is nowhere save at the headquarters 
 of the Lodge to which they belong, and that they are only 
 treading the Path when they are attending meetings. The 
 whole world and every part of it, and every condition of it, 
 is the Path leading humanity to its goal, and while certain 
 conditions undoubtedly assist to an increasing consciousness 
 of the Master's world, that is because there are people liv- 
 ing in those conditions who have vitalised them. You can as 
 
 162 
 

 much become conscious of the Master's world in your home 
 life, in your school life, in the playground, as you can any- 
 where else. But do not let temptations, or even worldly 
 affections, draw you away. There is always a tendency that 
 these shall become difficulties in your way because there is 
 a natural tendency for all grades of matter to emphasise 
 inertia. Matter always wishes to stay as it is, to avoid dis- 
 integration and change. For this reason many people fear 
 death, but you must try as far as you can to avoid that 
 which tends to hinder your growth. People sometimes say 
 that it is only natural to be at the mercy of worldly affections 
 or at the mercy of worldly temptations. But the word "nat- 
 ural" is here used in the wrong sense. It is not according to 
 nature to be at the mercy of these things, but it is undoubtedly 
 customary and habitual. In other words, people undoubt- 
 edly tend to be at the mercy of all kinds of conditions which 
 hinder progress, but you and I should remember that we 
 should no longer be fettered by habit and custom, and we 
 are never truer to nature than when we strive to grow by 
 breaking the customs and barriers through the help of which 
 in the past we have been able to evolve. 
 
 As regards the question of worldly affections, I do not 
 want my readers to imagine that we should try to stifle the 
 love we bear towards our friends and relatives. On the 
 contrary, the more love we can manifest through our nature 
 the more quickly shall we grow. But we must not allow our 
 affections to become selfish and make us weak, for this would 
 neither be nelpful to ourselves nor to those whom we love. 
 The most loving service we can render to our friend is to 
 become a rock and support whenever that friend needs such 
 help, but we cannot be this if we allow our affections to 
 blind us to the way in which we can become truly helpful. 
 A child often thinks its mother does not love it because the 
 mother does not give it everything it wants. The truest 
 love is to help the soul to grow: selfish love panders too 
 often to the body. 
 
 163 
 
The Decision of the Monad 
 
 The Master finally observes that the Monad, which is 
 the God within us, decided to grow, and the sooner the lower 
 bodies harmonise themselves with the inflexible will of the 
 Monad the sooner will the will of God become accomplished. 
 The Monad creates veils of illusion in order that it may gain 
 experiences in all the kingdoms of God's nature, and the 
 veils so created strive to maintain their existence even when 
 their value has disappeared. By a process of imagination 
 they strive to believe themselves to be the reality instead of 
 being only the perishable forms. It is from time to time 
 necessary to retire within oneself so as to break off that as- 
 sociation with the lower bodies which so frequently causes 
 us to believe that our lower bodies are the only realities. It 
 is for this reason that meditation is so valuable, and I would 
 recommend readers to adopt some such scheme as that I 
 outlined in an earlier chapter. But remember that the reason 
 for such meditation is that we may increasingly learn to dis- 
 tinguish between the God within, and the vehicles through 
 which that God within works, and in this way learn to give 
 every part of ourselves its true proportion and value. 
 
 164 
 

 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 THE SIX POINTS OF CONDUCT (Concluded) 
 
 The last of the Six Points of Conduct is Confidence. 
 We are told that we must trust the Master. "If you have 
 seen the Master, you will trust Him to the uttermost, 
 through many lives and deaths.' ' This, I believe, to be a 
 phrase of Alcyone's own feeling the magnificent inspira- 
 tion of the Master's presence, the words burst forth from 
 him in gratitude. For the Master, once known, is as a rock 
 against which all ignorance and all doubt are shattered. But 
 though many of you may have been privileged to have seen 
 one or other of our great Masters, perhaps you cannot re- 
 member Them so far as physical plane memory goes, and it 
 would, therefore, be more difficult for you to bring down into 
 this world the knowledge of what They are. But, as we are 
 told, we must try to realise Them. "We must try to remem- 
 ber that They are in fact our Elder Brethren, and that They 
 watch over us with far more loving tenderness and care 
 than we can possibly realise. If we cannot feel Their phy- 
 sical presence, or if They do not seem to be watching over 
 us, it is that we may learn to rely on the God within us and 
 to trust to ourselves. We are continually in the presence 
 of the Masters; we should continually be relying on Them; 
 and we should never forget that that which They are, we,, 
 too, may become. The Divine spark is in each one of us, 
 and we have the duty of relying as much on the God within 
 as on the God without. Therefore is it that the Masters 
 sometimes seem to be far away from us, although in reality, 
 They are nearer to us than our nearest friend or most loved 
 relative. If we, in the physical brain, are ignorant of Their 
 individual existence, we must nevertheless think of Them 
 
 165 
 
and try to remember that in Their perfection is the promise 
 of ours. Thinking reverently of Them, we, in fact, pay 
 reverence to ourselves to the God within us. We must be 
 continually thinking of Them, trying to do that which we 
 think They would wish us to do. In this way we create a 
 link between Them and ourselves, and through the channel 
 thus made They are able to help us. This is what is meant 
 when it is said that if you do not trust the Master "even 
 He cannot help you." Remember that the Masters never 
 intrude Their help upon people who do not want it. Free- 
 will belongs to us all, and if we do not want any help it is 
 not obtruded upon us. In other words, if we do not make 
 our share of the channel, They will not make it for us. So 
 if we want Their guidance and direction, we must show 
 that we want it by making a channel towards Them through 
 our endeavour to become like Them. 
 
 Trust in the Master 
 
 We are also told that we must trust the Master. You 
 may perhaps wonder how it is possible to trust Those whom 
 you do not remember to have seen. As a matter of fact, the 
 Masters are, in reality, the embodied examples of what we 
 ourselves shall one day become. Once They were as we are 
 now. And by Their strength and unwavering determina- 
 tion to help the world, They developed the God within Them 
 until it shone out undimmed by selfishness and separateness. 
 Having fully awakened Their Higher Selves, They are now 
 ready to help us to awaken ours, so that in trusting Them, we 
 are, as a matter of fact, trusting ourselves. All that is best in 
 us They are and much more, and in reality there is no separa- 
 tion between the God within and the God outside us. Every 
 kindly action we perform, every effort we make in the di- 
 rection of unselfishness, every means we employ to develop 
 our mental, emotional, and physical bodies for service, are 
 so many signs of our trust in the Master. If we trust our 
 Higher Selves, we trust the Master. "Unless there is per- 
 fect trust, there cannot be the perfect flow of love and 
 
 166 
 
power.' ' This means that unless we are determined to give 
 up all selfishness for the sake of helping the world, we shall 
 not be as younger brothers to the Elder Brothers of human- 
 ity. We must strive to become one in nature with Them, if 
 there is to be the uninterrupted flow of love and power from 
 Them to us. Every selfish thought, every indulgence of the 
 lower nature, is as a little barrier which intercepts the 
 stream. To trust the Master means to know Him to be that 
 which in our heart of hearts we hope some day to become. 
 We, therefore, think of Him as living the ideals towards 
 which we can only aspire, and we must try to use our imag- 
 ination in discovering what They might say, or do, or think, 
 under the various circumstances in which we find ourselves 
 in the lower world. To trust Them, therefore, means to 
 know Them as living examples of the higher Self in man, in 
 whose form and nature we must strive to fashion ourselves. 
 
 The God Within Us 
 
 We are also told to trust ourselves. To many this 
 will seem a strange piece of advice. "You say you know 
 yourself too well ? If you feel so, you do not know yourself ; 
 you know only the weak outer husk, which has fallen often 
 into the mire. But you the real you you are a spark of 
 God's own fire, and God, who is Almighty, is in you, and be- 
 cause of that there is nothing which you cannot do if you 
 will." I know how difficult it is to believe this, because we 
 identify ourselves so much with our lower bodies that we 
 continually think that we are the lower bodies. When we 
 say, "I think," or "I feel," or "I do this or that," we iden- 
 tify ourselves with the feeling, with the thought, with the 
 act, although we are continually being told that the lower 
 bodies must be servants and not masters. We have contin- 
 ually to realise that the God within us is trying to 
 work through these lower bodies, and it is in the difficulty 
 of getting control over them that the confusion arises. The 
 real you, as the Master says; is "a spark of God's own fire," 
 and * ' God, who is Almighty, is within you. ' ' When you say, 
 
 167 
 
"I cannot/ ' it means that the lower self is, for the moment, 
 getting the upper hand again. Feelings, thoughts, actions, 
 pass away; only you remain. That, indeed, is the test. All 
 that grows stronger day by day, and becomes more and more 
 permanent, is likely to be the sign of the God within you be- 
 ginning to dominate the bodies which He has put forth in 
 order to come into contact with the various experiences these 
 lower worlds afford. All that gives you an increasing power 
 of love, an increasing power of unselfishness, an increasing 
 power of service, is the God within you ; the rest which, from 
 time to time seems to dominate you so entirely, not only will 
 not last, but cannot satisfy you long. The more you help 
 others, the more you want to help. The bigger your love 
 grows, the more you want to love. But there are many de- 
 sires which cease to exist the moment they are satisfied. In 
 fact, most of the desires you have are but the toys with which 
 God trains you to distinguish between the real and the unreal. 
 He shows you, by letting you have the things you want, that 
 the real you does not really want them, for after a time they 
 cease to satisfy. Thus, by gradually turning away from one 
 thing after another, by a process of exclusion, you find out 
 what it is that alone can give permanent peace and happiness. 
 It is for this that you live in the world, and the alternating joys 
 and sorrows lead you gradually to concentrate your efforts on 
 that which endures. If you did not have these, you would 
 not make any effort. They are signs of the God within you 
 struggling to know Itself, to know Its powers, to know Its 
 divinity. It is continually saying, "No, this is not what I 
 want, for there is no lasting happiness in this." The God 
 within you must grow, but from time to time it may think 
 that this, that, or the other, is permanent happiness, and 
 therefore part of its very nature. It experiences that which 
 seems to be permanent, grows tired, finds that the apparently 
 permanent ceases to have power to satisfy, and so learns that 
 that, too, is not the goal. Little by little, it draws near to the 
 realities of life, and finally reaches the comparative perfec- 
 tion of the Master who has learned the nature of, at least, 
 some of the certainties which make Divinity. 
 
 168 
 
We are told to say to ourselves: "What man has done, 
 man can do. I am a man, yet also God in man ; I can do this 
 thing, and I will." In other words, what the Master has 
 done, I can do, for I am God in man. If there be Masters of 
 the Wisdom, I can become a Master of the Wisdom, for there 
 is but the One Life in us all though it may be at varying 
 stages of unfoldment. That which is the One Life in the 
 Master, is also the One Life in me. Life in Him may be 
 more perfectly unfolded, but only because He has gone further 
 along the path which I myself am treading. It is most import- 
 ant that we should all feel our identity with those in front of 
 us, as, for their sake, we must feel our identity with those be- 
 hind us. But the difficulties are innumerable, and this is not 
 to be wondered at when we think of the immeasur- 
 able glory of the goal. Little efforts may bring forth 
 little successes: greater efforts bring forth greater suc- 
 cesses. But the difficulties of the path lead man to perfection, 
 and only by the measure of the difficulty can we at all gauge 
 the magnificence of the goal towards which we are striving. 
 We can, therefore, in a sense, be glad that the difficulties are 
 as great as they are, for if the obstacles be many and difficult to 
 surmount, there must be a result at the end well worth all the 
 efforts we may have had to make. Let us, therefore, not think 
 so much of the intervening difficulties as of the result at the 
 end, and also of the fact that in us lies the power to overcome 
 all obstacles, however great. Difficulties are insurmountable 
 when we do not want to surmount them. It may be that in 
 any particular life there may be difficulties which we cannot 
 overcome, and we may have to reconcile ourselves to this. A 
 man may, for example, have certain bodily defects which pre- 
 vent him from playing games, or he may have certain mental 
 deficiencies which prevent him from being clever in certain 
 directions. But that is all from the past. He can become 
 whatever he desires to be in the future if he uses the Divine 
 Will that is in him. 
 
 The Nature of Difficulty 
 
 I do not wish for a moment to suggest that the task is 
 
 169 
 
easy. It is not. And the reason is that there are two con- 
 flicting forces one, the creative, and the other, the preser- 
 vative. There is the force of growth, and the force of inertia. 
 Now we desire to be active, now we desire to rest. Now we are 
 full of energy, now we are tired. If we did not know what 
 it is to be tired, we should not understand to the full the joy 
 of energy, and if we did not know what it is to be full of 
 activity, we should not appreciate the contrast of rest. But 
 there is always the tendency to overdo things; sometimes to 
 be over-energetic, sometimes to be too lazy. And we are con- 
 tinually . playing between the two sometimes over-emphasis- 
 ing the one, and sometimes over-emphasising the other. Rest 
 we need; energy we need; but we must rest when we need 
 to rest, and we must be active when we ought to work. We 
 must not be at the mercy of either. It sometimes happens, 
 therefore, that when the difficulties seem too much for us, we 
 become inclined to let everything go, and rest. This is, of 
 course, exceedingly natural, but we forget that, in reality, no 
 difficulties can be too much for us, for, indeed, there are no 
 difficulties wnich we have not made for ourselves. 
 Every difficulty you and I have is a lesson from 
 which we have to learn something we do not at 
 present know. The moment we will to surmount it, we can 
 overcome it, and then, ceasing to be in the form of a difficulty, 
 it becomes a force for action. That which seems so difficult 
 to climb becomes, when we have climbed it, a place from which 
 we can see far more clearly than we could see before. Those 
 who are on the summit of the mountain see far more clearly 
 than those who are in the valley. It is, no doubt, tiring to 
 climb the mountain, but the view from the top is generally 
 worthy of the trouble of the climb. The Masters are at the 
 top of the mountain, and we must trust to Their assurance 
 that the view at the top is worth seeing. We see the joy on 
 Their faces, and we must try to realise that the difficulties 
 before us are as nothing compared with the joy at the end. 
 
 170 
 
CHAPTEK XIX 
 
 LOYE 
 
 We now come to the most important of the Qualifications, 
 although it is placed last in the book, that of Love. I have 
 heard our leaders say that each world or system has its own 
 distinguishing note, just as an individual has his own dis- 
 tinguishing characteristic. I have understood them to say 
 that so far as this world is concerned, its dominant note is 
 love. However this may be, it remains true that, provided an 
 individual has in his character a strong touch of love, it 
 does not very much matter if he has a large number of weak- 
 nesses which are continually obstructing him. As the Master 
 tells us, if the quality of love is strong enough in a man, "it 
 forces him to acquire all the rest, and all the rest without it 
 would never be sufficient/ ' This means, that if you have the 
 love nature well developed in you, it will gradually become 
 purer and purer until it cleanses you entirely from selfishness. 
 From the love of the one we gradually proceed to the love of 
 the many. From the love of our own work, our own occupa- 
 tion, we grow into a love of the work for the world and for its 
 service. People sometimes think that those who desire to 
 serve the world must get rid of all personal affection. I often 
 hear people say that they are trying to rid themselves of all 
 affection for their families, for their friends, so that they may 
 learn to serve the world and follow the Master. They forget 
 that it is only through love of friend and love of family that 
 we learn how to love the world as the Master loves it, and we 
 do not sufficiently realise that personal affection need not 
 disappear indeed should not disappear even when our 
 love is so strong that it embraces the world. The Masters 
 Themselves have Their personal affections. They have, we 
 
 171 
 
are told, Their favourite pupils and Their little circle of spec- 
 ial friends. And why should They not? True, They would 
 not allow Their affection to interfere with Their duty to the 
 world, nor would they permit Their personal ties weakly to 
 countenance wrong lines of action. Their love, whether for 
 the individual or for the world, is a strengthening love a 
 love which gives, and % not a love which demands. This is the 
 true basis of all love, and its purifying factor. 
 
 Selfless Love 
 
 So many of us, in loving our friends, demand that they 
 shall love us in return, and perhaps we expect from them all 
 kinds of attitudes and services in return for the love we give 
 them. This may be natural in the early stages, but the grasp- 
 ing nature of love is love in its selfish aspect. Love should be 
 as a great river of force, ever flowing outwards, and indiffer- 
 ent as to its effect so far as any return is concerned. Love 
 in its lower aspect is desire, in its higher aspect it is will, as 
 the Master points out. Many people in the world demand 
 return for their love, and are hurt if no return is given. This 
 is like demanding payment for a present, and shows that the 
 person has not yet begun to purify his love. People who 
 really know how to love say that there is so great a satisfac- 
 tion merely in pouring out streams of love, that there is no 
 inclination to consider the nature of the return. The lesson 
 of love must certainly be begun with the individual. If there 
 is anyone whom you love intensely, make a practice of de- 
 liberately brushing on one side any tendency to think of the 
 result, so far as regards yourself. Try to avoid the 
 least expectation of return, or even the slightest hope. 
 Do not spend an atom of your energy in thinking about what 
 he or she feels about you, devote all to the process of outpour- 
 ing. You have no idea, probably, unless you have tried this, 
 how complete a satisfaction there is in the mere giving. Every 
 now and then one lapses into the desire for some kind of re- 
 turn, but by contrast this desire seems sordid and poor, and one 
 is thankful to be rid of it. On the other hand, there is con- 
 
 172 
 
tinual interest in discovering new ways of loving, and the 
 fact that you gradually grow more impersonal as to the re- 
 turn, is the starting point for the spreading of your love 
 among the many instead of confining it to the one or to the few. 
 If you are deeply interested in work of any kind, you will 
 find yourself beginning to love people for the contribution 
 they make to the work in which you and they are engaged. 
 You feel that they are comrades in a common cause, and that 
 feeling of comradeship soon develops into feelings of pure 
 affection. You feel that they are working for the same cause 
 in which you yourself are engaged, you feel that they are 
 with you in the difficulties and in the dangers, and the unity 
 thus manifesting soon shows itself in its aspect of love. There 
 will always be, of course, those who are specially near you, and 
 there may be truth in the assertion that each soul has a spec- 
 ial affinity. I do not know about this, but I do know that on 
 the basis of the affection for the few is gradually built up 
 the power to love the many. And the secret of it all is in ex- 
 pecting no return. 
 
 If you are looking for a return it must be from the one 
 or from the few. You cannot expect a return from the many, 
 and so there is a barrier between you and the possible af- 
 fection for them. They cannot give to you the return which 
 the few can give you for the love you pour upon them, there- 
 fore it is useless to love them. This is the inevitable conclusion 
 to which those come who want, in some form or other, pay- 
 ment for their affections. I know it sounds brutal to put it 
 in this way. People will reply that they do not want pay- 
 ment, they only want recognition. But true love demands 
 no recognition ; it is satisfied with its own being, and with the 
 joy of its outpouring. The river is happy in its flow toward 
 the sea. So you will understand that by making your love 
 for anyone independent of that individual's attitude towards 
 you, you will lay the foundation the Master wishes you to 
 acquire as regards the whole world. And when you reach 
 the level He has reached, you will probably find that the love 
 you have for the world has not made you forget your affection 
 
 173 
 
for the individual ; on the contrary, that individual affection 
 has been the basis of it all, and will be cherished by you with 
 the deepest of happiness. 
 
 The Desire for Liberation 
 
 You will notice that this fourth Qualification is stated by 
 the Master to be often translated "as an intense desire for 
 liberation from the round of births and deaths, and for 
 union with God." That is to say, the idea of love has been 
 given a personal aspect, as if through love freedom were to 
 be gained from the round of births and deaths. But, as the 
 Master points out, this is the selfish way of looking at love. 
 "It is not so much desire as will, resolve, determination. To 
 produce its result, this resolve must fill your whole nature, 
 so as to leave no room for any other feeling. It is indeed the 
 will to be one with God, not in order that you may escape 
 from weariness and suffering, but in order that because of 
 your deep love for Him, you may act with Him and as He 
 does. Because He is Love, you, if you would become one with 
 Him, must be filled with perfect unselfishness and love also." 
 Truly, we are often quite eager to escape from weariness and 
 suffering, but while in the earlier stages we desire to escape 
 from these in order that we may enjoy peace and rest, later 
 on we wish to get rid of these feelings of personal weariness 
 and personal suffering so that we may be free to help others 
 to get rid of them too. This is the peace of the Master. He 
 is able so wonderfully to help in bearing the burden of the 
 world because He no longer needs to bear that burden Himself. 
 It may be that, if He wished, He could cut Himself off entirely 
 from the world, having gained liberation. But we are told that 
 if a Master were to do this, He could only be free for a cer- 
 tain time, that, sooner or later, He must return to share the 
 world's burden. For there is the one great Unity which binds 
 us all together, and we must grow together through pain into 
 joy. As a matter of fact, of course, while those who have 
 reached the level of the Master are at liberty, if They so choose, 
 to take a long period of rest, They deliberately renounce that 
 
 174 
 

 rest because of Their love for the world. And you must not 
 forget I do not hesitate to repeat this over and over again 
 that this beautiful love for the world has grown out of Their 
 unselfish love in the past for an individual or for a few. 
 
 The Evil of Gossip 
 
 The Master makes a suggestion to us with regard to the 
 way in which we may gradually translate our love for the one 
 into a love for the many. It is obvious that, with regard to 
 anyone we love, we should be always trying to help them in 
 every way, as well as taking care never to do them any harm. 
 And these two aspects of love must not be confined to the in- 
 dividual, but must dominate our attitude with regard to the 
 outside world. As far as the duty of doing no harm is con- 
 cerned, the Master gives three examples of doing harm which 
 are very common. First, gossip. "See what gossip does. It 
 begins with evil thought, and that in itself is a crime. For in 
 everyone and in everything there is good ; in everyone and in 
 everything there is evil. Either of these we can strengthen 
 by thinking of it, and in this way we can help or hinder evolu- 
 tion we can do the will of the Logos or we can resist Him." 
 Obviously we cannot have evil thoughts with regard to any- 
 one we love, but we often have evil thoughts with regard to 
 other people, and we must try to think of the way in which 
 we love the one, so that we may reproduce the features of 
 that love in our attitude towards the many. "In every one 
 and in everything/ 7 as the Master says, "there is good," and 
 if we think of the good in an individual we strengthen the 
 good in him, while if we think of the weakness, we strengthen 
 that weakness. Try to imagine that good and weakness are 
 continually struggling within a man's nature, each trying to 
 elbow the other out of the way. What we have to do is to try 
 to make good so strong that it gradually edges the weakness 
 right out of the individual's nature altogether. The good 
 in a man thus becomes so big that there is no room left for 
 weakness, and we make the good part of a man's nature bigger 
 and bigger as we think about it. I have noticed this, partic- 
 
 175 
 
ularly in the case of Mrs. Besant. People sometimes say that 
 she is very easily deceived because she always idealises people. 
 I believe it to be true that she sometimes is deceived, although 
 I have a shrewd suspicion that she is quite aware of the ex- 
 tent to which she is being deceived. But I am quite clear 
 that the fact that she does idealise people helps those people 
 enormously, for in the process of idealising them she is 
 strengthening all that is best in them. It is as if she were 
 pouring her force into the better nature of those with whom 
 she comes into contact so that it gradually pushes the weak- 
 nesses out of the way. No doubt the weaknesses come back, 
 because the man's own nature is not yet strong enough to give 
 them their permanent conge. But their power has been 
 broken, and, if only the individual would take advantage of 
 this fact, it will not be so difficult for him to complete the as- 
 cendency of his higher nature. The fact that 'Mrs. Besant 
 idealises people forces them to show the better side of their 
 natures, at least while they are with her. This tendency begets 
 a habit, and if an individual really means business this little 
 beginning of a habit is of enormous importance to him. 
 
 That which Mrs. Besant does on a very big scale, we can 
 do on a smaller scale. If an individual is to be trustworthy, we 
 must begin by trusting him. Trust needs two people, one to 
 trust, the other to be trusted. We must do our share with re- 
 gard to others and trust them to the very greatest possible ex- 
 tent, because in so doing we strengthen in them their power 
 to be trustworthy. The Master points out that if we think of 
 the evil in another, we not only intensify fevil in our neigh- 
 borhood, but we strengthen the evil in the individual about 
 whom we are thinking, and create within ourselves a greater 
 capacity for evil thought. It very often happens, of course, 
 that the evil we think does not in reality exist, and then our 
 imagination is a temptation in the way of the individual about 
 whom we have thought wrongly. As the Master says: "your 
 wicked thought tempts your brother to do wrong, for if he 
 is not yet perfect you may make him that which you have 
 thought him." Thus, if we gossip about people it is evident 
 
 176 
 
that we are filling our neighborhood with evil thought and so, 
 as the Master points out: "you are adding to the sorrow of 
 the world. ' ' 
 
 The Master explains that, in addition to thinking evil 
 things, whether they exist or not in reality, "the gossip tries 
 with all his might to make other men partners in his crime." 
 It is curious how people enjoy meeting together to talk over 
 the defects of other people, entirely oblivious, it would seem, of 
 the fact that there are other people elsewhere meeting to- 
 gether talking over their defects also ! You must not imagine 
 that others spare you if you do not spare them. So if you 
 have been gossiping unkindly about other people, the next 
 time you walk through the streets and meet your friends, just 
 imagine to yourself that they have been saying all kinds of 
 cruel things about you, as you have been saying all kinds 
 of cruel things about them. I have not much time myself 
 for gossip, but I have gossiped a good deal in the past, and 
 when I began to consider the evil of it I used, deliberately, 
 after having fallen into a little period of gossip, to imagine 
 the various friends whom I met to have been also indulging 
 in the same failing. No doubt I ought not to have imagined 
 this about them, but there was one advantage about it, namely, 
 that it made me very uncomfortable, for I began to wonder 
 what kind of things they said about me, and then, in addition 
 to wonder, whether, perhaps, after all, those things might not 
 be true ! Then I determined that in my own nature I would 
 try to avoid giving any foundation for such gossip, and so, by 
 degrees, I found a disinclination within me to gossip about 
 other people. The best way to avoid gossip is to have no time 
 for it. It is only lazy people who gossip, and if you occupy 
 yourself with healthy work and with healthy amusements, you 
 will not care for gossip. "Never speak ill of anyone; refuse 
 to listen when anyone else speaks ill of another, but gently 
 say: * Perhaps this is not true, and even if it is, it is kinder 
 not to speak of it.' " 
 
 177 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 SINS AGAINST LOVE 
 
 The second sin to which the Master refers is the sin of 
 cruelty, and He divides cruelty into intentional and uninten- 
 tional cruelty. As regards the former, one can hardly imagine, 
 as the Master says, that any one could be deliberately cruel 
 to any living thing, but you will remember, nevertheless, that 
 in olden times there was the Spanish Inquisition, under which 
 people were tortured because their consciences did not agree 
 with those of their torturers. You must also know that there 
 are people in the world who deliberately give pain both to 
 human beings and to animals in order that they may try to 
 find out the source and cure of various diseases. And, as the 
 Master says, many schoolmasters deliberately give pain to 
 their pupils. I wonder to myself whether it is possible to say 
 of these people that, behind the deliberate cruelty, there is a 
 good intention. In some obscure sort of way there may pos- 
 sibly be a good motive behind the cruelty, but it is so ignorant 
 and so distorted a motive that there can be only an infinitesi- 
 mal amount of good connected with it. I should not like to 
 say that inquisitors and vivisectors and schoolmasters are 
 wholly bad when they commit acts of deliberate cruelty. 
 Rather are they at so low a stage of moral evolution that they 
 are only to a limited extent responsible for their actions. But 
 the actions being so vile, the reaction of them is, as we know, 
 a terrible one, and if they know in their hearts that they ought 
 not to do such things, then their karma is indeed terrible. As 
 the Master points out, it is no use to say that such and such a 
 practice is the custom: "A crime does not cease to be a crime 
 because many commit it*" I know that because there is the 
 halo of custom surrounding these brutalities we are apt to try 
 to excuse them. After all, we say with regard to the vivisec- 
 
 178 
 
tor, at least he is trying to benefit mankind. But it is a 
 selfish mankind that is willing to benefit from the suf- 
 fering of others. Mankind has no right to inflict suffering 
 on others in the vain hope that health and happiness may- 
 come to itself. 
 
 Vivisection 
 
 You may be told that certain discoveries in vivisection 
 have resulted in a definite immunity from a particular disease. 
 To that I always reply that however much you may stop up 
 one avenue there must always be another avenue for the work- 
 ing out of karma if karma remains. The dirt that you pre- 
 vent coming out from one pore of the skin must find its way 
 out through another. What the vivisector cannot prove is 
 that, though one form of disease may be less frequent, disease 
 as a whole is also less frequent. We have our scourges in one 
 form or another as much as people had them in bygone cen- 
 turies. And even though some diseases have disappeared 
 there are new diseases which have taken their place ; perhaps, 
 indeed, they may be the old diseases with new names. Be 
 that as it may be, the question is a question of morality and 
 duty. Even if the torture of an animal could give mankind 
 release from suffering, mankind can have no right to ex- 
 cuse such torture. If the animal voluntarily chooses to inflict 
 upon itself the torture, that may be another matter, but, so 
 far as I am aware, animals are not consulted before they are 
 vivisected. I do not want to put the matter in the shape of a 
 question as to whether we really gain the benefit we are sup- 
 posed to gain. We do not want to gain so-called benefits in that 
 way. We would rather have our diseases than ruthlessly com- 
 pel animals vicariously to suffer on our behalf. The giving of 
 pain is one of the great sources of karma : the more pain we 
 give to animals, the more our karma binds us to this world 
 of sorrow; and whatever the conditions of health that we 
 think we derive from the infliction of torture, they are over- 
 whelmingly outbalanced by the diseases and sorrows which 
 will surround us from that very infliction of torture. 
 
 179 
 
Corporal Punishment 
 
 As regards schoolmasters, there again the argument is 
 that it is the custom. ' ' Spare the rod and spoil the child, ' ' is 
 the hackneyed phrase. If you and I are to try to follow the 
 [Master we must free ourselves from those dark glasses of su- 
 perstition with which the average individual veils the realities 
 from his eyes. Many people will tell you how much better 
 they are for the fact that when they were children corporal 
 punishment was administered to them. I always reply to 
 such people that we do not know how much better they might 
 be than they are had their teachers and parents refrained 
 from administering corporal punishment to them. The ar- 
 gument is, of course, silly. The infliction of pain merely has 
 the result of evoking fear. We are told that sensible dis- 
 cipline, of which corporal punishment forms a part, hardens 
 the nature. It is from that very hardening of the nature that 
 the world is suffering at the present time. We do not want to 
 harden the nature ; we want to soften it and make it sensitive : 
 we want to make it capable of far deeper sympathy than it is 
 capable of expressing at present. Blows may possibly steel 
 a man's heart to indifference as to the results and effects of 
 competition with his fellow man, but we ought today to have 
 passed the stage of callousness ; we ought at least to be begin- 
 ning our entry into the stage of co-operation. We do not beat 
 flowers in order to make them grow more beautiful: on the 
 contrary, the more we surround them with tenderness the 
 more beautiful they become. A child is also a flower, even a 
 more beautiful flower than those forms of life which we call 
 flowers. Corporal punishment can very rarely be adminis- 
 tered without anger. It may be so administered in exceed- 
 ingly rare cases, but we cannot allow teachers as a whole to 
 inflict corporal punishment simply because a few people may 
 be able to administer it without suffering from excess of 
 emotion. I say deliberately, that the average teacher cannot 
 avoid a trace of anger while he is caning his pupil, and such 
 trace tends to infuse into the punishment the vulgarity of a 
 personal quarrel. In many countries corporal punishment 
 
 180 
 
is seen to be unwise and it has accordingly been abolished. In 
 England and in India, unfortunately, the old procedure still 
 remains j but we are doing our best to get rid of it and to give 
 the young child an opportunity to grow as the flower itself 
 grows. 
 
 Some Forms of Torture 
 
 As for the Inquisition, we do not now, as a rule, inflict 
 personal torture on those whose consciences are at variance 
 with our own. I say, u asa rule," because, during the pres- 
 ent war, a certain number of people have had truly consci- 
 entious objections to military service and have been subjected 
 to iniquities which remind us of those which stained the In- 
 quisition of the Middle Ages. Perhaps this is to be expected 
 when the whole world is angry and the brutality of fighting 
 has gained undisputed sway over the minds of men, and these 
 conscientious objectors are such martyrs as were the early 
 Christians in Rome, or those who endured suffering at the 
 hands of the Inquisitors for the sake of their faith. 
 
 We have added to the list of tortures many forms which 
 were unknown in the earlier days. For instance, there is the 
 torture which the orthodox inflict on the unorthodox a tor- 
 ture which often takes the form of cruel ostracism. There is 
 the torture of contemptuous superiority which many rich 
 people inflict upon the poor. There is the torture which men 
 inflict upon women when they proudly think that only those 
 of the male sex can understand how to govern a country. 
 There is the torture which the people of one faith inflict upon 
 the people of another faith, as, for example, the attitude of 
 the Christian missionary to faiths other than his own. Then, 
 as the Master tells us, there are those who go out intentionally 
 to kill animals and 1 1 call it i sport. * " In some cases, no doubt, 
 the intention may be good, but intentions do not always alter 
 facts, and it is no excuse for cruelty to say that it was com- 
 mitted with a good motive. You and I must continually judge 
 for ourselves and must not be content with the customary 
 judgment which the average individual accepts. Many peo- 
 
 181 
 
pie take their opinions ready-made. Most people hardly 
 bother to think for themselves at all. They are surrounded 
 by certain definite thought forms : they live in those thought 
 forms and very often imagine that they themselves are think- 
 ing them. All too often when some one says "I think/ ' he 
 ought to be saying, ' ' I have got into the clutches of a thought 
 form and the opinion I am expressing is the result.'' 
 
 Karma Disregards Custom 
 
 You will recollect that in an earlier part of "At the 
 Feet of the Master," we are told to remember very clearly 
 that ourselves and our bodies are separate. We must also 
 remember that because a thought comes into our minds it 
 does not follow that we have thought it. It does not follow 
 that because we live in a house, therefore we have built it 
 with our own hands. We may speak of ' l our house ' ' ; it may 
 be "-our house" because we have made it our house, but it is 
 not our house in the sense that we have created it unless, pos- 
 sibly, we have designed it for ourselves. The Master warns 
 us that " Karma takes no account of custom"; also Karma 
 takes no account of the fact that, in reality we are mainly 
 occupied with soaking in other people's thought forms, and 
 giving them out as our own. We have to learn to think for 
 ourselves and, above all, not to accept an idea, or a belief, or 
 an opinion, because it makes life easier for us if we accept it. 
 Of course it is always easier to travel at the same rate at 
 which the stream is flowing. But you and I are people who 
 intend to get on a little faster, and who must be willing, 
 therefore, bravely to endure the curious phenomenon of a 
 stream which, though actually moving in the same direction 
 as ourselves, seems as if it were opposing our progress. How- 
 ever fast the stream may be moving, if you are moving faster 
 than the rate at which it is moving, it appears as if the water 
 were flowing in a direction opposite to that in which you are 
 going. In many cases people oppose you, not because they 
 themselves are not evolving, but simply because you are 
 
 182 
 
evolving more rapidly than they; their rate is slower than 
 your rate and therefore seems to be opposed to your own 
 movements. "We must think for ourselves, and accept nothing 
 which our own judgment, made as independent as we can 
 make it, fully and unhesitatingly accepts. Persecution is, of 
 course, the inevitable result, but, as we know, the blood of the 
 martyrs whether physical, emotional or mental blood is the 
 foundation of the. church that is to be. 
 
 The Master reminds us that when opportunity offers we 
 must have the courage to speak against these cruelties, how- 
 ever much other people may believe in them. The time has now 
 come when certain of these cruelties should cease to exist, and 
 the only way they can be destroyed is for those of us who 
 realise their valuelessness to proclaim the truth of which they 
 are the distortions, the truth which is to take the place of the 
 evil. Those of us who are trying to follow the Master must 
 remember that we have the duty of proclaiming the truths we 
 know, at whatever personal risk, or, at least, of proclaiming 
 such truths as, in our judgment, the world is ripe for. So 
 much for intentional cruelty. 
 
 
 Unintentional Cruelty 
 
 i 
 
 We are also told, however, to be on our guard against 
 unintentional cruelty. As the Master tells us, people are 
 often so full of thoughts about themselves that they do not 
 think sometimes of the pain which, no doubt thoughtlessly, 
 they inflict upon others. The Master gives various examples 
 of this, which you would do well to study and think about. 
 Bemember that long after you have forgotten your uninten- 
 tional act of cruelty, its result may still be lingering in the 
 dividual upon whom you have inflicted the pain. A careless 
 ord, a look of indifference, apparently studied neglect, with- 
 iut any deliberateness behind any of them, may often be the 
 cause of many hours, and possibly days, of suffering to those 
 whom you have so treated. No doubt it is true, as the Master 
 tells us in an earlier part of the book, that these people should 
 
 183 
 
remember that we may not have been thinking about them 
 at all. But that is these people's business; our business is to 
 be careful and not careless. This means that we must always 
 be deliberate in what we do, in what we say, in what we think. 
 We are all of us more or less careless, and in our ignorance 
 we often cause unintentional cruelty. 
 
 When we realise the importance of giving as little pain 
 as possible, we shall try to gain control over our various 
 bodies physical, emotional, mental. We may forget, but, as 
 the Master says: " Karma never forgets, and it takes no ac- 
 count of the fact that men forget/ ' To those of us who want 
 favours for nothing, karma may seem very cruel ; but a dirty 
 wall does not become clean simply because a coat of whitewash 
 is spread over it; sooner or later the dirt begins to show 
 through, and if we then give another coat of whitewash, it is 
 only a question of time for the dirt to show through again. 
 If karma were to forget, we should go on forgetting too ; we 
 should go on forgetting our unintentional cruelties, and out of 
 the forgetfulness would come the idea that we had never com- 
 mitted the cruelties. Were karma to forget, we should never 
 learn. So, indeed, the memory of karma is the greatest of 
 its blessings, for it obliges us to remember too, and so at last 
 to learn the lesson and to profit from its strength-giving power. 
 
 "If you wish to enter the Path, you must think of the 
 consequences of what you do, lest you should be guilty of 
 thoughtless cruel ty," says the Master, and while I know how 
 difficult it is to think of the consequences of what we do, 
 nevertheless, that is the lesson we have to be continually 
 learning. It is a hard lesson, but a very necessary lesson. Af- 
 ter a time, when we have truly learned to think of the conse- 
 quences of what we do, we shall see that only kind and help- 
 ful actions are worth doing. In other words we shall see that 
 the service of others means the greatest happiness for our- 
 selves, and that is the lesson the Path is continually impress- 
 ing upon us. 
 
 184 
 

 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 TESTS OF LOVE 
 
 The remarks of the Master with regard to superstition 
 are of extreme importance at the present time. We must al- 
 ways remember that in looking forward to the coming of the 
 great World Teacher we are looking forward to the advent of 
 One who will usher in a New Age to replace the Old Age out- 
 worn. Even in the midst of this great war, indeed, because 
 we are in the midst of this great war, we are taking stock of 
 the kind of life we habitually lead. We are learning the les- 
 son the Master indicated in an earlier part of the book, when 
 He said that " karma takes no account of custom.' ' We are 
 finding that there is a far deeper truth, in the legal maxim 
 that ignorance of the law is no excuse for its breach, than we 
 have hitherto been willing to recognise. Ignorance and in- 
 difference are seen to be fatal defects. The war has taught us 
 this lesson. The war has taught us that the life of every citi- 
 zen, however humble, is valuable to the State, and that we 
 may neither be ignorant of, nor indifferent to, the kind of life 
 he leads, lest we imperil the welfare of the community. We 
 have discovered that innumerable customs which, hitherto, 
 have seemed to have little harm in them, are, in fact, seen to 
 be injurious when brought against the background of a great 
 emergency. We are beginning to realise that it will no longer 
 do to allow riches and poverty to dwell side by side, with the 
 poor hating the luxury of the rich, with the rich contemptu- 
 ous of the struggles of the poor. It may take us long to work 
 out what the true relation should be between the two, but 
 at last we are up against the problem, for in the agony of the 
 nation the poor have proved to be no less its comforters than 
 
 185 
 
the rich. We are beginning to see that the reign of brute 
 force must cease, and with it the superstition that women are 
 inferior to men. In the nation's agony we have seen its wo- 
 men to be indispensable, and we are forced to the conclusion 
 that there must be equality of citizenship since the State de- 
 mands from each an appropriate service. The destinies of the 
 State are in the hands of its men, women and children, and 
 the elders must together determine the conditions under 
 which the nation's youth shall grow to their maturity. Fur- 
 ther, we are beginning to realise that difference of religious 
 belief does not deny an identity of goal, that difference of 
 colour does not mean difference of quality. In a word, we are, 
 by degrees, shaking off certain superstitions which now stand 
 between us and a realisation of the common brotherhood of 
 mankind. The very word ' l superstition ' ' suggests both that we 
 are still dominated by and that we should be standing above 
 these lower stages of the ladder of evolution which we are so 
 glowly climbing. 
 
 Superstition Involving Cruelty 
 
 For you and me, however, as would-be apprentices in the 
 Master's training school for world servers, there must be an 
 oven keener discrimination between the essential and the non- 
 essential. If we desire to learn to lead, we must not allow 
 ourselves to be lost in the crowd: we must make our way 
 through so that the crowd may see us. The Master specially 
 draws attention, as you will notice, to the superstitions which 
 involve cruelty. All superstitions involve more or less cruelty, 
 but there are certain superstitions which we ought to be able 
 to get rid of at once. The superstition that woman is not the 
 equal of man involves very definite cruelty to the State, but 
 we can only work against it, we cannot abolish it all at once. 
 Further, the cruelty of sacrificing animals in the course of 
 religious ceremonies, and " still more cruel superstition that 
 man needs flesh for food," are superstitions that we can deal 
 with individually. No doubt it is customary in certain parts 
 
 186 
 

 of India for animals to be sacrificed during the course of re- 
 ligious ceremonies. It is customary in many parts of the 
 world for people to eat meat. But those who are trying to 
 avoid being blinded by custom will endeavour to look each 
 habit in the face in order to judge for themselves whether or 
 not the habit is right for them. You will remember how the 
 Master said that "though a thousand men agree upon a sub- 
 ject, if they know nothing about that subject their opinion 
 is of no value." Millions of men agree that meat eating is 
 reasonable, and possibly necessary. But you and I must ask 
 ourselves the question: "Is it?" Never mind whether it is 
 necessary or reasonable for other people ; our business for the 
 moment is to decide whether it is necessary or reasonable for 
 us. From the Master's instructions on the subject, we know 
 that it is not. 
 
 Attention to Principles 
 
 As I write these words I am thinking of the hundred and 
 one arguments people will use to excuse their inattention to 
 the Master's directions. Most people wish to become appren- 
 tices in the Master's school, and at the same time to avoid all 
 training. They want to become athletes without undergoing 
 any physical discipline, and they are silly enough to imagine 
 that because they can find excuses for not going through the 
 discipline the results will be the same as if they had trained 
 themselves. They will tell you that vegetarianism is all very 
 well for people whose circumstances permit them to be veg- 
 tarians, but there are occasions under which it is wiser, and 
 perhaps better for the sake of the work, to follow the ordinary 
 custom. Now I do not for a moment deny that there are 
 critical periods during which it may be necessary to follow 
 custom. I have heard Mrs. Besant say that however averse 
 an individual may be to vaccination, he should not allow a 
 very wise aversion to prevent him from doing his duty to his 
 country in her time of urgent need. If the authorities 
 insist on vaccination he had better allow them to vac- 
 
 187 
 
cinate him. There are in other words supreme momenta 
 when one has to sacrifice one's own individual preparation, 
 and even certain lesser principles which the world is still too 
 young to understand for the sake of the common good, and 
 for the preservation of the greater principles; and one must 
 gladly face the possible disadvantages accruing from the neg- 
 lect of certain principles of life in order that one may be free 
 to fit into the plan the country has made for her protection. 
 The lower kingdoms themselves may have to submit to tem- 
 porary trouble and unhappiness for the sake of the mainte- 
 nance of essential principles which can, at the time, be pre- 
 served only in the ways the world understands and trusts. 
 
 But generally times are comparatively normal. It is, as 
 a general rule, best that the individual should live as pure an 
 individual life as possible. It is only during supreme hap- 
 penings that he has to merge his individuality and his indi- 
 vidual principles into the common whole. Certainly when the 
 War is over, each one of us who aspires to be an apprentice 
 must endeavour to show to the world how an individual life 
 should be lived. Those who still take part in religious cere- 
 monies, either because they need them or because their ex- 
 ample is necessary for the weaker brethren, should set them- 
 selves resolutely in all possible ways against participation in, 
 or encouragement of, sacrificial rites. Also, they should 
 be vegetarians. No doubt it is very inconvenient to be 
 a vegetarian. People often say that it shuts them off from 
 the amenities of life, that it makes them a nuisance to their 
 hosts. That is possible. But, surely, we have no right to in- 
 flict suffering on some of our friends in order to avoid in- 
 convenience to others. It would, no doubt, be very annoying 
 to cannibal hosts if we were regretfully to express our in- 
 ability to eat human flesh, especially if no other dish were pro- 
 vided. But a man must have certain principles of conduct, 
 and if we would be apprentices of the Master we must have 
 principles of conduct just a stage in advance of those by 
 which the world guides itself. We know that within a com- 
 paratively short time the whole world will be vegetarian (See 
 
 188 
 
Man: Whence, How and Whither), and it would be well for 
 us to have the privilege of leading the way, realising that 
 leadership invariably involves sacrifice. There are a number 
 of foolish people who will tell you that vegetarians should not 
 eat vegetables because they are living things. It is curious 
 how people who have no special principle in the matter at all, 
 want to push others to extremes in matters of principle. Hav- 
 ing no principle themselves, they insist upon carrying our 
 principles to impossible conclusions. With regard to this, the 
 sensible attitude is to support your life with the help of that 
 life which is the least sentient. It might be better if we could 
 eat rocks since these are less sentient than vegetables, but rocks 
 have not hitherto proved sufficiently sustaining, and we are 
 compelled, therefore, to go one step higher. I know that plants 
 are sentient things, but their sentience is of a far different 
 kind from the sentience of animals. 
 
 
 The Depressed Classes 
 
 The Master then refers to India, and animadverts on "the 
 treatment which superstition has meted out to the depressed 
 classes in our beloved India.' ' He observes: "See in that 
 how this evil quality can breed heartless cruelty even among 
 those who know the duty of brotherhood. ' ' Those of you who 
 know little about India cannot be aware that, from the oc- 
 cult standpoint, much of India's suffering is directly attribu- 
 table to her own treatment of those of her own people who are 
 outside the pale of caste. She has treated them as "untouch- 
 ables," and yet has not scrupled to take the lowest of services 
 from them. In other words, while scorning them she has 
 used them. Such an attitude is one of the greatest crimes 
 .gainst the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. 
 ut remember that every country has its depressed classes 
 those who are oppressed by power in all its forms. Every- 
 where the poor are depressed. All this is due to the fact that 
 in our present-day civilisation there survives the spirit of 
 brute force. The man rules because he is physically the 
 
 189 
 
stronger, and for no other reason whatever. The result has 
 been the depressed classes. Were woman associated with man, 
 the problem of the depressed classes would soon disappear. 
 Only, while woman herself forms a depressed class, nothing 
 can be done. Personally, I feel that if we would tackle the 
 question of the depressed classes, we must first recognise that 
 we cannot do without the equal counsel of woman. One of 
 two courses is open. Either men will have the sense to recog- 
 nise that brute force is played out, and that true government 
 is impossible without the co-operation of women; or efforts 
 will be made to keep women out of their duty to society. If 
 the latter course is persisted in, the world is in for another 
 period of terrible suffering, because woman suffrage does not 
 rest on the basis of justice to women but on the basis of justice 
 to the State. It is not merely that women have a right to the 
 vote; they have a duty to vote. We must face these things 
 clearly, freeing ourselves from superstition. 
 
 The Master says: "Many crimes have men committed in 
 the name of the God of Love, moved by this nightmare of su- 
 perstition ; be very careful therefore that no slightest trace of 
 it remains in you." When you read that sentence, think of 
 the Inquisition; think of the evils in your locality thriving 
 under the supposed sanction of habit, of custom, of necessity. 
 Think of the various cruel things that people do on the plea 
 that it is impossible to avoid them. You will remember what 
 the Master has said about vivisectors and about schoolmasters 
 who cane their pupils. Then say to yourself that you will 
 avoid all the cruelty that it is possible for you to avoid, and 
 you will see that there is very much to be got rid of. The 
 position is summed up very beautifully by the Master when 
 He tells us to avoid sinning against love. That really is the 
 whole point. We are often tempted to think that cruelty to 
 the larger self is inevitable for the preservation of the smaller. 
 We think that we must live at other people's expense* I 
 mean, at the cost of other people's suffering. Such an atti- 
 tude is the result of the elevation of the individual as the su- 
 preme object of worship. We must remember, however, that 
 
 190 
 
the family is the unit of our life and not the individual; 
 and that our task is, living as far as we can a life of love in 
 the smaller surroundings, gradually to learn to expand it 
 through the nation as a whole. 
 
 "Intense Desire op Service" 
 
 "You must be active in doing good," says the Master, 
 "You must be so filled with the intense desire of service that 
 you are ever on the watch to render it to all around you 
 not to man alone, but even to animals and plants. You must 
 render it in small things every day, that the habit may be 
 formed, so that you may not miss the rare opportunity when 
 the great thing offers itself to be done. For if you yearn to 
 be one with God, it is not for your own sake ; it is that you 
 may be a channel through which His love may flow to reach 
 your fellow-men. ' ' I think you would all do well to copy out 
 this passage and to hang it in front of your bed, so that you 
 may be able to see it when you get up in the morning. In 
 the words "intense desire of service," is to be found the most 
 powerful qualification for admission to the Master's training 
 school. The keener the intensity, the surer the admission, and 
 one who, as it were, palpitates with an intensity of desire of 
 service and who is, on that account, ready to go anywhere and 
 do anything, is on the threshold of admission. That very 
 eagerness is the force that the Master will be able to use in 
 helping the world, and it will also be the means of helping 
 his pupil to turn away from all the weaknesses which hinder 
 both his own progress and his usefulness in the world. You 
 know how it is often said that to get rid of a weakness it is 
 necessary to have some object strong enough to attract away 
 the attention from the weakness. Attention is the food on 
 which thrive both qualities and weaknesses. If you would get 
 rid of a weakness strive to starve it by depriving it of atten- 
 tion. If you would strengthen a quality, feed it with atten- 
 tion. I believe that, from the Master's standpoint, it is not 
 so much a question as to whether an individual is free from 
 
 191 
 
defects, as to whether he has some dominant note strong 
 enough, in the long run, at least, to concentrate attention on 
 itself at the expense of his weaknesses. If I may be allowed 
 a personal illustration, I would say that such self-control as I 
 may possess is, in great measure, due to an overwhelming in- 
 terest in the science of education. I have an intense desire in 
 some future life to become a great teacher and a great au- 
 thority on the principles and methods of education. I know 
 that certain weaknesses I possess stand in the way of the con- 
 summation of my hopes. I play with my weaknesses less than 
 I otherwise might do, because my desire to become a great 
 teacher demands so much attention-food that there is not much 
 to spare for the weaknesses, and they have, therefore, to go 
 more or less without; thus, they will starve and finally die. 
 If you have a great and up-lifting desire, it will demand at- 
 tention-food. The stronger it is, the more food it will demand, 
 and since you have only a certain amount of food at your dis- 
 posal in the shape of attention, you must necessarily starve 
 something, and you will starve your weaknesses because self- 
 preservation using the word "self" in the sense of "Higher- 
 Self" demands that the weaknesses shall go to the wall. 
 
 192 
 
CHAPTEE XXII 
 
 THE GROWTH OF LOVE 
 
 The Master wants us to be positive and not negative. He 
 wishes us ever to be filled with that outrushing force of love 
 which expresses itself in "the intense desire to serve." I 
 wonder whether you have seen the beautiful motto Mrs. Besant 
 gave to the Theosophical Society's Order of Service. She 
 said that the Order should be "A union of all who love in the 
 service of all who suffer" ; and if you were to go into her room 
 in the Headquarters at Adyar, you would see this motto in 
 front of her desk. Only the other day she told me she thought 
 it was one of the most useful mottoes to have about, for it sums 
 up the spirit in which we should live. You must, however, re- 
 member that in the words "all who suffer" are included all 
 living things, not merely human beings. As the Master says, 
 you must be "ever on the watch to render it "(service) "to all 
 around you not to man alone, but even to animals and 
 plants." There is far too deep a cleavage in the modern world 
 between the human and the lower kingdoms. "We are over 
 eager to unite ourselves with the higher and often imagine 
 that it is possible to reach the higher by standing upon the 
 lower. We think of our own progress, our own personal evo- 
 lution, as if these could be accomplished independently of the 
 rest of the world. We think that if we avoid offending, ac- 
 cording to the worldly standpoint, certain moral laws, that 
 each inevitable wrong-doing will be forgiven, and that if we 
 are respectful to God, He will be generous to us. I am not 
 for the moment saying that this attitude is not a necessary 
 stage of evolution. The idea of personal salvation has its 
 place in our upward growth, for it helps us to realise our- 
 
 193 
 
selves, and we cannot realise the larger unity outside us until 
 to a very considerable extent, we have realised ourselves as in- 
 dividuals. This is the value of competition and of many other 
 forms of individualised growth and activity which from cer- 
 tain limited points of view seem so revolting. But the world 
 is growing out of competition. The great war of 1914 sounded 
 the death-knell of competition and heralded the advent of 
 brotherhood. We who belong to the new age must live the 
 teachings of the new age. We must try to understand that the 
 process of evolution is the gradual expansion of our capacity 
 to love. There are some who love but themselves, 
 and although the world has reached the stage when 
 it can call such love selfish, it must be remembered 
 that love of humanity must begin in the little home 
 of the individual self. Some love their families. This 
 is a more expanded form of love. Others may love the com- 
 munity to which they belong. Others may love their nation. 
 All these are stages, and the greater includes the less. Finally, 
 there are the great lovers of humanity, who love the whole 
 world because all is an expression of God. But the lovers of 
 humanity are the better patriots, because of the wider love 
 they possess. The patriot is a better lover of his community 
 than the individual whose affection does not go beyond the 
 particular class to which he belongs. And so downwards. The 
 Master, who loves the whole world, loves the individual all the 
 more ; He does not ignore the individual as being lost in the 
 wider love. I lay stress on this lest people should think, as it 
 is inevitable that they should think, that a love for the whole 
 world is something cold and unattractive. They imagine that 
 such an individual has done with his family, pays no more at- 
 tention to it, ceases to be a loving member of it, that he has 
 been through the earlier stages of the growth of his love. It 
 is true that those in whom the love of humanity begins for the 
 first time to grow tend to forget the smaller in the enthusiasm 
 they feel for the larger. It is quite natural. A child will 
 throw away an old toy for one newer and more beautiful. As 
 he grows older, especially when he grows quite old, even the 
 
 194 
 
earliest toys of childhood will once again become dear to him. 
 And so it is that while we see in the world the curious anomaly 
 of people who love the whole world often neglecting their im- 
 mediate families, this does not mean that love for the whole 
 inevitably involves the abandonment of all lesser affections. 
 The temporary abandoning is merely due to temporary lack 
 of power of adjusting. Take, for example, the case of Jean 
 Jacques Rousseau. History tells us that he utterly neglected 
 his own children. Yet he wrote "Amiel," in many ways a 
 wonderful exposition of the way in which children should be 
 trained. The more shallow-minded would say that "Amiel" 
 is valueless, because he contradicted in his own life the theories 
 which he expounded in his writings. The fact is that Rousseau 
 was at an earlier stage of a larger love. In trying to grasp 
 the bigger principles, he temporarily let go of the lesser ones. 
 In the course of a few lives, Rousseau will realise that the love 
 f the whole is based on the love of its component parts, and 
 hat all his theories will not be really true until he applies 
 them in everyday life. 
 
 The Need for Understanding 
 
 We thus see how complicated evolution is, and above all 
 do we realise how little cause or reason we have to judge 
 others. The conduct of other people very often strikes us as 
 unwise or wrong, and we rush into criticism. The criticism 
 would not much matter if we did it as a warning to ourselves, 
 but we generally make criticism a stick with which to beat 
 those whom we criticise. Yet we are not true psychologists. 
 As the Master says: "Never attribute motives to another; 
 only his Master knows his faults, and he may be acting from 
 reasons which have never entered your mind." Every in- 
 dividual is a mass of enormously complicated machinery. We 
 find it difficult enough to understand ourselves. It is im- 
 possible to understand other people ; all we can do is to try 
 to sympathise with them and to help them. The Master 
 brought this out very clearly when He said : * ' Each soul has 
 
 195 
 
its own troubles and its thoughts turn chiefly around itself.' ' 
 It is true, I think, to say that, even when we feel most con- 
 demnatory of another, there are sure to be extenuating and 
 explanatory circumstances of which we know nothing at all. 
 A little insignificant attitude at any particular moment may, 
 looked at by itself, give rise in our minds, to criticism, but it 
 is probable that this little attitude has causes, possibly in the 
 remote past, of which we can have no conception. I have no 
 space to give illustrations of this, but you will probably be 
 able to work them out for yourselves. At all events, it would 
 be well for you to remember quite clearly that every time you 
 criticise or think unkindly, you are almost certain to be 
 unjust. 
 
 And if we are unjust to those who belong to the same 
 kingdom as ourselves, how much more unjust shall we not be 
 to those members of God's family whom it is still more diffi- 
 cult to understand. The apparent helplessness of animals 
 and plants has led us to take advantage of them and to im- 
 agine that because they are helpless, therefore we have the 
 right to do what we like with them. This attitude is a re- 
 flection of the individualistic spirit which has for so many 
 years been dominant in many parts of the world. "The 
 weakest to the wall" has been the principle of conduct of large 
 numbers of people, and animals and plants have correspond- 
 ingly suffered. We who aspire to be servants of the Masters 
 must remember that God loves equally every kingdom in His 
 divine Empire. The time will come when the animal and the 
 plant will once more be friendly to the human being. As it 
 is, the animals generally know who, among those of the human 
 kingdom appreciate and love them. But the general ill-treat- 
 ment of the animal kingdom has created the gulf between 
 human beings and animals, and the general attitude of the 
 animal must necessarily be one of distrust towards his un- 
 dutiful elder brother. But as the spirit of brotherhood begins 
 to permeate the human kingdom, we may hope that it will 
 bridge this gulf and draw the warring kingdoms into an alli- 
 ance similar to that which exists between the superhuman and 
 the human kingdoms. 
 
 196 
 
it is the same with plants. Many of you must have re- 
 marked that flowers and trees are attracted towards certain 
 individuals. Plants grow the better under the hands of those 
 who love them, and I have often noticed how long plants live, 
 and how happy they seem when in the immediate vicinity 
 of Mrs. Besant. People sometimes give Mrs. Besant flowers, 
 and when she wears them on her dress they often last for a 
 very long time. In other words, they have found a home and 
 are happy in the home. Some day the world will indeed be 
 beautiful, for some day there shall be a loving co-operation 
 between all the various kingdoms of Nature, in which the 
 elder shall do its duty to the younger, and in which the 
 younger shall act in loving co-operation with the elder. 
 
 197 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 LOVE AND SERVICE 
 
 As the Master points out, love and service are really 
 identical and interchangeable terms. If we love God, we 
 yearn to be one with Him, but, as the Master says, "if you 
 yearn to be one with God, it is not for your own sake; it is 
 that you may be a channel through which His love may flow 
 to reach your fellow-men. ' ' That is why the Master tells us 
 that we must love and therefore serve all that is in the world 
 men, animals and plants. Indeed, we must serve minerals 
 too; though the phrase seems perhaps somewhat far-fetched. 
 But all who truly love Nature are well aware of the wonder- 
 ful lesson the mineral kingdom teaches us. That minerals 
 are living things we are now well aware, through the re- 
 searches of that great Indian scientist, Sir J. C. Bose, but 
 all who have an eye for Nature know the effect a beautiful 
 landscape has upon human beings. The grandeur of moun- 
 tain scenery impresses itself upon the individual soul and 
 makes the lover of Nature feel the unity to a very marked de- 
 gree. The power of God becomes deeply manifest in the rug- 
 ged results of great upheavals, and the relentless sea speaks 
 of His inexorable Law. To use a phrase of Professor James, 
 the voice of life's eternal meaning "speaks through every 
 kingdom of Nature, " and our business is to develop through 
 love and service the power of God's message in the various 
 stages of development of His all-pervading Love. 
 
 The Living Unity 
 
 Those who have been privileged to pass through the first 
 of the great Initiations are to a certain extent aware of the 
 
 198 
 
living unity. They are able to merge themselves, at least 
 for the time, in the external, and in so losing themselves they 
 gain a feeble glimpse of the image of God. One who has 
 passed through this experience says : 
 
 I cannot quite explain to you the nature of the experience I went 
 through on the buddhic plane, but I can tell you of its after effects when 
 I returned to what we call the waking consciousness. When I awoke I 
 was full of feeling of being seff -merged in the external as if I had been 
 distributed in a nature around me, and that, therefore, my consciousness 
 lived in all around. Getting out of bed and going to my window, I looked 
 down upon a beautiful lemon grove, the trees of which were ripe with 
 lemons. As I looked, the center of my consciousness seemed to spread, 
 to expand, so that I was not only ' 1 1 ; ' but also the lemon grove, and 
 the gardener who was at the moment engaged in plucking lemons. I 
 seemed to have spread and to alternate between the external and myself. 
 Now I felt myself to be the lemon grove, now I contracted into my 
 ordinary self, and I realised that my task was to live and love and serve 
 that some day my consciousness should be spread in all around me with 
 myself as but a center. Curiously enough, so complete for the time being 
 was the identification of myself with the lemon grove, that in the person 
 of the tree I seemed to experience the slightest of twinges when my 
 lemons were plucked from my branches. Somehow, it seemed a pity; it 
 seemed as if I were being deprived of that which I had won the right 
 to enjoy. I had brought the lemons into existence and they made me 
 beautiful. They completed me, and there was the slightest of pain in 
 being deprived of the fruit of my labor. Going back to myself, I knew 
 that the tree need not be sorry, for its lemons were its love and its 
 service. But I knew that the tree could not be expected altogether to 
 realise this. The question then arose in my mind as to whether it was 
 fair to give the tree its pain. It came to me, however, that only thus 
 could the tree learn its dharma, for trees have their dharma as have 
 human beings, and the little minute of pain the tree suffered was well 
 repaid by the gratitude of those who have learned to be thoughtful. This 
 brought me to the point that we should help the lower kingdoms of 
 Nature far more than we do, were we to be more deliberately thoughtful 
 of them than we are. An act of homage to the lemon tree on eating a 
 lemon may sound in these modern days absurd, but from the point of 
 view of the tree, there is no absurdity at all. Who knows whether trees 
 will not produce far better fruit than they do, and will be glad for the 
 fruit to go, if they feel that the pain of separation is but a payment in 
 advance for a more vigorous life fed by the gratitude of man? 
 
 Equally, the writer pursues this theme into many by- 
 paths, in the course of which he shows how, while sympathy 
 begins with the reproduction of the feeling sympathised with, 
 
 199 
 
true sympathy means the imparting of strength to endure. 
 This, indeed, is what both love and service mean. It is not 
 usually our business or our duty to bear other people's bur- 
 dens, but it is our duty in the name of a common unity to 
 share with them the strength which shall help them to bear 
 their troubles bravely. 
 
 The Essence of the Experience 
 
 The Master says: "He who is on the Path exists not for 
 himself, but for others; he has forgotten himself, in order 
 that he may serve them. ,, Note the phrase "he has forgot- 
 ten himself.' ' I take this to mean that he has learned to 
 merge himself in others. Only by merging himself in others 
 will he know how to understand them. And this shows to us the 
 value of experience, both bitter and sweet. It is not necessary 
 to pass through all conceivable experiences, nor to sympathise 
 individually with all the world; but it is necessary to have 
 become acquainted with the essence of experience. We must 
 have experienced the essential quality of experience, though by 
 no means necessarily in all the various forms experience as- 
 sumes. Experience teaches its lessons in various ways, accord- 
 ing to the varying temperaments and conditions of human be- 
 ings, as well as of other forms in which God has expressed 
 Himself. When we have learned the lesson we have understood 
 the process, and it will not be difficult for us to recognise 
 the process through forms of experience through which we 
 may not ourselves actually have passed. The actual experi- 
 ences through which we have gone give us our individuality, 
 while the essence of those experiences gives us our univer- 
 sality. A great sorrow may teach us what sorrow really is, 
 no matter what the various forms of its expression. If we can 
 take ourselves from "our sorrows' ' to "sorrow," the lesson 
 has been learned, for, if through our sorrows we learn of sor- 
 row, then we shall- understand sorrow in all its forms, for it 
 is the life that makes the form. So we must always try to 
 reason from the individual to the general. When trouble comes 
 
 200 
 
to us, we would do well to communalise our feelings, and to say 
 to ourselves that other kinds of trouble bring such feelings 
 to other people. We would do well, too, to realise that all 
 the little difficulties that we have to encounter, and all the 
 excuses we make for ourselves, have their counterparts in the 
 lives of other people. If I do some hurt to somebody else, I 
 am generally able to find an excuse or a reason. Similarly, 
 if somebody hurts me, he, too, can find his excuse and his 
 reason. Each of us can explain, and in the explanation we 
 find either justification or, at least, mitigation. Indeed, the 
 mitigating circumstances we always claim to exist in our 
 own case exist equally in the case of other people. And we 
 would do well to remember that the understanding we ask 
 from others is an understanding we should in turn give to 
 them. But misunderstanding others is as inevitable as to be 
 misunderstood oneself, so in other words if we do not con- 
 tribute to the total world's happiness such share as may be 
 expected from us, we shall have great difficulty in receiving, 
 in return, the share we ourselves need. Do you see what I 
 mean? If you want to be happy, you must first put happi- 
 ness into the common stock and then draw it out. You can- 
 not be happy independently. It is for this reason that At the 
 Feet of the Master may be called a "gospel of happiness,' ' 
 for it is a gospel of love and service, and only as we love and 
 serve do we become abidingly happy. You will have noticed 
 that the Master says that those who are on the Path exist not 
 for themselves, but for others. The indication of that fact 
 will have been apparent in the words which I have quoted 
 from one who himself is treading that Path. He exists for 
 others because he has experienced the unity, and once that 
 unity is experienced it can not only never be forgotten but in 
 course of time must increasingly dominate the daily life. We 
 are told that at a higher stage the process is reversed ; so that 
 the individual draws everything into himself instead of feeling 
 himself merged in the external. I need not, however, deal 
 with this, as it is probable that the majority of my readers 
 have yet to experience that first stage the nature of which I 
 have already described. 
 
 201 
 
"He is as a pen in the hand of God, through which His 
 thought may flow and find for itself the expression down 
 here, which without a pen it could not have. Yet at the same 
 time he is also a living plume of fire, raying out upon the 
 world the Divine Love which fills his heart.' ' In these mag- 
 nificent phrases the Master shows how, while each one of us 
 is a channel for the expression of the Master's force, we be- 
 come at the same time an individual fountain for the water 
 of life. Out of our expression of the unity comes to the world 
 the eternal principles of the Divine Life, while out of our in- 
 dividuality these Divine principles assume certain definite 
 forms whereby they may be the more easily recognised by such 
 individuals as naturally respond to the special forms through 
 which we express the one Life. So we are useful in a two- 
 fold way. We can send out to the world both the formless 
 and the form. Each one of us has his individual contribution 
 to make to the world's happiness, as well as being able, to a 
 certain extent at least to send out an expression of gen- 
 eral principles. Each one of us can be at least something to 
 all the world, but, as individuals with a special line of activ- 
 ity, we can be very much to the few. 
 
 202 
 

 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 In teaching her pupils, Mrs. Besant lays stress on the 
 different kinds of training which we need for all-round 
 development. If we are to tread the Path successfully, we 
 must not merely utilise and develop our capacities, but we 
 must also replace our weaknesses by strength. Under ordi- 
 nary circumstances, an individual's duty is to pay special 
 attention to the less developed aspects of his character, so 
 that he may gradually attain that all-round perfection so char- 
 acteristic of those who have reached the Adept level. He 
 who is strong in will but weak in wisdom must, for example, 
 strive to acquire wisdom. He who possesses knowledge but re- 
 mains weak of character must so strengthen his will as to 
 make good use of the knowledge he possesses. Similarly, 
 with all other characteristics and qualities, the growing soul 
 must strive in every possible way to acquire a balanced nature 
 in which all qualities are at a certain definite level of ex- 
 pression, while definite weaknesses have entirely been replaced 
 by strength. This is more or less what is meant by general 
 development. It is of essential importance for young peo- 
 ple, and might be expressed in ordinary terms by stating 
 that there must be a good foundation of general knowledge 
 before specialisation begins. 
 
 On the other hand, each individual has his own special 
 contribution to make to the progress of the world. We are 
 told that the great Hierarchy which rules us is divided into 
 distinct branches of activity. There are roughly three main 
 divisions the ruling, the teaching, and the organising. In 
 each of these divisions there are Master-Experts, specially 
 trained for work in the divisions to which they belong. Each 
 Master, if one may reverently say so, has not only acquired 
 an all-round perfection, but has also developed His nature in 
 
 203 
 
accordance with the special dictates of His individual being. 
 The music of the world is a harmony, not a single note. The 
 very beauty of the harmony depends on the many differences 
 which constitute it, provided each separate note be in tone 
 with the spirit of the co-ordinating harmony. Therefore, 
 while each one of us needs to acquire an all-round develop- 
 ment, specially strengthening the weaker parts of our nature, 
 we must at the same time remember that, as individuals, we 
 have, each one of us, a special message to give to our sur- 
 roundings. Within the three great divisions ruling, teach- 
 ing, organising there are many varieties of work, and no 
 one should feel that he has no message to give. It may be 
 that he has not yet given his message, that he is not yet ready 
 to specialise, just as the child is not ready for specialisation. 
 But some day he will know his work, and if he realises that 
 he has special duties to perform, he will be on the watch for 
 them, and so grow the more quickly. Many who read these 
 pages may feel that they really do not know to what line 
 they belong, nor to what special sub-division they belong. 
 Let them keep in mind the fact that they have, in reality, 
 their own special place and special function in the world's 
 service, and that in due course they will discover themselves. 
 Each one of us will become a specialist, either in the near or in 
 the distant future, and the more quickly we learn to modify 
 our exaggerations, to replace our weaknesses by strength, and 
 to bring the various constituents of our nature into harmoni- 
 ous relationship, the sooner shall we discover the special place 
 God sends us into the world to occupy. I have no space to 
 pursue this subject further, or I would suggest in detail how 
 it seems to me the great divisions of activity express them- 
 selves in various ways. But I believe that if we look around 
 us intelligently, we can begin to see into what divisions the 
 people we know well are gradually sorting themselves. At 
 first we shall be more often wrong than right, but with experi- 
 ence will come increasing accuracy of judgment. I would 
 add as a final word on this subject that, if I learned aright, 
 the specialisation I have spoken of extends into the highest 
 
 204 
 
regions. I have heard that the dominant note of our world, 
 for example, is love, expressed in a certain specific way. I 
 can imagine that the dominant note of some other world 
 might be wisdom, while with yet another it might be will, and 
 so on. Whether I am right or wrong, this field or study is ex- 
 ceedingly fascinating, and invaluable to those who have to 
 deal with humanity either as statesmen or as teachers. 
 
 Love the Inspirer 
 
 In the last paragraph of At the Feet of the Master, the 
 Master lays down the nature of the fundamental qualifica- 
 tions each one of us must develop. He tells us that we must 
 gain wisdom, but not for ourselves, rather that we may be 
 able to help. Then we must gain will, so as to direct our wise 
 helpfulness through suitable channels of service. But there 
 must also be love, for without love there could be no true 
 will; while without the will to help there would be no force 
 stimulating us in the pursuit of true wisdom. You notice how 
 the Master makes love the inspiring element. Perhaps this 
 is because the dominant note of this world is love. Having 
 love, the will to serve must inevitably come. And 
 with the will to serve must come a longing to serve 
 helpfully, wisely. I might be asked how it is possible 
 to acquire the quality of love for others. I am 
 inclined to answer that one learns to love others by grow- 
 ing tired of loving oneself. One becomes weary of the smaller 
 self and turns with relief to the greater freedom of the larger 
 self. Love for others comes from within, not from without. 
 It cannot be imposed upon us. It is impossible to force a 
 child to love other people. But the wise teacher stimulates 
 in his pupils that fatigue which sooner or later arises from 
 loving themselves alone. For some time, it is inevitable that 
 we should care most for our own individual small selves. It is 
 not only inevitable, it is right ; for we can only proceed to the 
 wider from the narrower and we must begin with ourselves. 
 Later on, we begin to realise that real happiness, depends far 
 more upon our relations with our surroundings than upon 
 the endeavour to get what we want for ourselves, indifferent 
 
 205 
 
that the satisfaction of our own desires may be bought at 
 the expense of pain to others. But to realise this means 
 gradual growth. We cannot achieve it all in a moment, and 
 I would, therefore, repeat that the only way to stimulate the 
 love for others is to encourage in all legitimate ways the 
 weariness of loving oneself alone. 
 
 The Result of the Teachings 
 
 I have now come to the end of these studies, and I think 
 that if I were asked to sum up what the results of the teach- 
 ings should be for any individual, I should quote the two 
 verses given at the end. I reproduce them here : 
 Waiting the word of the Master, 
 
 Watching the Hidden Light; 
 Listening to catch His orders 
 
 In the very midst of the fight; 
 Seeing His slightest signal 
 
 Across the heads of the throng; 
 Hearing His faintest whisper 
 Above earth's loudest song. 
 The result of all true teaching is far more to produce 
 right attitude than to fill the brain with details of knowledge. 
 The best teaching is that which establishes on a firm basis a 
 mind trained to know where to look for the needed knowledge, 
 how to gain such an attitude as shall enable the individual not 
 only to direct his knowledge wisely but also sympathetically 
 to understand the thousand and one motives and circum- 
 stances which lie at the root of every individual existence. 
 The teachings of the Master should help us to acquire an atti- 
 tude of kindliness and of eagerness to help, while both of these 
 must be sufficiently genuine to make us willing to undertake 
 the necessary training and the necessary sacrifices. It is an 
 attitude which is expressed in the two verses I have quoted, 
 the attitude of listening for the slightest indication as to con- 
 duct from Those who may be called the Perfect Servers. 
 
 The first verse indicates to us the need for humility, for 
 realising how little in reality we know however much the 
 world may call us wise. 
 
 206 
 
: 
 
 If we would be truly helpful, therefore, we must be ever 
 on the watch for hints from Those who possess the true knowl- 
 edge. The last two lines of the first verse teach us the most 
 important lesson that we must never lose sight of God's plan 
 for men, however much we may be absorbed in our own indi- 
 vidual lives. Our own lives are parts of God's Life, and we 
 can only live our own lives truly when we strive to shape 
 them, adapt them, mould them, to His. Mrs. Besant has often 
 told us how in the background of her mind is always the 
 thought of her Master, with the result that everything she does 
 is influenced and coloured by that dominant thought. We, too, 
 must similarly learn to keep our Master ever in our thoughts, 
 because the Master represents in embodied form our highest 
 selves, is the Messenger of God to our hearts. If we cannot 
 yet think of any special Master, at least we can have the image 
 of one of the earth 's Great Helpers ever before us. There are a 
 few living in our midst even now whom we might do well to 
 enshrine in the sacred place of our being. Every one of us 
 should be a hero-worshipper, whether of a hero of by-gone ages 
 or of one living in the world today. 
 
 The second verse amplifies the first, and it would be well 
 to learn these verses by heart, so that they may as frequently 
 as possible come into our thoughts to remind us of the true 
 motive that should be behind our thoughts, our feelings, our 
 activity. The lines 
 
 Hearing His faintest whisper 
 Above earth's loudest song. 
 
 teach us that the lightest suggestion of the Master is one of in- 
 finitely greater importance than the considered opinion of 
 the world in which we live. Those who would be pupils of a 
 Master, must learn to judge for themselves, to think the 
 thoughts the Master would wish them to think, to feel as He 
 would wish them feel, to speak as He would have them 
 speak, to act as He would have them act. Public opinion 
 has its value, but the opinion of the Master is the purest 
 truth for those who know, and above all for the occultist. On 
 the other hand, we must take care not to be too lazy to think 
 
 207 
 
for ourselves. Laziness keeps large numbers of people from 
 the feet of the Master, for either they want to be spoon-fed 
 by their elders, and to receive and act on distinct orders as 
 to every little detail of their lives, or they grovel before pub- 
 lic opinion rather than take the trouble to stand up for them- 
 selves, and, if necessary, brave public opinion and suffer the 
 consequences. No one can become the pupil of the Master 
 who is not fully willing, indeed eager to suffer in the cause 
 of that which he believes to be the truth, however much he 
 may thereby bring down upon himself the execration of his 
 friends and surroundings. 
 
 I would specially warn you against the very common 
 weakness of many good, but not spiritual, people, who go 
 about telling others how they were told to do this and that, 
 how they dreamed this dream, heard the voice of So and So, 
 how Mrs. Besant or Mr. Leadbeater has specially advised this, 
 approved that, recommended this course, endorsed such and 
 such an interpretation of an astral or other experience. There 
 are many such well-meaning persons about in our circles, 
 revolving placidly in theirs. Let them say what they will, but 
 for yourselves remember Mr. Leadbeater 's advice not to be- 
 come the center of your circle. People who act as I have de- 
 scribed are really striving to persuade others that they are 
 very important people. They seek praise by trying to strut 
 about in garments alleged to have been made for them by per- 
 sonages greater than they. Apart from the fact that in nine 
 cases out of ten their remarks are generally gross exaggera- 
 tions of the little amount of truth which may possibly be in 
 them, our business as apprentices in a Master's school is to 
 prove ourselves by action, not by speech. 
 
 I hope that the Master's teachings are as precious to my 
 readers as they are to me. "We may read At the Feet of the 
 Master many times, but we are only beginning to understand 
 it if we find each time we read it afresh that we are learning 
 something new. He who, having read At the Feet of the 
 Master does not long to read it again and again, has not yet 
 understood its message. 
 
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