[Page 274] FOR long years I have pondered over the problem of the difference between that “union with God” as held up by the great mystical teachers of both the East and the West, and that vast body of secret knowledge called by the Adepts the “Sacred Science”. I have known so many people leave our ranks and our esoteric training because they felt that other teachers showed them a more “direct way”. Sometimes it was the way of the older Christian saints, sometimes the way of more modern eastern teachers and sages. I see the difference quite clearly. Let me endeavour to express it.

A man can become “one with God”, the Eternal Life, the Ultimate, call It what we will, without having any cognizance whatever of the Sacred Science. That great knowledge is not in the least necessary. But a tremendous knowledge concerning man and his constitution, his past and his future, his method of evolution, also concerning the consciousness and constitution of the solar system, exists, and is to be found in only one place. For untold ages this Sacred Science has been garnered, added to, and handed on by one generation of Adepts to another. The Brotherhood of the Adepts are the only people who possess it. A tiny fringe of that vast knowledge They gave to the [Page 275] world through the medium of the Theosophical Society, especially through Their great messenger, H. P. Blavatsky, whose monumental work, The Secret Doctrine, is unique in history. In that work is to be found information nowhere else obtainable on this planet. And because it is so unique and so wonderful, it is one of our “best-sellers”, and will increasingly become even more so. It is not the Theosophical members who buy it for the most part, but hundreds of university professors and students. They buy it because nowhere else can they get that information. The day prophesied by H.P.B. is approaching, when Science and Philosophy will acknowledge the truth of the statements and teaching of The Secret Doctrine.

Does any man wish to obtain more of that tremendous knowledge, for the S. D. is a mere fringe of it ? There is only one possible way for him to obtain it, and that is to qualify for admittance to the Great Brotherhood who are its eternal custodians. I was explaining this to a young man who was belligerently upholding the teachings of a modern eastern sage. “But”, he said, “when we become one with the Eternal Life, we shall have all that knowledge automatically”. “No”, I replied, “you will not. You will have a marvellous intuitive understanding of life and the hearts of men, but that body of detailed, scientific knowledge is only to be gained in one way and no other”.

What each one of us must decide is what is our way and what do we desire. If we wish simply to become one with Life, let us go by the most direct road we can find. But if we wish to share that Sacred Knowledge there is no other way but the path of discipleship to a great Adept. It is also true that upon this occult road we must also one day become “one with God”, for the knowledge and power of that Sacred Science cannot be safely trusted to any but the wholly spiritual and impersonal man. [Page 276]

How shall we know to which way we belong ? T. Subba Row says that we need not seek the Path of Occultism, because, if we belong to it (and that means a decision of the Monad in long past ages), it will find us. There is another point to be noted. This path is a long, long path, extending over many lives. It brings no quick results, and never, never any “personal” ones. Therefore we must search our motive, and decide whether we have the needed unwearying strength and patience. To quote Light on the Path:

Pause and consider awhile. Is it the way you desire, or is it that there is a dim perspective in your visions of great heights to be scaled by yourself, of a great future for you to compass ? Be warned. The way is to be sought for its own sake, not with regard to your feet that shall tread it.