A Textbook of Theosophy | Page 6

works that I myself first came to know their author,
and afterwards Madame Blavatsky herself; from both of them I learned
much. When I asked Madame Blavatsky how one could learn still more,
how one could make definite progress along the Path which she pointed
out to us, she told me of the possibility that other students might be
accepted as apprentices by the great Masters, even as she herself had
been accepted, and that the only way to gain such acceptance was to
show oneself worthy of it by earnest and altruistic work. She told me
that to reach that goal a man must be absolutely one-pointed in his
determination; that no one who tried to serve both God and Mammon
could ever hope to succeed. One of these Masters Himself had said: "In
order to succeed, a pupil must leave his own world and come into
ours."

This means that he must cease to be one of the majority who live for
wealth and power, and must join the tiny minority who care nothing for
such things, but live only in order to devote themselves selflessly to the
good of the world. She warned us clearly that the way was difficult to
tread, that we should be misunderstood and reviled by those who still
lived in the world, and that we had nothing to look forward to but the
hardest of hard work; and though the result was sure, no one could
foretell how long it would take to arrive at it. Some of us accepted
these conditions joyfully, and we have never for a moment regretted the
decision.
After some years of work I had the privilege of coming into contact
with these great Masters of the Wisdom; from Them I learnt many
things--among others, how to verify for myself at first hand most of the
teachings which They had given. So that, in this matter, I write of what
I know, and what I have seen for myself. Certain points are mentioned
in the teaching, for the verification of which powers are required far
beyond anything which I have gained so far. Of them, I can say only
that they are consistent with what I do know, and in many cases are
necessary as hypotheses to account for what I have seen. They came to
me, along with the rest of the Theosophical system, upon the authority
of these mighty Teachers. Since then I have learnt to examine for
myself by far the greater part of what I was told, and I have found the
information given to me to be correct in every particular; therefore I am
justified in assuming the probability that that other part, which as yet I
cannot verify, will also prove to be correct when I arrive at its level.
To attain the honour of being accepted as an apprentice of one of the
Masters of the Wisdom is the object set before himself by every earnest
Theosophical student. But it means a determined effort. There have
always been men who were willing to make the necessary effort, and
therefore there have always been men who knew. The knowledge is so
transcendent that when a man grasps it fully he becomes more than
man and he passes beyond our ken.
But there are stages in the acquirement of this knowledge, and we may
learn much if we will, from those who themselves are still in process of

learning; for all human beings stand on one or other of the rungs of the
ladder of evolution. The primitive stand at its foot; we who are
civilized beings have already climbed part of the way. But though we
can look back and see rungs of the ladder below us which we have
already passed, we may also look up and see many rungs above us to
which we have not yet attained. Just as men are standing even now on
each of the rungs below us, so that we can see the stages by which man
has mounted, so also are there men standing on each of the rungs above
us, so that from studying them we may see how man shall mount in the
future. Precisely because we see men on every step of this ladder,
which leads up to a glory which as yet we have no words to express, we
know that the ascent to that glory is possible for us. Those who stand
high above us, so high that They seem to us as gods in Their
marvellous knowledge and power, tell us that They stood not long since
where we are standing now, and They indicate to us clearly the steps
which lie between, which we also must tread if we would be as They.
Chapter III
THE FORMATION OF