Masonic, Occult and Esoteric Online Library
Compassion - The Spirit of Truth
By Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Give it all away or you will lose it
7 Bhakti cannot be motivated by lustful desire because [it can only be accomplished by] the elimination of [selfishness itself, which is the sum total of all personal] desires. When the man, so living, centres his heart in the true Self and is exempt from attachment to all desires, he is said to have attained to yoga.
8 Self-renunciation [does not imply] abandoning [daily affairs such as] secular and sacred activities [but offering them instead to That or, much better, to Humanity]. As the ignorant perform the duties of life from the hope of reward, so the wise man, from the wish to bring the world to duty and benefit mankind, should perform his actions without motives of interest.
9 Single-minded Devotion to That [tasmin] precludes anything antagonistic to That [which could hamper Bhakti unfolding]. Supreme bliss surely cometh to the sage whose mind is thus at peace; whose passions and desires are thus subdued; who is thus in the true Self and free from sin. He who is thus devoted and free from sin obtaineth without hindrance the highest bliss — union with the Supreme Spirit.
10 Single-hearted Devotion calls for [self-reliance and hence] the abandonment of all [external] support.2 But the man who only taketh delight in the Self within, is satisfied with that and content with that alone, hath no selfish interest in action. He hath no interest either in that which is done or that which is not done; and there is not, in all things which have been created, any object on which he may place dependence.
11 Indifference to situations that are incompatible with Devotion should not exclude those secular and sacred activities that can awaken Devotion. He, who fulfils the duties obligated by nature, does not incur sin. A man’s own natural duty, even though stained with faults, ought not to be abandoned.
12 [Meanwhile] one should continue observing secular injunctions, even after Devotion has been firmly established [because of their protective effect]. He should not create confusion in the understandings of the ignorant, who are inclined to outward works, but by being himself engaged in action should cause them to act also.
13 Otherwise, there is every possibility that one will backslide.
14 Social responsibilities should be observed only to the extent [that custom and practice require]; but [activities necessary to physical health, such as] eating [and dressing, for example] should be maintained for life. As the ignorant perform the duties of life from the hope of reward, so the wise man, from the wish to bring the world to duty and benefit mankind, should perform his actions without motives of interest.
Those who practice severe self-mortification [are] full of delusion, torture the powers and faculties, which are in the body, and me also, who am in the recesses of the innermost heart; know that they are of an infernal tendency.
