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Gems From The East: A Birthday Book

By H.P. Blavatsky

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June

"There is 'true' Knowledge. Learn thou it is this:
To see one Changeless Life in all that lives,
And in the Separate, One Inseparable.
There is imperfect Knowledge: that which sees
The separate existences apart,
And, being separated, holds them real.
There is false Knowledge: that which blindly clings
To one as if 'twere all, seeking no cause,
Deprived of light, narrow, and dull, and 'dark.' "
— SONG CELESTIAL, Bk. 18 (fr. The Bhagavad-Gita)
1 Judge the tree by its fruits, man by his deeds.

2 Theosophy is not the acquirement of powers, whether psychic or intellectual, though both are its servants.

3 Neither is Theosophy the pursuit of happiness, as men understand the word; for the first step is sacrifice, the second, renunciation.

4 Life is built up by the sacrifice of the individual to the whole. Each cell in the living body must sacrifice itself to the perfection of the whole; when it is otherwise, disease and death enforce the lesson.

5 Theosophy is the science of life, the art of living.

6 Harmony is the law of life, discord its shadow; whence springs suffering, the teacher, the awakener of consciousness.

7 Through joy and sorrow, pain and pleasure, the soul comes to a knowledge of itself.

8 The eyes of wisdom are like the ocean depths; there is neither joy nor sorrow in them. Therefore the soul of the disciple must become stronger than joy, and greater than sorrow.

9 We hate but those whom we envy or fear.

10 Self-knowledge is unattainable by what men usually call "self-analysis." It is not reached by reasoning or any brain-powers.

11 Real self-knowledge is the awakening to consciousness of the divine nature of man.

12 Will is the offspring of the Divine, the God in man; Desire, the motive power of the animal life.

13 Will is the exclusive possession of man. It divides him from the brute, in whom instinctive desire only is active.

14 To obtain the knowledge of self, is a greater achievement than to command the elements or to know the future.

15 The great watchword of the True is this — in last analysis all things are divine.

16 Fear is the slave of Pain, and Rebellion her captive.

17 Endurance is the free companion of Sorrow, and Patience her master.

18 The husband of Pain is Rapture, but the souls are few in whom that marriage is consummated.

19 Spirituality is not what we understand by the words "virtue" and "goodness." It is the power of perceiving formless, spiritual essences.

20 The discovery and right use of the true essence of Being — this is the whole secret of life.

21 When desire is for the purely abstract — when it has lost all trace or tinge of "self" — then it has become pure.

22 Adepts are rare as the blossom of the Udumbara tree.

23 The one eternal, immutable law of life alone can judge and condemn man absolutely.

24 Will and Desire are both absolute creators, forming the man himself and his surroundings.

25 Will creates intelligently; Desire blindly and unconsciously.

26 Man makes himself in the image of his desires, unless he creates himself in the likeness of the Divine, through his will, the child of the light.

27 Theosophy is the vehicle of the spirit that giveth life; consequently, nothing dogmatic can be Theosophical.

28 Some pluck the fruits of the tree of knowledge to crown themselves therewith, instead of plucking them to eat.

29 It is not necessary for truth to put on boxing-gloves.

30 You cannot build a temple of truth by hammering dead stones. Its foundations must precipitate themselves like crystals from the solution of life.