Masonic, Occult and Esoteric Online Library
Gems From The East: A Birthday Book
By H.P. Blavatsky
May
I'm weary of conjectures, — this must end 'em.
Thus am I doubly armed: my death and life,
My bane and antidote, are both before me:
This in a moment brings me to an end;
But this informs me I shall never die.
The Soul, secured in her existence, smiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.
The stars shall fade away, the sun himself
Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years;
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth,
Unhurt amidst the war of elements,
The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.
— ADDISON.
1 The eternal Spirit is everywhere. It stands encompassing the whole world.
2 He who feeds the hungry before he has assuaged his own hunger, prepares for himself eternal food. He who renounces that food for the sake of a weaker brother is — a god.
3 The altar on which the sacrifice is offered is Man; the fuel is speech itself, the smoke the breath, the light the tongue, the coals the eye, the sparks the ear.
4 One moment in eternity is as important as another moment, for eternity changeth not, neither is one part better than another part.
5 Better it would be that a man should eat a lump of flaming iron than that one should break his vows.
6 Even a good man sees evil days, as long as his good deeds have not ripened; but when they have ripened, then does the good man see happy days.
7 By oneself the evil is done, by oneself one suffers; by oneself the evil is left undone, by oneself one is purified.
8 Purity and impurity belong to oneself; no one can purify another.
9 Self is the lord of Self: who else could be the lord! With self well subdued, a man finds a master such as few can find.
10 If one man conquer in battle a thousand times a thousand men, and if another conquer himself, he is the greater of the two conquerors.
11 Who is the great man? He who is strongest in patience. He who patiently endures injury, and maintains a blameless life — he is a man indeed!
12 If thou hast done evil deeds, or if thou wouldst do them, thou mayest arise and run where'er thou wilt, but thou canst not free thyself of thy suffering.
13 There is a road that leads to Wealth; there is another road that leads to Nirvana.
14 An evil deed does not turn on a sudden like curdling milk; it is like fire smoldering in the ashes, which burns the fool.
15 An evil deed kills not instantly, as does a sword, but it follows the evil-doer into his next and still next rebirth.
16 The calumniator is like one who flings dirt at another when the wind is contrary, the dirt does but return on him who threw it.
17 The virtuous man cannot be hurt, the misery that his enemy would inflict comes back on himself.
18 Nature is upheld by antagonism. Passions, resistance, danger, are educators. We acquire the strength we have overcome.
19 If a man understands the self saying "I am He," what could he wish or desire that he should pine after the body?
20 That word which all the Vedas record, which all penances proclaim, which men desire when they live as religious disciples, that word I tell thee briefly, it is OM.
21 As a person having seen one in a dream, recognizes him afterwards; so does one who has achieved proper concentration of mind perceive the SELF.
22 It is better to do one's own duty, even though imperfectly, than to perform another's duty well.
23 The wise who knows the Self as bodiless within the bodies, as unchanging among changing things, as great and omnipresent, does never grieve.
24 The path of virtue lies in the renunciation of arrogance and pride.
25 He who wrongs another unjustly will regret it, though men may applaud him; but he who is wronged is safe from regret, though the world may blame him.
26 There is more courage in facing the world with undisguised truth, than in descending into a wild beast's den.
27 True clemency is in foregoing revenge, when it is in one's power; true patience is in bearing up against disappointments.
28 The happy man must prepare ere the evil day comes; and when it does, let the thought that every good and great man has been made to suffer at some time console him.
29 Wealth in the hands of one who thinks not of helping mankind with it, is sure to turn one day into dry leaves.
30 Like as the night follows the day, so misfortune is the shadow of joy; Karma bestowing her lots with both hands.
31 The eagle catcheth not flies; but even the eagle is disturbed by them.
