At The Feet of The Master PDF

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Krishnamurti Alcyone
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AMERICAN EDITIOM
THE RAJPUT PRESSL
CHICAGO.
1911'
-^//l
AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive

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littp://www.arcliive.org/details/atfeetofmasterOOkrisrich
PREFACE
^g^ HE
privilege
is
given to
^2
word
me, as an elder, to pen a

little
of introduction to this
younger book, the first written by a but Brother, young in body verily,
not in Soul.
The teachings conhim by tained in it were given to for him his Master in preparing down Initiation, and were written
by him from
laboriously,
memory slowly and

for his
English last
year waa far less fluent than it is now. The greater part is a reproduction of the Master's
own words;
rethat which is not such a verbal
production
is
the Master's thought
clothed in His J)upil's words.
Two
omitted sentences were supplied by

the Master.
In two other cases an

Be-
omitted word has been added.
yond
this, it is entirely
first gift
Alcyone's
own, his
to the world.
May
it
help others as the spoken
teachings helped
him
such
it.
is
the
hope with which he gives
But
the teaching can only be fruitful

if it is lived,
it
as he has lived
it,
since If
fell
from
his Master's lips.
the example be followed as well as
the precept, then for the reader, as for the writer, shall the great Portal
swing open, and his feet be
set
on the Path.
Annie Besant.
TO
THOSE WHO KNOCK
From
the unreal lead

lead
me
to the Real.
From darkness From death
me
to Light.
lead
me
to Immortality.
FOKEWOED
HESE
are not
tlie
my
words;
f^^
Master
out
they are
words of the
With-
who taught me.
Him
I could have done nothing,
but through His help I have set

feet
sire
my
upon the Path. You also deto enter the same Path, so the
will
words which He spoke to me

help you also,
It is not
if
you
will
obey
themi.
enough to say that they

;
are true and beautiful
man who
wishes to succeed must do exactly
what
is said.
To
look at food and
say that
it is
good
will not satisfy
a starving man; he must put forth

his
hand and
eat.
is
So
to hear the
Master's words
not enough, you

says, attending
must do what He
to every word, taking every hint.

If a hint is not taken, if a
word
is
missed,
it
is lost
forever; for
He
does not speak twice.
are for Four qualifications there this pathway
Discrimination
Desirelessness
Good conduct
Love
to the Master has said try to on each of these I shall
What
me
tell
you.
W!^^ HE
first
is
of these Qualifica;
[^^^%| tions
Discrimination and
this is usually taken as the discrim-
ination between the real

real which leads
and the un-
men
to enter the
Path.
;
It is this, but it is also

it is
much
more and
to be practised, not
only at the beginning of the Path,
but at every step of

until the end.
it
every day
You
5
enter the Path

it
because you have learnt that on
alone can be found those things
which are worth gaining.
Men who
at
do not know, work to gain wealth
and power, but these are

for one life only,
real.
most
and therefore un-
There are greater things than
these
things
which are real and
lasting;
these,
when you have once seen
you desire those others no

the world there are only
more.
In
all
two kinds of people
those
is
who
thing
know, and those who do not know;
and
this
knowledge
the
which matters.
What
6
religion
AT THE FEET OF THE MASTEB
man
holds, to
what race he belongs
these things are not important;

is this the really important thing knowledgethe knowledge of God's
plan for men.
For God has a

is
plan,
and that plan

once a
evolution.
When
man has
it,
seen that and really
knows
for
it,
it
he cannot help working and making himself one with

it
because
is
so
glorious,
so
beautiful.
So, because he knows,

side,
he
is
on God's
standing for
good and resisting evil, working selfishfor evolution and not for
ness.
7
If he is on God's side he is one
of us,
least
and
it
does not matter in the

calls
whether he
himself a
Hindu or a Buddhist, a Christian or

a
Muhammadan, whether he
or a Eussian.
is
an
Indian or an Englishman, a China-
man
Those who are
on His side know why they are here
and what they should

are trying to do
it
;
do,
and they
all
the others do
do,
not yet
know what they should

foolishly,
and so they often act

try to invent
and
ways for themselves

will be pleasant
which they think
for themselves, not understanding

8
that all are
ODfe,
and that therefore

any one.
only what the One wills can ever be

really pleasant for
They
are following the unreal instead of

the real.
Until they learn to dis-
tinguish between these two, they
have
God's
not
side,
ranged
themselves/ on
this discrimina-
and so
tion is the first step.
But even when the choice

you must
real
still
is
made,
of the
remember that
and the unreal there are many
varieties;
still
and discrimination must

the right and
be
made between
9
the wrong, the important
and the
unimportant, the useful

useless, the true
selfish
and the
false, the
and the
and the
unselfish.
it
Between the right and wrong

should not be
those
difficult to
choose, for
who wish
to follow the
Master
have already decided to take the

right at all costs.
But the body and
the
man
are two, and the man's
will is not
always what the body
wishes.
When
your body wishes
something, stop and think whether
you really wish
it.
For you are
God, and you will only what God

wills; but
you must dig deep down

10
God within into yourself to find the and listen to His voice, which
yon,
is
your voice.
for
Do
not mistake your

the
bodies
yourselfneither
nor physical body, nor the astral,

the mental.
Each one
of
them
will
order to pretend to be the Self, in you must gain what it wants. But
know them
all,
and know yourself
as their master.
work that must be wants to done, the physical body and go out walking, to eat
When
there
is
rest, to
drink; and the
man who
11
does not
to
know says
to himself:
"I want
do these things, and I must do
them."
says:
But the man who knows

^^This that wants
is
not
I,
and
help
it
must wait awhile."

there
is
Often
when
an opportunity to
the
it
some
one,
body
do
feels:
*'How much trouble

me;
the
let
will be for
it."
some one
else
But
^^You
man
replies to his body:
shall not hinder
me
in doing
good
work."
The body
fore you
is
your animal
the
horse upon which you ride.
There-
must treat
it
;
it
well,
and take
good care of
you must not over12
work
keep
it,
you must feed
it
properly
on pure food and drink only, and

it
strictly clean always,
even
dirt.
from the minutest speck of
For without a perfectly clean and

healthy body you cannot do the ar-
duous work of preparation, you

cannot bear
its
ceaseless
strain.
But
it
must always be you who con-
trol that body, not it that controls
you.
The
astral
body has
;
its
desires
dozens of them
it
wants you to be
angry, to say sharp words, to feel

jealous, to be greedy for
13
money, to
envy other people their possessions,

to yield yourself to depression.
All
these things
it
wants, and'
it
more, not because

you, but because
brations,
wishes
many to harm
it
likes violent vi-
and
likes to
change them
of
constantly.
But you want none

between
these
things,
and therefore you

your
must
discriminate
wants and your body's.
Your mental body wishes

itself
to think
proudly separate, to think
much of itself and little of others. Even when you have turned it away
from worldly
things,
14
it still
tries to
calculate for self, to
make you think

work and
medi-
of your
own
progress, instead of
thinking of the Master's

of helping others.
tate, it will try to
When you
make you think
of the
it
many
different things which
wants instead of the one thing
which you want.

mind, but
it is
You
are not this

;
yours to use so here

is
again discrimination
necessary.
or
Tou must watch

you
will fail.
unceasingly,
Between right and wrong, Occultism knows no

compromise.
cost, that
15
At
whatever apparent
which
is
right yon
must
do, that
do,
which
is
wrong yon mnst not
no matter
say.
what the ignorant may think or
Yon mnst
study deeply the hidden
laws of Nature, and when you know
them arrange your

them,
using
life
according to
always
reason
and
eommon-sense.
You must
Firm
discriminate between
the important and the unimportant.
as a rock where right and

yield always
wrong are concerned,

to others in things
ter.
which do not matgentle
For you must be always

16
and kindly, reasonable and accommo-
AT THE FEET OE THE MASTER
dating, leaving to others the

full liberty
self.
same
which you need for your-
Try
to see
what
is
worth doing:
and remember that you must not judge by the size of the thing. A
small thing which
in the Master's
is
directly useful
is
work
far better
worth doing than a large thing which the world would call good.
You must
distinguish not only the
useful from the useless, but the more useful from the less useful. To feed the poor is a good and noble
and useful work; yet

17
to feed their
souls is nobler
and more useful than
to feed their bodies.
Any
rich
man
you
can feed the body, but only those
who know can feed

know,
to
it is
the soul.
If
your duty to help others
know.
However wise you may be

ready, on this Path you have
to learn; so
al-
much
much
that here also
there must be discrimination, and
you must think carefully what

worth learning.
useful,
all
is is
All knowledge
will
and one day you
have
knowledge; but while you have

it is
only part, take care that

18
the
most useful
part.
;
God
is
Wisdom
as well as Love
and the more wis-
dom
study
you have the more you can

Study then, but
that which will most help
manifest of Him.
first
you
at
to help others.
Work
patiently
your studies, not that men
may
think you wise, not even that you
may have
the happiness of being
wise, but because only the wise
man
can be wisely helpful.
However
you are
much you wish

ignorant you
to help, if
may
do more harm
than good.
You must
distinguish
19
between
truth and falsehood you

;
must learn
to be true all through, in thought
and word and deed.

In thought
first;
and that
is
not
easy, for there are in the world
many untrue
thoughts,
superstitions,
many foolish and no one who is enmake

progress.
slaved by them can
Therefore you must not hold a

thought just because
people hold
it,
many
other
it
nor because
has
been believed for centuries, nor because

it
is
written in some book
which men think sacred; you must

think of the matter for yourself, and
20
judge for yourself whether

reasonable.
it
is
Eemember that though a thousand men agree upon a subject, if they know nothing about that
subject their opinion
is
of no value.
He who would walk upon

must learn
superstition
is
the Path
to think for himself, for
one of the greatest one of the fetters
evils in the world,
from which you must utterly free

yourself.
Your thought about others must

be true you must not think of them
;
what you do not know. Do not suppose that they are always thinking
21
of you.
If a
man
does something
which you think
will
harm
you, or
says something which you think applies to you,
do not think at once:
*'He meant to injure me.''
Most
probably he never thought of you at

all,
for
each
soul
its
has
its
own
turn
troubles
chiefly
and
around
thoughts
If
itself.
man
speak angrily to you, do not think:

''He hates me, he wishes to wound
me."
Probably some one or some-
thing else has
made him angry, and
because he happens to meet you he

turns his anger upon you.
22
He
is
AT THE FEET OF THE MASTBB
acting foolishly, for all anger

foolish, but
is
you must not therefore
think untruly of him.
the truth of your thought by laying it beside His. For the pupil is one
When you become a pupil of Master, you may always try
the
with his Master, and he needs only to put back his thought into the Master's thought to see at once whether it agrees. If it does not, it
is
ly,
wrong, and he changes
it
instantis
for the Master's thought
per-
fect,
because
He knows
23
all.
Those
who are not
yet accepted by
Him
cannot do quite this
but they
may
greatly help themselves by stopping

often to think:
**What would the
Master think about this?
What
would the Master say or do under

these
circumstances?"
For you
must never do or say or think what

you cannot imagine the Master as
doing or saying or thinking.
You must be
true in speech too
accurate and without exaggeration.
Never attribute motives
to another
only his Master knows his thoughts,
and he may be acting from reasons

which
have
never
24
entered
your
mind.
If
you hear a story against

it
;
any one, do not repeat

be true, and even
to say nothing.
it
may not
kinder
if it is, it is
Think well before
speaking, lest you should fall into

inaccuracy.
Be
tence
true in action; never pretend
to be other than
is
you
are, for all pre-
a hindrance to the pure
light of truth,
which should shine

as
sunlight
through
you
shines
through clear glass.
You must
selfishness
discriminate between
the selfish and the unselfish.
For
has
many
25
forms, and
when you think you have

killed it in
finally
one of them,
it
arises in
another as strongly as ever.
But
full
by degrees you
will
become so
of thought for the helping of others
that there will be no room, no time,

for
any thought about yourself.

discriminate in yet an-
You must
other way.
the
Learn
to
distinguish
God in everyone and everything, no matter how evil he or it may appear on the surface. You can help
your brother through that which
you have
in
common with
26
him, and
that is the Divine Life; learn
how
to arouse that in him, learn
how
to
appeal to that in him; so shall you save your brother from wrong.
27
W^^
f^^^jg]
HERE
is
are
many
for
whom
for
the Qualification of Desire-
lessness
difficult
one,
they feel that they are their desires
^that if their
distinctive de-
sires, their likings
and
dislikings,
are taken
will
away from them,

self
left.
there
be no
But these
are only they
who have not seen

desire dies, but the
the Master; in the light of His
holy Presence
all
desire to be like
Him.
23
Yet before
you have the happiness of meeting
Him face to face, yon may attain desirelessness if
you
will.
Discrimi-
nation has already shown you that

the things which most
men
desire,
such as wealth and power, are not
worth having; when

felt,
this is really
all
not merely said,

ceases.
all is
desire for
them
Thus far
simple
it
needs
only that you should understand.
But there are some who forsake the

pursuit
of
earthly
aims
only in
order to gain heaven, or to attain

personal liberation from rebirth;
29
into this error

If
you must not

self
fall.
you have forgotten
alto-
gether,
you cannot be thinking when

it
that self should be set free, or what
kind of heaven
shall have.
Ee-
member
until
that all selfish desire binds,

its object,
it
however high may be
and
you have got rid of
you are
not wholly free to devote yourself

to the
work
of the Master.
When all desires for self are gone, there may still be a desire to see the
result of
your work.
If
you help
anybody, you want to see how much you have helped him perhaps even you want him to see it too, and to be
;
30
grateful.
But
this is still desire,

trust.
and
also
want of
When you
pour out your strength to help, there must be a result, whether you
can see
it
or not;
this
if
Law you know
you know the must be so. So
you must do right for the sake of

the right, not in the hope of re-
ward; you must work for the sake

of the work, not in the hope of see-
ing the result
you must give your-^

world be-
self to the service of the
cause you love
it,
and cannot help

it.
giving yourself to
Have
no
desire
31
for
psychic
powers; they
will
come when the

it is
Master knows that

to have them.
best for
you
To
force
Its
them too
soon often brings in

trouble;
train
much
is
often their possessor
misled by deceitful nature-spirits,

or becomes conceited and thinks he
cannot make a mistake
and
in
any
it
case the time and strength that
takes to gain them might be spent

in
work for
others.
They
will
come
in the course of development
they
you
must come; and

that
it
if
the Master sees
would be useful for you to
have them sooner,

32
He
will tell
AT THE PEET OP THE MASTEB
how
then,
to unfold
them
safely.
Until
certain small desires which are common in daily life. Never wish to shine, or to appear clever;
you are better without them. You must guard, too, against
have no
speak
desire to speak.
little;
It is well to
better
still
to say nothing,
you are quite sure that what you wish to say is true, kind and
helpful.
unless
Before
speaking
think
carefully whether
what you are go-
ing to say has those three qualities; if it has not, do not say it.
It is well to get
used even
now
to
thinking carefully before speaking;

for
when you reach

tell
Initiation
lest
you
must watch every word,

should
you
told.
what must not be
Much common talk is unnecessary and foolish; when it is gossip, it is

wicked.
So be accustomed
to listen
rather than to talk; do not offer

opinions unless directly asked for
them.
One statement
and
of the Qualito
fications gives
them thus;
know,
to dare, to will,
to be silent;
and the
est of
last of the four is the hardall.
them
Another common desire which

34
you must sternly repress

to
is
the wish
meddle in other men's business.

another
What
man
does or says or
believes is no affair of yours,
and
you must learn

alone.
to let
him absolutely
free
He
has
full right to
thought and speech and action, so

long as he does not interfere with
any one
else.
You
yourself claim
the freedom to do
what you think
proper; you must allow the same
freedom
ercises
it
to him,
and when he
ex-
you have no right to talk
about him.
If
you think he
85
is
doing wrong,
and you can contrive an opportunity

of privately
and very
politely tell-
why you think so, it is possible that you may convince him but there are many cases in which even
ing him
;
that would be an improper interference.
On no
account must you go
and gossip
to
some third person

is
about the matter, for that

tremely wicked action.
If
an
ex-
you see a case of cruelty to a

an animal,
If
it is
child or
your duty
to interfere.
you see any one
breaking the law of the country, you

should inform the authorities.
36
If
you are placed in charge of another

person in order to teach him,
it
may
him
become your duty gently to

of his faults.
tell
Except
in such cases,
mind your own
business,
and learn
the virtue of silence.
37
in
HE
Six points of Conduct
^^^
1.
2.
which are specially required
are given by the Master as

Self-control as to the Mind. Self-control in Action.
3.
Tolerance.
Cheerfulness.
4.
5.
6.
One-pointedness.
Confidence.
[I
know some
of these are often
translated differently, as are the
names
of the Qualifications; but in

88
AT THE FEET OP THE MASTER
all
cases I
am using the names which

when
the Master Himself employed
explaining them to me.]

1.
8elf-co7itrol as to the
Mind,
The
Qualification of Desirelessness
shows that the astral body must be controlled; this shows the same
thing as to the mental body.
It
means control of temper,
may feel no
the
you anger or impatience; of

so that the thought
so that
mind
itself,
may always
and
be calm and unruffled;

the
(through
mind)
of
the
little
nerves, so that they
may
be as
irritable as possible.
39
This last
is
difficult,
because when you try to
prepare yourself for the Path, you

cannot help making your body more
sensitive,
so
that
its
nerves are
easily disturbed
by a sound or a
shock, and feel

ly
;
any pressure acute-
but you must do your best.

also cour-
The calm mind means

age, so that
you may face without
fear the trials and difficulties of the
Path;
that
it
means
which
also steadiness, so
light
you may make
of the
troubles
come
into
every
one's
life,
and avoid the incessant

little
worry over
things in which
40
many
time.
people spend most of their
The Master teaches
that
it
does not matter in the least what
happens to a
man from
the outside
sorrows, troubles, sicknesses, losses
all
these
must be as nothing
to
him, and must not be allowed to

affect
the calmness
of his mind.
They are the

them
duty
result of past actions,
and when they come you must bear

cheerfully,
remembering that
all evil is is to
transitory,
and that your

your pre-
remain always joyous and

to
;
serene.
They belong
41
vious lives, not to this
you cannot
alter them, so
it is
useless to trouble
about them.
Think rather of what

will
you are doing now, which

the events of your next
make
life,
for that
you can
alter.
Never allow yourself

or depressed.
to feel sad
is
Depression
wrong,
because
it
infects others
and makes
their lives harder,
which you have

if
no right to do.
Therefore
it off
ever
it
comes
to you,
throw
at once.
In yet another
trol
it
way you must

;
conlet
your thought you must not
wander.
Whatever you are

it,
do-
ing, fix
your thought upon

42
that
it
may
be perfectly done
idle,
do not
let
your mind be
but keep good
thoughts always in the background

of
it,
ready to come forward the moit is
ment
free.
Use your thought-power every day for good purposes be a force in

;
the direction of evolution.
Think
each day of some one
whom you
know
to be in sorrow, or suffering,
or in need of help, and pour out
loving thought upon him.
Hold back your mind from for pride comes only from
rance.
43
pride,
igno-
The man who does not know
thinks that he
is
great, that he has
done
wise
this or that great thing; the
man knows
alone.
that only
is
God
is
great, that all
good work
done by
God
2.
Self-control in Action.
is
If your
thought
will
what
little
it
should be, you
have
trouble with your

that, to be
action.
Yet remember
useful to mankind, thought

sult in action.
must
re-
There must be no
laziness,
but constant activity in
good work.
But
it
must be your
own duty
that you do
not another
man's, unless with his permission

44
AT THE FEET OF THE MASTEE
and by way of helping him.

every
his
Leave
in
man
to do his
own work
own way; be always ready

where
it
to
offer help
is
needed, but
never interfere.
For many people

their
the most difficult thing in the world

to learn is to
mind
is
own
busi-
ness; but that
exactly what you
must
do.
Because you try to take up higher

work, you must not forget your or-
dinary duties, for until they are
done you are not free for other

vice.
ser-
You should undertake no new

;
worldly duties but those which you

45
have already taken upon you, you
must perfectly
fulfil
all clear
and
reasonable duties which you yourself recognise, that

is,
not imagito im-
nary duties which others try
pose upon you. If you are to be His,
you must do ordinary work better

than others, not worse because you
;
must do that also for His

3.
sake.
feel per-
Tolerance.
^Tou must
all,
fect tolerance for
and a hearty
interest in the beliefs of those of
another religion, just as
much
as in
your own.
For
their religion is a
is,
path to the highest, just as yours

46
And
stand
to help
all.
all,
you must under-
in order to gain this perfect tolerance, you must yourself

first
But
be
from bigotry and superstition. You must learn that no ceremonies

free
are necessary; else you will think yourself somehow better than those who do not perform them. Yet you
must not condemn others who

cling to ceremonies.
still
Let them do as
they will; only they must not interfere with you who know the truth they must not try to force upon you
that
which
you have
47
outgrown.
Make
allowance for everything; be
kindly towards everything.
Now
that your eyes are opened,

beliefs,
some of your old

ceremonies,
your old
may seem
to
you
ab-
surd; perhaps, indeed, they really
are
so.
Yet though you can no
longer take part in them, respect
them for the sake of those good

souls to
tant.
whom
they are
still
impor-
They have
their place, they

like those
have their use; they are
double lines which guided you as a

ohild to write straight
until
and evenly,
you learnt
to write far better

48
and
more
freely
without
them.
There was a time when you needed them but now that time is past.
;
A
child,
great
I
Teacher
once
wrote:
''When
was a
child, I
spake as a
a child, I
I understood as
thought as a child; but when I be-
came a man
things."
his
I put
away
childish
Yet he who has forgotten
childhood and lost

is
sympathy
with the children
notihe
man who
So
can teach them or help them.
look kindly, gently, tolerantly upon

all
;
but upon
all alike,
Buddhist or
49
Hindu, Jain or Jew, Christian or
Muhammadan.
4.
Cheerfulness.
You must bear

it
your karma cheerfully, whatever
may
be, taking it as
an honour that
it
suffering comes to you, because
shows that the Lords of

think you worth helping.
Karma
it is
However
no
hard
it is,
be thankful that
worse.
Eemember
karma
is
that you are of
but
little
use to the Master until
your
evil
worked
out,
and
you are
to
free.
By
offering yourself
Him, you have asked that your

hurried,
50
karma may be
and so now

in
one
or
two
lives
you
work
through what otherwise might have been spread over a hundred. But in
order to
make
it
the best out of
it,
you
must bear
give
cheerfully, gladly.
Yet another point.
You must
up
all
feeling of possession.
from you the things which you like best even the people whom you love most. Even then you must be cheerfulready to
take
Karma may
part with anything and everything. Often the Master needs to pour out
His strength upon others through His servant; He cannot do that if

51
the servant yields to depression.
So
one
cheerfulness must be the rule.

5.
One-Pointedness.
The
thing that you must set before you

is
to do the Master's work.
What-
ever else
may come
in
your way to
for-
do, that at least

get.
you must never

else
Yet nothing
can come in
your way, for
all helpful, unselfish
work
is
the Master's work, and you

it
must do
piece as
for His sake.
And you
it
must give
your very
also wrote
all
your attention to each

it,
you do
best.
:
so that
may
do,
be
The same Teacher

do
^ *
Whatsoever ye
52
it
heartily, as to the Lord,

' '
and not
unto men.
Think how you would

if
do a piece of work
the Master
you knew that

at once to
was coming
look at
way you must do all your work. Those who know most will most know all that that verse means. And there is another like it, much older: ^* Whatsoever
it
;
just in that
thy hand findeth to do, do
it
with thy
mighf
One-pointedness means, too, that
nothing shall ever turn you, even for

a moment, from the Path upon which
you have entered.

53
No
temptations,
no worldly pleasures, no worldly

affections even,
aside.
must ever draw you

be-
For you yourself must

;
come one with the Path

so
it
must be
much part
it
it,
of your nature that
you follow
think of
without needing to
aside.
it
;
and cannot turn
You, the
Monad, have decided

it
to
break away from
would be to
break away from yourself.

6.
Confidence.
You
must
trust
your Master; you must trust yourself.
If
you have seen the Master,
you
will trust
Him to
lives
64
the uttermost,
If
through
many
and deaths.
AT THE FEET OP THE MASTEB
you have not yet seen Him, you must

still
try to realise
if
Him and
not,
trust
Him, because
you do
even
He
Unless there is perfect trust, there cannot be the perfect flow of love and power.
cannot help you.
You sayyouknowyourself too well? If you feel so, you do not know yourself; you know only the weak outer
husk, which has fallen often into the mire. But youihe
real
You must
trust yourself.
youyou
fire,
are a spark of God's
own
is in
and
God,
who
is
Almighty,
you, and
because of that there

65
is
nothing that
you cannot do
yourself:
if
you
will.
Say
to
^'What man has done,

I
man
God
can do.
in
am
a man, yet also
man
I can do this thing,

will
and
like
I will.''
For your
steel, if
must be
tempered
the Path.
you would tread
56
AT THE FEET OP THE MASTER
IV
\^
it
yJl^F
is
all
the
it is
the Qualifications, Love most important, for if strong enough in a man,

to acquire all the rest,
it
forces
all
him
and
the rest without

sufficient.
would
it
never
be
Often
is
translated as an intense desire for liberation from the round of births and deaths, and for union with
God.
But
to put it in that
way sounds
much
desire
selfish,
and gives only part of the

It is
meaning.
not so
57
as will, resolve, determination.
To
produce
fill
its result, this
resolve
must
your whole nature, so as to leave

It
no room for any other feeling.

is
indeed the will to be one with God,
not in order that you
may
escape
from weariness and
suffering, but in
order that because of your deep

love for
and as
Him you may act with Him He does. Because He is

if
Love, you,
you would become one

filled
with Him, must be

unselfishness
with perfect
and love
life
also.
In
daily
first,
this
means two
shall be care-
things ;
that
you
ss
f ul to
do no hurt to any living thing
second, that yon shall always be
watching for an opportunity to help.

First, to do
no hurt.
Three
sins
there are which
work more harm

the world
than
all else in
cruelty,
and
gossip, superstition ^because

Against
fill
they are sins against love.

these three the
man who would
his heart with the love of
God must
It begins
itself
watch ceaselessly.
See what gossip does.
with evil thought, and that in

is
a crime.
For
in everyone
is
and
in
everything there
good; in every-
59
one and in everything there

Either of these
thinking of
it,
is evil.
we can strengthen by
and
in this
way we can help or hinder evolution we can do the will of the Logos or we can
;
resist
Him.
K yon think of the evil

you are doing
at the
in another,
same time three wicked things

(1)
You
are
filling
your neigh-
bourhood with
of with
evil
thought instead
good thought, and so you are
adding to the sorrow of the world.

(2)
evil
If there is in that
man
you
it
;
the
which
you
it
think,
are
strengthening
and feeding
60
and
SO
you are making your brother

better.
worse instead of
But genand you
erally the evil is not there,
have only fancied
it
and then your
wicked thought tempts your brother

to do wrong, for if he is not yet perfect
you may make him that which
you have thought him.

(3)
evil
You
fill
your own mind with
thoughts instead of good; and
so
you hinder your own growth, and

yourself, for those
make
see,
who can
in-
an ugly and painful object
stead of a beautiful and lovable one.
Not content with having done

61
all
AT THE FEET OF THE MASTBB
this
harm
to himself
and to his
vic-
tim, the gossip tries with all his
might to make other

his
men partners in
tells
crime.
Eagerly he
his
wicked tale to them, hoping that

they will believe
join
it;
and then they

pouring
evil
with
him
in
thought
upon the poor
sufferer.
And this
is
goes on day after day, and
done not by one
man
but by thousee
is ?
Do you begin to base, how terrible a sin this

sands.
how You
must avoid
speak
ill
it
altogether.
;
Never
to listen
of
any one refuse

else speaks
62
when any one
ill
of an-
"

other, but gently say:
this is not true,
is
"Perhaps
if it is, it
and even
it,
kinder not to speak of
Then as to cruelty. This is of two kinds, intentional and unintenis purposely to give pain to another living being; and that is the greatest
tional.
Intentional cruelty
of
all
sinsthe work of a devil rather than a man. You would say that no
man
could do such a thing; but

it
men
have done
doing
it;
it
often,
and are daily

inquisitors did
it
now.
The
the
many religious name of their

63
people did
religion.
in
Vivi-
sectors do
it;
many
their
schoolmasters
do
try
it
habitually.
All these people

brutality
to
excuse
by
saying that
it is
the custom; but a
crime does not cease to be a crime

because
many commit
it.
;
Karma
and the
terri-
takes no account of custom
karma
ble of
of cruelty is the
all.
most
In India at least there
can be no excuse for such customs,

for
the
duty of harmlessness
all.
is
well-known to
cruel
The
fate of the
all
must
fall also
upon
who
go out intentionally to
creatures^
kill
God's
and
call it
' ^
sport '\
64
Such things as these you would

not do, I
the love
offers,
know and for the sake of of God, when opportunity

;
you
them.
will
speak
there
clearly
is
against
But
cruelty in speech as well as in act;
and a man who says a word with

the intention to
wound another
is
guilty of this crime.

;
That, too, you
would not do but sometimes a careless
malicious one.
word does as much harm as a So you must be on
your guard against unintentional

cruelty.
It
comes usually from thought65
lessness.
man
is
so jBlled with
greed and avarice that he never
even thinks of the suffering which

he causes to others by paying too
little,
or by half-starving his wife
and
children.
Another thinks only
of his
own
lust,
and cares
little
how
in
many
self
souls
and bodies he ruins

it.
satisfying
Just to save him-
a few minutes' trouble, a
man
the
does not pay his
workmen on
proper day, thinking nothing of the

difficulties
he brings upon them.

is
So much suffering
by carelessness
caused just
^by
forgetting to
66
think
others.
how an
action
will
affect
But karma never

forget.
forgets,
and
that
it
takes no account of the fact

If
men
you wish to what you
enter the Path, you must think of

the consequences of
lest
do,
you should be guilty of thoughtanother mighty

terrible
less cruelty.
Superstition
evil,
is
and has caused much
cruelty.
The man who
is
a slave
to
it
despises others
who
are wiser,
tries to force
them
to do as he does.
Think of the awful slaughter produced by the superstition that ani67
mals should be
the
that
still
sacrificed,
and by
more
cruel
flesh
superstition
man
needs
for
food.
su-
Think of the treatment which

perstition has
meted out
in
to the de-
pressed
India,
classes
our
beloved
this evil
and see
in that
how
quality can breed heartless cruelty
even among those who know the
duty of brotherhood.
Many
crimes
have men committed in the name

of the
God
of Love,
moved by
this
nightmare of superstition; be very

careful therefore that no slightest
trace of
it
remains in you.
68
These three great crimes you
must avoid, for they are
fatal to all
progress, because they sin against

love.
But not only must you thus

from
evil;
refrain
you must be
active in doing good.
You must
be
so filled with the intense desire of

service that
you are ever on the

it
watch to render
to all
around
you
^not to
man
alone, but even to
animals
and
plants.
You must
render
it
in small things every day,
that the habit that
may
be formed, so
you may not miss the rare op-
portunity
when
the
69
great
thing
offers itself to be done.
For
if
you
not
yearn to be one with God,

for your
it is
own
sake;
it
is
that you
may
be a channel through which
His love
may
is
flow to reach your
fellow-men.
He who
on the P^th exists not
for himself, but for others; he has
forgotten himself, in order that he
may
the
serve them.
He
is
as a pen in
hand of God, through which His
thought
may flow, and find for

it
itself
an expression down here, which

without a pen
could not have.
is
Yet at the same time he

70
also a
living
plume of
fire,
raying out
upon the world the Divine Love

which
fills
his heart.
to
The wisdom which enables you

help, the will
which directs the wis-
dom, the love which inspires the willthese are your qualifications.
Will,
Wisdom and Love

who wish
are the
three aspects
of the Logos; and

to enroll yourselves
you,
to
serve
Him, must show forth
these aspects in the world.
71
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F^^t t\\t lUaat^r

THE RAJPUT PRESSL

AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER

Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive

me, as an elder, to pen a

memory slowly and

rethat which is not such a verbal

the Master's thought

clothed in His J)upil's words.

omitted sentences were supplied by

In two other cases an

omitted word has been added.

help others as the spoken

hope with which he gives

the teaching can only be fruitful

his Master's lips.

the example be followed as well as

swing open, and his feet be

the unreal lead

From darkness From death

who taught me.

I could have done nothing,

but through His help I have set

words which He spoke to me

enough to say that they

are true and beautiful

wishes to succeed must do exactly

look at food and

will not satisfy

a starving man; he must put forth

not enough, you

to every word, taking every hint.

does not speak twice.

are for Four qualifications there this pathway

AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER

this is usually taken as the discrim-

ination between the real

and the un-

It is this, but it is also

only at the beginning of the Path,

but at every step of

enter the Path

because you have learnt that on

AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER

alone can be found those things

which are worth gaining.

do not know, work to gain wealth

and power, but these are

and therefore un-

There are greater things than

which are real and

when you have once seen

you desire those others no

two kinds of people

know, and those who do not know;

AT THE FEET OF THE MASTEB

what race he belongs

these things are not important;

plan for men.

For God has a

and that plan

seen that and really