THAT which Is from the oldest Scripture of  our race, is really the motto on which I am going to speak to you to-night, and I am gomg to try to trace for you the famous two paths of the finding of the Self - the paths which may be trodden separately, but which for the perfection of Humanity must finally blend mto one. The one path is the Path of Knowledge, and it leads to Liberation ; the other path is the Path of Devotion, and that, joined to right knowledge, leads to that eternity of Service which it is the greatest glory of man to attain. But before I take up these two paths, there is just a word or tv/o to be said on a matter which may clear the way, in order that we may definitely understand the roads along which we are to travel in thought to-night. Altogether apart, as we may say, from these Paths of Knowledge and Devotion which lead severally to Liberation and to the Great Renunciation, there are the paths which are followed by men who have not yet taken on themselves the duty of discipleship, but who are men good and earnest in their lives, and doing good work in the world - those are the paths of action, the paths where Karma is generated, and good action and good desire generate good Karma. But Karma ever brings a man back to re-birth. Myriads of years may intervene - nay, in some cases millions of years may intervene - but still the end of work is re-birth, still the end of desire is to " pass from death to death." Works which are good and useful to humanity gam their reward.

 Putting it in Christian phrase, we should say they gain Heaven ; putting it in Hindu phrase, they gain Svarga ; putting it in Theosophic parlance, they gain Devachan ; and beyond the temporary Devachan, or Svarga, or Heaven, there is a possibility of work done so well with a view always to its results, that you may have that Heaven of the kosmic Devas which you read of in the Hindu writings, where one who has passed beyond ordinary humanity, and has won by effort these higher seats in Heaven, may reign throughout the course of a Manvantara, and may direct the kosmic processes of the worlds. But whatever . comes of work finds Its end. Neither Liberation nor the Great Renunciation can close the path of the man who works with a view to results ; for nature is ever just, and what a man pays for he will obtain. If he works for the sake of reward, the reward will come to him from the unerring Justice that guides the worlds. So good deeds become exhausted ; so the result of good Karma comes to an end ; and, whether it be in this or in any other v/orld, the end is sure, and back to re-birth must come the Ego who has worked for reward and whose reward at length is exhausted. But, says one of those great Scriptures, with a quotation from which I began, there is a time when the study of works and of the worlds of works is exhausted. Then comes the time whereof it is written : - Let the Brahman, after he has examined all these worlds that are gained by works, acquire freedom from all desire. Nothing that is eternal can be gained by what is not eternal.* When all desire is exhausted then the Path of Knowledge or of Devotion may be entered on. Let us take the Path of Knowledge.

Knowledge of what ? Not the learning of the world ; not those many sciences which may be gamed by the intellect alone ; not that long course of  Mundakopanishad,"study laid down in the Indian books ; nor even the mastery of the sixty-three sciences into which all human learning is divided. When we speak of the Path of Knowledge we mean more than intellectual learning ; we mean the path which leads to spiritual knowledge, that is, to the knowledge of the ONE, of the SELF, the seeking, the finding Brahman, for by knowledge He may be found, by knowledge He may be entered into. And there are some who choose the Path of Knowledge unallied to Devotion, and who tread that Path ever, life after life, until the right to Liberation has been gained. Let us try to realise the steps of such a path. First, there must be the recognition of the ONE on whom all worlds are built, of the ONE, the SELF eternal and unchanging that throws out universes, as a spider throws out its web, and draws them in again  the one Existence which is at the root of all, supreme, incognisable by human thought : knowledge recognises the One without a second. The next stage in that knowledge, in recognising the One, is the reali- sation that all things that take on separate forms must have an end, that in very truth there is no separateness in the universe, but only appearance of separation ; the One without a second who * " Mundakopaiiishad, alone exists, who is the One and the only Reality, That is realised as the Self of each, as the one Life of which all forms are only transient manifestations. Thus the recognition of the absence of separateness must be a step on this Path of Knowledge. Until absence of separateness is realised the soul passes from death to death.* But more than this realisation of nonseparateness is needed. There is the distinct and the deliberate effort to realise that the Self of the Universe is the Self of man dwelling in the heart, that that Self, as we saw a few weeks ago, clothes itself in sheath after sheath for the purpose of gathering experience, and on the Path of Knowledge sheath after sheath is stripped from off the Self, until the very Self of all is found.

For this, knowledge is necessary. First the knowledge of the existence of the sheaths, then the knowledge of the Self working within the sheaths, then the realisation that those sheaths can be laid aside one after another, that the senses can be stilled and silenced, that the Self can withdraw itself from the sheath of the senses until they no longer function save by the will, and the voice of the Self may be heard without the intrusion of the outer world. And then the sheath of the mind - that also * " Kathopanishad." Valli Iv.  we considered in our study - the sheath of the mind in which the Self works in the internal world of concepts and of ideas ; that also is recognised as external to the Soul, and the Soul casts that aside as it casts off the sheath of the senses. And then realising that these sheaths are not itself, realising that the Self is behind and within these, this knowledge of nonseparateness becomes a practical realisation, not only intellectually admitted, but practically realised in life. And this must inevitably lead to renunciation. But, mark you, it is the re- nunciation essentially of the reason, it is the renunciation which draws itself away from the objects of the senses and the objects of the mind by a deliberate retiring within the Self, and this exclusion of the outer and of the inner world is most easily followed by retiring from the haunts of men, most easily accomplished by isolation from the great Brotherhood of Humanity, most easily won if the Self, that thus seeks, separates itself from all others that are illusory, and in that quietude of an external world realises the inner isolation. Then, supposing that that absolute exclusion be not accepted, there may still be renunciation - renunciation by knowledge, renunciation by the deliberate will that no Karma shall be generated. renunciation by the knowledge that if there be no desire then no chains of Karma are made which draw the Self back to re-birth. And, mark you - for I want you to keep this in mind, and you will see why presently - it is essentially the renunciation of the man who knows that while he desires he is bound to the wheel of births and of deaths, and that no liberation is possible for him, save as these bonds of the heart are broken. Then, realising this, if he is still compelled to act, he will act without desire ; if he is compelled to live amongst men he will do his work careless of the results that flow therefrom. Renunciation which is complete, but renunciation for the sake of escape, re- nunciation in order that he may gain his freedom and escape from the burden of the world. And so once more it is written that :- When they have reached the Self [that is, when they have realised Brahman] the Sages become satisfied through knowledge ; they are conscious of their Self, their passions have passed away and they are tranquil. The wise having reached Him who is omnipresent everywhere, and devoted to the Self, enter mto Him wholly.* That, then, is the goal of this Path of Knowledge ; a lofty state, a state supremely * " Mundakopanishad,"  75 great and mighty, where a Soul serene in its own strength, calm in its own wisdom, has stilled every impulse of the senses, is absolutely master over every movement of the mind, dwelling within the nine-gate city of its abode, neither acting nor causing to act. But a state of isolation, though a state great in its power, in its wisdom, great in its absolute detachment from all that is transitory, and ready to enter into Brahman. And into Brahman such a Soul enters and gains its liberation, to remain in that union for ages after ages - a time that no human years may reckon, that no human thought can span - having reached what the Hindu calls Moksha, in perfect unity with the One and with the All, coming out from that union only when the great Manvantara redawns, and out of that state of liberation life again passes into all manifested forms. Turn from the Path of Knowledge to the Path of Devotion.

• Here right knowledge may not be ignored. Right knowledge - for that is needed, otherwise the world cannot well be served ; right knowledge, because the union must be the goal, although a union differing somewhat from that which is gained by knowledge ; right knowledge, because if right knowledge be absent then even love may go astray in its desire of G 2  service, and may injure where it fain would help. So that we must not have devotion unwedded to knowledge, for the knowledge is needed for the perfect service, and perfect service is the essence of the life of the devotee. But the goal of the Path of Devotion is conscious union with the supreme Self which is recognised as manifesting through all other selves, and those other selves are never left out of thought until the union of all selves is found in the One. For in this Path of Devotion love is the impulse, love that is ever seeking to give itself to those above it that it may gain strength for service, and to those below in order that the service may be done. So that the true devotee has his face turned upward to those that are higher than himself, that so he may gain from them spiritual force, spiritual strength, spiritual energy, but not for himself, not that he may be liberated; for he desires no liberation till all share his freedom ; not in order that he may gain, for he desires no gain, save as he may give ; not in order that he may keep ; but in order that he may be a channel of blessing to others. So that on the Path of Devotion the Soul is ever turned to the light above, not that itself may be enlightened, not that itself may shine, but that it may serve as focus and channel for that light, to pass it on Devotion and the Spiritual Life. to those who are in darkness ; and its only longing for the light that is above is in order that it may pass it onward to those that are below. That then is the first, the supreme characteristic of the man who would follow the Path of Devotion.

He must begin in love, as in love he has to find his end. In order that this may be, he must recognise the spiritual side of nature ; he is not to be alone. It is not enough that he should recognise the Self, that he should recognise the One of whom all forms are but passing manifestations ; he must recognise those passing manifestations m order that he may be equipped for service. So that he will begin by recognising that out of the One Eternal Source of Life - the Self, that is, of all - there come out the various sparks that are spiritual Intelligences in every grade of evolution : some, mighty spiritual Intelligences that in past Manvantaras have gained Their victory, and Who come out of the Eternal Fire ready to be Lights in the world. Those he will recognise as the supreme embodiments of the Spiritual Life, Those he will recognise as the foundations of the manifested Universe, Those he will see far, far above himself ; for the evolution behind Them has carried them onwards through many Nirvanas to the place at which They emerge for the 78 The Spiritual Life. manifestations of our own Universe, and he will give Them - the name matters not - but some name that will carry with it Their supreme spiritual greatness, call Them Gods, or call Them what you will, so that you realise in Them the supreme embodiments of Spiritual Life, towards Whom the Universe is tending, and in union with Whom it finds itself on the threshold of the One. Those then first he will recognise. And then stretching downwards from Them in countless hierarchies grade after grade of Spiritual Intelligences in all the manifested forms of Life in the spiritual side of the Universe, downwards continually through the mighty Ones Whom we speak of as Builders of the worlds, Whom we speak of as Planetary Spirits, Whom we speak of as the Lords of Wisdom, downwards from them to those great Ones embodied in the highest forms of Humanity that we name the Masters, and Who reveal to us the Divine Light which is beyond themselves ; and then downwards still in lower and lower grades of spiritual entities, until the whole Universe to him is full of these living forms of Light and of Life, recognised as one mighty Brotherhood of whom the embodied selves of men form part.

Therefore his path is in the realisation of Devotion and the Spiritual Life. Brotherhood, and not in the effort for Isolation. It is not liberation that he asks for himself, it is power of service that he claims from the Highest, in order that he may help those who have not yet reached the place where he stands himself. And therefore 1 said that the Path of Devotion begins in love and ends in love ; begins in love to every sentient creature around us and ends in love to the Highest, the highest that our thought may conceive. And so recognising this Brotherhood of Helpers he would fain be a conscious helper with them all - takmg his share in the burden of the Universe, bearing his part of the common burden, and ever desiring more strength in order that that strength may be used in the common helpmg, ever desiring more wisdom in order that that wisdom may be used in the enlightening of the ignor- ance around. He then will not be isolated, nor will he be content with the recognition of the Self within. On the contrary, he will ever be seeking to serve, and he will recognise the selves without as well as the Self within, and he will renounce. He too realises renunciation, as the man on the Path of Knowledge realises it ; but his renunciation is of a different kind. It is not the stern renunciation of knowledge, which says : " I will not bind myself by attach- ment to transitory things, because they will bring me back to birth ; " it is the joyous renunciation of one who sees beyond him the mighty Helpers of man, and who, desiring to serve Them, cannot care for the things that hold him back, and offers all to Them - not sternly, in order that he may be free, but full of joy, in order that he may give everything to Them ; not cutting asunder desire with an axe as you might cut the chain that binds you, but burnmg up desire in the fire of devotion, because that fire burns up everything which is not one with its heat and with its flame. And so he is free from Karma, free because he desires nothing save to serve, save to help, save to reach onward to union with his Lord, and outward to union with men. And this service will indeed detach him from the senses, it will detach him from the mind ; but the very detachment will be that he may serve better. For this is the lesson which is learnt by the devotee : that while it is his duty to act, because without action the world could not go on, while it is his duty to act in the very spot in which he finds himself, because there lies the duty for which he has come to birth, and which he therefore should perfectly discharge, he yet seeks no fruit of action.

Realising that he is here for action, he will act : but it is not so much himself ; his thought will ever be fixed on the object of service and of love, and the senses, as Shri Krishna said, the senses and the mind will move to their appropriate objects, while he himself remains unfettered withm. And then realise the gain. If we work our very best, if we work our very wisest, if for love's sake we give our best thought and our best effort to the service of man, then the very moment the act is accomplished we have no desire as to the result, save that it shall be as the Wiser Ones above us will and guide. And if thus we cut ourselves free from the action, if, havmg done our share in it, we leave to Them an unfettered field where all great spiritual energies may play, unbarred and untouched by our blindness and by our weakness ; and if this spirit of devotion be within us, if we give of our very best to the service of men, then, if leaving the act to Those who guide the destinies of the world we take no further interest in the result, we leave Them to make our weakness perfect by Their strength, we leave Them to correct our blunders by Their wisdom, our errors by Their righteousness ; we leave all to Them, and the very blunder that we make loses most of its power for mischief ; and though we shall reap pain.

for the mistake that we may have made, the issue will be right, for the desire was to serve and not to blunder. And if we do not mix our own personality with it, if we leave the field clear for Them to work, then even out of our blunder will come the issue of success, and the failure that was a failure of the intellect only will give way before the mightier forces of the Spirit which is moved by love. And then all anxiety disappears. The Life which is at peace within in this devotion has no anxiety in the outer world ; it does its best, and if it blunders it knows that pain will teach it of its blunder, and it is glad to take the pain which teaches wisdom and so makes it more fit to be co-worker with the great Souls who are the workers of the world. The pain then for the blunder causes no distress ; the pain for the error is taken only as lesson, and, taken thus, cannot ruffle the Soul's serenity which wills only to learn right and to do right, and cares not what price it pays if it become better servant of man and of man's great Teachers. And so doing the best and leaving the results, we find that what we call devotion is really an attitude of the Soul, it is the attitude of love, the attainment of peace, which having its face turned ever to the light of Those within it, is always ready for service, and by Their light finds fresh opportunities of service day by day. . ,. , But you may say : To whom is this devotion paid ? The root of this devotion must be found by each of us in the place in which we are, to those who are living around us in the daily hfe we lead. No talk of devotion is worth anything if it does not show itself in the life of love, and that life of love must begin where love will be helpful to the nearest. And the true devotee is one who, just because he has no thought nor care for self, has all thought and all care for those who are around him, and he is able, out of the great peace of his own selflessness, to find room for all the troubles and strifes of his fellow-men. And so the life of devotion will begin in the home, in the perfect discharge of all home duties, in all the brightness that can be brought into the home life, in the bearing of all the home burdens that the devotee can bear, in the lightening of every burden for others and the taking on himself the burden which he takes away from them. And then from the life of the home to the life of the wider world outside, giving there his best and his choicest. Never asking. Is it trouble- some ? Never asking. Is it painful ? Never asking. Would I not rather do something else ? For his only will is to serve ; and the best that 84 The Spiritual Life. he can give Is that which he wills to give. And then from that outer world of service, choosing his very best capacities to lay them at the feet of mankind, out of that life of service, to the nearest first and then to those who are farther away, will come the purifying fire of devotion which will make his vision clearer for Those who lie beyond him and above.

For only as man serves and loves those who are around him will the eyes of the Spirit begin to be opened, and then he will recognise that there are Helpers beyond him ready to help him as he is helping others. For mind you, on this Path of Devotion there is no help given to the individual as indi- vidual ; it is only given to him by the Great Ones beyond him if in his turn he passes it on to others. His claim to be helped is that he is always helping, and that therefore a gift to him as individual is a gift that in very truth is given to every one that needs. And then as his eyes become clearer, and he recognises these many grades of Spiritual Intelligences, he will realise that there are some of them embodied around him ; and by recognising those that are embodied around him but are greater than himself, he will be able to climb upward step by step until he will see the yet greater Ones beyond  these; and then having reached Them, the greater, that are still beyond. For in this path of spiritual progress by way of devotion, every step opens up new horizons, and every clearing of the spiritual vision makes it pierce more deeply into that intensity of Light in which the highest Spiritual Intelligences are shrouded from the eyes of the flesh and of the intellect. And so the Soul who is in him, the Soul of the devotee, will gladly recognise all human excellence around him, will love and admire that excellence wherever he finds it ; he will, in fact, to use a word which many scoff at - he will be a hero-worshipper, not as seeing no fault in those whom he admires, but as seeing most the good in them and loving that, and letting the recognition of the good overbear the criticism of the fault : loving and serving them for what they are to man, and throwing the mantle of charity over the faults which they may commit in their service.

And as he sees and recognises this in those around him, he will come into touch with higher Disciples than those who move most commonly in the world of men - those who have reached a little farther, those who have seen a little deeper. Spirits that are gradually burning up all ignorance and all selfishness, and who are in direct touch with Those Whom we call the Great Masters,  the members of the great White Lodge ; and then he will love and serve them if opportunity should offer, love and serve them to the utmost of his ability, knov^ing that all such service purifies himself as well as helps the world, and makes him more and more a channel for the energies which he desires to spread amongst those with less vision than himself. And then, after a while, through these into touch with the Masters Themselves, with those highest and mightiest embodiments of Humanity, high above us in Their spiritual purity, in Their spiritual wisdom, in Their perfect selflessness, high as though They were Gods in comparison with the lower Humanity, because every sheath in Them is translucent, and the Light of the Spirit shines through unchecked ; not differing from men in Their essence, but differing from men in Their evolution. For the sheaths in us shroud the Light within us, while the sheaths with Them are pure, and the unsullied light shines through unchecked ; and They it is who will help and guide and teach, when man has risen to Their Feet by this Path of Devotion that I have spoken of ; and the touch with Them is the going forward on the Path of Spiritual Knowledge, for without this devotion the further heights may not be won.

And here I take occasion to read to you words that came only a day or two ago from an Indian Disciple, which will give you the meaning of devotion far better than any words of mine. He wrote : Devotion to the Blessed Ones is a sine qua non of all spiritual progress and spiritual knowledge. It gives you the proper attitude in which to work on all the planes of life. It creates the proper atmosphere for the soul to grow and flower in love and beauty, in wisdom and power. It tunes the harp of the heart, and thus makes it possible for the musician to play the correct notes. That is the function of devotion. But you must know the notes you have to play, your fingers must learn how to sweep along the strings, and you must have a musical ear, or better still, a musical heart. . . . What is proper tuning to the musical instru- ment that devotion is to the human Monad. But other faculties are needed for the production of various sweet strams. There you have the meaning of devotion m a few words. It is the tuning of the heart. Knowledge may be needed for the different strains that are wanted, but devotion tunes the heart and the soul, so that every strain may come out in perfect harmony. Then is the growth in love, then is the growth in knowledge, then is the growth in spiritual purity : then all the forces of the spiritual spheres are helping onwards this Soul that fain would rise for service. and all the strength of Those Who have achieved Is used to help on the one who would fain achieve, in order that he may better serve. And what does devotion mean in life ?

It means clearer vision so that we may see the right ; it means deeper love so that we may serve the better; it means unruffled peace and calm that nothing can shake or disturb, because, fixed in devotion on the Blessed Ones, there is nothing that can touch the Soul. And ever through those Blessed Ones there shines the light which comes from yet beyond Them, and which They focus for the help of the worlds, which they make possible for our weak eyes to bear. And then there are the peace, the vision, the power of service—that is what devotion means in life ; and the Self whom the spotless devotee is seeking, that Self is pure, and that Self is Light"*—Light which no soil may sully. Light which no selfishness may dim, until the devotee himself vanishes in the Light which is himself. For the very Self of all is Light and Love, and the time at last comes, which has come to the Masters, when that Light shines out through spotless transparent purity and gives its full effulgence for the helping of the world. That *Munclakopanishad, iii. I. 10. is the meaning of devotion. That, however feebly phrased - and all words are feeble - that is the inner life of those who love, who recognise that life is only meant for service, who recognise that the only thing that makes life worthy is that it shall be burnt in the lire of devotion, in order that the world may be lighted and may be warmed. That is the goal which ends, not in liberation, but in perfect service. Liberation only when all Souls are liberated, when all together enter into the bliss unspeakable, and which, when that period of bliss is over, brings them out again as conscious co-workers with unbroken memory in the higher spiritual regions ; for they have won their right to be conscious workers for ever in all future Manvantaras ; for the Life of Love never gives liberation from service, and as long as eternity endures the Soul that loves works for and serves the Universe.