there remain to bestow on the "great orphan"? And how shall the
"still small voice" make itself heard in a soul entirely occupied with
its own privileged tenants? What room is there left for the needs of
Humanity _en bloc_ to impress themselves upon, or even receive a speedy
response? And yet, he who would profit by the wisdom of the universal
mind, has to reach it through _the whole of Humanity_ without
distinction of race, complexion, religion or social status. It is
_altruism_, not _ego-ism_ even in its most legal and noble conception,
that can lead the unit to merge its little Self in the Universal Selves.
It is to _these_ needs and to this work that the true disciple of true
Occultism has to devote himself, if he would obtain _theo_-sophy, divine
Wisdom and Knowledge.

The aspirant has to choose absolutely between the life of the world and
the life of Occultism. It is useless and vain to endeavor to unite the
two, for no one can serve two masters and satisfy both. No one can serve
his body and the higher Soul, and do his family duty and his universal
duty, without depriving either one or the other of its rights; for he
will either lend his ear to the "still small voice" and fail to hear the
cries of his little ones, or, he will listen but to the wants of the
latter and remain deaf to the voice of Humanity. It would be a
ceaseless, a maddening struggle for almost any married man, who would
pursue true practical Occultism, instead of its _theoretical_
philosophy. For he would find himself ever hesitating between the voice
of the impersonal divine love of Humanity, and that of the personal,
terrestrial love. And this could only lead him to fail in one or the
other, or perhaps in both his duties. Worse than this; for, _whoever
indulges, after having pledged himself to_ OCCULTISM, _in the
gratification of a terrestrial love or lust_, must feel an almost
immediate result; that of being irresistibly dragged from the impersonal
divine state down to the lower plane of matter. Sensual, or even mental
self-gratification, involves the immediate loss of the powers of
spiritual discernment; the voice of the MASTER can no longer
be distinguished from that of one's passions or _even that of a Dugpa_;
the right from wrong; sound morality from mere casuistry. The Dead Sea
fruit assumes the most glorious mystic appearance, only to turn to ashes
on the lips, and to gall in the heart, resulting in:--

Depth ever deepening, darknes