tho' it has its price, yet _you can not buy it_. A seeming paradox, but
the Initiate will see it all clearly enough when the time comes.

"He who would scale the Heights of Understanding
From whence the soul looks out forever free
Must falter not; nor fail; all truth demanding
Though he bear the cross and know Gethsemane."

* * * * *

The discouraged student says to himself: "If Truth demands such sorrow and
sacrifice as this, I will not serve her. It is a false god that would so
try his devotees."

Have you not said it?

The toll you pay is not to the Divine Self within, but to the "keepers of
the threshold," that guard the entrance to the dwelling place of the
Illuminati.

Earthly lodges and brotherhoods are symbols of the higher initiations.

There is a common mistake in the idea that the invisible states of
consciousness are chaotic, or radically different from the visible.

"As below, so above, and as above so below" is an aphorism constantly held
before the eyes of the would-be initiate. Each of whom, must interpret and
know it for himself.

If the student finds the Raja Yoga sutras difficult of comprehension or of
practice let him meditate upon the following mantrams:

I know myself to be above the false concepts which assail the personal self
that I _appear_ to be. I am united with the All-seeing All-knowing
Consciousness.

I abide in the consciousness of the Indestructibility and Omniscience of
Being. I rest secure and content in the integrity of Cosmic Law which shall
lead my soul unto its own, guaranteeing immortal love.

I unite myself with that Power that makes for righteousness. Therefore
nothing shall dismay or defeat me, because I am at-one with the limitless
areas of spiritual consciousness.

My mind is the dynamic center through which my soul manifests the Love
which illumines the world. Only good can come to the world through me.

Much that is called Mental Science, New Thought and Christian Science has
for its aim and ideal, avoidance of all that does not make for personal
well-being, and worldly success. Avoid this ideal; distrust this motive. Be
ever willing to sacrifice the personal self to the Real Self, _if need be_.
If the ideal is truly the desire for _illumination_, and not for
self-gratification, the mind will soon learn to distinguish between the
lesser and the greater. Have you longed for perfect, satisfying _human_
love?

You shall