To Light a Thousand Lamps - The Theosophical Society

12
The Two Paths
NONE HAVE EXERTED SO PROFOUND an influence on the
destiny of the human race as have the Illumined Ones —
those who, on reaching omniscience, the bliss of nirvana,
turn back from the heights to live in the foothills with their
younger brothers still struggling in ignorance and confusion.
Exemplars of the love they have generated over the
aeons for all living beings, they belong to the sacred hierarchy
of light and their sacrifice remains a beacon in the
darkness of our lives.
Compassion speaks and saith: ‘‘Can there be bliss when
all that lives must su¤er? Shalt thou be saved and hear the
whole world cry?’’
The PATH is one, Disciple, yet in the end, twofold.
Marked are its stages by four and seven Portals. At one
end — bliss immediate, and at the other — bliss deferred.
Both are of merit the reward: the choice is thine.
— The Voice of the Silence, pp. 71, 41
In these fragments selected from the ‘‘Book of the Golden
Precepts,’’ HPB transmitted for the ‘‘daily use’’ of modern
students the age-old teaching that from the first step to the
last we are making choices and thereby shaping our character
and the karma leading to this supreme choice. She
devotes her Voice of the Silence to the choice between the