Selection from Theosophy’s Sacred Teachings: “The Voice of the Silence,” Fragment II - The Two Paths, Part 2 of 2

Be humble, if thou would attain to Wisdom. Be humbler still, when Wisdom thou have mastered. Be like the Ocean which receives all streams and rivers. The Ocean’s might calm remains unmoved; it feels them not. Restrain by thy Divine thy lower Self. Restrain by the Eternal the Divine. Aye, great is he, who is the slayer of desire. Still greater he, in whom the Self Divine has slain the very knowledge of desire. Guard thou the Lower lest it soil the Higher. The way to final freedom is within thy “Self.” That way begins and ends outside of Self. Unpraised by men and humble is the mother of all Rivers, in Tirthika’s (Brahman ascetics) proud sight; empty the human form though filled with Amrita’s (immortality) sweet waters, in the sight of fools. In addition, the birth-place of the sacred rivers is the sacred land, and he who Wisdom has, is honored by all men.