Preparation for Yoga

Preparation for Yoga

People say that I put the ideal of discipleship so very high that

nobody can hope to become a disciple. But I have not said that no

one can become a disciple who does not reproduce the description

that is given of the perfect disciple. One may. But we do it at

our own peril. A man may be thoroughly capable along one line,

but have a serious fault along another. The serious fault will

not prevent him from becoming a disciple, but he must suffer for

it. The initiate pays for his faults ten times the price he would

have had to pay for them as a man of the world. That is why I

have put the ideal so high. I have never said that a person must

come utterly up to the ideal before becoming a disciple, but I

have said that the risks of becoming a disciple without these

qualifications are enormous. It is the duty of those who have

seen the results of going through the gateway with faults in

character, to point out that it is well to get rid of these

faults first. Every fault you carry through the gateway with you

becomes a dagger to stab you on the other side. Therefore it is

well to purify yourself as much as you can, before you are

sufficiently evolved on any line to have the right to say: "I

will pass through that gateway." That is what I intended to be

understood when I spoke of qualifications for discipleship. I

have followed along the ancient road which lays down these

qualifications which the disciple should bring with him; and if

he comes without them, then the word of Jesus is true, that he

will be beaten with many stripes; for a man can afford to do in

the outer world with small result what will bring terrible

results upon him when once he is treading the Path.