my dear jasper:

now let me elevate a signal. do not think much of me, please. think kindly of me; but oh, my friend, direct your thoughts to the eternal truth. i am, like you, struggling on the road. perhaps a veil might in an instant fall down from your spirit, and you would be long ahead of us all. the reason you have had help is that in other lives you gave it to others. in every effort you made to lighten another mind and open it to truth, you were helped yourself. those pearls you found for another and gave to him, you really retained for yourself in the act of benevolence. for when one lives thus to help others, he is thereby putting in practice the rule to try and "kill out all sense of separateness," and thus gets little by little in possession of the true light.

never lose, then, that attitude of mind. hold fast in silence to all that is your own, for you will need it in the fight; but never, never desire to get knowledge or power for any other purpose than to give it on the altar, for thus alone can it be saved to you.

so many are there around me who are ardent desirers and seekers, devotees; but they are doing it because the possession seems valuable. perhaps i see in you—i hope i mistake not—a pure desire to seek knowledge for its own sake, and that all others may be benefitted. so i would point out to you the only royal road, the one vehicle. do all those acts, physical, mental, moral, for the reason that they must be done, instantly resigning12 all interest in them, offering them up upon the altar. what altar? why, the great spiritual altar, which is, if one desires it, in the heart. yet still use earthly discrimination, prudence, and wisdom.

it is not that you must rush madly or boldly out to do, to do. do what you find to do. desire ardently to do it, and even when you shall not have succeeded in carrying anything out but some small duties, some words of warning, your strong desire will strike like vulcan upon other hearts in the world, and suddenly you will find that done which you had longed to be the doer of. then rejoice that another had been so fortunate as to make such a meritorious karma. thus, like the rivers running into the unswelling, passive ocean, will your desires enter into your heart.

i find all your remarks just; and besides, there seems to be a real spirit behind them. do not fear nor fail because you feel dark and heavy. the very rage you feel will break the shrine that covers the mystery after a while. no one can really help you. no one can open your doors. you locked them up, and only you can open them. when you open any door, beyond it you find others standing there who had passed you long ago, but now, unable to proceed, they are there waiting; others are there waiting for you. then you come, and, opening a door, those waiting disciples perhaps may pass on; thus on and on. what a privilege this, to reflect that we may perhaps be able to help those who seemed greater than ourselves!

o, what a groan nature gives to see the heavy karma which man has piled upon himself and all the creatures of the three worlds! that deep sigh pierces through my heart. how can the load be lifted? am i to stand for myself, while the few strong hands of blessed masters and their friends hold back the awful cloud? such a vow i registered ages ago to help them,13 and i must. would to great karma i could do more! and you! do what you can.

place your only faith, reliance, and trust on karma.

z.