[Über die Führung im Geistigen]
Translation from the German by Robert Hütwohl.[1]
One who wishes to become a disciple (chelā) and find his master usually seeks someone whom he considers wiser than himself and places himself under his intellectual guidance. This would be quite true if it were intellectual knowledge, the imparting of theories, or, in short, brainwork, but in divine-spiritual guidance it is something higher. The intellect is the seat of knowledge, the heart the seat of realization. Higher than all instruction coming from outside is the knowledge of the inner higher Self.
The relationships between the Master and the disciple are not external and personal, nor are they intellectual. They belong to a higher level of existence, the spiritual, and are determined by the laws of the spirit. If a master were merely transferring his thoughts to the disciple, he would be nothing more than an echo or a “medium”; its free development would be inhibited because all true knowledge can only come from ones’ own inner experience. Another man’s light is not our own; only that which is born of itself is permanent, for it needs no support other than itself.
Therefore the disciple should strive, above all, to find the light in the inmost depths of his own being. This light is the Soul, and since the master’s light is also the Soul, the two are one, and whoever finds his own Soul (his true Self) finds the Master.
When the disciple has achieved this alone, independently and without outside help, only then will he be able to meet the great spirit (Mahā Ātma) to whose ray of light his Soul belongs.[2] He will find this great spirit, no matter whether it is embodied in a visible body or his Soul is clothed in a more ethereal body. Then, by his own effort, the disciple has gained the right of intellectual connection and personal approach to the Master, and made his guidance possible by gaining the faculty of psychic self-knowledge, without which such spiritual guidance is not possible.
How far this intellectual guidance can then extend will depend on the degree of purity of his mind and its correspondence with the Soul. He will then see that the Master’s work consists only in striving to make the disciple’s own light clearer, to kindle his flame still more; for the Soul is one and its light is intuition. True intuition is Soul knowledge and cannot be different from it. But it is necessary for the disciple to learn to distinguish between this Soul light and the play of his intellect or his imagination.
This inner light is the way. He is always within us and not outside of us. Everyone has to walk it themselves. Gods, men and angels can only point us to him. Christ says: “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Whoever has found his true, divine self has found the light of his Soul, the way, the truth and the life, Christ and the Master.[3] He is the Lord!
About this, the Brhad Aranyaka Upanishad [Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad] says the following:
“He who dwells in the earth and is different from the earth, he whom the earth (the material) does not know, for whom the earth is a body, he who governs the earth from within: he is yours Soul, the inner, immortal Ruler.
“He who dwells in the waters (in the mind) and is different from the waters, whom the waters do not know, for whom the waters are one body, he who governs the waters from within: he is your Soul, the inner, immortal Ruler.
“He who dwells in fire (power), and is different from fire; he whom fire does not know, for whom fire is a body, he who governs fire from within: he is your Soul, the inward, immortal Ruler.
“He who dwells in the firmament (in the realm of thought) and is different from the firmament; he whom the firmament knows not, for whom the firmament is a body; he who rules the firmament from within: he is your Soul, the inward, immortal Ruler.
“He who dwells in the wind (in the breath of life), and is different from the wind; he whom the wind does not know, for whom the wind is a body, he who rules the wind from within: he is your Soul, the inner, immortal Ruler.
“He who dwells in heaven (in salvation), and is different from heaven; he whom heaven knows not, for whom heaven is a body; he who rules heaven from within: he is your Soul, the inward, immortal Ruler.
“He who dwells in the sun (in Self-awareness), and is different from the sun; he whom the sun knows not, for whom the sun is a body; he who rules the sun from within: he is your Soul, the inner, immortal Ruler.
“He who dwells in space[4] (in Spirit) and is different from space, he who does not know space, for whom space is a body; he who rules space from within: he is your Soul, the inner, immortal Ruler.
“He who dwells in the moon and the stars (in thoughts and feelings), and is different from the moon and the stars; he who does not know the moon and the stars, for whom they are one body and who rules the moon and the stars from within: he is your Soul, the inward, immortal Ruler.
“He who dwells in the ether, and is different from the ether; he whom the ether does not know, for whom the ether is a body; he who rules the ether from within: he is your Soul, the inner, immortal Ruler.
“He who dwells in darkness, and is different from darkness; he whom darkness does not know, for whom darkness is a body; he who rules the darkness from within: he is your Soul, the inner, immortal Ruler.
“He who dwells in glory, and is different from glory; he whom glory knows not, to whom glory is a body; he who rules the glory from within: he is your Soul, the inward, immortal Ruler.
“He who dwells in all creatures, and is different from creatures; he whom creatures know not, for whom creatures are one body; he who governs creatures from within: he is your Soul, the inward, immortal Ruler.
“He is the seer unseen, the hearer unheard, the thinker unthought, the knower unknowing, and none other than He is the seer, hearer, thinker, or knower. This is your Soul, the inner, immortal Ruler, and everything other than Him is subject to suffering and death.”
True Theosophy consists in the awakening of the self-knowledge of the Soul in man; its light is the light of truth, the guiding star towards the consciousness of immortal existence in time and in eternity.
Notes:
[1] Concerning leadership in the spiritual. [Über die Führung im Geistigen. Franz Hartmann, M.D. Lotusblüten 14, no. 84 (September 1899), 583-589] {This article was reformatted from the original, but with the content unchanged other than fixing minor typos. Translation from the German by Robert Hütwohl, ©2025}
[2] According to the “Secret Doctrine” it is the same with the spiritual light as with the physical, and just as the light of the earthly sun is divided into the seven colors of the rainbow, so the spiritual sun of life of wisdom reveals itself in seven rays, each of which breaks into innumerable rays of life again. Although all these rays are rooted in the One Sun, yet the Soul of every human being belongs to one of the seven species and finds its master in it.
[3] Cf. “The Theosophical Forum,” V. IV, note 11.
[4] “Space” in the occult sense is objective and subjective. The “Secret Doctrine” distinguishes seven types of “space.”