Page:Book of Ighan (1915).djvu/62

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The Book of Ighan

Knowledge is divided into two kinds: Divine Knowledge and Satanic knowledge. One appears from the inspirations of the Ideal King; the other emanates from the imaginations of darkened souls. The teacher of one is the Exalted God and the teacher of the other is sensual suggestion. The explanation of one is "fear God and God will teach you," and the definition of the other is "knowledge is the greatest veil." The fruits of one tree are patience, longing, wisdom and love, and the fruits of the other are pride, vain-glory and conceit. No scent of these obscure learnings, the darkness of which hath encompassed all regions, is inhaled from what the Masters of Utterance have explained concerning the meaning of Knowledge. The only fruit of this tree is injustice and iniquity, and it yields no crop but malice and hatred. Its fruit is deadly poison and its shadow is a destructive fire. How excellent is the saying, "cling to the hems of passion, cast off modesty, abandon the pathway of the devotees though they may be illustrious."

Consequently the breast must be purified from all that hath been heard and the heart sanctified from all attachments, so that it may become a recipient of the invisible inspiration and a treasury of the mysteries of Supreme Knowledges. Therefore it is said—"The traveller in the White Path and in the Red Support shall never reach his homestead unless he is empty-handed from all that is possessed by the people." This