Unless these two points are sufficiently investigated, it will be hardly possible for us to ascertain the highest goal that man is capable of reaching; and unless there is a definite aim or a goal to reach, or an ideal towards which man has to progress, it will be almost impossible to say whether any particular instruction is likely to conduce to the welfare of mankind or not. Now I say these instructions can only be understood by examining the nature of the cosmos, the nature of man, and the goal towards which all evolutionary progress is tending.
Before I proceed further, let me tell you that I do not mean to adopt the sevenfold classification of the principles in man that has up to this time been adopted [1] in Theosophical writings generally. Just as I would classify the principles in man, I would classify the principles in the solar system and in the cosmos. There is a certain amount of similarity and the law of correspondence—as it is called by some writers, whatever may be the reason—is the law which obtains in a good many of the phenomena of nature, and very often by knowing what happens in the case of the microcosm we are enabled to infer what takes place in that of the macrocosm. Now as regards the numbers of principles and their relation between themselves, this sevenfold classification, which I do not
- ↑ This statement raised a controversy between the lecturer and Madame H.P. Blavatsky, for which the reader is referred to the A Collection of Esoteric Writings of the late Mr. T. Subba Rao, published by us.
