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Initiation, Human and Solar - Chapter XIX - Rules for Applicants
RULES FOR APPLICANTS

There are certain aphorisms and injunctions which the applicant for initiation needs to study and obey. There is a great distinction between the terms "aspirant to the Path" and "applicant for initiation." He who aspires and strives towards discipleship is in no way pledged to the same specific attitude and discipline as is the applicant for initiation, and he can, if he so choose, take as long as he desires in the treading of the Probationary Path. The man who seeks initiation is in a different position, and having once made application has to bring his life under a definite rule, and a strict regime which is only optional to the disciple.

The rules given here are fourteen in number, and are gathered from a series of instructions compiled for those who seek to take the first initiation.

Rule 1

Let the disciple search within the heart's deep cave. If there the fire burns bright, warming his brother yet heating not himself, the hour has come for making application to stand before the door.

When love for all beings, irrespective of who they may be, is beginning to be a realized fact in the heart of a disciple, and yet nevertheless love for himself exists not, then comes [193] the indication that he is nearing the Portal of Initiation, and may make the necessary preliminary pledges. These are necessitated before his Master hands in his name as a candidate for initiation. If he cares not for the suffering and pain of the lower self, if it is immaterial to him whether happiness comes his way or not, if the sole purpose of his life is to serve and save the world, and if his brother's need is for him of greater moment than his own, then is the fire of love irradiating his being, and the world can warm itself at his feet. This love has to be a practical, tested manifestation, and not just a theory, nor simply an impractical ideal and a pleasing sentiment. It is something that has grown in the trials and tests of life, so that the primary impulse of the life is towards self-sacrifice and the immolation of the lower nature.
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