Helena Petrovna von Hahn, more popularly known as Madame Blavatsky or H.P.B., came from a noble family in Ukraine. Her father, Peter von Hahn was a descendant of German nobility; while her mother, Helena Andreyevna Hahn, came from one of the oldest families of Russian nobility and was also a celebrated novelist. As a child she would often have visions and displayed clairvoyance as well as other metaphysical phenomena.

Years later, she traveled through Europe and the Middle East studying under various teachers and Sufi saints. She met her teacher, an Indian yogi named Master Morya, in London who later directed her to go to New York in the United States. Once there, she founded the Theosophical Society. In 1885, she started to write “The Secret Doctrine” which was finally published three years later in 1888. “The Secret Doctrine” has been acknowledged by many as one of the most remarkable books in the world.

It is considered to be the Bible of Theosophy, a sourcebook of the esoteric tradition that outlines the fundamental tenets of the secret doctrine of the past ages. Published as two volumes during her lifetime – “The Cosmogenesis” and “Anthropogenesis” - “The Secret Doctrine” explains the origin and evolution of the universe and of humanity through an account of "Root Races" dating back millions of years. Although the writer of “The Secret Doctrine,” Madame Blavatsky often expressed that she was only the compiler of ancient wisdom that was passed on to her. The true authors of the work were her teachers, the Mahatmas, or Great Souls, who were the guardians of the Secret Wisdom of the ages. Today on Between Master and Disciples, we invite you to listen to “The Seven Portals” from Madame Blavatksy’s book, “The Voice of the Silence.”

We thank you for your kind presence for today’s episode of Between Master and Disciples. Join us again next Thursday for part 2 of excerpts from Madame Blavatsky’s book, “The Voice of the Silence.”

Now, please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television for Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants, coming up next right after Noteworthy News. May Providence guide you in wisdom and love.

We appreciate your magnanimous company for today’s episode of Between Master and Disciples.

Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television for Planet Earth: Our Loving Home, coming up next right after Noteworthy News. We wish you and your loved ones much joy and abundance every day.

The Voice of the Silence by H. P. Blavatsky Fragment III: The Seven Portals "Upadya (Guru), the choice is made, I thirst for Wisdom. Now hast thou rent the veil before the secret Path and taught the greater Yana (vehicle). Thy servant here is ready for thy guidance." 'Tis well, Sravaka (student). Prepare thyself, for thou wilt have to travel on alone. The Teacher can but point the way.

The Path is one for all, the means to reach the goal must vary with the Pilgrims. Which wilt thou choose, O thou of dauntless heart? The Samtan (Tibetan) of "eye Doctrine," four-fold Dhyana (a state of deep meditation), or thread thy way through Paramitas, six in number, noble gates of virtue leading to Bodhi (awakening) and to Prajna, seventh step of Wisdom? The rugged Path of four-fold Dhyana winds on uphill. Thrice great is he who climbs the lofty top.

The Paramita heights are crossed by a still steeper path. Thou hast to fight thy way through portals seven, seven strongholds held by cruel crafty Powers – passions incarnate. Be of good cheer, Disciple; bear in mind the golden rule. Once thou hast passed the gate Srotapatti, "he who the stream hath entered"; once thy foot hath pressed the bed of the Nirvanic stream in this or any future life, thou hast but seven other births before thee, O thou of adamantine Will.

Look on. What see'st thou before thine eye, O aspirant to god-like Wisdom? "The cloak of darkness is upon the deep of matter; within its folds I struggle. Beneath my gaze it deepens, Lord; it is dispelled beneath the waving of thy hand. A shadow moveth, creeping like the stretching serpent coils... It grows, swells out and disappears in darkness." It is the shadow of thyself outside the Path, cast on the darkness of thy sins. "Yea, Lord; I see the PATH; its foot in mire, its summits lost in glorious light Nirvanic. And now I see the ever narrowing Portals on the hard and thorny way to Gnyana (Knowledge, Wisdom)." Thou seest well, Lanoo (disciple).

These Portals lead the aspirant across the waters on "to the other shore". Each Portal hath a golden key that openeth its gate; and these keys are: 1. Dana, the key of charity and love immortal. 2. Shila, the key of Harmony in word and act, the key that counterbalances the cause and the effect, and leaves no further room for Karmic action. 3. Kshanti, patience sweet, that nought can ruffle. 4. Virag, indifference to pleasure and to pain, illusion conquered, truth alone perceived. 5. Virya, the dauntless energy that fights its way to the supernal Truth, out of the mire of lies terrestrial. 6. Dhyana, whose golden gate once opened leads the Narjol (saint, an adept) toward the realm of Sat eternal and its ceaseless contemplation. 7. Prajna, the key to which makes of a man a god, creating him a Bodhisattva, son of the Dhyanis (Buddhas). Such to the Portals are the golden keys.

Before thou canst approach the last, O weaver of thy freedom, thou hast to master these Paramitas of perfection – the virtues transcendental six and ten in number – along the weary Path. For, O Disciple! Before thou wert made fit to meet thy Teacher face to face, thy Master light to light, what wert thou told? Before thou canst approach the foremost gate thou hast to learn to part thy body from thy mind, to dissipate the shadow, and to live in the eternal. For this, thou hast to live and breathe in all, as all that thou perceivest breathes in thee; to feel thyself abiding in all things, all things in Self.

Thou shalt not let thy senses make a playground of thy mind. Thou shalt not separate thy being from Being, and the rest, but merge the Ocean in the drop, the drop within the Ocean. So shalt thou be in full accord with all that lives; bear love to men as though they were thy brother-pupils, disciples of one Teacher, the sons of one sweet mother. Of teachers there are many; the Master-Soul is one Alaya, the Universal Soul. Live in that Master as Its ray in thee. Live in thy fellows as they live in Its. Before thou standest on the threshold of the Path; before thou crossest the foremost Gate, thou hast to merge the two into the One and sacrifice the personal to Self impersonal, and thus destroy the "path" between the two – Antaskarana (the lower Manas, or undisciplined mind) .

Thou hast to be prepared to answer Dharma, the stern law, whose voice will ask thee at thy first, at thy initial step: "Hast thou complied with all the rules, O thou of lofty hopes?" "Hast thou attuned thy heart and mind to the great mind and heart of all mankind? For as the sacred River's roaring voice whereby all Nature-sounds are echoed back, so must the heart of him 'who in the stream would enter,' thrill in response to every sigh and thought of all that lives and breathes." Disciples may be likened to the strings of the soul-echoing Vina; mankind, unto its sounding board; the hand that sweeps it to the tuneful breath of the Great World-Soul. The string that fails to answer 'neath the Master's touch in dulcet harmony with all the others, breaks – and is cast away. So the collective minds of Lanoo-Sravakas.

They have to be attuned to the Upadya's mind – one with the Over-Soul – or, break away. Thus do the "Brothers of the Shadow" – the murderers of their Souls, the dread Dad-Dugpa clan. Hast thou attuned thy being to Humanity's great pain, O candidate for light? Thou hast? . . . Thou mayest enter. Yet, ere thou settest foot upon the dreary Path of sorrow, 'tis well thou should'st first learn the pitfalls on thy way. Armed with the key of Charity, of love and tender mercy, thou art secure before the gate of Dana, the gate that standeth at the entrance of the Path.

Behold, O happy Pilgrim! The portal that faceth thee is high and wide, seems easy of access. The road that leads there through is straight and smooth and green. 'Tis like a sunny glade in the dark forest depths, a spot on earth mirrored from Amitabha's paradise. There, nightingales of hope and birds of radiant plumage sing perched in green bowers, chanting success to fearless Pilgrims. They sing of Bodhisattvas' virtues five, the fivefold source of Bodhi power, and of the seven steps in Knowledge. Pass on! For thou hast brought the key; thou art secure. And to the second gate the way is verdant too. But it is steep and winds up hill; yea, to its rocky top. Grey mists will over-hang its rough and stony height, and all be dark beyond.

As on he goes, the song of hope soundeth more feeble in the pilgrim's heart. The thrill of doubt is now upon him; his step less steady grows. Beware of this, O candidate! Beware of fear that spreadeth, like the black and soundless wings of midnight bat, between the moonlight of thy Soul and thy great goal that loometh in the distance far away. Fear, O disciple, kills the will and stays all action. If lacking in the Shila virtue – the pilgrim trips, and Karmic pebbles bruise his feet along the rocky path. Be of sure foot, O candidate.

In Kshanti's (patience) essence bathe thy Soul; for now thou dost approach the portal of that name, the gate of fortitude and patience. Close not thine eyes, nor lose thy sight of Dorje (an instrument that is a symbol of power of evil influences); Mara's arrows ever smite the man who has not reached Viraga (feeling of absolute indifference to the objective universe, to pleasure and to pain.) Beware of trembling. 'Neath the breath of fear the key of Kshanti rusty grows: the rusty key refuseth to unlock. The more thou dost advance, the more thy feet pitfalls will meet. The path that leadeth on, is lighted by one fire – the light of daring, burning in the heart.

The more one dares, the more he shall obtain. The more he fears, the more that light shall pale – and that alone can guide. For as the lingering sunbeam, that on the top of some tall mountain shines, is followed by black night when out it fades, so is heart-light. When out it goes, a dark and threatening shade will fall from thine own heart upon the path, and root thy feet in terror to the spot. Beware, disciple, of that lethal shade. No light that shines from Spirit can dispel the darkness of the nether Soul, unless all selfish thought has fled therefrom, and that the pilgrim saith: "I have renounced this passing frame; I have destroyed the cause: the shadows cast can, as effects, no longer be."

For now the last great fight, the final war between the Higher and the Lower Self, hath taken place. Behold, the very battlefield is now engulfed in the great war, and is no more. But once that thou hast passed the gate of Kshanti, step the third is taken. Thy body is thy slave. Now, for the fourth prepare, the Portal of temptations which do ensnare the inner man. Ere thou canst near that goal, before thine hand is lifted to upraise the fourth gate's latch, thou must have mustered all the mental changes in thy Self and slain the army of the thought sensations that, subtle and insidious, creep unasked within the Soul's bright shrine.

If thou would'st not be slain by them, then must thou harmless make thy own creations, the children of thy thoughts, unseen, impalpable, that swarm round humankind, the progeny and heirs to man and his terrestrial spoils. Thou hast to study the voidness of the seeming full, the fullness of the seeming void. O fearless Aspirant, look deep within the well of thine own heart, and answer. Knowest thou of Self the powers, O thou perceiver of external shadows? If thou dost not – then art thou lost. For, on Path fourth, the lightest breeze of passion or desire will stir the steady light upon the pure white walls of Soul.

The smallest wave of longing or regret for Maya's gifts illusive, along Antaskarana – the path that lies between thy Spirit and thy self, the highway of sensations, the rude arousers of Ahankara (the “I-am-ness”) – a thought as fleeting as the lightning flash will make thee thy three prizes forfeit – the prizes thou hast won. For know, that the Eternal knows no change. "The eight dire miseries forsake for evermore. If not, to wisdom, sure, thou can'st not come, nor yet to liberation," saith the great Lord, the Tathagata of perfection, " he who has followed in the footsteps of his predecessors.".

Stern and exacting is the virtue of Viraga. If thou its path would'st master, thou must keep thy mind and thy perceptions far freer than before from killing action. Thou hast to saturate thyself with pure Alaya (the eight consciousness or the storehouse consciousness), become as one with Nature's Soul-Thought. At one with it thou art invincible; in separation, thou becomest the playground of Samvriti (one of the two truths which demonstrates the illusive character or emptiness of all things), origin of all the world's delusions.