People say that I put the ideal of discipleship so very high that
nobody can hope to become a disciple. But I have not said that no one
can become a disciple who does not reproduce the description that is
given of the perfect disciple. One may. But we do it at our own peril.
A man may be thoroughly capable along one line, but have a serious
fault along another. The serious fault will not prevent him from
becoming a disciple, but he must suffer for it. The initiate pays for
his faults ten times the price he would have had to pay for them as a
man of the world. That is why I have put the ideal so high. I have
never said that a person must come utterly up to the ideal before
becoming a disciple, but I have said that the risks of becoming a
disciple without these qualifications are enormous. It is the duty of
those who have seen the results of going through the gateway with
faults in character, to point out that it is well to get rid of these
faults first. Every fault you carry through the gateway with you
becomes a dagger to stab you on the other side. Therefore it is well to
purify yourself as much as you can, before you are sufficiently evolved
on any line to have the right to say: “I will pass through that
gateway.” That is what I intended to be understood when I spoke of
qualifications for discipleship. I have followed along the ancient road
which lays down these qualifications which the disciple should bring
with him; and if he comes without them, then the word of Jesus is true,
that he will be beaten with many stripes; for a man can afford to do in
the outer world with small result what will bring terrible results upon
him when once he is treading the Path.