All learned men base conduct on speech. They have gathered their learning through the avenues of hearing and speaking. The Masters of Truth have received Their Knowledge through divine inspiration, which depends on following the Law. With Them, knowledge does not depend upon words or speech. It has no connection with the tongue. Knowledge is that which makes a man follow the Law. Secular learning deals with words. Knowledge deals with Truth, and is not to be found save in the region of the Real. The province of the tongue is letters, and they are limited. Knowledge comes from the Heart, and the Heart does not perish. God has not given Knowledge to all, whereas He has not withheld speech from any. Knowledge is that which controls desire and leads to God. That which contributes to the gratification of desire and leads to the courts of chiefs and oppressors is not Knowledge, but a snare. Knowledge makes one humble and frees from ostentation and disputes . . . . The end of all learning is the beginning of Disciple­ship.

The first robe worn by a Disciple consists in coming out of the self. The second robe consists in setting no value on what he heretofore took as divine, so that the flame of Discipleship burns all things in him. Then, he begins to see lights and utter charming words, leading to self-conceit and the admiration of others. This is a snare of the desire-nature, and stops his progress. Here comes in the necessity of a Teacher to help him cross this stage and bring him from stagnation to motion. Thus light is a thickcr veil than darkness. Hence is it that the Wise are dumb and blind, unaffected by the opinion of the people. Hence is it, again, that the difficulties of a Disciple cannot be solved by a learned man, as the latter is but versed in religion, while the difficulties of the former are connected with the Path. It is useless for a Disciple to follow the learned, as the dicta of the latter are concerned will outer conduct, while he has to deal with the inner life. The one is preparing for the destruc­tion of self; the other seeks salvation for the self through knowledge. The business of the learned is to gather up what has been left by others, and store in his bosom the knowledge of the past. The business of the Disciple is to throw away and renounce what he has, and to unlearn what he has learned. So they are opposites and cannot be reconciled in any way.—Letter 52.