Fourth Edition. Third and Revised Edition copyright © 1979 by Theosophical University Press (online PDF eBook and print editions (cloth and softcover) are also available). HTML version ISBN 978-1-55700-039-2. All rights reserved. This edition may be downloaded free of charge for personal use. Except for brief excerpts, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial or other use in any form without the prior permission of Theosophical University Press. For ease of searching, words are not accented in this version.
1 — The Path to the Heart of the Universe
2 — Old Age, Disease, and Death
3 — The Inner God
4 — The Great Heresy of Separateness
5 — Love is the Cement of the Universe
6 — The Chela Path
Recognizing that the "need for esoteric devotional works is probably as great today as it has ever been in the past," G. de Purucker published Golden Precepts of Esotericism. This is a small book, yet it deals with large and compelling themes: the path inward to the heart of being; thoughts and their influence on character; how to meet suffering, old age, and death; the potency of love, self-forgetful love, that encompasses the whole of mankind; and, lastly, the choice that every aspirant faces; whether to undergo the higher discipline and training for self-benefit alone, or for the sake of bringing light and wisdom to every living being on earth.
The first edition, issued in 1931, comprised excerpts taken from public lectures and private talks given by Dr. de Purucker during the first two years of his leadership of the Theosophical Society (1929-42) and arranged in dialogue form by G. B., a friend and student of the author. In 1935, in response to requests from readers abroad and in the United States, Dr. de Purucker brought out a second edition in which the questions were omitted and the teaching presented in narrative form. The book went through numerous reprintings and was translated into several European languages. The present volume follows closely this second edition as revised by the author.
It was Dr. de Purucker's hope that others would be "illumined with the same light and receive the same inspiration" that he himself had received from a lifelong absorption in the ideals and teachings of the Mystery Schools.
Grace F. Knoche
June 21, 1979
Pasadena, California
Theosophical University Press, publishing and distributing theosophical literature since 1886: PO Box C, Pasadena, CA 91109-7107 USA; email: tupress@theosociety.org; voice: (626) 798-3378. Free printed catalog available on request; also online at TUP Catalog.