The Golden Stairs
The following set of instructions were given by Madame Blavatsky, a Principal Co-Founder of the Theosophical Society, to some of her earnest students in London in 1888:
'A clean life,
an open mind,
a pure heart,
an eager intellect,
an unveiled spiritual perception,
a brotherliness for one's co-disciple,
a readiness to give and receive advice and instruction,
a loyal sense of duty to the Teacher,
a willing obedience to the behests of TRUTH,
once we have placed our confidence in,
and believe that Teacher to be in possession of it;
a courageous endurance of personal injustice,
a brave declaration of principles,
a valiant defence of those who are unjustly attacked,
and a constant eye to the ideal of human progression and perfection which the Secret Science (Gupta-Vidya) depicts
- these are the Golden Stairs up the steps of which the learner may climb to the Temple of Divine Wisdom.'
H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings, vol. XII