FOREWORD

THE essays which make up this booklet appear-
ed originally in the Supplement of New India,
and were intended for the casual reader, with
the hope that they might capture his attention,
and lure him in the direction of fuller and
deeper knowledge. Many of us, after groping
for years after answers to the riddles perpetual-
ly presented to us by the Sphinx, found the
answers in the Light of the Ancient Wisdom,
and have ever since followed it with ever-
increasing peace of heart and satisfaction of
intellect. The world of to-day would scarcely
be tolerable, were it not that Theosophy has
taught us to pierce through the clouds that veil
the heavens and to see shining there the Star in
the East, the Morning Star. That others may
find that peace, that satisfaction, is our ever-
present wish, and every word that may carry
these to some restless soul goes out into the
world on the wings of our hope that the joyous
message may be to all who hear it what it has

been to us.

ANNIE BESANT, D.L.,

President of the Theosophical Society.