If it is still argued that certain expressions in the Teacher’s letters were liable to mislead, the answer comes: Amen; so they were. The author of _Esoteric Buddhism_ understood it well when he wrote that such are “the traditional modes of teaching ... by provoking the perplexity,” they _do_ or _do not relieve_—as the case may be. At all events, if it is urged that this might have been explained earlier, and the true nature of the planets given out as they now are, the answer comes that: It was not found expedient to do so at the time, as it would have opened the way to a series of additional questions _which could never be answered on account of their Esoteric nature_, and thus would only become embarrassing. It had been declared from the first, and has been repeatedly asserted since: (1) That no Theosophist, _not even as an accepted Chelâ_, let alone lay students, could expect to have the secret teachings explained to him _thoroughly and completely_, before _he had irretrievably pledged himself to the Brotherhood and passed through at least one Initiation_, because no figures and numbers could be given to the public, for figures and numbers are the key to the Esoteric system. (2) That what was revealed was merely the Esoteric lining of that which is contained in almost all the exoteric scriptures of the world‐religions—preëminently in the _Brâhmanas_ and the _Upanishads_ of the _Vedas_, and even in the _Purânas_. It was a small portion of what is divulged far more fully now in the present volumes; and even this is very incomplete and fragmentary.
When the present work was commenced, the writer, feeling sure that the speculation about Mars and Mercury was a mistake, applied to the Teachers _by letter_ for an explanation and an authoritative version. Both came in due time, and _verbatim_ extracts from these are now given.
“... _It is quite correct that Mars is in a state of obscuration at present, and Mercury just beginning to get out of it. You might add that Venus is in her last Round.... If neither Mercury nor Venus have satellites, it is because of the reasons ... and also because Mars has two satellites to which he has no right.... Phobos, the supposed __‘__inner__’__ satellite, is no satellite at all. Thus, this remark of long ago by Laplace and now by Faye do not agree, you see. (Read __‘__Comptes Rendus,__’__ __ Tome XC, p. 569.) Phobos keeps a too short periodic time, and therefore there __‘__must exist some defect in the mother idea of the theory,__’__ as Faye justly observes.... Again, both [Mars and Mercury] are septenary Chains, as independent of the Earth’s sidereal lords and superiors as you are independent of the __‘__principles__’__ of Däumling [Tom Thumb]—which were perhaps his six brothers, with or without night‐caps.... __‘__Gratification of curiosity is the end of knowledge for some men,__’__ was said by Bacon, who was as right in postulating this truism, as those who were familiar with it before him, were right in hedging off_ WISDOM _from Knowledge, and tracing limits to that which is to be given out at one time.... Remember:_