It is the practice of the Masters--blessed be They!--to impose a threefold discipline on a student. If he observes it, he receives the Robe (the real one, not the conventional)--else he is rejected. The threefold discipline consists of: 1. Service of the world for a year. 2. Service of God for a year. 3. Watching the heart for a year.--_Letter 5._ ON THE QUALIFICATIONS OF A TEACHER. Broadly speaking there are five qualifications: (1) Devotion to God. One cannot be thus devoted, unless one is free from servility to all save Him. (2) Capacity to receive truths direct from God without any intermediary. One cannot unfold this capacity without completely getting rid of the lower human nature. (3) Nearness to God. One cannot approach God unless one is equipped with the Divine character, and one's Spirit reflects the light of the Divine attributes. (4) Acquisition of knowledge from God without any intermediary. For this the heart should be cleansed of all impressions, sensual and intellectual. (5) Being an Elect of the Heart Doctrine, which relates to the knowledge of the Divine Essence, the Divine Qualities, and the Divine Works. One cannot attain to this stage without a second birth. "One born of the mother's womb sees this world; one born of the Self (_i. e._, quitting the lower human nature) sees the supersensuous world." Nevertheless it is said that the qualifications of a Teacher are indescribable and innumerable. A Teacher is not the body, the head, or the beard, visible to man. He is in reality the inner being by the side of God, in the region of Truth, clothed in Divine mercy and glory.... Here is a query: How can a beginner find out such a Teacher and Guide, know and follow Him? It is not meet for a beginner to weigh Divine Men with the balance of his little intellect and to look at Them with his limited vision. Nor is it meet to follow another on his mere assertion. Then how to know if such a one is a genuine Teacher or a mere pretender? Answer: Each seeker is furnished with materials appropriate to his lot. He cannot transcend them, ... nor can anything hinder him from using them. Query: Is there any sign whereby to distinguish a pretender from a true Teacher, the worthy from the unworthy?