Sacrifice as ordinarily understood is a kind of offering or propitiation to god and gods, to certain powers or elementals, on special occasions, in order to obtain some benefit or fulfil some cherished desire, and as such it is divorced from the daily duties and hourly affairs of life.

True sacrifice is an inner attitude of mind and heart based on real understanding of the unity and harmony of the one divine life and law. It is the giving of oneself in loving service to all, on any and all planes, without any selfish motive. Such acts of service become sacrificial acts.

Throughout nature we see expressions of sacrifice, which is related to the law of interdependence operating in all her kingdoms. They provide us with nourishment; fresh air and water keep us alive; without light and sunshine everything would perish. What sacrificial actions do human beings perform to enrich Nature? It is daily robbed in all its departments. Is it not our duty to help the forward progress of various kinds of lives, which we use all the time, by impressing them with pure thoughts and noble feelings? "Help Nature and work on with her; and Nature will regard thee as one of her creators and make obeisance." Nature is the material ally of man, who has to become a co-worker with her, by understanding her laws.

The great teachers have sacrificed themselves for the sake of mankind. Sri Krishna instructs Arjuna in the Fourth Discourse of the Bhagavad-Gita: "I produce myself among creatures, O son of Bharata, whenever there is a decline of virtue and an insurrection of vice and injustice in the world; and thus I incarnate from age to age for the preservation of the just, the destruction of the wicked, and the establishment of righteousness." In the Eighth Discourse he speaks of himself as the great sacrifice, Adhiyajna.

The great teachers of the world have indeed made the supreme sacrifice of renouncing the peace and bliss of Nirvana, their well-earned rest, to take birth in human bodies for the spiritual welfare of the human race. Time and again they have pointed to the way of life and love, of truth and wisdom, but the frailty of human nature soon makes people forget all about it. Cyclically the messengers appear on the scene to revive the Message, and in The Voice of the Silence the image is given of the Guardian Wall formed by them to protect mankind from further and far greater misery and sorrow. But for their compassion and sacrifice, the world would be in greater darknes and gloom than it is today.

On the metaphysical plane, it is the eternal thought in the eternal mind that brings about differentiation, so that the one becomes the many—unity in diversity. In the germ of the universal mind arises the pure desire for the progressive evolution of different lives on different planes, and at the appointed hour the rest and repose of all beings ends, and there begins the activity of a new period of evolution, leading to further progress. At the midway point of evolution, the solar gods, the great divine intelligences, sacrificed themselves to incarnate in the mindless incipient men, to give them the spark of the higher Manas. In every atom of life there is intelligence of a kind, but man alone has the higher consciousness which was awakened in him by the sacrifice of these great gods.

Hence, tradition shows the celestial Yogis offering themselves as voluntary victims in order to redeem Humanity—created god-like and perfect at first—and to endow him with human affections and aspirations. To do this they had to give up their natural status and, descending on our globe, take up their abode on it for the whole cycle of the Mahayuga, thus exchanging their impersonal individualities for individual personalities—the bliss of sidereal existence for the curse of terrestrial life. (The Secret Doctrine, II, 246)

It is only the recognition of the superior mind in us and the control of the lower mind and the personal nature—a daily sacrifice of the lower at the altar of the higher Self—that will enable man to be self-redeemed and to act on the basis of his higher nature.

Lord Krishna instructs Arjuna not to abandon three kinds of acts—those of dana-charity, yajna-sacrifice, and tapas-mortification. They have to be considered as the daily duties of life, and not to be kept aside for special occasions. This attitude will make any and every action a sacramental one, dedicated to the highest in us and in all. As Sri Krishna puts it:

I accept and enjoy the offerings of the humble soul who in his worship with a pure heart offereth a leaf, a flower, or fruit, or water unto me. Whatever thou doest, O son of Kunti, whatever thou eatest, whatever thou sacrificest, whatever thou givest, whatever mortification thou performest, commit each unto me.

We are not asked to offer something we cannot afford, something great and valuable; all that is indispensable for true sacrifice is a pure heart, which augments the value of whatever is offered.

There are so many wrong types of sacrifice. Some offer animal sacrifices in the false belief that this will wipe away their sins. Others torture their bodies and disfigure themselves. Still others run away from their homes, neglect their own duties and live in seclusion in forests or on mountain tops. "Some sacrifice the up-breathing, by blocking up the channels of inspiration and expiration," says the Gita. Such sacrifices produce their own effects on the physical and psychic planes, but the sacrifice through spiritual knowledge is superior to all others. This is not understood correctly and therefore there are so many misconceptions about sacrifice.

In The Key to Theosophy, in the very important section "What Is Practical Theosophy?" there is a sub-section entitled "On Self-Sacrifice," which, H.P.B. says, is "giving to others more than to oneself"; but she further states: "Self-sacrifice has to be performed with discrimination." Hence the need for reflecting before acting, before taking a step in one or another direction. "A man has no right to starve himself to death that another man may have food, unless the life of that man is obviously more useful to the many than is his own life."

Once the great law of Karma is understood to some extent at least, the ways and means to sacrifice will suggest themselves naturally, and the higher aspects of sacrifice will manifest themselves. We get daily inspiration from the lives and teachings of all the great teachers down the ages, but there are also examples of true sacrifice among the common people. There was Florence Nightingale, the Lady of the Lamp, who went to Crimea to nurse the soldiers who were dying without help. There was St. Francis of Assisi, the great lover of animals and great humanitarian. H.P.B. gives the illustration of the young Belgian, Father Damien, who volunteered to go to Molokai to help the lepers there, to give them light and comfort and solace. He lived with them for 18 years, and succumbed to the disease in the end. Such examples can be multiplied. All are reflections of the "great sacrifice," the archetypal sacrifice, mentioned in The Secret Doctrine. we are told about the "Wondrous Being" descended from a "high region" in the early part of the Third Race:

He is...the "Nameless One" who has so many names, and yet whose names and whose very nature are unknown. He is the "Initiator," called the "GREAT SACRIFICE." For, sitting at the threshold of LIGHT, he looks into it from within the circle of Darkness, which he will not cross; nor will he quit his post till the last day of this life-cycle. Why does the solitary Watcher remain at his self-chosen post? Why does he sit by the fountain of primeval Wisdom, of which he drinks no longer, as he has naught to learn which he does not know—aye, neither on this Earth, nor in its heaven? Because the lonely sore-footed pilgrims on their way back to their home are never shure to the last moment of not losing their way in this limitless desert of illusion and matter called Earth-Life. Because he would fain show the way to that region of freedom and light, from which he is a voluntary exile himself, to every prisoner who has succeeded in liberating himself from the bonds of flesh and illusion. Because, in short, he has sacrificed himself for the sake of mankind, though but a few Elect may profit by the GREAT SACRIFICE. (I, 208)