The Washington herald., 1914-12-06


! past that you may exhaust Il, and so
are answering your cry. II is said of
old that a martyr smiled in the fire. re-
I garding IL as chariot of flame that
took him to his Lord.
You must learn One-pointedness. or
Balance. As the needle points to the Pole
and returns il forcibIyN. dragged away. 50
must your will point unswervlngly to that
! goal OF the divine VIII for human per-
! fection that you are endeavorinS to
reach.
The last OF the six jewels Is Faith or
! Confidence, confidence in your Teacher
! and confidence in yourself. In that higher
| Self Is strength Unconquerable, that
never can be frustrated or destroyed.
Then. remains the last OF the great
! Qualifications. the hardest of all the
one most likely to arouse opposition in
the mind of many. The Hindu and Bud
dhlst call il Desire for Liberation; the
Master calls ii Union with the Supreme;
! and because the Supreme Is Love, He
! brings II down to Love lived out among
men. And as He deals with that great
virtue OF love- love which is the fulfill
! ing OF the law. He brands three vices as
I crimes against love. that must be utter
rly thrown aside by the disciple. The
| first is gossip, the second cruelty, and
| the third superstition. These, He says,
are the worst crimes against love. And
then He explains how il is so. He takes
up gossip first. and points out how. in
thinking evil Of another. you are COM
mitting threefOld injury on man; first,
on the nelghborhoOd in which you live.
which you till with evil thoughts instead
of good thoughts. and 50. He says pa
thctcally. your increase the sorrow Of
the world. Then the evil thought about
the fault OF another. for if that fault
be in the man your evil thought makes
ii stronger, and harder for the man TO
overcome; your thought makes the evil
in him greater every time that in thought
you ascribe that fault to him, and you
are thus making your brothers path
more difficult, making his struggle hard
er: perhaps your evil thought will be
the last determining push which makes
him fall where otherwise he might have
stood upright. II the thought be false
and not true. even then in him you may
pIant an evil which as Yet does not exist
in his character Hence the wickedneSs
OF thinking evil. let alone talking it, for
where an evil story is passed on to an
sther there the same cycle OF evil is
trodden by the one who was spoken to.
and so you become q fountain OF evil,
careless as the words have been.
Cruelty a." brands as another great
crime against love, and He gives certain
forms OF II. 50 that the disciple may real.
ty shonc out certainly in days gone by
in the murders and the tUrtures Of the
InquisitiUn; but the same spirit shows
Itself now in all harsh religious contro-
yeTSy and in bitter words directed against
those who are trying to think rightly.
but apart from the thought OF their fel-
lows
On ViviSeCtion OCCultiSm speaks with
single voice. no matter what may be
said in the name of science. no matter
what Commissions may sit thereon and
express their views: for cruelty l. TO do
needless hurt to living things.
The fourth class He mentions, ! fear
will have a difficulty in finding accept
ance-sport where living creatures are
sacrificed. Granted il is customary, that
social opinion does not condemn ii, that
4 man may slay thousands of living birds
and not be called butcher but merely
a good sportsman, none the less that
cruelty of sport is regarded as an obsta-
Gle for those who would tread the Path.
The law of karma does not forget. al
though man may fail to remember, and
inevitably every pain inflicted on SEN
tient creature brings the reaction OF pain
on the one who inflicted it.
The last is Superstition. Missionaries |
will never persuade the Hindus who still |
use animal sacrifCe-a minority as they |
arc-that animal sacrifice is evil as long !
as far more animals are Sacri- !
feed to the human palate than |
are ever sacrificed in the temples. !
That is marked as superstition by the |
Master, the cruel superstition. lie says |
that man needs flesh for food. And 1t is |
n superstition. as those know who have !
resolutely faced it and have learned that
health and not disease is the result OF
following the law of love. Remember that
i'm sending preachers OF your faith 10 IN
dia they will never move the Indian heart
where the kid offered to DurGa is blamed.
and the kid sacrificed to the sahab in the
bungalow is thought to be harmless; for
they are a logical people. and they say:
IF VIC NAV not offer to God, why should
We offer to man? II the animals life Is
precious in the sight of God. as you tell
us. why do you take it away to put it on
your own tables, instead of on the altar
Of the God
So this great Teacher has traced out
for us the Qualifications demanded for
passing through the first portal OF In
itiation. for that Birth of the Christ in
the human Spirit, which is the passing of
that doorway. have run over, roughly
and inadequately. know. the wonder
full teaching which comes from Him to
illuminate us, but none the less you can
see il is an exacting demand, you will
see how you must shake yourself free
from many prejudices, customs. thought
less ways of life. II you would find the
Master and be reckoned by Him among
His disciples.
II you knock with the hammer of the
surely the door shall swing
open before you, that you may find Him.
CSext Sunday 1 shall write of THE