YOGODA is a scientific system for conscious control of involuntary life forces, originated by Swami Yogananda, A.B., Hindu educator and metaphysician. The basic exercises of YOGODA can be practiced anywhere, anytime, in public or private, sitting or reclining, walking or standing, unobserved by others, and without apparatus or expense of any kind. Ten minutes by this system exceeds in benefit hours of ordinary exercise.

This science of applied life vibration, technically known as YOGODA, endorsed by foremost scientists and educators, teaches the student how to draw through concentrated absorption from cosmic energy, a recharge of life-giving elements into the physical and spiritual system. YOGODA teaches how the principle can be put into CONSTANT operation within your being, proceeding without interruption in its constructive processes even while your physical body is in repose.

Parts unaffected by any other system of development are reached and brought to their maximum powers through the faithful practice of Yogoda recharging.

Teaches how to RECHARGE body-batteries, with fresh life-current by increasing dynamic power of will, how to overcome Fatigue, insure lasting youth, and improve (Beauty of Form; (b) Grace of expression; (c) Center of Consciousness; (d) Power of mental receptivity; (e) Contact with the Infinite Reservoir of Power.

YOGODA teaches you actually how to see the light of the VITAL FORCE in the body, how to hear the COSMIC VIBRATION, and through a definite simple technique, how to contact the Omnipresent Source of Infinite Divine Power.

YOGODA teaches how to prevent hardening of the arteries and how to insure lasting youth by stimulating even circulation and helping to eject foreign matter from the system. The right practice of Yogoda drives away headaches instantly, harmonizes all muscle actions, makes colds impossible, and prevents constipation and stomach troubles.

YOGODA teaches how to exercise those parts which you think you cannot exercise, how to put on or take off fat, as desired, and how to control your material and spiritual destiny.

The use of this YOGODA system has accomplished wonderful results in several residential schools for boys in India, established by Swami Yogananda, and has been used by 20,000 Yogoda students in America to overcome physical, mental and spiritual inharmonies.

Amelita Galli-Curci—Luther Burbank—Luigi von Kunits, Conductor of the New Symphony Orchestra of Toronto, Canada—Huston Ray, brillian pianist—Countess Ilya Tolstoy—Homer Samuels, distinguished pianist—Vladimir Rosing, eminent tenor and director of the American Opera Co.—Clara Clemens Gabrilowitsch—Maria Carreras, famous pianist—George Liebling, pianist-composer—R. J. Cromie, Owner-publisher "Vancouver Sun"—Louis van Norman, Commercial Attach, U. S. Dept. of Commerce—Douglas Grant Diff Ainslie, English poet and author—Alfred Himan, editor "Singing"—Rev. Dr. Arthur Porter, pastor, Salem Congregational Church, York, England.

A descriptive pamphlet, "Yogoda," simple, illuminating and intensely interesting, will be mailed you for 15c. It will prepare you for priceless benefits in health, success and radiant happiness.

THE Swami is publishing EAST-WEST magazine under Divine guidance. He refused to burden the National Yogoda Organization with debts by publishing the magazine during depression-tortured times, so he waited until the great Power destroyed difficulties which stood in the way of publishing the magazine regularly. All good intentions are forced to combat evil, but now the great God is making is possible for EAST-WEST magazine to be published MONTHLY instead of being published every second month.

It will again be published through the great spiritual cooperation of a very dear Yogoda student, who has undertaken to have it printed EVERY MONTH. May God bless him in every way. We rejoice that God and the great Masters of India have chosen this very noble spiritual instrument to spread the message of Yogoda.

All loyal Yogoda students please make a definite effort to increase your spiritual abundance by saving at least ten cents a day until you have saved five dollars ($5.00), which will pay for one year’s subscription for EAST-WEST magazine for two friends. Invest your spirituality in the spiritual welfare of others, and great will be your reward. Your efforts to make the magazine self-supporting will do immense service for humanity. "Seek and spread the Kingdom of God first and then health, abundance and happiness will be added unto you." Nor be ye of doubtful mind.

Never think that I’ll be dead when I die;

I’ll leave my living breath in every living thing;

Tho’ my life may fade into the twilight of death,

On the lap of Eternal Life, my soul will ever sing.

I may come back to finish my unfinished work,

And visit the earthly bower

To water the tree of life.

I may again be here as a song in a mother’s heart,

That from my light

Others may borrow a little light.

Or it may happen that in some cosmic isle of life

My soul may find a fertile soil therein to grow.

I may come there to repair my broken reed,

That from my life, songs divine may ever flow.

Till I free my Self from the bond of mortal coil,

I’ll leap from death to life and life to death.

Then, as a freer soul, I shall move at will

From the heart of God to the finite heart of man.

The greatest sin of man is to have been born, says Schopenhauer with Calderon. It is an expression of extreme pessimism that has run riot. The other extreme, the Epiucurian philosophy, offers temptation to go out after the shadows of sensuous pleasures. The people of the world are seeking peace and a resting place somewhere on this planet, away from the turmoil of the day and haunting fears of the night. Man is building up civilization in ardent hope that under its spreading shade, he will find the blessings of joy. He exerts all his nerve-force to escape pain and plunge into the endless bosom of measureless joy. But on account of misunderstanding the means, or of ignorance of the true method of realization, he is constantly moving in the wheel of suffering. The very fruition of his desires and longings, upon which he at present builds his ultimate happiness, creates a new vacuum in his heart. Man is born neither to die nor to suffer. He does not come to this world to slave in the prison-cells of unfulfilled desires; nor is he here to pass his days running after rainbows or sighing at the sight of the sunset. He is born as a king, endowed with the diadem of soul and the scepter of intellect. The sun shines for him and the moon sheds her luster for his joy and life. The earth yields the food, while the air supplies the latent force. Life is an opportunity. Life is a fertile pasture ground for the cultivation of flowering qualities of divine nature. God, while sending the human soul to the earth, lends it the spark of His Divine Flame. He condenses Himself into the invisible essence and comes hidden in the garb of the soul. Man brings within him the essence of Eternity. In him sleeps overwhelming power, untouched, unexplored, and unseen. God is crying within him to come out into the light of the day. Man in his confused intellectual processes silences the mellow voice of the weeping God, struggling in the wilderness of his own heart. But the voice is persistent, life-long, and unremitting. Therefore, desires after desires lash on the shores of the human mind, constantly driving him from the peak of disillusionment to the crest of new adventure. Man will never find a resting grove for his soul so long as he has not rested his hope in the hands of the Unseen Power whose loving touch he can feel in the joyous blood of his own body and mind. Let every man and woman of the earth, sometime during the day, stand on the brink of eternity and empty all the contents of mind into the Unseen Hand. Let them perceive within themselves the eternal drama of thoughts enacted every moment by the Divine Dramatist. Let them see outside of them the gradual unfoldment of the Ultimate Good in the play of the capricious nature as well as in the life of man. Where is sorrow or unhappiness for the one whose eyes are anointed with the glowing dawn of the Inner Sun? The primordial ignorance which fosters unhappiness in the breast of man, is a thin veil of consciousness which can be rent asunder by a sincere and consistent effort of the soul. Let the soul cry out, "Life is not worth while if it does not breathe in God. O God, fill every space of my life with Thy living breath or let it pass into the elementals." Such a determination bears spiritual fruit. It begins transfiguration in man. It develops an understanding heart. It supplies motor power to strive after self-realization. It knocks out inertia from the bones of man. Such craving of a thirsty soul materializes the Guru who in due time comes and shows the Path to the willing disciple. Those who consistently follow the path reach the shoreless shore of bliss. Spasmodic effort of the part of the disciple does not bring abiding results. Therefore, to make life a sunny land of joy, let everybody first hunger for God, then his hungry desires can drink joy from this perennial source.

Since Christian Science has used in the West some of the healing methods long ago used in India, Christianity has become more practical and useful. There is no denying this fact. Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, in her bigness, admitted in her 33rd edition of "Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures", (a copy of which is in my possession), that the ancient Hindu philosophers understood something of this principle, when they said in their Celestial Song, according to an old prose translation: "The wise neither grieve for the dead nor for the living. I myself never was not, nor thou, nor all the princes of the earth; nor shall we ever hereafter cease to be. As the Soul, in this mortal frame, findeth infancy, youth, and old age, so in some future frame will it find the like. One who is confirmed in this belief is not disturbed by anything that may come to pass. The sensibility of the faculties giveth heat and cold, pleasure and pain, which come and go, and are transient and inconstant. Bear them with patience; for the wise man whom these disturb not, and to whom pain and pleasure are the same, is formed for immortality."

In this 33rd Edition also is to be found the following excerpt from Sir Edward Arnold’s translation of "Bhagavad Gita":

"Never the Spirit was born;

The Spirit shall cease to be never;

Never was time it was not;

End and Beginning are dreams!

Birthless and deathless and changeless

Remaineth the Spirit forever;

Death hath not touched it at all,

Dead though the house of it seems!"

(Both these quotations from the Bhagavad Gita, or Song Celestial, are to be found in Mrs. Eddy’s seventh Chapter on "Imposition and Demonstration". This whole chapter has been omitted from later editions of "Science and Health"; that is why many Christian Scientists are not aware that their great leader, Mrs. Eddy, was familiar with Hindu thought, and in her bigness did not hesitate to acknowledge it in print.)

Orthodox Christianity has done some good at least by reminding people, afflicted by delusion and ignorance, of the necessity of worshipping God. But the constant exodus of people from the different "hard-shelled" churches, and the lack of fresh converts, show absolutely that intelligent Christians are tired of swallowing dogmas and unexamined postulates and briefs about God, Christ, the after-life, and the means of salvation. Many women, and some men too, bound by hereditary habit and custom, still attend church without any conscious reason. Some go partly because of a fear of they know not what,—others go just because their families expect them to, for no apparent reason. But do not misunderstand me,—I am not condemning church-goers or the church organizations. In fact, it is better to go to Church and be reminded there of the necessity of seeking and worshiping our God—the Father of All Created Things—than to forget Him altogether. But people should be led to understand the true significance of Church-going, and they should be acquainted with infallible methods of contacting God consciously. No church member should attend church blindly; he should consciously and continually seek God until he finds Him.

When most churches were giving very little practical spiritual help to their members, and were continually taxing them without proper plea for more and more financial aid, then Christian Science took the healing methods from the Hindu Scriptures, and introduced them into Christianity, thus making it more practical. It is said that Mrs. Eddy studied with Dr. Quimby, who is said to have studied under Hindu Yogis and Swamis. It is evident, from the quotation of Hindu Scriptures in "Science and Health, with Key to the Scriptures," as quoted above, that the rumor has some real foundation that Mrs. Eddy studied either with Hindu masters in person, or else she learned of Hindu philosophy by some other means. This fact, of course, does not detract one iota from her greatness, nor from the wonderful help she has given to the western world. But some of her short-sighted students omitted from other editions of her "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" these quotations of hers from the Hindu Scriptures, lest the Hindus be given the credit for being the pioneers in this especial phase of religious beliefs and of most true religions of the world.

India has been the experimental laboratory of this world for all kinds of religious beliefs and religions, ethical societies and philosophies. I have not heard of any religious beliefs, including "Holy Rolling," and all forms of Christianity - Theosophy. Rosicrucianism, New Thought, and Christian Science-which has not been inculcated or professed formerly in India by some religious philosophers, or some society. That is why India is said to be "The Mother of Religions".

The Christian Science method of healing is based, not on scientific proofs but on auto-suggestion,—on beliefs implanted by the excitement of strong suggestion in the imagination, administered through a process of assertive metaphysical reasoning. Of course, such auto-suggestion has been practiced from time immemorial, by travelling mendicants in the villages of India, for healing the physically sick, the possessed and the ignorant. The belief that the theory of the non-existence of matter originated in the mind of Mary Baker Eddy is utterly erroneous. In the seventh century A.D. the founder of the Swami order,—the exalted Lord Swami Shankara,—especially expounded in a logical scientific manner, and also proved by his mental miracles, that matter was nothing but the objective, frozen mind of God, and so one who knew God, (not merely one who believed in God), by exercising the Divine Mind could create at will any changes in matter. The procedure of Hindu philosophy about mind and matter is very logical. It does not ask people to believe, illogically, in the existence of mind alone, and the non-existence of the body at the same time as they perform the most material movements with the body, and use the body in everything.

The Hindu methods of healing is scientific because it shows the gradual steps by which the individual can rise above the consciousness of the body by deep meditation. Seemingly, Christian Scientists try to deny the body by believing in its non-existence. They may deny the body, but at the same time they feel and are aware of all its sensibilities,—they eat food, they walk, they talk, they sleep, etc. They go to a healing practitioner when their bodies are sick, at the same time illogically trying to think that that same body does not exist. If the body does not exist, neither does sickness, for sickness occurs only in the body. Then, to seek healing is to acknowledge the existence of sickness, and consequently the existence of a body, which alone can manifest ailments. If one denies the body, one must deny too not only medicine, but food, clothing, air, sunshine, and all things necessary for the existence and well-being of the body.

In the seventh century, A.D., Swami Shankara by his miracles showed conclusively that he could live without oxygen or food, that nothing could hurt his body, which itself was nothing but a delusive appearance of pure spirit. Seven hundred years before him, Jesus Christ remade His body by the power of His great mind after it had been destroyed. He proved that only mind existed. Until they become like Him to so great an extent, Christian Scientists should not deny the existence of matter, nor should they deny utterly the power (somewhat limited, I grant, but power just the same) of medicine. If any Christian Scientist can drink a quart of hydrochloric acid, and still live to say that the body and medicine are delusion, then only is their philosophy unassailable.

The Hindu methods of healing teaches first how to understand the relation of mind to the atoms of flesh which constitute the mind. Hindu philosophy teaches control of the body first, and then it demonstrates the superiority of the mind over the body. Then when the student can live without food or oxygen, it teaches him that his body is made of frozen electricity and that frozen electricity is frozen spirit. The Hindu healing method does not deny the limited healing power of medicine, but it warns people that they should not live by medicine or operations, but gradually learn by its methods how to strengthen the mind so that it completely controls the body. Then, later, it teaches how, by cosmic consciousness, one can materialize or dematerialize the body, and truly make it proof against not only physical diseases, but mental fears and cosmic delusion as well.

Whence came

The black-eyed light

Flickering in my life a moment?

Whither did it flit away?

The twilight of many incarnations

Has burned in those eyes;

Many lights of love dreams

Have met in the bower

Of yonder eyes.

Today, the Godless altar

The lifeless eyes

Just remain before me.

Thou Secret Queen

From what unknown region,

Did’st Thou in silence come

To bewitch the fortress of those eyes?

The bitter speech

And sadness-driven

Boat of my life

Many a time

Found safety

In the harbour of those two eyes.

Now the cruel death-quake

Forever has marred

The dream-harboring eyes.

Losing the harbor of those eyes

In search I sailed my boat

In the sea of the sky.

Threefold sorrow storm-driven

Life boat of mine

Has become motherless.

That is why in the unknown region

In the sea of the sky

My mind’s boat sails on

Directionless

Seeking those two lost eyes.

In the star-eyed lights

All starry eyes

Twinkled black eyes

But they were not those

Which I lost.

Merely affection-saturated

Many black eyes

Called,—invited to nurse

My motherless sorrow

And this orphan life of mine.

But none matched

The love-call glance

Of those lost two dark eyes.

The love of those lost two black eyes

Forever set from the region

Of all black eyes

Which I beheld.

Searching those two eyes

In birth and death,

In life and dreams

And in all the lands of the unknown,

At last I found

The all-pervading

DIVINE MOTHER’S

Countless black eyes.

In space and heart,

In earth-cores, in stars,

Within and without,

Hungrily staring at me

From everywhere.

Seeking and seeking my dead mother

I found the Deathless Mother

The lost love of the earthly mother

I found in my Cosmic Mother.

Seeking and searching

In her countless black eyes

I found those lost two black eyes.

I asked Mother Divine,—

"With ruthless heart,

Why did’st Thou tear away

My love-dazzling mother

From the ring of my heart?"

The Cloud Voice

Of Mother Divine spoke,

Bursting in my firmament within,

"Many times have I fed thee

The blood of my milk

From the breast of many mothers.

Your black-eyed mother

Whom you lost awhile

Was none else but me, only me.

But when I saw

Thy wisdom and cosmic love

Lost their way

In the dark jungle of those two eyes,

Then I set fire

To the alluring darkness

Of those two black eyes."

I stole those

Imprisoning two black eyes

That thou mightest be free

To find those eyes two

In all the eyes

Of all black-eyed mothers,

And that thou mightest behold

In all the black eyes,

The shadows only

Of My Eyes.

I broke the dream-made,

Little finite,

Thy Mother-form of mine,

That thou mightest behold me

Thy Divine Mother

In every form of a soulful woman

And in my Infinite Cosmic Form.

____________

Universal Christ-Consciousness appeared in the vehicle of Jesus, and now through Yogoda Self-Realization, and these intuitionally received interpretations of the Scriptures, the Christ-Consciousness is coming a second time to manifest through the consciousness of every true Yogodan. "All those who received Him, to them gave He the power to become the Sons of God."

As a small cup cannot hold an ocean within it, no matter how willing it may be to do so, likewise the cup of material human consciousness cannot grasp the universal Christ-Consciousness, no matter how desirous it is, but when the student, by the Yogoda method of Meditation and Concentration, enlarges the caliber of his consciousness to Omniscience, he can hold the universal consciousness in all atoms (Christ-Consciousness) within his own. This is what is meant by "Received Him." Thus, according to Jesus, all souls who can actually find their souls one with Christ-Consciousness, by intuitive Self-Realization, can be called the "Sons of God."

All Oriental Scriptures, such as the Bahgavad Gita, or the Hindu Bible, and the Christian Bible, have a three-fold meaning. In other words, the Scriptures deal with the three factors of human beings, namely, the material, the mental and the spiritual. Hence, all true Scriptures have been so written that they serve to be beneficial to the body, mind, and soul of man. True Scriptures are like the wells of Divine waters, which can quench the three-fold material, mental, and spiritual thirsts of man. In addition, the Scriptures, in order to be worth while, should really help the business man, the mental man, and the spiritual man. Although both the material and the psychological interpretations of the scriptures are necessary, it should be remembered that the scriptural authors undertook with great pains to point out to man that the spiritual interpretations are of supreme importance to him.

A materially or intellectually successful man may not be the truly, scientifically successful man who makes a perfect success of life; whereas, a spiritual man is the happy "all-round" man, who is healthy, intellectual, contented, and truly prosperous, with all-satisfying wisdom. Since by intuition the spiritual authors first sought to make man primarily spiritual, I give the spiritual interpretation with the psychological and material interpretations interwoven. These interpretations will help alike the spiritual aspirant, the intellectual man, and the business man.

The "Bhagavad Gita" is found in one of the Indo-Aryan epics, "Mahabharata." One of the greatest sages of India, Byasa, wrote this "Bhagavad Gita," or "Song of the Spirit," in the form of a dialogue between the King and the warrior-prophet, Krishna, and his disciple. The discussion took place on the fields of Kurukshetra in India on the eve of a battle there. This Holy Testament of the Hindus, (this Bhagavad Gita), is composed of seven hundred verses, and in included in the Sixth Bhishma Parva of Mahabharata epic, from the 25th to the 42nd verses. The Bhagavad Gita is one of the greatest psycho-spiritual treatises of the world.

The greatest Hindu scriptures are the four Vedas. One hundred and eight Upanishads were written, containing the essence of the four Vedas. Six systems of Hindu philosophy, Sankya, Yoga, Vedanta, Nimansa, etc., contain the essence of the Vedas and Upanishads, and the Bahgavad Gita is the essence of the six philosophies, 108 Upanishads, and 4 Vedas. By intuitive study of the Vedas, Upanishads, and six systems of Hindu philosophy, or else by contacting the cosmic consciousness, one can explain the Bhagavad Gita. The interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita as received from within, is now being given here, for the first time. The Bhagavad Gita was very cleverly written by Sage Byasa in that he interwove historical and psychological truths. Thus, the gita is true historically, but it is at the same time a psychological word-painting of the tumultuous inner life of man. The principle purpose in thus interweaving history and psychological truths on the part of the sage, Byasa, was to hide the deep spiritual truths in a hard shell of historical facts, so that only the truly wise would break through the shell and find the spiritual meat within. This shell of historical facts served also as a protection for the inner meanings, (the deep, inner, spiritual truths), from the gaze of ignorant eyes. Byasa’s purpose is clearly seen in that he mentions the actual battle on the field of Kurukhestra only a little here and there in the first and second chapters, but then launches deeper into spiritual discussions.

In the west of India there ruled over Guzerat a divine warrior, King Krishna. This is told in the Mahabharata, which was compiled during the epic age, (1400-100 B.C.)

We hear of prophets in the woods who were men of renunciation only: but Krishna was one of the greatest of all prophets because he was a prophet at heart, while at the same time he performed the duties of a king. His life demonstrates that the renunciation of action is a conflicting doctrine: what is really necessary is the renunciation of the fruits of action. God has sent man into this life so circumstanced with hunger and desires that he needs must work. Without work human civilization would be a jungle of disease, famine, and confusion. If all the people in the world should leave their material civilizations and live in the forests, then the forests would have to be transformed into cities, or else all would die because of lack of sanitation.

Then again, material civilization is full of imperfections and misery. What possible remedy can be advocated? Krishna’s life demonstrates that, according to his philosophy, it is not necessary to flee the jungle of material life. The problem can be solved by bringing God here where He has placed us; and Heaven necessarily then must come, in the mind, where God’s contact reigns, no matter what the environment may be. "A Heaven without Thee, Oh God, I want not! I love to work in the factory if I can but hear Thy voice in the noisy wheels of the machinery. A material life without Thee, Oh God, is a source of physical misery, disease, crime, ignorance, and unhappiness."

Complete renunciation has been the theme of many, even of the oriental Christian Bible,—"Take no heed for the body, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall wear." Swami Shankara, the founder of the Swami order, advocated complete renunciation. Other great prophets also have done so, with the theory that material desires might be a cause of hindrance in the path of self-realization. On the other hand, those who plunge deeply into material life grow away from God. They wallow so deeply in the mud of mundane worries that they cannot extricate themselves and thus walk freely along the path of self-realization. To avoid these two extremes of first, renunciation from the world, and second, drowning in material life, man should so train his mind by constant meditation that he can perform the necessary dutiful actions of his daily life with the consciousness of God within. All businessmen and women should remember that their worldly life can be freed from endless physical and mental ills, provided they add daily deep meditation to their daily business in the office or to their family contacts.

The doctrine of the Bhagavad Gita stands as the only doctrine suited to our modern busy life of many worries. To work without the peace of God is Hades; and to work with God’s happiness ever bubbling in the soul is to carry a usable, portable Paradise within you wherever you go. To be constantly worried in a large estate is to live in Hades; to live in a rickety shack with that inner, boundless, soul-peace is real Paradise. Whether in a palace or under a tree, we must carry this inner Paradise always. Thus does the doctrine of Krishna strive to teach the modern businessman. A grasping ever for more money, a plunging deeper into more prolonged work with attachment or blindness will produce misery. The outward renunciation of material things with still an inner attachment to them, leads to hypocrisy and delusion. One must be really convinced in his heart that God-happiness is preferable to sense pleasures.

The path advocated in the Bhagavad Gita is the moderate, medium, golden path both for the busy businessman and for the highest spiritual aspirant. Most Christians follow neither the path of complete renunciation, as Jesus advised when He said, "Sell all that ye have and follow me", nor do they know how to find God in their busy material life. For such to follow the paths advocated by the Bhagavad Gita, would be their salvation, for it is a book of universal self-realization; it embraces the underlying scientific truths of the oriental Christian Bible, and also of all other spiritual scriptures.

Just as twelve years of listening to lectures ABOUT oranges without ever TASTING them would give no REAL knowledge of them, so a life-long theoretical study of the Bhagavad Gita will produce very little intuitive spiritual knowledge. It was not compiled for dry intellectualists to perform intellectual gymnastics with its sayings for the entertainment of intellectual dogmatists, but rather its purpose was to show to a man living in the world how he could live a balanced life and at the same time actually contact God by following the step-by-step methods of self-realization. Therefore, I shall not dwell long on the history of the Bhagavad Gita, nor on the historical analyses of intellectualists, but shall dig into its heart with the pickaxe of deep concentration, and bring forth its spiritual fountains which will quench the thirst of the deep spiritual seeker. The best way to judge the various interpretations of the Bhagavad Gita is to ask youself how much lasting, spiritual benefit you derived from perusing them.

Long ago Bichitrabirya was king of Hastinapura in India. Byasa married a relative of his. Two sons, Dhritarashtra and Pandu, were born to Byasa. The elder, Dhritarashtra, had one hundred sons, but Pandu, the younger, had five most pure warrior sons. Dhritarashtra became king, but he was blind; so his son, Duryodhana, ruled in his stead. By a clever play of the dice, Duryodhana filched from the Pandus their kingdom, and sent them into the forest into exile for twelve years, after which he promised to allow them to try to regain their lost kingdom. At the allotted time, the good Pandus returned and demanded their kingdom, but the Kurus refused to part with any piece of land, even as long and as broad as a needle.

Therefore, the five famous Pandu brothers sought the aid of the political prophet, Krishna, the then reigning King of Guzerat, who then offered to become the charioteer and chief counselor of war to Arjuna, one of the five warrior brothers. The crooked Kurus, led by Duryodhana, and the pure Pandus, led by the five Pandu princes, gathered together on the holy field of Kurukshetra, (a modern small city in India.) King Dhritarashtra, being blind, requested Byasa to tell him about the battle. Instead, Sage Byasa gave him a man of impartial vision, Sanjaya, whom he then gifted with spiritual television. Thus he could see clairvoyantly from afar the forces of Kurus and Pandus gathered on the field of battle. The Bhagavad Gita opens with the blind King Dhritarashtra asking Sanjaya thus, "Gathered together on the holy plain of Kurukshetra, eager for battle my children, the Kurus and the Pandus, what have they been doing?" Throughout the Bhagavad Gita the Sage Byasa took a real battle which actually once took place on the field of Kurukshetra, and the names of a few warriors; and he interwove with them psychological names and characters, and thus built out a description of a psychological war between man’s crooked mental tendencies and physical sense appetites, (the Kurus), and his good discriminative tendencies, (the Pandus). When we take many of the Sanskrit names he used, and analyze the roots of the words used as the titles of the warriors, we find a psychological tendency spoken of as a warrior; for instance, take Dhritarashtra, — Dhritam means held, —Rashtram means reins,—and Jana, which means who holds the reins of the senses or the blind mind. This is spoken of the mind, which gives coordination to the senses as the reins keep together the several horses of a chariot. The body is the chariot,—the owner of the body, the soul, the charioteer is the Intelligence. The horses are the senses, and the mind is said to be blind because it cannot see without the help of the senses and the intelligence.

Byasa, representing allegorically God the Father, became immanent in the dual positive - negative Cosmic Vibration, which in turn gave birth to two sons,—Dhritarashtra, representative of matter,—and Pandu, representative of intelligent Life which governs all matter, or as in the Christian Bible, God the Father,—the Son, Christ Intelligence, or Pandu,—and Holy Ghost, (Holy Vibration).

Byasa, the soul, was the reflection of God the Father. A reflection of the sun can only partially (half) represent the real sun. Hence, Byasa was spoken of as the half-brother of Bichitrabirya, or God the Father. As the sun becomes a thousand suns when reflected in a thousand cups filled with water, so also God the Father, reflected in the bodies of many men, becomes many souls. Byasa represents the original passively-active soul in man, which is responsible for creating the two children, the blind king, or Emperor Mind, (Dhritarashtra), and the pure King Discrimination (Pandu).

Pandu is derived from a word which means "that which signifies intelligence". The Senses and the blind king Mind, and the pure Discrimination, all reigned in the Kingdom of the Body. The name of the field of battle stands for the body, thus: Kurukshetra,—(Kuru—action; Kshetra—field), signifies the field of action. Originally, in childhood, the kingdom of the body is reigned over principally by pure discrimination and calmness. The eldest of the five Pandu brothers was Yudhisthira,—(Yudhi Sthira Ja Sa,—who is calm in psychological battles)—calmness is thus the eldest offspring of discrimination. The other four brothers were Bhrima, (Power of Vitality), Arjuna, (Self-Control,—he who is non-attached), Nakula, (Power to Obey Good Rules), and Sahadeva (Power to Stay Away from Evil). But after childhood, the Ego, the pseudo-soul, or the body-bound soul, (Duryodhana, the eldest child of restless mind), and the hundred sense inclinations, all offsprings of restless mind, by a clever dice-play with sense lures and material desires, filched the bodily kingdom from pure discrimination and its kindred princely faculties, and sent them into exile for twelve years. When bad sense habits are once well established in the body, good habits and wisdom are usually banished for at least twelve years. Complete physiological and mental changes as well as the creation of new habits often are possible after twelve years. The story of the Bhagavad Gita allegorically tells how after the bad habits had reigned for twelve years in the bodily kingdom, the good habits, being now reawakened by discrimination, tried to return after their twelve years of banishment with aid of Krishna or the Soul-force. In like manner, after the growing youth goes through evil experiences for twelve years, and takes many "hard knocks" under the sense regime of greed, anger, sex, jealousy, and egoism,—then discrimination and the warriors of calmness, vital force, and self-control try to return after twelve years of banishment by the bad sense-habits and seek to regain their lost bodily kingdom. But the crooked Kurus, or mental tendencies, with their sense armies refuse to give in or part with their kingdom of the body, which originally belonged to the discriminative faculties.

So Krishna, the GURU, or the actively awakened Soul, or meditation—born Intuition, comes to aid Self-Control, or Arjuna, and the other four discriminative tendencies of calmness, Pranayama, (controlling the life-force in the nerve-telephones by switching it off from the senses), thereby shutting out the invading senses from the castle of discriminating concentration, and prohibiting and proscribing rules of conduct to fight the psychological battle with Ego and its army of the following bad mental tendencies of greed,—avarice,—hate,—jealousy,—wickedness,—sex madness,—meanness,—cruelty,—covetousness,—ill-will,—ill-feeling,—spiritual procrastination,—false sense of delicacy,—pride of caste or social birth,—high handedness,—physical laziness,—spiritual indifference,—unwillingness to meditate,—"putting off of meditation until tomorrow",—sex-greed,—impurity of body, mind, and soul,—anger,—desire to hurt others,—disloyalty to God,—ungratefulness to God,—saucy temper,—unkindness,—lack of vision,—lack of foresight,—physical, mental, and spiritual ignorance,—inharmony,—harshness of speech,—selfishness,—harshness of thought,—evil actions,—joy in evil,—sense attachment,—delusion,—bitterness,—bitterness of mind,—seeing evil,—thinking,—willing,—feeling and remembering evil,—fear of disease,—worry,—fear of death,—ignorance of bliss of soul,—lack of initiative,—quarrelsome attitude,—swearing,—speaking evil,—disease of the body,—sex abuse,—immoderation,—too much sleeping,—too much eating,—too much pretending goodness, shunning God and postponing Meditation.

So you see that the scene of battle is the body. There, the Krishna soul-force, with the five princes of discrimination and its warrior tendencies, are trying to regain their lost kingdom by driving away entrenched evil and sense habits. These sense Bolsheviks, occupying the kingdom of the body, have brought only sickness, mental worries, and the pestilence of ignorance, and spiritual famine, due to the shortage of wisdom in the bodily kingdom. So again, the awakened soul-force and the meditation-evolved self-control, must seize the kingdom of the body, and establish there peace, wisdom, abundance and health, and place the banner of the Spirit therein.

Before I proceed to describe the spiritual experiences of Jesus Christ after his initiation by John, I must tell a few things more about baptism.

"Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." The Sanskrit Scriptures have a statement exactly parallel to this, which says of Jesus, "There are many sages with many wisdoms with their scriptural and spiritual interpretations, apparently contradictory, but the real secret of religion is hidden in a cave."

The path followed by a man of self-realization is the path to be followed by any spiritual aspirant. A scripture, no matter what records of spiritual truths it contains in its bosom, is not as useful as a saint, who is veritably a walking, talking, living scripture. There is a vast difference between the powerful sulphuric acid in a bottle and the mere statement of its formula as H2SO4. Neither the formula itself, nor the description of the power of sulphuric acid in a book can ever describe its burning, vital quality. Truths of self-realization are like little insignificant seeds, but their power and wisdom-yielding qualities are truly felt when they are seen to grow into huge trees in the gardens of the self-realization of saints,—trees laden with the fruits of Divine Love.

We meet little teachers in the beginning through our vague desires to know truth. But the GURU (or Preceptor) is the living embodiment of scriptural truths and is the agent of salvation appointed by God in response to a devotee’s demands for release from all the bondage of matter. It is very difficult to choose the right path from the many religious paths and varied religious opinions. Most people who wander from church to church seeking intellectual inspiration, never find God, for intellectual inspiration is necessary only until one begins to "drink" God. Otherwise, intellectual inspiration, (when it forgets to taste God), is detrimental to self-realization. It is more easy to follow a living, breathing, talking man (who lives truth) than a mute scripture. If a saint has reached his goal, whether by the shorter Yoga route, or by the long-winded spiritual-prayer way, he experiences actual self-realization. Anyone following him certainly would reach the goal by using either method. Unlike ordinary prayers, real prayers, which alone can bring conscious response from God, must be offered in meditation, intensely and for many hours continuously until Divine response comes.

The signs of a GURU are as follows: his eyes are still and unwinking whenever he wants them to be so; by the practice of Yoga his breath is quiet without his forcibly holding it in his lungs; his mind is calm without effort. If a man has eyelids that blink continually, and lungs acting like bellows all the time, and a mind always restless like a butterfly, and he keeps on telling you he is in cosmic consciousness, laugh at him. Just as a man cannot pretend that he is sleeping while he continues to run, so one with restless eyes, breath, and mind cannot convince you, who know better, that he is in cosmic consciousness. Just as sleep manifests in the body by certain physiological changes, so the muscles, eyes, breath, all usually become still during cosmic consciousness. No GURU can be developed alone by years of study in the intellectual factory of a theological seminary, which deems it has attained its ends when it confers B.D. or D.D. degrees. Such titles can be won by men of good memory, but character, self-control and intuition can be developed only by knowledge of advanced psycho-physical methods of self-realization and deep daily meditation.

Jesus and His disciples were products of unceasing meditation and intuitive devotion, and not merely results of intellectual theological seminaries.

Most Christian Churches today have wandered away from the path of self-realization and are satisfied with sermons, ceremonies, organizations, and festivities. The complete revival and restoration of Christian Churches can be effected only by discarding the oft-repeated theoretical sermons and too-frequently changing psycho-physical ceremonies, and replacing them with added concentration during church services on the part of the members;—they should concentrate more and more on perfect stillness in both the physical and mental realms. For stillness and peace are the real temples wherein God must often visit His devotees.

The secret of true religion lies in the cave of stillness, in the cave of wisdom, in the cave of the spiritual eye. By concentrating on the point between the eyebrows and delving into the depths of quiet, one can find answers to all the religious queries of the heart. A disciple should tune in with the will of his GURU. Such tuning in of your habit-led and whim-guided will with the wisdom-guided will of your GURU is far different from mechanical obedience to an unspiritual guide, no matter whether he is traditionally, religiously, or socially elected. To follow the blind unthinkingly is to fall with them into the ditch of ignorance completely. To follow the awakened, if you are blind, is to reach the goal without danger. How can you take away the blot from your brother’s eyes if there is still a blot in your own?

Very few people truly know what freedom of will means. To be compelled to do things by the dictates of your own instincts and habits is not freedom. To be good because you have been so for a long time and to refrain from evil because you are accustomed to do so is not freedom. When your will is perfectly free to choose good instead of evil anytime, anywhere, because you really feel good, you will know real happiness; then indeed are you free. Evil gives only sorrow. When the influences of heredity, prenatal and postnatal habits, family, social, and world environment, all cease to influence your judgment,—when you can act, guided only by your highest, inner, intuitive discrimination,—then only are you free. Until then, the way to all righteousness lies in tuning in your whim-guided will with the wisdom-guided will of your GURU. Harnessing your will to wisdom, you will cease to be swayed by prejudice and error, for you will then always be guided by righteousness.

Hence, the first requisite in your spiritual path lies not entirely in going to church services and being a passive member, satisfied merely with listening to sermons, but also in finding your spiritual GURU who will discipline you and take a personal interest in your spiritual welfare and lead you as afar along the spiritual path as you wish to go. Having found him, follow him closely, obey him with intelligent devotion, and practise what he teaches you; thus ultimately you will attain your highest goal.

The gospel tells us that John the Baptist had said to the people, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He that cometh after me is mightier than I whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire". Jesus, being high in spiritual advancement, obeyed the law of temporary purity signified by baptism by water. But immediately following His baptism by water, He was also baptized by the Spirit. The real, advanced GURU asks his disciple first to bathe his body with water, and then after the body feels the influence of temporary cleanliness and purity, he baptizes him with Spirit. But sometimes it has happened that when the disciple is further advanced, as Jesus was, and the GURU, like John the Baptist, not so far advanced, then the Spirit of God uses the Holy Ghost to baptize the advanced disciple through the medium of the divine agent, the GURU, even though he is less advanced in spirituality than his disciple. The GURU must be wise, but sometimes a GURU of past incarnations is in this life less advanced in wisdom than the disciple. Sometimes it is given him to redeem a disciple more spiritually advanced than himself. A GURU, being the agent of salvation appointed by God, must take the disciple through successive incarnations, if necessary, until complete salvation of the disciple is reached. A great secret of understanding lies in the reason for the less advanced GURU, John, initiating as his disciple the so greatly-advanced Savior of mankind,—Jesus. In his past incarnations John the Baptist had been appointed as the divine agent to be the original GURU of Jesus. In the dim past, when John was first sent by God as the GURU of Jesus in response to His prayers, the GURU-consciousness of John was more advanced than the disciple-consciousness of Jesus. At that time the souls of John the Baptist and of Jesus were eternally bound together by the law of unconditional divine friendship, and both at this long-ago first meeting as GURU and disciple had made the resolution, "We will be friends forever, striving for one another’s perfection until both of us redeem our omnipresence, now locked behind the bars of flesh." So as time went on and many incarnations passed, by a superior effort, the soul of Jesus advanced further than did the soul of John. Jesus knew that the soul of the prophet (Elias (or Elijah) was His GURU of former incarnations, and that it had reincarnated in the body of John the Baptist. The prophet Elias, who was much more highly advanced than Jesus when He first became his disciple, later on, through the irony of his own Karmic law (actions of past lives), had lessened in spirituality, and thus had the power to baptize with water only. By intuition John the Baptist knew of the coming of Jesus Christ, yet having less spirituality for a time he forgot he was once Elias. After the baptism of Jesus, John was informed of this fact, "For Elias is come already". But John the Baptist knew that Jesus, though now so far advanced as to become the Redeemer of the World, was his disciple of former incarnations, and thus he predicted, "I indeed baptize you with water, but One mightier than I cometh, the latchet of Whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." Jesus was now more advanced than John the Baptist, yet He accepted him as His GURU of former incarnations,—the agent first sent by God to enter with Him into this spiritual, divine covenant and this divinely ordained friendship. "We will be divine friends forever until out souls by mutual help and the lasting goodwill of many incarnations break the bubble-walls of caging desires and set free our imprisoned omnipresence to become one with the sea of Infinitude". This is why Jesus said, "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness", and why He chose to be baptized by John with water according to the ancient custom. It is very interesting then to note how the Spirit of God used the Holy Ghost for the spiritual baptism of Jesus.

In India real Gurus know not only how to baptize with water but also with Spirit, or the Holy Ghost. But alas! Many Hindus in their temples, and many Christians in their churches are baptized only with water, temporarily experiencing good physical baptism, but knowing and perceiving nothing of those marvelous soul-renewing experiences of spiritual baptism. Ministers in churches and priests in temples are oftentimes chosen only by virtue of their intellectual study of the scriptures, and sacerdotal authority conferred on them by ceremonies, performed by formally higher spiritual authority. But real ministers and priests who are fit to be GURUS train first their inner selves in the theological school of intuition and meditation. They must spiritually baptize themselves first before they can aspire to baptize others at all. They teach their disciples not for mundane gains, but, being impelled by God, they baptize them spiritually. It is admirable to lecture and teach good principles, but without becoming a real GURU one cannot redeem souls, nor should he accept others as disciples until he has progressed far himself. Once the true relationship of GURU and disciple is established there will be no more blind spiritual gropings, roamings, or partings because of admonition on the part of the GURU, or for any other reason. Usually there is instantaneous recognition between GURU and disciple but sometimes it takes long to remember consciously that past close friendship, or to recognize the forgotten memory of past incarnations, so long buried beneath ash-heaps of ignorance.

It is said that one time a preacher of the "Ballyhoo" type somehow managed to force himself into heaven. Surprised at not being profusely welcomed, he said, "Don’t you know me, God? I introduced you and your son, Jesus, in the biggest auditoriums on earth." God and Jesus replied in unison, "You may have introduced us, but we did not know anything about it." The preacher, growing very angry, exclaimed, "Why, this is outrageous. I have sent souls to Heaven by the car-loads. It must by this time be getting packed tight with souls sent by me." Then God replied, "You managed to start them alright on their way, but none of them arrived." You may be told by ignorant priests and ministers that they will send you to Heaven, and you may blindly believe this to be so, but you cannot ever reach there without true meditation.

Know also that one cannot be a GURU by self-choice; he must be ordained to serve and save others by a real GURU, or else he must hear in reality the voice of God asking him to redeem others. Many become self-appointed GURUS after reading a few occult books, and listening to the voice of their own misguided imagination or their falsely imaginative subconscious mind.

If you bathe every day and meditate immediately thereafter, (if you are near a river or a lake surrounded by God’s scenic grandeur and you bathe in them with the consciousness of purity), then you will feel the power of baptism by water. Water opens the pores of the skin, letting out the disturbing body-poisons, calming and soothing the circulatory system.

Water cools the nerve-endings and sends reports of cool sensations throughout the vital centers, balancing evenly all the vital energies. All life came primarily from energy,—then from nebulae,—then from water. All seeds of life are irrevocably connected with water. Physical life cannot exist without it.

If you love poetry and are much in the company of a great poet, he will baptize you with those clean, wholesome feelings and the appreciation of good in everything which are aroused always by good poesy. Such baptism by feeling makes one imaginative and sympathetic.

If you associate long with men of high morality and self-control you will feel automatically an influence of moral consciousness and self-control in your life.

If purposely and attentively you associate with great creative business minds, you will be baptized or saturated with the consciousness of creative business.

The human body is a collective vibration of grossly stirring atoms, and electrons and intelligent life force (finer than electrons). The soul, a reflection of spirit, while dwelling within it, cannot remember its omnipresent state. But by meditation one can hear the vibration of the body by closing the ears,—as taught in the Yogoda fifth lesson,—and then tune it in with the cosmic mind which emanates from the vibration of all atoms and life force. The Christian Bible says, "God is the Word."—(Cosmic, intelligent, sounding vibration.) Sage Patanjali, greatest of Hindu Yogis, says, "The Spirit, God the Father, or Iswara, manifests Himself as the cosmic vibration, or matter." "The Spirit was made flesh,"—for the intelligent spirit materializes itself into gross flesh by changing its rate of vibration. Cosmic intelligence becomes cosmic intelligent motion, or vibration, which changes into cosmic energy. This intelligent cosmic energy changes into electrons and atoms. Electrons and atoms change into gas, sometimes known as cosmic nebulae. Cosmic nebulae, or masses of diffused gaseous matter change into water. Water changes into solid matter. Man’s body is a part of this variously divided matter. In cosmic vibration all things are done; but when cosmic vibration becomes frozen into matter, then it becomes many. So man’s body, being separated from cosmic vibration, again must retrace the various states of higher vibrations in order to lift his consciousness from the vibrations of breath, heart, and circulation to the vibrating sound emanating from cosmic life force and all atoms. With closed eyes, one can feel his consciousness limited by feelings of the flesh and by the sounds of breath, heart, and circulation. But by deep meditation,—as taught in the Yogoda fifth lesson,—the Yogoda student can hear the voice of cosmic sound, emanating from all atoms and sparks of cosmic energy. By listening to this omnipresent sound the consciousness of the body-caged soul begins gradually to spread itself form the limitations of the body into omnipresence. One listening to this cosmic sound will find his consciousness spreading within to limitlessness. This cosmic sound, emanating from cosmic vibration, is called the "Holy Ghost." Ghost signifies an intelligent, invisible, conscious force, or intelligent cosmic vibration. It is holy because the eminent (outflowing) consciousness of God the Father, or Christ intelligence, guides it to create all finite matter. The ancients, not versed in the polished language of modern times, used "Holy Ghost" and "Word" for Intelligent Cosmic Vibration, which is the first materialization of God the Father in matter. The Hindus speak of this "Holy Ghost" as the "Aum". "A" stands for "Akar" or creative vibration; "U" for "Ukar" or preservative vibration; and "M" for "Makar" or destructive vibration. The storm-roar of the sea creates the waves,—preserves them for some time as larger or smaller waves,—and then dissolves them. So the cosmic sound of Aum or Holy Ghost creates all things as Nebulae, preserves them in the forms of the present cosmos and worlds, and ultimately it will dissolve all things in the bosom-sea of God. But this cosmic dissolution is sometimes only partial and temporary, and again sometimes it is complete and for a long time. In the partial temporary dissolution, portions only of matter and worlds are dissolved; but in complete dissolution the entire system of universes, all stars and planets, all things are dissolved. But the dissolving of all creation is impossible until all souls cease to desire anything at all and thus become fully emancipated in God. Unredeemed souls desire life, and with it they desire the earth, the sky, and its starry beauties. So, in order to fulfill our desire for children, souls come on earth as fleshly human beings. Aum has to create the entire universe at the behest of God the Father. Because of the endless rise and dissolution of the desires of creatures, their universe is endlessly being dissolved and recreated again.

Hence, baptism by the Holy Ghost means first the dissolution of all wrong desires by good desires, and then the conquering of all good desires by an only desire for the blessed contact of God. To know God is not the negation of all desires, but instead their complete fulfillment. Men of the world strive wrongly to fulfill desires by forgetting to distinguish between those of the world and those of the soul. Just as by feeding somebody else your hunger cannot be satisfied, so by wrongly trying to satisfy the senses your soul can never be happy. Senses crave indulgence, greed, and temptations to excite and amuse them, whereas soul can be satisfied only by the calmness, peace, and bliss, born of meditation and the moderate use of the sense servants. Ambition for good things, noble achievements, and spiritual organization work, serving the many, must be instituted to displace desires for selfishness and greed and for helping only one’s own self or one’s immediate family. Enjoy all good work and achievements with God. By contacting god in the world and in meditation you will find all your heart’s desires fulfilled. Then you will be a true man of renunciation, for you will find that nothing is more worthwhile, more pleasant or attractive than the all-beautiful, all-satisfying, all-thirst-quenching, ever-new, joyous God.

Desire for one object alone keeps your consciousness tied to that object. Love for all things, as the expression of God, keeps man’s consciousness expanded in omnipresence. So one baptized by the Holy Ghost must be unattached, enjoying good things only with the joyousness of god within. He must learn first to hear through touch the Aum, or cosmic sound. First, by the Yogoda meditation, as taught in the Yogoda fifth lesson, he hears the sound of Holy Ghost when all bodily and astral sounds cease. Then, by deeper meditation on this sound, by higher processes learned from the GURU, he can be one with the sound and "Touch" it. Then, after touching or feeling it, by still higher methods, the spiritual aspirant will find his consciousness vibrating simultaneously in his body and in several continents. As he progresses further by deeper and longer meditation, he will find his consciousness vibrating simultaneously in his body, in the earth, the planets, the universes, and in every particle of matter.

The intelligent holy vibration, or the first manifestation of God the Father, therefore manifests as the cosmic sound of Aum, or Amen, which can be heard in mediation. It also manifests itself as cosmic energy in all matter. All earthly sounds and the sounds of the body,—the heart, lungs, etc.,—come from the cosmic sound of Aum. Aum contains all the sounds of the nine octaves perceptible to the human ear, as well as all cosmic sounds, low or high, which can not be registered in the human ear. So also, all forms of earthly lights,—coal light, gas light, electric light, astral light,—come from cosmic energy. Cosmic sound manifests as cosmic energy and vice versa. This cosmic sound manifests as the astral sounds of harps, bells, etc., (microcosmic cosmic sounds) in the astral body of man. So also this cosmic energy exists as the reflected, luminous, or astral, body of man. Higher lessons of Yogoda teachings can teach one to hear and locate the astral sounds emanating from the spinal cord. The physical body is condensed cosmic energy. the astral body is also condensed cosmic energy. The physical body has two eyes,—positive and negative, due to the law of relativity. The astral body has only one eye, which is variously named,—the spiritual eye, the single eye, (the Christian Bible), the third eye, (the Hindu Bible), the star of the east, the star of wisdom, the dove descending from Heaven, the inner eye, the intuitive eye, the Shiva’s eyes, the star through which the wise men saw, etc., etc. During the baptism by the Holy Ghost, as perceived by Jesus Christ, He perceived it as a cosmic sound or Heaven, and the spiritual eye as the dove. This spiritual eye is a spiritual telescope with three rays as its lenses. The outer circle is golden. The inner lens of light is blue, and is studded with a five-pointed, silver star, (as the third ray). The microcosmic cosmic energy microcosmically manifests in the human body as the specific reflected life energy or the astral body. The spiritual or astral eye is the eye of the astral body. The astral eye is the individualized cosmic energy in the human body. In meditation, first the life force must be withdrawn from the body, and must cross the portals of cosmic energy represented by the silver ring. Then it must plunge in the blue light representing Christ consciousness. Then it must penetrate through the silver star representing Spirit, in the region of the Infinite. These three,—golden, blue, and silver light,—contain all walls of rays of ultra-violet, electronic, and atomic rays,—rays of cosmic energy through which one has to penetrate before one can reach Heaven. The golden halo and the blue central light are the two wings of the dove and the little white star represents the mouth of the dove. The outer golden light is the Holy Ghost or Cosmic Energy or Nature, the blue represents God the Son or Christ, and the silver star represents God the Father.

So Jesus, during His baptism, saw the cosmic energy manifested in bodily shape, or materialized out of the ether, as the telescopic spiritual astral eye; and out of that spiritual eye representing the cosmic energy came a voice, or intelligent, all-creative, cosmic sound, saying, or vibrating, in intelligible voice, (for all language comes from the Holy Ghost), "Thou are my Son, (or my manifestation); I am glad thou hast risen, (lifted thy consciousness), from matter, and tuned in with my Omnipresence."

All material human beings are prodigal sons who have left the home of Omnipresent Holy Ghost and have identified themselves with the infinitely smaller territory of the human body. This Holy Ghost is the Great Comforter. Being guided by the universal, reflected, God-Consciousness, it contains the all-coveted bliss of God. One filled with this Holy Ghost, or Holy Vibration, can talk with the diverse tongues of inspirations of men, animals, and atoms. Since all languages are productions of the Holy Ghost, when man can hear, touch, and spread in Aum, (or cosmic sound emanating from Holy Ghost), then he can understand or utter all languages, not only of men, but also of all animals and all atoms too. Holy Ghost, Aum of the Hindus, the Mohammedan Amin, the Christian Amen, Voice of Many Waters, Word are the same thing. Aum is called the word because the word signifies cosmic intelligent vibratory sound which is the origin of all sounds and languages. This intelligent cosmic vibration or word is the first manifestation of God in creation.

On the day of Pentecost the disciples were filled with the new wine of joy coming from the touch of Aum, or the comforting Holy Vibration, and they could talk "in divers tongues." Such were some of the experiences of Jesus after His baptism by the Holy Ghost; and such can be the experiences of Yogoda students now if they study the Yogoda lessons, and do not forget them, but continue to practice them constantly and continually in real life as the years roll by. The relation of God the Father, the Son of the Holy Ghost will be illustrated and elaborately explained in the June issue.

Just as a wet match, when struck, does not produce a fire, so is a mind saturated with restlessness unable to produce a fire of concentration, even when super-efforts are made to strike the Cosmic Spark.

—From "Whispers from Eternity."

Oh, God the Father, teach me to make a bouquet of the variously hued flowers of filial, conjugal, friendly, parental, masterly loves, and to lay it on the altar of my heart, where Thou reignest. If I cannot make a bouquet, I shall pluck the rarest love that grows in the garden of my devotion and shall lay that before Thee. Wilt Thou receive it?

—From "Whispers from Eternity."

I’ve stowed away in the lockers of ships

That go down to the sea.

I’ve rode the rods of a fast express,

My spirit was wild and free.

On the deck of a revenue cutter,

I’ve helped to sound and log.

The bottom, they say,

Has never been reached

In the Bay of Fundy’s fog.

On the treacherous north Atlantic,

Where billows tumble and roll,

I’ve worked my passage

And squared my bill

By stokin’ and shovelin’ coal.

Pacin’ the decks of a transport,

I’ve gazed and scanned the water,

Called to the mate,—heard him repeat,

"Lights, ahead on the starboard quarter!"

I am a soldier of fortune,

And "follow the gods from a thrill,"

Here today, tomorrow

Gone at the call of a wayward will.

I’ve herded cows on the Texas range’

Every dollar I’ve spent,

For savin’ and pinchin’ are not for mine,

And most of the time I’m bent.

From the top of a hill to the hill beyond

I follow the setting sun;

Fancy is always urging on;

I’m off again on the run.

I’m flush sometimes as I wander,

Some-times my roll has a dent;

But it isn’t the gold

That I yearn or crave,—

I’ve found what I want,—

C-O-N-T-E-N-T.

____________

When I smile

Thou dost smile through me;

When I cry

In me Thou dost weep.

When I wake

Thou greetest me.

When I walk

Thou art with me.

Thou dost smile and weep,

Thou dost wake and walk

Like me; my Likeness Thou;

But when I dream,

Thou art awake;

When I stumble.

Thou art sure;

When I die

Thou art my life.

He wandered through the dark gray region in which roams the restless army of the unborn. And as he wandered, lonely as the rest, he met an angel with a face like dawn. A moment he stood, bewildered by her beauty, then fell at her feet and wept in silent worship.

With a smile like a spring-time rainbow, the angel looked upon him as she whispered:

"All I am or can ever become

Belongs to you alone—and one day

You shall know me as I am.

But ere that time may be,

You must travel far into the Land of Emotions.

You shall become acquainted

With those shadowy creatures called

Hunger, Fear, Anger, Jealousy, Envy, Pleasure and Pain.

You shall meet a woman

To whom you shall swear your love.

She shall give you a child

Who shall be dearer to you

Than the blood in your veins.

You shall identify yourself

With the woman and child

(Not realizing how much they are, indeed,

A part of your best self)

And shall spend many years with them in joy.

You shall work for them, suffer for them,

Be virtuous for them and even sin for their sake.

And you shall almost forget me.

Yet at times you shall remember

That something beautiful and divine,

The presence of which you once felt,

Is absent from your life.

And then you shall be sad

—And not even the wife of your bosom

Shall understand your sorrow.

But you shall come back to me

—You shall come back!"

And so it came to pass. The angel touched his eyes with her fingers of light and for a moment he was blinded and confused. Then he felt himself being pulled away from the realm of the Unborn, and suddenly he was transported to the Land of Dreams. He was a child, living in a strangely beautiful and wonderful house in which he could move about at will. Amid the green fields of earth he grew to manhood and at last he met the woman the angel had promised. She was his companion down the long aisles of time. And she gave him a child that he loved more than the house of flesh in which he dwelt. And he forgot the angel he had left behind in the other country—excepting at times when he remembered dimly that something divinely beautiful had taken its flight from his soul. But the evening came at last and he grew drowsy and closed his eyes in sleep—but the sleep was only for a moment, for he quickly awakened to find himself once more in the Land of the Unborn. The angel stood before him and he rose and looked upon her in wonderment and worship.

"I have been away so long;" he said.

"You have not been away at all," she answered. "You have been dreaming, and I let you dream on for a while, in order that you might know the great joy of the awakening. I have stood here, guarding you. I have never left your side."

He knelt at her feet but she bade him rise and he clasped her to his heart.

"But you may leave me, even as I left the dream-woman," he said. "I may be only a creature of your dream—but, even so, I shall not let you go."

"You cannot lose me," she replied, "for I am yourself."

"And who am I?" he asked. and her voice was music, as she answered: "You are myself."

"And who are you and I?" he insisted.

"We are the Blessed One," she said. "Men, gods and angels are the children of our heart. Behold the Dream World at our feet!"

Then a veil fell from his eyes—and he knew himself for the Glorious One—the Unborn and the Undying.

1st Day. This day I will establish goodness on the altar of my every activity.

2nd Day. Today I will behold goodness enthroned on the altar of each soul.

3rd Day. I bow to Thee, Oh God, in the temple of the Skies, in the temple of Nature, and in the temple of my human brothers.

4th Day. Today I will forgive all those who ever offended me, and I will give bucketfuls of my love to all thirsty hearts,—both to those who love me and to those who do not love me.

5th Day. I will see God especially in the soul of my inharmonious wife, or my inharmonious husband, or my unkind friend, or my naughty child, or in any other inharmonious one with whom I today have to come into contact. Beholding the perfect spirit in him, I will help him with good vibrations that will dispel the darkness of inharmony by the light of my silent but increasing kindness.

6th Day. I will strive for business success not only for selfishly making money, but also that I might serve my country and the world well with some worthwhile things.

7th Day. I will use my honestly acquired money to live simply, doing away with luxury, and I will try to use my money to make the world-family better and happier, according to the measure of my ability.

8th Day. I will spend less and less, not like a miser, but as a man of self-control. I will spend less that I might save more, and with that bring security to myself and to my family, and also help liberally my needy human brothers.

9th Day. I will use my creative thinking ability to gain success in every worth-while project that I undertake. I will help myself that I may bring into proper use all my God-given powers. God will help me if I help myself, and then pray to Him to help me to bring my efforts to a successful issue.

10th Day. I will do everything with deep attention. My work at home, in the office, in the world,—all duties, small and great,—will be performed well with my deepest attention.

11th Day. I make up my mind never again to wear anger in my face. I will never inject the poison of anger in the heart of my peace and kill my spiritual life. I will be angry only with anger, and with nobody else. I cannot be angry with anyone for the good and the bad both are divine brethren, born of my one Divine Father. I will calm the anger of others by the good example of my tranquility, especially when I am hurt by seeing my brothers suffering from the delirium of anger.

12th Day. I buried dead disappointments in the cemeteries of yesterday. Today I will plow the garden of life with the flowers of my new creative efforts. Therein I will sow seeds of wisdom, health, prosperity, and happiness. I will water them with self-confidence and faith, and I will wait for the Divine to give me my much-needed harvest. If I reap not the harvest, I will be thankful for having the satisfaction of trying my best, and I will thank God that I am not crippled, but able to try again and again until with His help I do succeed. I will thank Him when I succeed in fulfilling my heart’s wholesome desire.

13th Day. Oh Spirit, be Thou the only ambition reigning on the thrones of all the other ambitions of my heart!

14th Day. I am the Captain of the ship of my judgment, will and activity. I will guide my ship of life ever beholding the Pole Star of His peace shining in the firmament of my deep meditation.

15th Day. Oh Spirit, I will reason,—then I will will,—and after reasoning and willing in the right direction, I will act, but lead Thou my reason, will, and activity along the right path which I should follow.

16th Day. I will take the best from every nation,—the Americans, Hindus, Germans, English, French, Italians, Swedes, Chinese, Japanese, and all others. I will concentrate on the good qualities of all nationalities and turn away my attention from their errors.

17th Day. Each morning I bow to Thee, Our Father, resting in the hearts of the American and European, in the Protestant and Catholic churches, in the Hindu Temples, in the Buddhist Viharas, in Jewish Tabernacles, in Mohammedan Mosques, and in all other worshipping places of Thine in the Earth.

18th Day. I bow to the Infinite One Father, differently manifesting in the different churches and temples, which are all erected in His honor. I worship the one God resting on the various altars of teachings and religious faiths.

19th Day. I will seek the Kingdom of God first, and make sure of my actual contact with God; and then if it is His will all things,—wisdom, abundance, and prosperity,—will be added unto me as part of my Divine birthright, since He made me in His image.

20th Day. God is within me, around me, protecting me, so I shall banish the gloom of fear which shuts out His guiding light and makes me stumble into the ditches of my own error.

21st Day. I shall spread the sunshine of my goodwill wherever the darkness of misunderstanding lies.

22nd Day. I will conquer pride with humility, wrath by love, excitement by calmness, selfishness by unselfishness, evil by good, ignorance by knowledge, restlessness by the ineffable peace acquired in the stillness of complete silence.

23rd Day. I will dispel the error, "I am a human animal", by affirming, dreaming, realizing in meditation that "I am Spirit."

24th Day. I will stop worrying about my past failures: I will slay all fears of future troubles by living well, striving well, meditating well,—today.

25th Day. I bow to the Spirit existing in the templed stars, in the tabernacle of the sun and the moon, in the temple of human souls, and in the living hamlets of flowers, birds, and beasts.

26th Day. I bow to the Christ in the temple of all human brothers and in the temple of all life.

27th Day. I make up my mind that nobody can excite me by insulting words or deeds, and that nobody can praise me enough that I shall think because of that praise that I am more than what I am. Wherever people appreciate my efforts to do them good, I will know that there is the place where I can be of greatest service.

28th Day. I will realize that praise does not make me any better, nor blame any less. I am what I am before my own conscience and God. I will care nothing for piercing false criticism, or garlands of praise thrown to me. I will travel on, doing good to all and pleasing God, for thus have I found my only true happiness.

29th Day. I will meditate more deeply today than yesterday, and my tomorrow’s meditation on my Beloved Infinity will be deeper than today’s.

30th Day. I bow to Thee, Oh Spirit,—in front of me, behind me,—I bow to Thee on the left and on the right, above and beneath. I bow to thee within and without,—I BOW TO THEE EVERYWHERE.

31st Day. In the temple of consciousness of every man, woman, child, and every living creature, I will behold the altar of Christ consciousness. By serving them physically, mentally, spiritually, to the best of my ability, I will serve the Spirit of Cosmic Consciousness.

One is confronted with a hard task when one tries to define Hinduism. It is a complexity of ideas and beliefs which have been handed down from generation to generation. In the Vedic period it meant one thing. In the Brahmanical period another. To the Saivas (followers of Siva) it means one thing, to the Vaishnava (followers of Vishum) another and to the Saktis still different. Yet this one religion which is called Dharma in Hindustan has bound together the people from the boundaries of the snow-clad Himalayas to Rameswaram, washed by the waves of the ocean. What is this binding force that has withstood the stress and strain of more than four or five millenniums of spiritual thought and experience?

The answer is Hinduism. It is based neither on intellectual beliefs, nor dogmas, nor ceremonies nor outward expressions. Here intellect has been subordinated to intuition, dogma to experience and outer expression to inward realization. It teaches one how to get the insight into nature or reality and how to feel the experience of reality. "This experience is not an emotional thrill nor a subjective fancy, but it is the response of the whole personality, the integral self, to the central reality."

Hindu thought believes in the evolution of the idea of God. The same God will be conceived of in different forms by different individuals. Some will conceive Him as Creator, some as Preserver, some as Destroyer, some will worship Him as personal, some as impersonal, some as absolute. Hinduism never compels us to accept a strict, rigid, steadfast belief; but insists that all should work steadily upward and improve their knowledge of God till they realize Him as the Infinite Spirit—self-existent, eternal and unchangeable. "Him the Sun cannot express, nor the moon, nor the stars; the lightning cannot express Him nor what we speak of as fire; through Him they shine".

The Hindus do not believe that the world was created on a certain day or is going to be destroyed on a particular day. Nor do they think that the human soul came out of nothing along with the Universe. The Hindus believe in nature being without beginning and without end, only "at the psychological periods this gross material of the outer universe goes back to its finer state thus to remain for a certain period again to be projected outside, to manifest all this infinite panorama we call nature; this wave-like motion was going on even before time began, through eternity, and it will continue to remain for an infinite period of time."

Next the Hindu believes that he is not the gross material body but he is a spirit. Within this gross material body, there is not only the finer body the mind, but something still finer—the Atman. This material body is subject to decay, so also the mind by the Atman never changes.

Now what is the relation between this Atman and the Eternal Atman? Just as when in the morning the first rays of the sun fall on the dewdrops dancing on the top of the green grass, instead of one sun we see millions and millions of small suns reflected in these dew drops; so our soul is the reflection of the Eternal Spirit. To the argument of some people, who say that we are part of the eternal self, the Hindus declare that God is infinity, and infinity cannot be divided into parts; so we are not part of God but we have in our soul all the powers and potential qualities of "The Divine Being."

Thus to a Hindu, the human soul is divine, immortal, and all-powerful. There is no flood powerful enough to down it, and there is no weapon sharp enough to cut it. There is no power strong enough to destroy it.

This Universe is God’s creation or play (Lila) and it is He who has sent us to this world. So this free, perfect, and pure being, Atman, is for the time being held in the bondage of matter. The will of desire covers the soul and so the Soul becomes deluded by matter and goes in bondage. The Song of the Soul now becomes freedom,—freedom from this thraldom of bondage. Through different reincarnations and good Karma (which we shall explain in the next article) the Soul comes to perfection. When all the desires of the heart are vanquished, true realization will come. Thus the mortal will become immortal and the Spirit of Man (Atman) will become God.

"From Joy we came, through joy we are going, and into Joy we will melt."

London newspapers last week thought it was splendid of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to call special Sunday services of "Intercession." Everyone appreciated that the aid of God was required to help the British nation out of Depression.

The prayer specially for the occasion was as follows:

"In the policy of our Government for the restoration of credit and prosperity, Thy will be done. Because we have been selfish in our conduct of business, setting our own interest and that of our class before the interest of others, forgive us our trespasses."

_______

Once a prosperous lawyer in India and South Africa, Gandhi now lives like a beggar. He has given all his property and money to the poor. His self-made loin cloth and his home-made spinning wheel are his sole possessions. He says:

"If we possess more property or money than is actually necessary for our subsistence or station in life, we are thieves, for we deprive others of their full share."

Many clouds do race to hide Thee—

Of friends and wealth and fame—

And yet through mist of tears I see

Appear Thy Golden Name.

Each time my father, mother, friends

Do loudly claim they did me tend,

I wake from sleep to sweetly hear

That Thou alone didst help me here.

___________

Oh, Father, when I was blind I found not a door

Which led to Thee,

But now that Thou hast opened my eyes,

I find doors everywhere:

Through the hearts of flowers,

Through the voice of friendship,

Through sweet remembrances

of all lovely experiences.

Every gust of my prayer opens an unentered door

In the vast Temple of Thy Presence.

In the Kingdom of Light lived a ruler whose wisdom and goodness were commensurate with his power, and the glory of whose countenance made glad the hearts of his people. In the palace of the king a son was born and his birth was hailed with songs of rejoicing. And the men of the court approached their sovereign and, bowing low in adoration prayed him to permit them to take the infant from the darkened chamber, in which he slept, out into the brilliantly lighted palace and into the gardens surrounding it, that his young eyes might behold the glories to which he was heir. But the wise monarch shook his head and smiled as he replied:

"Old and learned as you are, my friends, you know not what you ask. The babe must not be taken from his bed. I command that he be not disturbed in any way for many days. Keep his bed well covered and shaded until he shall have become accustomed to the rarified air of our kingdom to the potency of the light, a little of which must penetrate even the chamber in which he lies. We must take no risk with the life and health of the child. I foresee for him a slow but joyous growth to maturity. Go you and wrap around his head a series of silken bandages that shall cover his eyes and that may be removed, one by one, easily and without injury to him, as occasion may demand."

Without question, the servants went forth to do their master’s bidding, though much they marveled at the monarch’s words.

Breathing the soft, fragrant air and nurtured by the fruits from the gardens of the king, the babe passed from infancy to childhood and was led about over the palace and through the gardens in which he heard the birds singing among the apple trees and the bees humming among the flowers. And often the king walked with him, but always he saw to it that the child was well attended. And the little prince loved his father, although he had never seen him. In fact, he knew nothing of the sense of sight but he felt assured of the king’s love because of the care which the great ruler took for his comfort.

However, the memory of childhood is brief—and there were times when the king deemed it best to remain away from the presence of his loved son for many days, and when the child often forgot the very fact of his father’s existence or, faintly remembering, doubted his father’s love.

"Why does not my father come to me?" the child would ask, and the guardians would answer: "He deems it wise to attend to other matters, now, but he has left you in our care and you shall not suffer harm.

Then, one day, the chief guard of the prince ran joyfully to the child and told him that he had been commanded to remove one of the bandages from the little fellow’s eyes.

"But this is my crown." said the child. "You must not touch it!"

"If, by degrees, we do not remove the obstructions to your sight you will never see the kingdom of your father—the kingdom which, one day, you are to share with him," said the guardian.

So the prince allowed him to remove the outside bandage and, when this had been done, the child cried with delight.

"And this is what you call sight?" he asked.

"Not full sight," said his friend, smiling. "You are but glimpsing a little of the light which, one day, shall break like a flood upon your vision, revealing to you all the wonders of our wondrous land."

With every passing year another and another bandage was removed from the eyes of the prince until, one day, with a cry of joy, the young man exclaimed: "Oh, I can see! I can see! Good guardian, I do not need your guidance any more. I can walk alone now."

And he broke away from his friend and started off alone—but soon he stumbled and fell against a rose bush, and the thorns pierced his hands and face, and the blood came and he uttered a cry of pain and fear.

"Not yet," said the guardian as he took the boy’s hand, led him away, washed him clean and clothed him with new garments.

Having glimpsed, through the last strip of bandage, a few rays of the sun that illumined the palace, and its bejeweled furnishing, the prince became intoxicated with imagination and impatient with desire to see his royal sire and to behold the beauty of his father’s estate. And one day, when the guardian, assigned to him for that day, momentarily forgot his charge and paused in the pathway of the garden to pluck a flaming rose, the prince snatched the band from his eyes and stood trembling with expectation. But the light that suddenly rushed into his eyes sent a sharp pain through his head and he almost swooned from dizziness.

"Father!" he cried. "Where are you? Come to me! I am dying!"

"You were not born to die but to learn to live," whispered a gentle voice—and the prince felt the hand of the king upon his head as the bandage was replaced.

"See that this does not happen again," commanded the king, addressing the boy’s guardian. "It is not yet time for him to know himself as one of us."

But at last, after another year, the monarch called the chief guardian and said: "Today my son is of age. The time of his freedom is at hand. His joy and mine shall be the greater because of this long waiting. Go, strike the last bandage and bring him hither."

And it was done as the king desired. And the prince stood near a limpid pool and he looked down and saw his face reflected from the water.

"How wonderful!" he exclaimed. "Is that my father—and shall we descend to greet him?"

"That is only a reflection of yourself," replied the guide. "Look at your body. Is it not beautiful, is it nor marvelous? Yet your father’s glorious countenance is still more beautiful."

And the prince rejoiced as he beheld himself. Then, looking with joy at the guide, he said: "It must be, then, that you are my father—for the sight of your radiant face makes me weep with gladness." "Nay," said his companion with a smile, "I am but the servant of him who has sent me to bring you to his throne. Come, I shall show you the way."

And the young man followed him. And through the long halls they walked and up the stairway to the throne—and the prince leaped into his father’s arms.

Let the flowers of my devotion

Blossom in the garden of my heart,

With the dawn of Thy coming.

Let me weave a garland of them,

And place it at Thy feet.

—From "Whispers from Eternity."

The man, who discovered a vein of gold under his house, lived at the base of the mountain. One day he started with a work he often had thought of going ahead with, but always deferred it to some other day. He began to hammer out a hole for a cellar under his hut and he struck a vein of gold. This was to him like a resurrection from the dead. At once new life and energy were awakened within him. He was wealthy and happy, and reflected on what a fool he had been in sleeping the best part of his life away and not starting this work before, seeing that he had lived and slept on a foundation of gold.

Let us apply this sketch in a spiritual sense to the people of the world. Like that man, who lived at the base of the mountain in a hut obscure and seeming of little or no value to himself or others, and yet resting on a ledge of gold that was his own, though he knew it not, so similarly as a rule is the spiritual condition of people. They are unaware of the vein of Divinity in their nature. Many often have thought like the man in our sketch of starting to dig, as it were, but having anticipated hard work, they have deferred that heavy undertaking to some other day; then deferred it again and again until almost too late; for so many people are mentally and spiritually lazy. Yet a small beginning is made by many, and then the great awakening comes upon them. They have discovered a vein of gold, where formerly there seemed to be only gray and valueless rocks.

The awakening of man to the true spiritual nature is of the greatest importance; for one will attain only that which he can produce out of himself.

We should try to make it evident to all, that man as a child of God possesses potentially the nature of God, as an attribute to the powers in his being. This is the vein of gold on which we all rest, although so many have never known it and therefore never tried to dig into themselves to find what might be hidden there. How near the kingdom of God is to everybody without people being aware of it, like the gold vein under the hut of the mountain man! Somehow they have not realized the truth of the gospel of that kingdom as it was taught by all ancient civilizations and taken up and reaffirmed by Jesus. It is never realized by some people that we all have inborn divine qualities, which every one can develop to some degree, and that all of the saviors and prophets of the past have been moved by a power thus acquired.

The parable of Jesus, in which he compares the evolution of the kingdom of God within the human being to a mustard seed, which a man planted in a field so it developed into a mighty herb, is an attempt to explain allegorically the potential divinity in man, which can be awakened and developed only by one’s own effort.

It may be a heavy undertaking, but man must so overcome himself by cultivation of his own character in order to attain his superhuman state. This is the gold vein being uncovered, or this is the kingdom of God being established through that sort of labor. Truly, indeed, people with such attainment have rebuilt their houses on foundations of gold.

Let us give voice to this truth that whatever spiritual gain and real happiness one may hope to attain in the life hereafter, will, in a great measure at least, be a product of one’s own labor here. What else did Jesus have in mind by exhorting the people to lay up for themselves treasures in heaven by being virtuous on earth?

Read only spiritual books which contain self-realization. Such books as the Bhagavad Gita, (the Hindu old and new Testaments), and the Christian Bible should not be read as you would read a novel. Read a passage, think about its meaning, then meditate on its truth. Then try to live the truth in life.

Spiritual introspection and perception of intellectually studied truth both reinforce the Infinite source from which all intelligence comes. There are three Bibles which I read and from which I draw my outer inspiration; the Christian Bible, the Hindu Bahgavad Gita, and my Whispers from Eternity, which were given t me by God. Through meditation and intuitive perception I get more intellectual truths than through reading books. I tune my intelligence to my intuition after meditation, and then I hold my pen on paper and it writes, without stopping, anything I want to write. My pen stops only when I want it to do so.

Read books after meditation. Criticize books with intuitive perception. Keep your mind busy most of the time with good books unless you are meditating. In your spare time keep busy reading good, interesting books, which will keep your mind safe from the company of so-called friends and idle thoughts which create boredom and dissatisfaction.

Husband and wife should balance their first love by self-control and by reading and discussing good books together, instead of by engaging their minds in fruitless family wars, or extremely peace-devastating matrimonial skirmishes, living on the sense-plane all the time, or in the exchange of soul-killing shots of discourtesy and heart-piercing bullets of unkind words.

When Mr. Sorrow comes, do not give him strength by acknowledging his presence. If you feed him with the nectar of your tears, he will stay. He will soon spread all over the bedroom of your life. The minute he arrives, laugh at him. Laugh, that will cheat him of his joy. Then kick him in the stomach. When he falls flat, kick him in the back. Apply the fists, limbs, and elbows of your will, and throw him entirely out of the chamber of your life. Thus you will win a physical bout against sorrow. Then too, this will be a metaphysical victory over sorrow.

Three cups of golden sunshine,—

Two cups of kindness,—

One cup of patience,—

One cup of laughter,—

One half cup of smiles,—

One dozen red roses,—

Eighteen silver raindrops,—

A bit of blue sky,—

A dash of the spice of life.

Mix together with a heart full of love.

Bake in a moderate oven,

Heated with the flames of truth,

Cool by a babbling brook,

Where a meadow-lark is singing,

Decorate with a garland of wild flowers,

Gathered in the valley of joyful memories,

Where we found the four-leafed clover.

Wrap in a cloak of tenderness,

Pack in a strong-box

Lined with sympathy.

Seal with the crest of wisdom.

Ship on the wings of love

To the Pal of your heart.

___________

From the "East Bengal Times" of February 13th, 1932, ("Good foods are good foods all the world over, for white man and brown, the homebody and rover.")

Of course, it requires a little knowledge of what foods are useful for definite purposes to plan a menu that will improve your complexion and help to keep your hair glossy and healthy.

Take carrots, for example. Did you know that one pound of carrots eaten every day will not only help your complexion to become beautifully clear and fine, but will also, by some mysterious process, sometimes make the hair glossy and gleaming and brighten the eyes?

Celery is an unfailing eye brightener, while cherries, if they are eaten when sweet and fully ripe, are often rejuvenating in their effect. It is consoling to be able to add, in these "canning" days, that the canned variety is almost as effective.

Dates, raisins, and figs help to give a clear glow to the skin and to keep blemishes at bay. Figs are particularly good, and have a whitening effect on the skin (as do cucumbers), especially if they are eaten stewed at breakfast.

Grapes are considered by many food experts to have a distinctly bracing effect on the blood and help to prevent those ugly, thickened little veins.

To obtain a glowing rosy skin, free from blemish, supplement your beauty treatment by eating raw lettuce, or spinach cooked without soda. Tomatoes help to clear the skin, while onions are splendid for giving colour to pallid cheeks.

Some of the most successful beauty foods can be taken in the form of sandwiches, watercress, and cucumber (which can be applied to the skin as well to hasten the process).

Have you ever thought when you looked at sky-scrapers, or streets bustling with automobiles, or windows glistening so enticingly with invented articles that they all were once invisible residents in the Kingdom of Minds? THOUGHTS ARE THINGS. All inventions,—architecture, engines, automobiles, books, music,—all were conceived in the womb of invisible thought. So remember, all forms of material, aesthetic, literary, and spiritual success are dependent on the kind of definite or indefinite corresponding thought-forms about such things that you have within yourself.

Some build air-castles within themselves, but because they do not know how to hold onto them strongly enough or how to materialize them on earth, their air-castles vanish in the invisible domain of consciousness. Men of success are those who have nerve enough to make an indelible blue-print in their minds of whatever they wish to build or produce upon this earth. They then employ the financiers of their creative ability, the builders of their will-power, and carpenters of their detailed attention, and the laborers of their mental patience to materialize the desired result or object in their true life.

So remember that you are unhappy generally because you do not visualize strongly enough any of the great things which you definitely want, nor do you employ steadfastly your will-power, your creative ability and your patience to materialize them. Happiness comes with your ability to make come true on this earth first your smallest desires, and then later your biggest dreams.

But you must be careful not to harbor impractical ambitions in your life and consequently spend your years wading through the mire of poverty, misery, and sarcasm from family and friends, always chasing a rainbow trail. Make mental blue-prints of little things, and keep on making them materialize until you can make your big dreams also come true. Be happy in the definite accomplishment of the little objects of your desire, and then you will know how to be a Happiness-Millionaire when later on you materialize the big dreams of your life. Unhappiness is caused by failure. You can make permanent happiness for yourself by letting nothing ever disturb you on your forward journey to success.

When you catch cold, fast for two days. Remember that during a cold the extra poisons of your body are being thrown off. If you add more food to your system, you help to obstruct the poison-eliminating system of Nature by clogging up the circulation with extra food chemicals.

If you cannot bear up under a complete fast, eat apples or pears or grapes, but refrain from eating acid fruits. Do not eat anything at night. Do not drink hot or cold water. Drink only two glasses of tepid warm water daily. I do not believe that to drink too much water during a cold is good, for the extra water taken comes out constantly through the mucous membrane, making the nose run too much, and causing irritation and accumulation of pus there. Fasting during a cold is very good, for it helps Nature to effect her own cure without interruption from any source. It is very good to use some laxative suitable to your system at the beginning of a cold.

A good four-hour sun-bath with the rays of the sun falling directly on the epidermis of the body has been known to cure a cold in one day. Sensitive skinned people should protect their skins by smearing olive oil, or something similar, over their bodies before taking a sun-bath. The best hours for sun-baths are between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Teach me to wear every scar of trials

As the medal of my chastisement,

Given by the sacred hands of Thy just Law.

Let every tear-drop of sorrow,

Caused to flow in me,

Through the actions of others,

Wash away some hidden taint of mind.

—From "Whispers from Eternity."

No one is more willing to send to you vibratory healing for your health, your financial and spiritual condition, than your own Father, God. Since He has given you independence, you have failed to receive God’s healing messages. Besides, you see, you have been over-confident in the limited man-made laws of prosperity, or man-conceived, theological, imaginary interpretations of how to know God.

Perhaps you are suffering from stubborn temporary, or chronic diseases. Perhaps prosperity does not come to you, no matter what creative ability you have applied. Perhaps the hastily swallowed beliefs of others, unmasticated by intuition, or not saturated with the saliva of spiritual assimilation, have produced in you theological bewilderment, or theological skepticism, or spiritual indecision, or theological indigestion.

You may be at a loss to understand which path will give you direct God-contact. If so, go to the Source of Christianity, which is the Orient. If you are in doubt, write to us. We will show you that health, prosperity, and wisdom can be satisfactorily obtained without fail, through an unlimited Divine law, if you get your soul-radio tuned to our christian Yogoda Healers at Yogoda Headquarters. We have spiritual teachers, who invisibly by their concentration can help you to tune your soul-radio to receive the ever-present health, prosperity, and wisdom vibrations of God in the ether.

Just as songs seem silent and cannot be heard in a room with a broken radio, so through your mind-radio, broken by worries, fear, restlessness, skepticism, or stubborn or chronic sickness, you are unable to catch the health and the power and the wisdom vibrations of Body. If you have devotion and sufficient faith, they will act as an ether through which our Healers will be able to tune your mind instruments to calmness and peace. Tune in with us consciously any time between the hours of 6 A.M. and 6 P.M. (your time.) Write to us telling us which you desire: Your body tuned to receive God’s health vibrations, your mind tuned to receive God’s abundance vibrations, or your soul tuned to receive God’s wisdom vibrations.

Thousands of people have tuned in their souls, and have awakened in Self-Realization to God, finding that headaches, colds, rheumatism, tuberculosis, and cancer were nothing but nightmares. Just as disease, poverty, and ignorance can be seen and felt in a dream, so the dream of ignorance shows in all its reality throughout the fury of mundane troubles. Just as in waking, one laughs at one’s own dream-vanities, so when we awaken in faith and god-Realization, we laugh at poverty and all its accompanying courtiers.

All that we claim is that the strong, Divinely-tuned will of our Healing Helpers can demand that God tune your body, mind and soul radio so that you can then tune in on His healing broadcastings. You must thus get your body, mind, and soul radio repaired and all its doubting static tendencies removed.

Please get in touch with our Yogoda healers right away. Do not delay for any reason. The present time is always a very good time to begin anything. No matter what your problem may be, whether apparently unimportant, or whether of vast importance, our help will be given to you.

Make us feel that the diverse religions are branches of Thy One Tree of Truth. Bless us, that we may enjoy the intuition-tested, ripe, luscious fruits of self-knowledge, hanging from all the branches of manifold scriptural teachings. Teach us to chant in harmony our love’s many expressions unto Thee, that our melody of souls may rouse Thee to break Thy vows of silence and lift us upon Thy lap of Universal Understanding and Immortality.

Whenever you are visiting Los Angeles, be sure to visit the Yogoda headquarters at 3880 San Rafael Avenue, Los Angeles. Telephone Capital 9531 for any information you may desire.

Every Sunday at 3 P.M. the residential leader gives soul-stirring lectures, and Thursday nights special Hindu and Christian Bible classes, with inner interpretations, are held.

Only peaceful, harmonious souls are welcome to stay. Reservations for a week or more can be made by telephone if rooms are unoccupied.

The public, as well as Yogoda students, are welcome to use the grounds, Temple of Leaves, open air or indoor auditorium, for meditation and rest, from sunrise to sundown. Pass the day on this hill-top Paradise in God’s great outdoors in meditation and silence.

A SMILE is the radiation of our FAITH.