The human soul has to withdraw the matter-circumscribed vision of the two physical eyes and let it penetrate through the telescopes of Astral Eye, Christ Eye, and Cosmic Eye in order to behold the Astral kingdoms of Astral phenomena. Christ pervaded Cosmos, and Eternity.

The human eyes can see only a small portion, or only a little corner of the whole world, but when the two mundane eyes are made single and the consciousness penetrates through the star in the opal-blue Astral Eye (as represented in the little white star just above the human eyes) then vision is enlarged and the Astral body and many Astral visions may be beheld.

When human consciousness after penetrating the Astral Eye races through the Christ Eye, the star of Christ intelligence in all Creation, as in the second larger blue globe with a second larger white star, then one can feel Christ consciousness spread through all the earth, solar system, star bubbles, and milky way, and also be able to behold all these planetary families swimming in the eternal void.

After penetrating the Astral and Christ Eyes, human consciousness flies through the eye of cosmic Consciousness (as represented by the third larger white star incased in the third larger blue globe) into the omnipresent Eternity represented by the orange white-tipped flames.

The human eyes keep the human soul visualizing the little body and its limited earth surroundings. The Astral, Christ, and Cosmic Eyes make the soul behold its eternal kingdoms of Christ Consciousness in all Universes and Eternity.

By deep, advanced study in Yogoda teachings, the above can be realized.

Note: The Astral Eye is spoken of as the spiritual eye, or the third eye seen in meditation. This eye is opened by the Guru. Jesus saw this eye as the starry Dove when John the Baptist baptized him. The little star in the center is the symbolized mouth of the Dove and its two wings are the two blue and golden lights. The spiritual eye is made of the white star palpitating in the heart of the opal blue light surrounded by a golden ring. The spiritual eye is the epitome of the Holy Spirit (Holy Vibration and Cosmic Energy) in the human body. The golden ring represents Cosmic Energy, while the blue reflects Christ Consciousness. Through this tunnel one can cross the white star tunnels in the Christ and Cosmic Eyes and penetrate all walls of matter. Through the rays one can reach the absolute manifested kingdom of Ever-New Pure Blessedness of Spirit.

I am the immortal child of God,

Living for a little while

In the *caravanserai of this body.

I am here to behold the tragedies and comedies

Of this changeable life with an attitude

Of unchangeable happiness.

(*A Caravanserai is an inn where caravans rest

On their journey. Here it means stopping place

On the journey through incarnations.)

I am the Blessed child of sweet immortality

Sent here to play the drama of births and deaths, Always remembering my deathless self.

I am the Prince of Perpetual Peace,

Playing the drama of sad and happy dreams

On the stage of experience.

I am the Prince of Peace

Sitting on the throne of poise

Directing the kingdom of activity.

I will be calmly active, actively calm.

I will not be lazy and become mentally ossified.

I will not be over-active, able to earn money,

But unable to enjoy life by becoming a machine.

I will meditate regularly to gain balance.

I will try to do all duties

With the peace of God in my heart.

I will try to perform only dutiful,

Noble actions to please God.

I will try to please everyone by kind,

Considerate actions, all the time

Trying to remove the causes of misunderstanding Knowingly or unknowingly offered by me.

I will criticize no one unkindly

Unless asked by him to do so,

And then only with the desire to help.

If I love to analyze others loudly,

I will first criticize myself before others.

I bow to the Divine Mother

With her two eyes of sun and moon.

I will behold her Vital Eye in the sun

And her eye of Cosmic Love in the moon.

Heavenly Father, Thou art present in every atom,

Every cell, every corpuscle,

In every particle of nerve, brain, and tissue.

I am well, for Thou art in all my body parts.

I laugh at all fears, for my Protector,

Father-Mother, Beloved God

Is especially attentively awake

And present everywhere

With the deliberate purpose of protecting me

From the temptations of evil.

With flowers, with bright skies,

With Divine manna of joy in happy minds,

With souls full of wisdom in the wise,

With songs of birds, and with Divine melodies

In the souls of men, my Beloved is calling me

To retrace my matter-torn footsteps

Back to His home of peace within.

I will seek the kingdom of God

In the joy

Coming from constant long,

Deep, continuous meditation.

I will conscientiously seek to contact God within,

And will not be satisfied

With little imaginary inspirations

From short, restless silences.

By contacting God, I will be reclaimed as His child.

Becoming the child of God first,

Without asking or begging, I shall receive

All prosperity, health, and wisdom

For my share as His Divine child.

I will reason, I will practice will power, I will act,

But guide Thou my reason, will, and activity

To the right thing that I should do.

______

Before I harmonize with the world,

First let me harmonize within myself.

Let me be at peace with myself.

Then, unfailingly the whole world

Will be at peace with me.

Harmony is the focal center of magnetism

Toward which everything is gravitated.

Genius is power, unfolded by work.

Let me develop a genius for work.

May I nurse no unholy hope in my bosom

Lest it be fulfilled.

I shall hope for a brighter day

So that it shall not be denied.

May I be conscious of the fact

That fame, merit, or Cosmic Consciousness

Cannot be won at a single stroke.

Yet, every stroke brings me nearer

To the dreamed of goal. Consequently,

May I strive incessantly until I reach

That supreme goal of Cosmic Consciousness.

May I realize that nothing is so refreshing

As devotion to intellect

And devotion of intellect to meditation,

Except it be the service to human welfare.

I shall constantly think, meditate, and serve.

I shall never hanker to be a climber

Unless I am prompted

To climb higher the ladder of consciousness.

I shall not be gripped

By the insanity of lust or fame, for such madness

Leads to destruction. By all means,

I shall conquer my exaggerated passions

And inflated ego.

For the momentary lure of tantalizing pleasures

May I not be guilty

Of misusing such talents as I may have.

If it is my destiny, rather may I be buried alive

Like a miner within a cavern,

While toiling for the expression of my inner self.

May I know that a man of disciplined character

And educated emotions is always a reservoir

Of energy and power.

Alone can a godly man

Acquire the equilibrium in life.

I shall delve into the minds and lives of others,

Sharing their sorrows and woes,

Then look within myself and be thankful

For the privilege of serving.

Forever, may I put the expression

Of meditation in my eyes, yet within

Shall I reach out for far-off things.

I shall contemplate God within. However,

I shall never cease observing

The outer drama of the Cosmic play.

May I see what I hear and hear what I see.

Then may I convert all experiences

Into living wisdom.

May I know that every broken dream

Or frustrated hope is a bead of wisdom

On the precious string of human life.

Whatever happens in life leaves behind it

An indelible footprint on the soul.

Let me read it and be wiser.

I shall let all hard realities of life

Be bathed in the dream of the ultimate Reality.

May I let all delusions

Sparkle in the glow of a new awakening.

I shall never let anything within or without me

Be touched by age. All things are ever-alive

With the ever-new energy.

____________________________________________________________________________________

IN THE medieval age, when religion began to rule politics, the State had to divorce itself from Religion. Some unscrupulous priests made their church members confess their political crimes and then, violating their confidence, they had them hanged. From then on, the State separated itself from the Church, but in doing so politics made the tremendous blunder of trying to get along without the principles of religion.

Long separated from spiritual principles which govern all human phases of action, politics began to wander away from Truth itself. The word "Politics" ever since has connoted graft or unscrupulous methods used by politicians or other people to gain their ends. The end does not always justify the means, for all good things should be attained by good methods as well. Otherwise, when evil is employed in the hope of gaining a good end, that evil will remain indelibly associated with the good end if attained at all.

Most church members believe that ministers and other prominent religious dignitaries should keep out of politics completely. Gullible church members often hold an unpractical religious belief that religion should stand aloof from all other human activities, and they expect ministers to deliver sermons calculated only to inspire their imagination and to give only orthodox views, which instructions do no real good in changing the depraved, moral, social, and political aspects of society. Such harmful, although refined, isolated spirituality, can do little practical good to mankind. On the other hand, some ministers and pious people keep haranguing their friends with misconceived ideas of politics devoid of spirituality.

True religion consists of ultimate religious principles which govern all phases of the social, political, and spiritual man. Religious principles are the foundation of the art of living and of all true standards of the best human conduct in connection with all races and nationalities which exist on the face of the globe. Hence, religious superstitions and meaningless ceremonies should be cauterized out of true religious principles and not offered to man.

Jesus said: "Render, therefore, unto Caesar, the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God, the things that are God’s." Lord Krishna, the great political prophet of India, was a king and a savior of mankind. We can picture a saint in the woods, but his saintliness is better proven when his spiritual attainments are consciously tested by being applied in helping depraved human beasts that infest the jungle of civilization.

Krishna was not only a prophet and a saint, but he was a saint with kingly responsibilities to test his saintliness. Krishna was one of the greatest successes as a man of non-attachment, even though he was a king. A man of renunciation, harboring secret material desires, is a spiritual failure; whereas, Krishna was the greatest man of renunciation at heart, although he had the riches of a king.

Jesus would not have commanded as much attention as he did, if he had lacked the courage to battle prelate and political power with the calm influence of His spiritual realization. Jesus, by His silence before the prelate, spoke loudly about the errors of mankind and the evil principles of politics. With the sword of His love and the all-conquering utterance: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," Jesus conquered not only His contemporary political foes, but He stands second to none in showing to people of all times how spirituality can conquer the most formidable politicians.

The political power, with vast armies, which condemned an unarmed innocent Jesus to the cross and expected to crush His heretic philosophy, found its crowning defeat in its most ignorant act, for Jesus willingly gave up His body for His Cause, knowing that imperishable is the temple of spiritual aspirations and Divine progress. Jesus again spoke: "My kingdom is not of this world." The kingdom of God governed by true principles of spiritual learning must come to reform the mal-politic-laden atmosphere of this earth.

Politics must be reformed by true religious principles. In Bhagavad Gita, the old and new Hindu testaments, Sri Krishna, the political prophet, said: "Whenever there is decline of virtue and predominance of sin, man should salvage the sunken religious principles and free the virtuous. I came on earth using the vehicles of prophetic minds to drive darkness form the souls of men."

Before Jesus, came Krishna, Buddha, and many others. After Jesus came Swami Shankara, Babaji, Larhiri Mahasaya, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giriji, and many others. Now comes the great Mahatma Gandhi. He is not only the savior of a few devotees and religious followers, but he is a political savior of all politic-ridden nations.

Metaphysically it is foolish to compare one prophet with another and to say that one is greater than the other, for essentially all prophets who have attained the finality are God’s and are of the same spiritual quality, but materially speaking, there is a specific way of judging the different Sons of God according to the spiritual work which they have qualitatively or quantitatively accomplished during their earthly sojourn.

All great religious leaders and saints have had large followings in their own particular religious sects, but Gandhi, without using miracles, and handicapped by an undeveloped, ugly body, but without religious fanaticism, has not only influenced millions of religious followers, but also millions of politicians, and almost all races and countries inhabiting this strife-stricken earthly home.

Ghengis Khan, the emperor of all men, conquered three-fourths of the globe. William the Conqueror, conquered England and certain portions of Europe; Napoleon conquered most of Europe; Khan attempted to conquer all Europe; prophets spread their spiritual victories over certain lands in primitive medieval times, but Gandhi has conquered all lands and all races in these highly critical, faultfinding modern times. No other saint became so famous during his own lifetime. Besides, Ghandi is not only the most esteemed leader of almost all religious sects of India, but also of the whole world. Unlike his predecessors, Gandhi left religious leadership to enter the field of politics.

Gandhi is in the world but not of the world. Jesus taught complete renunciation: "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not life more than meat, and the body more than raiment?"

"Bread, the men of the world seek after, but seek ye the kingdom of God, and these things shall be added unto you." This is an Oriental tenet of renunciation befitting the warm climatic and social conditions of the Orient. It is hard to renunciate everything and live in the freezing woods of Maine, in America. Such renunciation may be possible in California if forest laws do not interfere and cause the arrest of our religious roamers.

Christianity had to be modified, and had to be adapted to the teachings of Bhagavad Gita and Gandhi, which teachings tell you to be in the world and not of the world. Bhagavad Gita says it does not matter whether you are a family man earning a living, or a politician, or a business man. You must perform action in the world not for your own material ends, but to please God.

Western brothers follow Gandhi and the Bhagavad Gita more closely than they do Christianity. Mahatma Gandhi is a family man, has children, and was a lawyer and a rich man. He renounced all his riches, for he believed that to own more than his fellowman was a sin. He eats very little because the people of India are poor, and millions cannot have even one square starch-laden meal a day.

Gandhi does not wear the loin cloth for publicity or effect, but because millions in India cannot afford to wear much clothing. King George and his queen had to break their traditional rule of court attire and receive him in loin cloth. The mountain of a king went to the Mahomet of a Gandhi.

We hear of scriptural rules, but we see them lived and manifested in few people. Mahatma Gandhi lives and practices scriptural truths in all their details, and his astounding behavior in difficult situations and trials has proven beyond doubt to the followers of all religions that he is the greatest prophet of the age. "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."

The words of no other prophet or savior have had such an effect on a powerful nation like the English, who are armed with machine guns, and have the biggest navy in the world. No other prophet ever was invited to join a round table conference. It is customary for Maharajas to stand and not to speak until the viceroy of India, Lord Irwin, has spoken, but when Mahatma Gandhi met Lord Irwin, the latter remained standing while the Mahatma spoke to him in the sitting posture. When Mahatma Gandhi was unconditionally set free from prison the last time, he was heard to say: "I am coming back," which prophecy was fulfilled later by his present internment.

Gandhi’s first thought was not of his own little family and children, but his thought was to return to prison to help the sixty thousand political prisoners who were still there. He did not want to be free unless they were free. Think of Mahatma, although he is a family man,yet his first thought was not of his beloved family, who worship him, but of his responsibility to his fellow prisoners.

When Mahatma first met Lord Irwin, after being imprisoned by him, the Mahatma had not the slightest enmity in his heart. Lord Irwin addressed him:"How are you, dear friend?", and presented him with goat’s milk and dates. Newspaper men marveled and wrote that Mahatma did not have a trace of anger when he first conversed with Lord Irwin, who had imprisoned him.

In South Africa Gandhi was stabbed by a man, and even when urged by people to take legal proceedings against him he refused, saying, "I will send him my love." Later, when this would-be assassin heard of Gandhi’s attitude, he became Gandhi’s follower. So many people say: "Yes, we read in the Bible that we should turn the right cheek if the left one is slapped, but that is nonsense. If you slap me I will give you in return twelve slaps, a kick, and maybe a bullet, and I still call myself a good Christian." When Mahatma, although so seriously wounded as to be at death’s door, kept blessing this man, the Mahatma gave not only forgiveness but deep love, and won his adversary.

Whenever the time for his silence came, Mahatma cut off conferences about the most vital problems of India and left Lord Irwin to continue the conversation the next day. With all his manifold political activities, Gandhi is a perfect example to all biased, one-sided politicians who use their God-given intelligence for their selfish material gain only, but have no time for God. He shows that the duty to God must be observed first by keeping the Sabbath, or day of silence.

One day a week the Mahatma remains silent. Nothing can make him speak. When he was arrested the last time, in the middle of the night, his wife and followers were all crying but he was unmoved. He blessed them and wrote instructions before his departure, but he did not speak. Mahatma has never broken his day of silence. This shows that he does not forget that duties cannot be performed intelligently and efficiently without first receiving the power from God. His first duty of all duties is in meditating upon God regularly for a time every day and in communing with God one whole day a week in silence. Gandhi is a strict moralist, a man of self control, a master of his senses, even though he is married and has children.

Once Mrs. Gandhi could not give account of three dollars of public money Mahatma Gandhi mentioned the fact in his magazine, writing that Mrs. Gandhi said she could not tell him what she did with the three dollars. I was verbally relating this fact to a group of my American students when one public-spirited lady student suddenly spoke up, saying: "Mrs. Gandhi should have choked her husband for doing this, and I don’t care if he happened to be Mahatma Gandhi." I remarked: "Well, it may be fitting for an American wife to exercise her free-born independence of fistic powers wrongly over her wandering or erring American husband, but that could not be expected of Mrs. Gandhi.

What is amazing, is that Mahatma Gandhi gave away all his riches, saving nothing for his family. He would have saved something for them if they had been worldly-minded, but instead Gandhi so influenced his own family that they adopted, lived, rejoiced, and thrived in his doctrine of renunciation, avowed poverty, fasting, and suffering for others. As charity must begin at home, I deem that the greatest of all Gandhi’s political and spiritual victories was his conversion of his own wife to his principles. A modern husband cannot fail to appreciate and understand the depth of my statement, when in his heart of hearts he knows what a colossal task it is to convert a wife who, "Convinced against her will is of the same opinion still." In South Africa Mrs. Gandhi suffered and fasted for weeks in the jail along with Mahatma, fighting for the Cause of freedom.

No man has been able to collect money for poor India for spiritual and philanthropic causes as the Mahatma has. He could do this because people trusted him absolutely. A princess gave him a costly silver chair for his own personal use. He put it up for auction instantly and gave the money to the public Cause. He is so versatile he can reply to written letters through secretaries, attend to politics, and keep strict accounts of all public money spent. Mahatma has raised millions of rupees by his own personal appeal.

He believes in one God, and the universal brotherhood of man. He makes no difference between Christians and Hindus and outcasts. He says whoever follows Truth and loves India is an Indian. He calls his Christian, Hindu, and Mohammadan followers Indians. He says: "Down with patriotism which disregards the patriotic love of other nations and freedom of other nationalities.

Patriotism must include the international well-being. Gandhi believes in the doctrine: "Each for all and all for each." His doctrine fundamentally differs from communistic principles in that the latter base their political methods on force, whereas, Gandhi teaches conquest of the inferior powerful brute force by the superior spiritual force. He says hatred increases hatred. It never conquers it. A strong man may tyrannize over his weak victims but cannot conquer his own hidden hatred. If the weak victim were suddenly to receive help, he would quickly take double revenge on the strong man, but if the spirit of hatred in the weak enemy were destroyed by the fires of love, then that victory would be more permanent, grand, and free from all germs of possible outbursts of hidden hatred and trouble.

___________________________________________________________________________________

I thank Thee for Thy joy, dear Lord,

Which Thou to man hast given,

It spirit to the soul reveals

Immortal paths to Heaven.

With potent joy Thou did’st invest

Thy whole Creation, fair,

And to its spirit I respond,

For it is everywhere

I find it in the sky at dawn;

In sunshine, and in rain;

In flowers that bloom in desert wastes;

In woodland and in plain.

Uncharted seas and worlds on high

Proclaim its wondrous power.

My soul is thrilled to contemplate

The richness of this dower.

’Tis in Thy joy I find my strength.

Its alchemy sublime,

Transmutes each round of daily tasks

Into a song divine.

DO YOU ever pause to think that this world is a paradise made of the molten heart of God to give joy to those who have the capacity to enjoy the blessings of Life?

Do you know that this world is the vision and dream of God, woven out of His Infinite Love?

Have you yet discovered that this world is the Garden of Brahma, where He has sown the Divine Seed to grow—and that you are that Divine Seed?

Do you ever dream that in you God has hidden the essence of His Beauty, Joy, Life, Activity, and Truth in the expectation that your self-expression will abundantly enrich the world and your growth will profusely scatter the happy fragrance of His fulfilled hope?

Hide not your face behind the dark clouds of Despair! Break asunder the thick darkness of the tearful night and emerge as a shooting ray from the bosom of His Divine Flame.

Above you is Light, below you is Light, around you is Light—Eternity around, Eternity below, Eternity above.

Behind you spread the golden smiles of Day. In front of you stretches the glory of another dawn.

Traveler, fear not. March on from the joy of one day to the laughter of another dawn.

Remember how the twilight sings of hope in the songs of birds; roses breathe of perfume; rainbows smile of Hope in the dance of colors; the earth trembles the joy of Hope in the greenness of the lawn.

So, let your heart dance the dance of Hope in the rhythm of Light and the shade of the Eternal Life.

Jesus, the man, had become one with the Holy Vibration. His body was one with all Creation, in which His little body moved. His consciousness was Christ-Consciousness, but until the body goes beyond the Christ state and becomes one with the Father, and until the complete union of body, Holy Ghost, Christ Consciousness, and God Consciousness are perceived as one Spirit, mortal tests born of Past Delusion remain.

Although Jesus was one with the Holy Ghost, still His old limited human consciousness and its earthly desires, through the law of habit, tried to attract His expanded consciousness to earthly consciousness. This is the psychological explanation of the origin of the tempting, by the firmly established bad mortal habits, of the new Divine habit, in order to keep Him from contacting the Great Comforter.

All satisfaction comes from Holy Vibration, for it is the sum total of all earthly things looked for. Sense pleasure is evil because it limits the soul, blinds it, and keeps it from seeking the unlimited happiness in the universal sensorium of the Holy Ghost.

The Spirit alone is perfect. Everything else in Creation is imperfect. Creation started with the law of duality, with the law of division. The Spirit was perfect. Nothing else was necessary for His perfection; hence, Creation was unnecessary for His evolution. Then why did Spirit create at all? The only answer to that question is that He wanted to consciously enjoy Himself. The Spirit thought: "I am the very nectar of Bliss, but there is no one to enjoy me, so I will create a Cosmic play and divide Myself into many, then Myself as many selves gradually with many mouths of minds may taste the nectar in my Infinite Self.

This Cosmic play came out of the Spirit’s desireless desire; that is, this desire for Cosmic play was unnecessary to complete the Spirit’s Being, for He was already perfect, but this Cosmic desire itself was imperfect, for it was an urge, a desire to do something. Just as poison does not affect the serpent, so this Cosmic delusive desire existing in Spirit does not affect Him.

This Cosmic desire of Spirit was an unnecessary desire, just as sometimes a father may play with his child through a desireless desire which is unnecessary for the father’s development. It was imperfect because it wanted to accomplish something when that accomplishment was not necessary for the completion of the all-perfect Spirit.

This imperfect desire was the original thought vibration which divided the Spirit into many through the law of duality. Besides, the Spirit at first found that He alone, being the only substance existent, could not very well divide Himself into two distinct essentially different objects of Spirit and matter, so the Spirit created the differentiation between Spirit and matter in thought only, just as a piece of stone and a thought of a piece of stone in a dream have no essential difference except in the difference existing in frozen human imagination.

Thus the Spirit had to practice a Cosmic deception, a universal mental magic, to perform before the duality of matter and mind and the dualities of finite objects.

This delusive Cosmic differentiation in thought is responsible for all imperfections in Creation; then again, according to the law of cause and effect, the small selves which came out of Spirit were especially gifted with the power of free choice and independent action even as Spirit possessed.

This Cosmic delusive will thus inherited the power and free choice of Spirit to act independently of his perfect will. As the one sheet of water of the calm sea is chopped into many miniature pieces of water called waves, by the action of a third agent, the wind storm, so the conscious Cosmic, delusive, desireless desire of Spirit manifested itself as the independent conscious magical measurer, or the *Maya (Cosmic measurer of delusion) of the Hindu Scriptures, and was solely entrusted with the independent power of superficially dividing the Spirit into the perception of perfect finite objects materialized as icebergs of planets, wavelets of stars floating on the vast sea of Infinity.

This Cosmic delusive magical measurer has ever since manifested Itself as the Holy Ghost, the Cosmic sacred vibration, or Nature. (Sanskrit Prakriti.)

The plan of Spirit was that this subjective, conscious, Cosmic, delusive force should be endowed with independence in order to cooperate with objectified, conscious, Cosmic vibration in objectified, conscious, Cosmic energy, and with only reflected Christ Intelligence present in it, to create perfect finite objects.

Perfect gems in mines, perfect flowers, perfect animals, and human stars in perfect planets were thus created. These perfect objects, after displaying a flawless dream of perfect form, health, habits, and modes of existence on the stage of time, without disease or painful premature death, or cruel accidents, were to dissolve back into Spirit, just as numerous waves after a separate happy existence without the necessity of being killed or shattered by accidents dissolve back into their one self, the sea, at the end of the storm. That is why in the Christian Bible we find the perfect Adam and Eve communing with God, so easily and simply, under the tree and near the altar. They were only cast away from the paradise of Cosmic Consciousness when they were tempted by the devil of Cosmic ignorance.

According to God’s plan, the flower, plant, animals, and human cells were to live recharged by Cosmic Energy and not cruelly feed on one another. Then, after a perfect existence, a perfect expression and pleasant mutual entertainment, without suffering, all created forms were to dissolve back into Him. Just as rainbows come and go, just as forms of flowers, animals, and human bodies can be created by electrical devices in moving pictures for entertainment and switched on or off at will, so all living creatures and all created things were to exist like mutually entertaining vitaphone pictures on the screen of space, and were to disappear in God at the end of their cycle, after the drama of that period was perfectly played.

This conscious Cosmic delusive force, receiving independent power from God, found that all things and all living forms after a perfect existence began to dissolve back into the Cosmic Energy. In this way the Cosmic delusive force began to think that, inasmuch as the Cosmic Energy manifestations of the Holy Ghost or Holy Vibration were to dissolve back into Spirit, It must Itself cease existing with the disappearance of the Holy Vibration. Just as the storm disappears when waves dissolve into the sea, so with the withdrawal of Holy Vibration, the Cosmic delusive force would have to lose Its separate existence. This thought frightened the Cosmic delusive force, the force which aims to keep things in manifestation, and ever since He has rebelled. Before this the Cosmic delusive force was considered an Archangel of God and was in a friendly manner cooperating with Christ Intelligence and Holy Vibration in creating perfect finite objects. It was at this period that the Cosmic delusive force fell from heaven in the form of lightning and began to act in apparent opposition to Christ Intelligence and conscious Cosmic Holy Vibration.

The falling of Satan as lightning from Heaven signifies that originally all Cosmic Energy, being vibrated by the Holy Ghost and Christ Intelligence, was flowing Godward, then the creative, Cosmic, delusive force, fearing complete withdrawal of all energy back into God, began to turn the flow of Cosmic Energy away from His heavenly Presence toward finite creation. Just as, when waves want to fall back into the sea, a fresh storm can compel them to retain their forms, so the Cosmic delusive force became rebellious and began, through the mundane desire of beings arising from imperfect living, to slap them back into finite existence through the law of reincarnation.

Reincarnation was started by Satan, so that human beings would have to come back again and again to earth until they could lose their imperfect desire to stay on earth and could finally go back to Spirit. Ever since creating the law of reincarnation, the Cosmic delusive force has tortured the immortal souls of the children of God by forcibly imprisoning them again and again behind the bars of painful flesh and making them stay away from their kingdom of omnipresence. By creating the law of reincarnation or punishment by law of cause and effect, which law governs human actions (Law of Karma), the Archangel of God, the Cosmic delusive force, converted Himself into the rebellious Satan.

Since then this conflict has existed between the God-tuned, universal, Only-Begotten Son of Christ Intelligence, the Holy Ghost, and the matter-bent lover of finite creation, Satan.

Jesus, possessing Christ Consciousness, realized the tug-of-war between the perfect, universally intelligent Holy Vibration and the Satanic pull of imperfection toward finite Creation. Ever since his rebellion, Satan has created imperfect patterns, representing evil, disease, pain, and catastrophe, to disturb the desireless, perfect existence of human beings who were destined to return to God after perfectly playing His Cosmic Drama, inaugurated to entertain His immortal children.

Human beings, disturbed by disease, wanted perfect health, but were cut off by premature death. They wanted to live long, therefore Satan created in them earth-bound desires, and Satan also deluded them into indulging in mental desires which would bring them back again and again under his dominance by the pernicious law of reincarnation. Satan began to create imperfect patterns of plants, infested trees, and diseased human beings in order to foil the perfect patterns of perfect plants, healthy tress, and wholesome human beings instituted by God through Holy Vibration acting in consonance with Christ Intelligence.

How Satan creates death, disease, planetary disturbances, plant diseases, bacteria, reincarnation, accidents, pain, hunger, cannibalism in one another, and why Jesus was tempted, will be explained in the next issue.

_________*Maya: The Sanskrit root ma signifies "to measure." The original Aryan race, from which Indu-Aryans, American Aryans, and Caucasian Aryans originated, lived in central Asia. Their principal wealth consisted in cows. Pa, father, was the protector. Ma, duh, (from which dohter and daughter, Sanskrit duhrter, originated) signified "milking the cow," which was the function of the daughter, and ma, mother. Sanskrit mata, latin mater, and mother signified "to measure," for mother used to measure milk and give it to the children. Sanskrit is the mother of all languages.

If you think you are beaten, you are;

If you think you dare not, you don’t;

If you’d like to win, but you think you can’t

It’s almost certain you won’t.

—Edgar Guest.

Within itself the blind mind consulted introspection, the impartial judge of all states of consciousness, asking: "My children, the crooked mental tendencies (Kurus), and the pure discriminative faculties (the pure Pandus), eager for different psychological battles, what did they?" The blind boisterous mind wanted the introspective faculty to reveal the battles between the sense-bent mental tendencies and the pure wisdom-loving, discipline-loving, self-control-evolving, wisdom faculties.

The Bhagavad Gita in the first stanza speaks of the glaring truths of how life is a series of battles between spirit and matter, knowledge and ignorance, soul and body, life and death, health and disease, changelessness and change, self-control and temptation, discrimination and the senses. In the mother’s body the baby has to battle with disease, darkness, and ignorance. Each child has to fight also the battle of heredity. The soul has to overcome many hereditary difficulties. It has also to contend with the self-created influencing effect of the pre-natal karma or past action.—From June east-West. See June East-West for complete spiritual interpretation of first stanza.

Many people unconsciously lose in the daily battle with greed for food. The little child unknowingly is tempted out of the entrenchment of right eating habits and is shot by bullets of taste-lures. He is then found to be suffering from wounds of indigestion. People who neglect to heal themselves are being constantly shot by greed. Their wounds of indigestion develop into serious diseases of opulence and heart trouble, and other ailments.

Every pound of flesh added to the body needs about one mile of artery for the heart to irrigate it with blood. People constantly wounded by the firearms of greed do not long survive. After carrying on a miserable, painful existence they fall a prey to premature death through chronic intestinal disorders. Many have fallen a prey to food-greed and have lost their lives.

Many millions of people since the beginning of time have lost their battle with greed and have passed their lives as prisoners of indigestion and ultimately perished. Remember that every morning, noon, and especially in the evening when dainties are spread before your eyes, the sense of taste with all the armies of memories of uncontrolled eating, hasty swallowing, and other bad habits, get together to give you a battle and defeat your armies of moderate eating, right selection, mastication habits, and so forth.

Remember that each day, if you let the armies of food-greed advance little by little on the territory of your proper dietary habits, then little by little you will find yourself surrounded by the armies of disease. King General Greed aims to lure you into trouble by sending to you his psychological spies who silently try to delude your fortified self control by whispering: "Eat a little more today; never mind what will happen to you one year hence." "Eat more today only, and quit after tomorrow." "Never mind yesterday’s resolution; eat today, that’s nothing." "Never mind yesterday’s little pain of indigestion; just think how wonderful the home-made food will taste now."

"Eat now, indulge in taste, and never mind tomorrow, for you may not then suffer at all." "Eat as much as you want and then use a laxative." Remember, every time General Greed invades your moderate life and defeats you, he leaves some mark of damage to the kingdom of your health no matter how much you try to make up the loss by fasting and dieting.

Every day before each meal let your introspection ask your mind: "King Greed and his taste spies engaged in battle with King-of-Right-Eating Habits during the past weeks and months, what did they? Which side was victorious?" If you find yourself losing the battle with Greed, give a fiery mental speech to all your armies of spiritual resistance, train them in the art of self-control and command them to fight furiously the advancing soldiers of food temptation and disease who want to lead you to your destruction. If your right-eating habits win, rejoice, for the kingdom of your health will reign in peace to the end of your days.

Remember Gita’s word and never eat without first ascertaining within as to whether King Greed or Emperor of Right Habit is winning.

The urge of creation is one of the strongest impulses in man, compelling in him the desire to create. Without this urge, propagation of the human species would come to an end. God materialized everything in the beginning by direct special creative command, and man being made in His image has the same power. By yielding to touch temptation man, before melting into the Infinite, lost this power of immaculate creation by which he was able to clothe his mental pictures with energy and will and materialize children from the ether even as God did. God endowed man with this same power in the beginning.

Man and woman, instead of seeking emancipation in God through soul unity, sought unity through the flesh, and finally the action of the positive and negative forces produced the creative organs and the inferior method of propagating the species by the act of repulsion instead of by the law of attraction involved in the united will power of man and woman.

Ever since the original misguided urge of Adam and Eve to seek creation through flesh was bequeathed to man, this lower power has been a temptation. This method is an inferior creative law of matter as compared to the superior law of immaculate creation by will power.

The creative urge is the sign of our mental inheritance resulting from the original psychological defeat of our ancestors when their desire to create by Divine will power was overpowered by the desire to create by flesh. Ever since, physical creating has taken the place of creating by will. An original ancestral error in creating by flesh has become the present law of imperfect creation of undesirable children imposed upon man by the protoplasmic law of heredity. In mental creation, children should be created to order even as God created perfect beings endowed with free choice. Being Divine children, they inherited this free choice and then they misused that freedom and wandered away from God’s perfect laws. Therefore, the germ of the original error of Adam and Eve, of substituting physical creation for will-creation remains in all human beings as the first temptation of the flesh against the immaculate laws of Spirit. Each individual since that time has had to engage his soul in battle with this Cosmic temptation.

Persecution, gossip, commands, and taboos cannot remedy moral errors. This temptation is not only the result of metaphysical inheritance from Adam and Eve, it is also the result of pre-natal habits which tend to influence heredity in forming the post-natal habits of an individual. That is why most children are helplessly born with over-stimulated appetites. Over-eating, lack of personal hygiene, unwholesome suggestions, unscientific instruction, immoral books, and lack of exercise reinforce the pre-natal habits.

Probably the strongest factor in reinforcing the post-natal habits of the child is wrong environment. These habits once formed lead him helplessly on to over-indulgence in married life, which habit entrenches itself on the territory of self-control, driving away the habit of moderation and bringing in the pestilence of premature old age, disease, and loss of ambition and happiness in the kingdom of the body mind. Remember that upon waking and before sleeping, the youth and the adult should ask himself in introspection: "My self-control and moderate habits, while engaged in battle with my pre-natal physical appetite and my post-natal greed, what did they? What has been the result of their conflict? Has the right side won today?

If you are naturally victorious over physical greed or if you have acquired self-control by strenuous efforts, you have nothing to worry about, but if you find yourself being carried away little by little a prisoner of temptation, then you should try to train your armies of self-control, seek good company, eat less and less meat, eat an abundance of fruit and vegetables, take strenuous exercise, and keep your thoughts busy with the wonder and peace of God.

Gossiping about the moral weaknesses of others is the most wicked of all spiritual crimes. It breeds and develops hypocrisy in social and individual life. Remember what the Lord said: "He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone." "Judge not, that ye be not judged." Do not keep your mind busy with the unholy interest of the weakness of others and thus rouse and stimulate your own pre-natal sleeping sex thoughts.

Keep busy cleaning your own soul of the original temptation inherited from Adam and Eve. Clean your own mental dirt before you waste your time talking about the moral uncleanliness of other people. Either let the stricken individual alone and let him find his own spiritual remedy or, if you are victorious over yourself, try to help him by showing a better example or by wise counsel if that counsel is asked. There would be much less hypocrisy in the world if, instead of tongue persecutions, children were taught moral remedies, such as methods of self-control, right living, and proper hygiene before they become the victims of evil through bad company.

Everyone who finds his self control waning, every loser in the battle with temptation, must remember that yielding will hasten him toward the pitfalls of disease, premature old age, mental dissatisfaction, loss of ambition, boredom, unhappiness, and premature unhappy death.

Everyone who is at least trying to exercise self-control must remember that victory over sex gives mental freedom, health, happiness, and ultimate regaining of the power to create by will power. This subject will be elaborately treated in the future when the story of Adam and Eve and their temptation by the serpent is discussed.

Conquer the inner temptation which is the root-cause of over-indulgence. Whenever you feel the desire to gossip about others, satisfy that unholy hunger by loudly talking of you own imperfections. See how you like to do that. Learn to transmute desire into unceasing ecstasy in meditation.

Flattery may be good when it encourages a person to right action, yet it is very pernicious when it serves to hide a spiritual wound and lets it fester and poison the whole soul with ignorance. We all love flattery, as so many people unknowingly like to eat sweet poisoned honey. Besides the sweet words of flattery from others, our own inner thoughts often excuse our harmful faults and hide big psychological tumors which may break and poison our whole spiritual life. Flattery from others and the comforting whispers of our own thoughts strike sweetly on our sense of hearing. Our human wisdom is often carried prisoner in the hands of poisonous flattering words. Many people willingly lose money, time, health, and even character for the sweet deceptive words of parasitic so-called friends.

Many souls have perished by not listening to behests of stern words and by yielding to the sweet poison of words from wicked associates. Better live in Hades with one harsh speaking wise man than live in Heaven with ten sweet-mouthed poisonous beings. Poisonous so-called friends would make Hades of Heaven and justly-speaking wise friends would make Heaven of Hades.

It is always good to speak the truth, but it is better to speak pleasant truth and avoid unpleasant true utterances. To address a lame man thus: "Hey, Mr. Lame Man," may be true but it is unpleasant and harmful truth and should be avoided. It is bad to criticize when criticism is not wanted, but it is beneficial to listen to kind criticism and it is admirable to be able to stand harsh but true criticism with a smile and a sense of grateful appreciation.

A saint used to have a friend who constantly criticized him to the great displeasure of his disciples. One day a disciple came exultingly crying: "Master, your enemy, the constant fault finder, is dead." The master began to weep and said: "Oh, I feel helpless. My best spiritual critic is dead. My heart is broken."

Most people choose flattery instead of intelligent criticism and would readily dash themselves on the rocks in spite to disprove the candid forecasts of frank spiritual teachers. Therefore, ask yourself each time somebody mildly or harshly criticizes you: "Have I been lured by sweet words to allow my wisdom to be carried away a prisoner in the hands of flattery?"

The August issue of East-West will continue the practical application of the teaching of the first stanza of the Gita and will contain unique descriptions of the battle between pre-natal and post-natal karma and life and of the battle with invisible demons and forces and will point the way to victorious life.

AMONG the priceless treasures of the ancients is a beautifully carved rosary. It hangs around the strand of centuries and falls into the lap of all devotees.

It seeks its heirs, yet eludes them when they try by devious ways to touch a single bead with unholy hands.

GLORIOUS WISDOM going about seeking such as are worthy of her, sitting at the door of those that desire her. To desire WISDOM bringeth one to a kingdom whose reign is forevermore.

UNTO you, therefore, children of the most high, He speaks that ye may learn WISDOM, for WISDOM is early seen of them that love her, and found by such as seek her.

As for WISDOM, what is she? Seek out the beginning of her nativity and bring the knowledge of her into light and pass not over the truth. The true beginning of her is desire for discipline, and the care of discipline is Love. Nurture.

At first WISDOM will walk with thee by crooked ways and bring fear and dread upon thee, and torment thee with her discipline, until she may trust thy soul, and try thee by her laws, then she will show thee the Path, and reveal to thee her secrets. But if thou goest wrong, she will forsake thee. For WISDOM, which is the wonder of all things, teaches thee. For in her is an understanding spirit, Holy, one only, manifold, subtle, lively, clean, undefiled, plain, not subject to hurt, loving the thing that is good, kind to man, steadfast, sure, free from care, having all power, overseeing all things, and going through all understanding, pure and most subtle spirits.

For WISDOM is more moving than motion. she passeth and goeth through all things by the reason of her pureness. For she is the breath of the power of God, and a pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty. Therefore, can no defiled thing fall into her. For she is the brightness of everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of His goodness, and being but one she can do all things; and remaining in herself she createth all things new; and in all ages entering into Holy souls, she maketh them friends of God, and prophets. She is more beautiful than the sun and above all the order of the stars.

Being compared with the light, she is found before it. WISDOM reacheth from one end to another mightily; and sweetly doth she order all things.

WISDOM is conversant with God. She magnifieth her nobility. Yea, the Lord of all things Himself loved her, for she is privy to the mysteries of the knowledge of God and a lover of his works.

WISDOM was with Thee and was present when Thou madest the worlds, and knew what was acceptable in Thy sight, and right in Thy commandments.

WISDOM is a treasure unto men that never faileth, which when used you inter-friendship with God, because it is He that leadeth unto WISDOM and directeth the wise, for in His hands are both we and our words. All WISDOM also, and knowledge of workmanship. Therefore, pray and understanding will be given you. Call upon God and the Spirit of WISDOM will come unto you.

By her thou shalt obtain immortality. Go into that inner shrine and repair thyself with her, for her conversation hath no bitterness, and to live with her no sorrow, only mirth and joy.

Put thy feet into her fetters, and thy neck into her chain. Bare down thy shoulder and bear her, and be not grieved with her bands. Come unto her with thy whole heart and keep her ways with all thy power, for at last thou shalt find her rest, and that shall be turned to joy. Then shall her fetters be a strong defense for thee, and her chains a robe of glory.

Thou shalt put her on as a robe of honor, and shalt put her about thee as a crown of joy, for there is a golden ornament upon her, and her bands are purple lace.

Prefer her before sculptors and thrones, and esteem riches nothing in comparison with her. Gold is as a little sand, and silver shall be counted as clay before her. She is above health and beauty. The light that cometh from her never goeth out.

He that loveth her loveth life. Serve here and you will minister unto the Holy One. The Lord doth love those that love her. Search and seek and she will be made known unto thee, and if thou findest a man of understanding, let thy foot wear the steps of his door. WISDOM has lifted up the head of the lowly, and set him among great men.

WISDOM is the mother of all God things. She holdeth innumerable riches in her hands. If riches be a possession to be desired in this life, what is richer than WISDOM, that worketh all things, and if prudence work, who of all that are is a more cunning workman than she? If a man love righteousness, her labors are virtues, for she teacheth temperance and prudence, which are such things as a man can have nothing more profitable in his life.

If a man desire much experience, she knoweth things of old, and conjectureth aright what is to come. She knoweth the subtleties of speeches, and can expound dark sentences, and the events of seasons and times.

Take her to live with thee, for she knoweth all things and is a counselor of good things, and a comfort in cares and grief. A great pleasure is to have her friendship, and in the work of her hands are infinite riches, and in the exercise of conference with her, and in talking with her, a good report. Consider these things. Ponder them in your heart. To be allied unto WISDOM is immortality.

The corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things.

The thoughts of mortal man are miserable, and his devices are but uncertain, for what man is he that can know the council of God? Or who can think what the will of the Lord is?

Hardly do we guess at things aright, that are upon the earth, and with labor do we find the things that are before us, or at hand. But the things that are in Heaven—who have searched out? And Thy council—who hath known except Thou give WISDOM, and send Thy Holy Spirit from above? If Thy WISDOM be not with me I am nothing.

Whose gift is WISDOM? I cannot obtain her except God give her to me. The fear of God is the beginning of WISDOM. Brahma means the "Great One." None is greater. From whom the princes and monarchs of the earth derive all their power, before whom the whole universe stands in awe and worship. No sin is possible if we are afraid of the Great One. Simple but sincere faith is more conducive to virtue than all the learning of the world.

To fear the Lord is the fullness of WISDOM. To fear the Lord is a crown of WISDOM, making peace and perfect health to flourish. To fear the Lord is the root of WISDOM, and the branches thereof are long life.

The parables of knowledge are in the treasures of WISDOM. If you desire WISDOM, keep the commandments, and faith and meekness. These are His delight. All WISDOM cometh from the Lord and is with Him forever. WISDOM hath been created before all things. The word of the Most high is the fountain of WISDOM, and her ways everlasting commandments.

To whom hath the root of WISDOM been revealed? Or who hath known her wise councils? Unto whom has the knowledge of WISDOM been made manifest? And who hath understood her experience? She is with all flesh according to the gift of God, and He hath given her to them that love Him.

WISDOM is glorious and never fadeth away. WISDOM exalteth her children, and layeth hold of them that seek her. If a man commit himself unto her, he shall inherit her, and his generation shall hold her in possession.

Oh, God! Give me WISDOM that sitteth by Thy throne, and reject me not from among Thy children.

Oh! Send WISDOM out of Thy Holy Heaven and from the throne of Thy Glory, that being present she may labor with me, that I may know what is pleasing unto Thee, for she knoweth and understandeth all things, and she shall lead me soberly in my doings and preserve me in her power.

By the means of WISDOM I shall obtain immortality, and leave behind me an everlasting memorial to them that come after me. In search of Thee I found the ancient WISDOM ROSARY.

"There is a responsible Actor and Thinker

Moving wherever moves a man; a true man Belongs to no other time or place,

But is the center of things. Where he is,

There is Nature."

—Emerson.

ONCE I knew a man who had worked his way from poverty to wealth, and yet he was not truly rich and this is why: As a poor boy, he had allowed himself to become so deeply impressed with the value of money that the idea of poverty clung to him in spite of his acquired possessions. Feeling that if he should lose his gold he would be poor, he placed a false value on the power of money and hoarded it with fear.

Another man I knew who was born in affluence but who was taught, early in life, that happiness and peace depend not on material possessions but that poverty and riches are of the soul. When misfortune visited him, his soul stood serene and smiling, and his confidence in life’s inherent goodness soon won back for him the fortune he had lost.

Once I knew a poet who often slept until noon and spent the rest of the day in writing verses about the rose-lipped dawn. They were good verses, too, and the reason he could write them was because once, with reverence and the love of beauty in his heart, he had stood on a mountain, overlooking the sea, and watched Aurora drive her glorious chariot through the gates of the East. He had the key to the door of every pearly dawn. He did not rise at midnight to pen his golden dreams. He had no fear that, on awakening, he would forget the flaming visions of the night. He trusted the goddess of inspiration, knowing well that, when the day should come, the Deity that gave him lovely dreams would furnish words for their interpretation.

How rich we all are in reality, how miserable in lack of faith, how poor in thought! We pretend to be satisfied with a nosegay of sentiment, but it is only pretense for, somehow, deep within us, we feel that we have a right to all the morning-glories in the garden of the soul. We go about dreaming the dreams of childhood and humming simple tunes when we might be writing epics and composing symphonies. We humbly accept a small part of our estate when the earth and all its fullness is ours, a gift from the loving Father. We fume and fret to earn a few dollars and will not open our eyes to see the gifts that Heaven showers at our feet.

Every day is the beginning of a new year. Every moment is eternal and holds all the good that the past ever promised or that the future ever can fulfill. Yet the paradox is that every atom of our bodies is charged and renewed with every rising sun. We are new creatures with every coming dawn. New thoughts, new actions, new duties, hopes and joys forever crowd upon us for recognition. The golden grain of life stands ever ready for our reaping. Shall we longer stand like beggars at the border of the field?

Resting under the shade of a big live oak in the foothills, there came to the writer that consciousness of peace that comes to all men, at times, and the advent of which, though it continue but a brief moment, reconciles the soul to all the apparent evils of existence, past and future.

When such a rare moment has passed, the one who has experienced it begins at once to question why this consciousness of perfection could not last forever and why it is not communicable to other souls. He seldom stops to consider that if it were an entity capable of being communicated, it would lose its universality and become a thing of time and space, a thing localized and to be dealt with according to the whim and caprice of personalities. He also fails to realize that the "forever" which he so ardently longs for was actually experienced in that one blessed moment of consciousness.

As for bringing such a state of consciousness down into the mentality that recognizes only life’s flitting phenomena—it cannot be done. That sense of peace is not dependent upon anything that shall come to man tomorrow. It is dependent upon man’s vision of what is true today. It is not something that can be grasped and held. It can only be perceived, and when it is seen, the perceiver will not be able to separate himself from that which he sees.

As a matter of truth, if any man should live one million years—on this or any other planet—he never could live but one moment at a time, and perhaps if he had true wisdom he never would recognize any other time than the now, the present moment, which for him would include past and future.

What is it that makes yesterday terrible to the evil doer? It is his consciousness—his memory, if you will—of what occurred yesterday, and the ignoble part which he played in yesterday’s events. What is it that makes yesterday beautiful? It is the memory of our noble part and position in relation to yesterday’s events, but let it be remembered that this consciousness, this memory of yesterday, is not a thing of the past. It is the fact of today, of this present moment. Where is yesterday, then? It is nowhere, unless one insists upon it. On the other hand, it is here, now and forever, so long as man continues to identify himself with it. Would it be possible to forget yesterday, to blot it from the calendar of the soul? Yes, one could easily forget yesterday if he would only GET today. The writer’s opinion? Very well. Let it go at that, and keep your terrible yesterdays.

What is it that makes one fearful of tomorrow? This: That one is living NOW in tomorrow, exaggerating the unpleasant things that are not, or that have no substance—just as, in the case of the memories of yesterday, one clings to the consciousness of shadows, of fleeting, unsubstantial things and experiences that would have no place in present consciousness if man, the Divine, so willed it.

The only thing that makes for the fear of death is the fact that man, who has eaten of the "tree of knowledge," super-imposes upon his consciousness the conception of something impossible. If there is—or, let us say, if there were such a condition as death—it would not be the dead who would fear it. Death could not be a terror to them. It would be the living who would be conscious of its possibility. If there is no death, then the terror of death lies only in the dread of the impossible. In either case, then—whether there be death or not—it is not death, but the conception of it, or rather the belief in it, that causes misery among men. In short, men fear death tomorrow because they do not accept life today.

Can tomorrow be blotted from the calendar of the soul? Yes, if the soul insists in seeing and living in today. A mere opinion of the writer? Let it go at that, then, and keep your trembling hopes of a time that you will forever imagine could be better than the present hour. Go on fondling your fears of that which does not exist except in your own mind and by your own invitation. Nurse your dread of what is to come. Put your child of grief in the dark bed of your own making, but do not reproach Life for her seeming partiality, for every moment she offers you a babe of joy and a cradle of light, and the power of love, and the gift of song.

ALL schools of thought, philosophy, and religion strive after an ideal, be it a state of perfection and blessedness here or hereafter. There are those whose paramount ambition is to enrich life here and now with all the fragrance and sweetness of earthly sunshine and rains. Others there are who look forward to a brighter day that is to come with the death of this mortal life. To such people heaven is a reward for their earthly virtues and pious actions.

The yogi* conception of heaven is a state of consciousness wherein heaven sparkles in perennial joy of the human heart. Like any mortal, the yogi loves life, but his love of life drives him to discover that deeper source whence fresh waters of joy forever spring. To a yogi, what is heaven but the fulfillment of his soul-hunger to know the Infinite that is also within his finite self? By heaven, he means the awakening of the intuitional perception that unfolds the sublime consciousness of oneness of all things. To him it is the Divine state of brightening his soul-chamber with the effulgence of the Divine Light that illumines the all-within and the all-without. It means the complete knowledge of self and non-self, being and non-being, I-am, and I-am-not, or, in other words, the perfect knowledge of the fact that all are one and one is all. In that state, he achieves the sublimation of all lower faculties to the highest state of Divine nature; herein man ascends to Godhood and God descends to manhood, or man becomes God and God becomes man. Furthermore, all his mental changes and fluctuations so subside as to allow the inner light of the soul to shine in its native glory. Heaven is self-illumination. It is the end-all and be-all of our soul’s thirst and heart’s hunger. The spiritual journey ends there. It is the conscious rendezvous in the table-land of mind, where God and man meet. All spiritual struggles and material and physical pains are endured for its attainment. Thus the yogi liberates himself from the pairs of opposites as well as from the delusion of duality and Maya. This mental freedom is the heaven of yogis. Such was the consciousness of Jesus. Such was the consciousness of Sri Krishna and of Buddha.

Only spiritual living makes a man heir to this conscious heaven. The spiritual life is a life of great responsibility and constant watchfulness. In an unequivocal way, it demands an educated and tense attention to the ways and means of living and thinking. Many people drift along the current of events because it is easier to surrender than to fight. No sooner than a seeker discovers that the spiritual seeking necessitates a gigantic struggle to be waged and carried on indefinitely for the subjugation of the demons of mind and environment, than he chooses and embraces the more inviting path of least resistance. He consciously submits to his lower tendencies, gleefully breathing a breath of relief from responsibilities, which is indeed a breath of shame and defeat. Better die in the fight than live a half-life. What of it if the way is difficult and the path is beset with pitfalls? Your inner power is always equal to, even greater than, the outer power that opposes you. Nothing entangles your path which makes it impossible for you to find a way out. There are pitfalls in the pathway, but you can overcome them instead of falling into them. On account of this inherent inertia and weakness of mind, most people crave a heaven after death rather than the strength to work for one within themselves here and now. Why do you dream of an unknown hope-land when you can acquire it in this life? In this respect yogis show more of the discriminative intellect than disciples of other schools of philosophy.

Naturally, the question arises as to why the higher life of the yogi is to besieged with difficulties. All Nature is composed of three qualitative substances called sattva, rajas, and tamas. Their essential traits are illumination, energy, and inertia, respectively. The sattva is of the nature of illumination, rajas is the nature of energy, and tamas is of the nature of inactivity. They combine and they also separate. In combination, and also in separation, they create the different traits of man and Nature. One who is sattva-predominant is an illumined soul, endowed with keen intellect and wisdom. Whenever a man is rajas-predominant, he is energetic, active, and swayed by extreme passions; whereas, the man of tamas-predominance is idle, inactive, slothful, and lacking will, energy, and wisdom. Without exception, all people can be characterized in theses categories. We all show these traits in our character with the possible preponderance of one trait or the other.

According to the distribution of these qualities, the mind of man is divided into five classes: Restless (ksipta), infatuated (mudha), distracted (viksipta), one-pointed (ekagra), and restrained (nirudha)., The object of the yogi is to bring the mind to that elysian stage where equilibrium reigns supreme. In that stage of equipoise he is calm, serene, subdued, and illumined. Ordinarily, the mind is busy only in perception and inferences. It is full of rajas and tamas; that is to say, it is too much in the grip of passions and inertia. Therefore yogis restrain or arrest these fluctuations of the mind by concentration. In the first three states, such as the restless, infatuated, and distracted states, mind is far from yoga, therefore, far from the consciousness of heavenly joy. This joy commences with one-pointedness of mind, culminating in the last stage of restraint, where, all mental states being arrested, the yogi beholds Self within himself.

First: The restless mind always wanders, being moved by rajas, or energy. The restless man is overwhelmed by the rise of passions. Far from attaining any mastery of himself, he is a slave to his inordinate appetites. Such is the mind of the modern man. He is a typical symbol of restlessness. Therefore, he is very unhappy. In his unhappiness, he seeks comfort from false gods and hope from a false heaven. As long as he is restless, his philosophy, religion, and life are tainted by incompleteness and falsity.

Second: The infatuated mind is over-powered by tamas or passions, such as wrath, anger, and jealousy, on account of which it loses itself and follows the wrong course. Lust, greed, war-lust, and exploitation are born of this infatuation. Men of such mind may conform to the dictum of orthodox religion for a safe place in heaven after death, but, alas! their hoped-for heaven will be no better than the tumultuous mind they have in this present life. Heaven is the reflection of man’s own inner nature.

Third: The distracted mind avoids the painful in preference to the pleasurable, however unbeneficial the latter may be. The average person generally belongs to this group. He tends toward good but relapses to bad and evil. Like the restless, he is unstable but occasionally becomes stable, again to relapse into instability. This tendency may be natural to him or may be generated by disease or other cause. To him also the highest joy of life is denied. If a man fails to reap joy in this life, what surety is there that he will be awarded it in the next life?

Fourth: The one-pointed mind is the concentrated mind. In this state is the beginning of yoga. Through concentration, mind is subdued to one thought only, thereby eliminating restlessness, distraction, and infatuation, to which ordinary people are subject. This state of mind spurs man to contemplation and right knowledge. Discrimination arises in his mind, guiding him to right activity and dissuading him from the wrong. Logically, will-power acquires more momentum and intellect more refinement. Man becomes susceptible to higher vibrations and more noble laws that operate on the different planes of consciousness. From the false he retires, and into the lap of the true he wings. In place of false morality and diplomacy, anew conscience of higher morality and straight-forwardness arise in his rules of conduct. Heaven comes nearer and nearer to his reach. No longer does he dream or hope for heaven. It moves automatically toward him.

Fifth: Lastly, the restrained mind, wherein all mental stages are arrested, sublimated, and equilibrated, leads man to bliss or Heaven. Mere knowledge destroys all nescience or false knowledge. Yogi is now face to face with reality. His mind has reached the saturation point, where all sensations or perceptions condense themselves into solid drops of joy. He sees nothing wherein he does not see the face of joy. He hears nothing that does not bring to him the melody of Elysium. He does not feel anything that does not excite in him the feeling of God Consciousness. God surrounds him on all sides. His joy penetrates through every pore of his being. He transforms himself into a living flame of Divine life. Where is Heaven unless it is in the mind of man? The nature of Heaven is the exact duplicate of man’s own perfect mind.

God is the Sun of Love

That illumines the human heart

Into a shower of bubbling laughter.

He is the golden thread of joy

That weaves all Cosmic things

Into a continuity of melody and song.

He is the Bliss of Poise

Which is the throne of freedom

In the realm of human thought.

He is the Voice of Silence

That speaks in a mute eloquence

Through the heart of Nature and man.

He is the fragrant Breath of Life

That enlivens both life and non-life

By His changeless law of ceaseless change.

He is the Spirit of Motion

That moves earth and heavens

Into a solemn hymn of ever-joyous activity.

He is the Smile of Beauty that sparkles

On the face of Creation as a touch of Eternity.

That God I meditate on,

In the seclusion of my sacred silence.

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This life is pre-existent to the next life. A previous life would then be pre-existent to this incarnation.

If we think this to be the truth, we shall be in distinguished company.

In the distant past there was written, probably the longest poem in the world, named in India, the Mahabharata, meaning the "great India" and is to India what the Odyssey is to the Greeks.

This poem includes the Ramayana, to India what the Iliad is to Greece—and also in the Mahabharata is included the Bhagavad Gita or the "Song Celestial," the sacred book of the Indo-Aryans of India.

In this longest poem in the world we may read the following:

"Whatever acts, good or bad, which the individual has done in a former body have certainly to be enjoyed or suffered by him. By such enjoyment and endurance, former acts are exhausted and other acts again accumulate, until he succeeds in acquiring a knowledge of those spiritual practices which lead to emancipation."

Down through the ages this idea of birth and rebirth has been accepted by wise men.

In China the great chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu, long ago said: "Birth is not a beginning; death is not an end."

This may be understood by Plato’s statement made over 2500 years ago: "Our souls existed formerly apart from our bodies. The souls of the dead must exist somewhere, whence they come into being again, for the soul is strong enough by nature to endure coming into being many times."

Dante, Emerson, Lessing, Huxley, Carlyle and many other bright minds have accepted reincarnation.

That which reincarnates is MAN. It cannot be his body for a new body is at man’s disposal at re-birth. What then is Man?

A dead body is not man.

Put life into it and even then we do not have man. An imbecile has both life and body, but that does not measure up to what we include in our idea of man.

Add mind. Even so the low minded man is a beast. The high minded man is "a little lower than an angel."

Man uses the mind. Man is the Self, the individual separate from every other individual in the world. This individual, this Man, this Higher Self knows himself as himself from the earliest recollection he has of childhood life up to the latest moment of his existence.

Throughout all the changes of early life, youth, maturity and age, the recognition of one’s Self as himself persists.

Let the one who wants to know the Soul, the Higher Self, think about this daily.

It is a growth in consciousness and in time the way to the inner life will open to one. The dweller in the body will soon recognize its own immortality as an ever present feeling, then reincarnation will not have to be taken on the authority of another.

This is an experience, the basis of knowledge on all planes of mentality, and it merges into realization.

Thus it is that the Truth can make us free.

This is the heritage of every man. Believe it. Try it. Doubt will pass away. The inner life will then beckon the student ever onward.

At Thy feet I come to shower

All my full heart’s rhyming flower,

Of Thy breath born,

By Thy love grown,

With my lonely seeking found,

By hands Thou gavest picked and bound;—

From Thee the sheaves

Within these leaves:—

Of my life’s season

The choicest flowers,

With petals soulful spread,

Their humble perfume shed;—

Hands folded now I come to give

What’s Thine—receive!

2 c. grated carrot

1/4 c. chopped sweet pickle

1/4 c. chopped olives (green or ripe)

1/4 c. chopped nutmeats

Mix ingredients and combine with enough cream mayonnaise to moisten thoroughly. Service on crisp lettuce leaves.

Select four firm ripe bananas. Slice each in thirds lengthwise and saute each slice in butter until a light brown. Sprinkle the slices lightly with cinnamon and place them in a buttered baking dish.

Make a sauce of the following ingredients:

1 c. chopped dates

2 tablespoonfuls honey

1 tablespoonful lemon juice

3/4 c. hot water.

Pour the sauce over the bananas and bake in a moderate oven (350o F.) fifteen to twenty minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with ground nuts and serve hot with cream.

Cook two teaspoonfuls of chopped onion in two tablespoonfuls of butter for four minutes. Mix one cupful of grated American cheese with one cupful of chopped English walnuts, and one cupful of whole wheat bread crumbs. Add two-thirds cupful of hot water, the onions and butter in which they were cooked, the juice of half a lemon, two well beaten eggs, half a teaspoonful of salt, and a pinch of pepper. Mix well and bake for thirty minutes in a moderate oven. When ready to serve, sprinkle with tomato sauce and garnish with parsley.

Happiness is a will-o’-the-wisp which most people follow, and which oftentimes leads them astray until they drown in the marshes of suffering. Most temporary, easily attained, so-called happiness is nothing but suffering in disguise. It may be pleasant to the palate to eat a great deal at the table, but remember that such procedure is very likely to have many unpleasant after-effects, such as acute indigestion or stomach ache, so also is it with immoderation in your natural impulses. They generally give you sense pleasure in the beginning, but ultimately they produce satiety and unhappiness. The greatest way to create happiness for yourself is not to allow sense lures or bad habits to control you, but rather be a stern, ironlike ruler of your habits and appetites. Remember that just as you cannot satisfy your own hunger by feeding some other person, so you cannot be really happy by trying to satisfy only the over-demands of your senses.

Too much luxury, instead of producing happiness, drives it away from your mind. Do not spend all your time in finding ways and means which you think will make you happy. Be contented always, equally in your struggle for prosperity, and also in your attainment of it., You can be a King of Happiness in a tattered cottage, or you can be a tortured victim of unhappiness even if you live in a palace. Happiness is a mental phenomenon exclusively. You must first establish it firmly within yourself, and then with an undying resolution always to be happy, go through the world seeking health, prosperity, and wisdom. Remember that to battle failure and sickness and to seek success ever with a happy attitude will bring you far, far nearer to your desired goal than if with an unhappy mind you try to gain your heart’s desire, no matter what that desire may be.

Beautiful is life to him who has the soul to feel the beauty of life, even more the life of inner beauty.

Dancing out of the unknown pool of Eternity, ceaselessly and heedlessly it flows to merge and meet again into the unseen Sea of the Shoreless.

This life, which we call present, carries within itself all the dreams of heaven and the heaven of all your dreams, with no other purpose than to bring them to flowering and fruition.

There stands Nature, beautiful and enticing, always offering life her love for a closer tie. She appeals to be instincts rooted in the blood and bones of life. Like a witch she entices the instincts of life; once falling into her clasp, life loses its vitality and power and hardly finds opportunity and time to win wisdom and be wise.

Lacking wisdom, life grows in a wilderness of emotions and pleasures. The inevitable follows, life stunting its growth and knowing not the immense treasures it hides within.

Whereas, when listening not to the call of instinct, life listens to the voice within and gathers strength before it goes out in the field of play. It grows in the power of flesh and keenness of mind, also touching the inner depth of Self.

Then as a conqueror it moves in Nature, ennobling both self and Nature and coming nearer and nearer to the fulfillment of all dreams. A hitherto-unknown radiance shines in its face, and unknown power radiates from all the senses, and in the tongue of beauty and nobility God speaks thorough every action and every stirring of the mind. Life of chaotic instincts becomes an instinct of ordered life, giving beauty a meaning, God an expression, and self a true understanding.

East-West 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 novel 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 be of immense service to 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.

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Open the petalled bars of our heart-buds,

And let our imprisoned fragrance of love

Rush out to meet Thee.

With the wind of Cosmic Perception,

Our fragrance will float

To Thy Temple of Infinity.

—From "Whispers from Eternity."

___________

Teach us to conquer

The Satan of dividing selfishness,

Which prevents the union

Of brother-souls into the one fold of Spirit.

—From "Whispers from Eternity."

At the beginning of this little book is a verse:

He who has a truth and keeps it,

Keeps a pearl from one who needs it,

Keeps what not to him belongs,

And a fellow mortal wrongs.

Judging from what I have seen of the Author, she does not keep her pearls away from those who need them.

There is a spirit of friendliness at the Eutropheon Restaurants, 833 South Olive, and 211 South Hill, Los Angeles. The presiding genius is a little bit of a thing with shining eyes and a sensitive mouth. There is something extraordinary about her. Always as busy as the proverbial bee, she yet has plenty of time to give sound advice about foods to those who seek the wisdom she possesses in that line. And one is able to sense very clearly the fact that food wisdom is not the only kind she could give out form her storehouse of mind and heart.

But to get back to the little "Cook-less Book." All of its sixty-one pages are "pearls," of more value than the poor diseased oyster’s crystallized tears. For one can be covered with pearls of great price and be a pauper in health; while the wealth of knowledge given in these pages cannot be computed in dollars and cents, for its is more precious than jewels and gold.

Dr. and Mrs. Richter have a message for the world, a message of Health. I can think of no better investment than this small book costing a dollar. The Food Chart alone is worth the price of the book.

There are many writers of verse, but few inspired poets. Mr. James Warnack, of Los Angeles, author of Soul Symphonies, has just published a single illustrated poem, "A Special Request," which is a masterpiece of strength and rhythm.

The verses are suitable for framing.

I was made for Thee alone.

I was made for dropping flowers of devotion

Gently at Thy feet on the altar of the morning.

My hands were made to serve Thee willingly;

To remain folded in adoration,

Waiting for Thy coming; and when Thou camest

To bathe Thy feet with my tears.

My Voice was made to sing Thy Glory.

My Feet were made

To seek Thy Temples everywhere.

My Eyes were made a chalice

To hold Thy burning love and the Wisdom

Falling form Thy Nature’s hands.

My Ears were made

To catch the music of Thy Footsteps

Echoing through the halls of space,

And to hear Thy Divine Melodies

Flowing through all heart-tracts of devotion.

My Lips were made to breathe forth Thy praises

And Thy intoxicating Inspirations.

My Love was made to throw incandescent

Searchlight flames to find Thee

Hidden

In the forest of my desires.

My Heart was made to respond to Thy call alone.

My Soul was made to be the channel

Through which Thy Love

Might flow uninterruptedly

Into all thirsty souls.

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