APRIL "The untouched soul, Greater than all the worlds (because the worlds By it subsist); smaller than subtleties Of things minutest; last of ultimates; Sits in the hollow heart of all that lives! Whoso hath laid aside desire and fear, His senses mastered, and his spirit still, Sees in the quiet light of verity Eternal, safe, majestical – HIS SOUL!" – The Secret of Death (from The Katha Upanishad) He who leaves the society of fools, cleaves unto the wise. The self is hidden in all beings, and does not shine forth; but it is seen by subtle seers, through their sharp and subtle intellect.

Patience leads to power; but eagerness in greed leads to loss. Three things make a poor man rich: courtesy, consideration for others, and the avoidance of suspicion. When trust is gone, misfortune comes in; when confidence is dead, revenge is born; and when treachery appears, all blessings fly away. The world exists by cause; all things exist by cause; and beings are bound by cause, even as the rolling cart-wheel by the pin of an axle-tree. The living soul is not woman, nor man, nor neuter; whatever body it takes, with that it is joined only.

He who wishes to reach Buddhahood, and aspires to the knowledge of the Self-born, must honor those who keep this doctrine. As the spider moving upward by his thread gains free space, thus also he who undertakes moving upward by the known word OM, gains independence. The wheel of sacrifice has Love for its nave, Action for its tire, and Brotherhood for its spokes. Man consists of desires. And as is his desire, so is his will; and as is his will, so is his deed; and whatever deed he does, that he will reap. A stone becomes a plant; a plant a beast; the beast a man; a man a Spirit; and the Spirit – GOD. There exists no spot on the earth, or in the sky, or in the sea, neither is there any in the mountain-clefts, where an evil deed does not bring trouble to the doer.

Whoever, not being a sanctified person, pretends to be a Saint, he is indeed the lowest of all men, the thief in all worlds, including that of Brahma. If a man consorting with me (Buddha) does not conform his life to my commandments, what benefit will ten thousand precepts be to him? He who smites will be smitten; he who shows rancor will find rancor; so, from reviling cometh reviling, and to him who is angered comes anger. "He abused me, he reviled me, he beat me, he subdued me"; he who keeps this in mind, and who feels resentment, will find no peace. Like a beautiful flower, full of color, but without scent, are the fine but fruitless words of him who does not act accordingly.

When your mind shall have crossed beyond the taint of delusion, then will you become indifferent to all that you have heard or will hear. The wise guard the home of nature's order; they assume excellent forms in secret. If thou losest all, and gettest wisdom by it, thy loss is thy gain. Empty thy mind of evil, but fill it with good. Great works need no great strength, but perseverance. Sleep is but birth into the land of Memory; birth but a sleep in the oblivion of the Past. To forgive without forgetting, is again to reproach the wrongdoer every time the act comes back to us.

Every man contains within himself the potentiality of immortality, equilibrated by the power of choice. He who lives in one color of the rainbow is blind to the rest. Live in the light diffused through the entire arc, and you will know it all. Every time the believer pronounces the word OM, he renews the allegiance to the divine potentiality enshrined within the Soul. People talk of the Devil. Every man has seen him; he is in every sinful heart. The Higher Self knows that highest home of Brahman, which contains all and shines so bright. The wise who without desiring happiness worship that SELF, are not born again.

MAY I'm weary of conjectures – this must end 'em. Thus am I doubly armed: my death and life, My bane and antidote, are both before me: This in a moment brings me to an end; But this informs me I shall never die. The Soul, secured in her existence, smiles At the drawn dagger, and defies its point. The stars shall fade away, the sun himself Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years; But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amidst the war of elements, The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds. – Addison The eternal Spirit is everywhere.

It stands encompassing the whole world. He who feeds the hungry before he has assuaged his own hunger, prepares for himself eternal food. He who renounces that food for the sake of a weaker brother is – a god. The altar on which the sacrifice is offered is Man; the fuel is speech itself, the smoke the breath, the light the tongue, the coals the eye, the sparks the ear. One moment in eternity is as important as another moment, for eternity changeth not, neither is one part better than another part. Better it would be that a man should eat a lump of flaming iron than that one should break his vows. Even a good man sees evil days, as long as his good deeds have not ripened; but when they have ripened, then does the good man see happy days.

By oneself the evil is done, by oneself one suffers; by oneself the evil is left undone, by oneself one is purified. Purity and impurity belong to oneself; no one can purify another. Self is the lord of Self: who else could be the lord! With self well subdued, a man finds a master such as few can find. If one man conquer in battle a thousand times a thousand men, and if another conquer himself, he is the greater of the two conquerors. Who is the great man? He who is strongest in patience. He who patiently endures injury, and maintains a blameless life – he is a man indeed! If thou hast done evil deeds, or if thou wouldst do them, thou mayest arise and run where'er thou wilt, but thou canst not free thyself of thy suffering.

There is a road that leads to Wealth; there is another road that leads to Nirvana (the highest paradise). An evil deed does not turn on a sudden; it is like fire smoldering in the ashes, which burns the fool. An evil deed kills not instantly, as does a sword, but it follows the evil-doer into his next and still next rebirth. The calumniator is like one who flings dirt at another when the wind is contrary, the dirt does but return on him who threw it. The virtuous man cannot be hurt, the misery that his enemy would inflict comes back on himself.

If a man understands the self saying "I am He," what could he wish or desire that he should pine after the body? That word which all the Vedas record, which all penances proclaim, which men desire when they live as religious disciples, that word I tell thee briefly, it is OM. As a person having seen one in a dream, recognizes him afterwards; so does one who has achieved proper concentration of mind perceive the SELF. It is better to do one's own duty, even though imperfectly, than to perform another's duty well. The wise who knows the Self as bodiless within the bodies, as unchanging among changing things, as great and omnipresent, does never grieve. The path of virtue lies in the renunciation of arrogance and pride.

He who wrongs another unjustly will regret it, though men may applaud him; but he who is wronged is safe from regret, though the world may blame him. There is more courage in facing the world with undisguised truth, than in descending into a wild beast's den. True clemency is in foregoing revenge, when it is in one's power; true patience is in bearing up against disappointments. The happy man must prepare ere the evil day comes; and when it does, let the thought that every good and great man has been made to suffer at some time console him. Wealth in the hands of one who thinks not of helping mankind with it, is sure to turn one day into dry leaves. Like as the night follows the day, so misfortune is the shadow of joy; Karma (retribution) bestowing her lots with both hands.