Wisdom of the Ages

Here are some of the verities of life which are eternally true. Let us take one for cogitation each day and try to reflect the Truth of it in our life. We have, of course, to guard against making an alloy of it by a subtle admixture, traducing it to suit our own commonplace convenience.

April:

1. All life is encounter and the supreme encounter is of man with God.

2. They who know truth in truth, and untruth in untruth, arrive at Truth.

3. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

4. An act carelessly performed, a broken vow, and hesitating obedience to discipline, all this brings no great reward.

5. Man cannot abide in his pomp. He is like the beasts that perish.

6. Greatness lies in worthy living among the common things of life.

7. Love is not a mere impulse of curiosity or a leap of lust. It is spiritual in character.

8. It is up to each individual to attain harmony, awakening to Spiritual Truth.

9. ‘All created things perish,’ he who knows and sees this becomes passive in pain; this is the way to purity.

10. Truth is never preached for one has to realise It within oneself.

11. All honest striving is sacred.

12. Time and timelessness, nature and super nature are twin aspects of man.

13. Man belongs to the world and the world beyond it.

14. Our duty is to make an effort. It does not matter if we fail.

15. We realise the truth of our freedom only in moments of silence.

16. God is spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in Truth.

17. Unselfishness is more paying, only people have not the patience to practise it.

18. Spiritual Life combines the active and the contemplative sides.

19. Self-sacrifice, not self-assertion, is law of the highest universe.

20. God alone lives. The soul alone lives. Spirituality alone lives.

21. That which is selfish is immoral and that which is unselfish is moral.

22. The conquest of lust is the highest endeavour of a man’s or woman’s existence.

23. The wise ones learn to renounce their senses, knowing that those are the enemies of their immortal soul.

24. Our best work is done, our greatest influence is exerted when we are without thought of self.

25. Subtle, they say, are the senses; subtler than the senses is the mind; subtler than the mind is the reason; but subtler even than the reason is He.

26. The reward of the conquest of self is Spiritual Bliss.

27. Where there is nothing there is God.

28. Cleanse the chamber of thy heart that thy Beloved may enter.

29. Brahmacharya means that mode of life which leads to realisation of God.

30. The first step to Brahmacharya is the realisation of its necessity. The next is gradual control of the senses.