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Stray Thoughts and Glimpses
TRUE heroism findeth not its symbol in the splendour and majesty of the shining armour and accoutrement, nor seeth its glory in the trophies of a thousand victories; for its symbol is the Holy War in which the might and puissance of the Eternal plays through its willing hands, and its glory the laurel-wreath of Delight wherewith God crowns all doughty champions of His Cause.
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Not he the philosopher that achieves marvels in ratiocination and winneth the applause of an intellectual age, but he whose organon is a sharply whetted instrument which God pierces into the closed strongholds of prejudice, pedantry, error and obscurantism.
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Guruhood shall attain its apex, only when it turns the disciple’s eye towards the beacon light of his own godhead; for not in the borrowed lights of a single aureola, but in the original effulgence of all points in a shining galaxy of pioneers is to be heralded the dawn of the coming age.
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The true reformer is no mere compassionate fighter of evils, dashing upon the fenced ramparts of society and directing from without the might of his assault upon stereotyped customs and usages; but he who has realised the Collective Soul in the profundities of his being, and with an unerring sureness of aim born of an inner illumination and with the conscious omnipo-
Page – 440 tence of an intense Will, sendeth forth mighty currents reverberating from the centre of society’s life to its outer surface, dethroning and annihilating the distorted and ugly usurpers of the Throne of God.
Page – 441 II The glories of the cross attract more than the laurel of victory. Still the laurel, and not the cross, must be our end.
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Man runs after the good, but incurs the evil, for the two are intertwined. He that sits in the Self beyond both, enjoyeth both; for the two are the extreme notes of a single gamut.
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Renunciation impoverisheth materially, materialism impoverisheth spiritually. Integral richness cometh from a divine living which consecrates itself to the Indwelling Deity and becometh a dynamic centre and instrument of God’s creative power.
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Mere devotion maketh an intellectual pigmy, and mere knowledge an imperfect actor in God’s drama. It is only into surrendered minds that God pours forth both devotion and knowledge, making these the twin bases of a mighty action.
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In every age man has awaited the advent of a Messiah or a Teacher, and found his highest glory in discipleship. But the Coming Teacher shall point out the Messiah and the follower, the Teacher and the disciple, in every man and reveal to his gaze the sempiternal glory of a perfect godhead.
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God is equally in joy and in suffering, in victory and in defeat. And the warrior in His cause shrinketh not before the
Page – 442 suffering, nor is afraid of the defeat; for he seeth the Divine strategy which sometimes retires into ignominy and ridicule to exhaust the Satanic force of its exulting opponents, then rushes forward with immense vehemence and conquers.
Page – 443 III Mankind hath hitherto placed God too far above man for each to approach the other. But on the identity of the human with the divine shall rest the foundation of the coming ages of humanity.
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In His ascent of evolution God moveth not only from success to success, for he often useth victory and defeat, honour and dishonour as the twin processes of an efflorescent movement.
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The New Yoga begins where all efforts at personal salvation end, where the self of the individual consecrates itself to the self of Humanity and proceedeth to realise an individual life.
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The Pentecostal showers of inspiration descend upon him who worketh unceasingly for God, not upon him who waiteth actionless for inspiration to come and move him to action.
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Only when the gorgeous temples of the Earth have ceased to monopolise our God, and He is realised in the flight of the sparrow and the mattock of the labourer that leavening of humanity shall begin.
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Not in the eager rushing of the senses towards the objects of the earth but in the spiritual enjoyment of sense objects, consisteth the bhoga of the integral Yogin.
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Page – 444 Renunciation is cowardice only when it evadeth the objects of sense and taketh refuge in the lonely forest or in the meditation room, but it surpasseth the highest intrepidity when moving among the objects of sense it showeth a high-seated and divine indifference to the beatings of waves of desire and passion.
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