WORSHIP. Persian. Hindu. The Rosary. CLX. He needs no other rosary whose thread of life is strung with beads of love and thought. Worship of Wisdom. CLXI. This world is not for him who doth not worship. Know that the worship of spiritual wisdom is far better than the worship with offerings of things. In wisdom is to be found every work without exception. Although thou wert the greatest of offenders, thou shalt be able to cross the gulf of sin with the bark of wisdom. There is not anything in this world to be compared with wisdom for purity. Wisdom is all hands and feet, and all ear; it sitteth in the midst of the world, possessing the vast whole. It is the reflected light of every faculty. It standeth at a distance and is yet present. It is that which now destroyeth, now produceth. It is the light of lights. It presideth in every breast. He who is perfected by practice, in due time findeth it in his own soul. CLXII. Worship. Keep silence well! Mean praise is not valued among the munificent. Gotama made a new song for the old god. To the ancient guide of man, disappointing no desires, a friend to friends,-to him we address this song. This earth belongs to Varuna (the king of heaven) and the wide sky: he is also contained in this drop of water. He who should flee far beyond the sky, even he would not be rid of Varuna. Thou art true; thou searchest out sin; thou art without blemish. Let us be sinless before Varuna, who is gracious even to him who has committed sin. No real foe of God is known in heaven nor on earth. The storm-gods (Maruts) are thy allies. His path is easy and without thorns who does what is right. Many snares pass by him who is with God (Indra) in his work. To the giver thou givest. The shelter which thou affordest to him who praises thee, grant them threefold to the man that gives. Formerly, and now, and also in the future, let us give praise to thee, O Varuna! for in thee, O unconquerable are all laws grounded, immovable as a rock! G Hindu. Rig-Veda Sanhita. comp. Oracles by the Theurgists. comp. (Dial.) The Intelligible. CLXIII. Our voluntary sorrows germinate in us as the growth of the particular life we lead. On beholding yourself, fear. Believe yourself to be above body, and you are. Those robust souls perceive truth through themselves, and are of a more inventive nature; such a soul being saved through its own strength. We should fly from the multitude of men going along in a herd. The powers build up the body of a holy man. Not knowing that every god is good, ye are faithlessly vigilant. Fiery hope should nourish you in the angelic region. To the persevering mortal the blessed immortals are swift. All things are governed and subsist in faith, truth, and love. The oracle says, Divinity is never so much turned away from man, and never so much sends him in novel paths, as when we make an ascent to the most divine of speculations or works, in a confused and disordered manner (as it were), with unhallowed lips or unbathed feet. For of those who are thus negligent, the progressions are imperfect, the impulses are vain and the paths are blind. The orders prior to heaven possess mystic silence. Every intellect apprehends deity. The intelligible is food to that which understands. You will not apprehend it by an intellectual energy as when understanding some particular thing. It is not proper to understand that intelligible with vehemence, but with the extended flame of an extended intellect; a flame which measures all things, except that intelligible. But it is requisite to understand this. For if you incline your mind, you will understand it, though not vehemently. It becomes you, therefore, bringing with you the pure convertible eye of your soul, to extend the pure intellect to the intelligible, that you may learn its nature because it has a subsistence above intellect. CLXIV. Observances. Without purity of mind, to what end is the worship of God? Why say, 'I will go to Benares?' why long for the sacred wells? How shall the true Benares be attained by the evil-doer? Though we roam the wilds, sanctity is not in them; nor is it in the sky; nor on earth at the confluence of holy streams. Make thy body pure and thou shalt behold the King. The devout man by the gradual progress of his soul shall attain his desire. He who is converted into pure mind knows the great secret. Convert thy body into a temple, and restrain thyself: give up evil thoughts, and see God with thy internal eye. When we know him we shall know ourselves. Without personal experience, the mere savour of the scripture will not remove the fears of the aspirant; as darkness is never dispelled by a painted flame. Though he roam to sacred Concan, no dog will turn Hindu. Vemana. 17th cent. Zendav. Old Yasna. comp. into a lion; going to holy Benares will make no pig an elephant; and no pilgrimage will make a saint of one whose nature is different. Be thy creed or thy prayers what they may, unless thou hast a little truth thou shalt not attain the path to happiness. He who possesses the truth is the twice-born. The source of final happiness is inherent in the heart; he is a fool who seeks it elsewhere he is like the shepherd who searched for the sheep which was in his bosom. Why should you collect stones from the hills, and build fine temples? Why torment yourselves so, while the God as a living being constantly dwells within you? Better the house-dog than the inanimate household goddess; and better than all demigods is the Lord of the universe. That light, like the morning star, that dwells in the inmost heart of every man, is our refuge. Worship. CLXV. We worship the pure, the Lord of purity. We worship the universe of the true spirit, visible, invisible, and all that sustains the welfare of the good creation. We praise all good thoughts, all good words, all good deeds, which are and will be, and keep pure all that is good. Thou true happy Being! we strive to think, to speak, to do only what, of all actions, may promote the two lives, the body and the mind. |