Possibilities of Man.

CCCCXXXII.

Providence is divine order. All things in heaven do profit and advantage the things upon earth.

The vision of Good is not like the beams of the sun, whose fiery brightness blindeth the eye by excess of light; rather enlighteneth, and so much increaseth the power of the eye, that any man is able to receive this intelligible clearness. For it is more swift and sharp to pierce, and harmless withal, and full of immortality; and they that are capable, and can draw any store of this spectacle and sight, do many times fall asleep from the body into this most fair and beauteous vision.

The knowledge of it is a divine silence, and the rest of all the senses.

Shining steadfastly on and round about the mind, it enlighteneth all the soul, and changeth it wholly into the essence of God.

For it is possible for the soul to be deified if it contemplate the beauty of the good.

He who can be truly called man is a divine being, and not to be confused with any brute man living in the earth.

Man is a mortal god.

He leaveth not the earth, and yet dwelleth above, so great is the greatness of his nature.

CHARACTER.

Character.

CCCCXXXIV.

The first requisite in the pursuit of virtue is, that the learner think of his own improvement, and do not act from a regard to (the admiration of) others.

What heaven has conferred is the Nature; an accordance with this nature is the Path. This path may not be left for an instant. On this account the superior man does not wait till he sees things, to be cautious, nor till he hears things, to be apprehensive.

There is nothing more visible than what is secret, and nothing more manifest than what is minute. Therefore, the superior man will watch over himself when he is alone. He examines his heart that there may be nothing wrong there, and that he may have no cause for dissatisfaction with himself. That wherein he excels is simply his work which other men cannot see.

Are you free from shame in your apartment, when you are exposed only to the light of heaven?

How abundantly do spiritual beings display their

powers

! We look for them, but do not see them; we listen, but hear them not yet they enter into all things, and there is nothing without them.

Such

Such is the manifestness of what is hidden! is the impossibility of repressing the outgoings of sincerity!

Poets.

CCCCXXXV.

Poets strike out a road to the inaccessible realm of thought, and divine grace beams forth in their genius. He who unites word to word gives away a drop from the blood of his heart. I do not mean a mere external union. Truth and falsehood, wisdom and foolishness, pearls and common shells, though far distant from each other, have a superficial similarity.

CCCCXXXVI.

Essential Worth.

Though a gem be worn on the feet and glass on the head, yet glass is glass and a gem a gem.

CCCCXXXVII.

Firmness.

A firm-hearted man, improperly repulsed, is not abased though the fire fall down the flame will not descend.

Least and Greatest.

CCCCXXXVIII.

Even though a speech be a thousand senseless

words, one word of sense is better, which, if a man hear, he becomes quiet.

If one man conquer in battle a thousand times thousand men, and if another conquer himself, he is the greatest of conquerors.

One's own self conquered is better than all other people; not even a god, a Gandharva, not Mâra with Brahmân could change into defeat the victory of a man who has vanquished himself, and lives under restraint.

If a man for a hundred years sacrifice month after month with a thousand, and if he but for one moment pay homage to a man whose soul is grounded (in true knowledge), better is that homage than a sacrifice for a hundred years.

If he has lived a hundred years vicious and unrestrained, a life of one day is better if a man is virtuous and reflecting.

CCCCXXXIX.

Counsels.

True art lies in the abandonment of artifice.

Of an empire large as Cæsar's, how small a portion suffices for my wants! and though I have an ocean to quench my thirst, how small a draught allays it !

For thy part, never presume to say, 'My origin is such-my property is such;' the basis of a man is on his knowledge.

Avoid the things which concern thee not: none can prosper without doing so.

Excellence receives no hurt from the slight of the

world, as the sun is unimpaired by the darkness of the evening.

Curtail thy hopes, that thou mayest prove happy, for the retrenchment of hope is the health of intellect.

Self-discipline.

CCCCXL.

It is easy for all men to display learning in instructing others; but it is the part of one endued with a great mind to form himself by the rules of justice.

Patience.

CCCCXLI.

To bear with those who revile us, even as the earth bears with those who dig it, is the first of virtues.

Bear, even when you can retaliate; to forget is still better.

To neglect hospitality is poverty of poverty. To bear with the ignorant is might of might.

If you desire that greatness should never leave you, preserve patience,

The wise will not at all esteem the resentful. They will treasure the patient as fine gold.

The pleasure of the resentful is for a day; the praise of the patient lasts while the world lasts.

If others wrong you, compassion for their affliction should keep you from harming them.

No pious abstinence equals the abstinence of those who overcome injury by patience.