The desire of every person in the world is to possess all he wants, whether it belongs to him or to anybody else.
He wants all things to last if they are of any use to him;
he wants all those dear and near to him to abide close to him.
All he doesn't wish to see must be exiled from the town.
Even the whole of nature must work to suit him:
the cold must not be more than he wants;
the heat must not exceed his desire;
the rain must obey him;
pain must not approach.
There must not be anything difficult in life, and
all things and people must be perfect in the perfection of God.
Everybody must act in life as he wishes them to;
he alone must be the engineer and all others his machines.
They must have all the endurance he demands of them, and
at the same time all must be as sensitive as he wants them to be.
No one should move against his desire,
no bird must fly in the sky, nor even a leaf make a flutter except by his command;
he alone must live and all others must live under him.

By this attitude I have not described someone in the world, but every individual. The world is a place where every individual wishes to be the king: there are so many kings and only one kingdom, and the whole tragedy of life is accounted for by this. The wise out of wisdom make life easy.

Among the wise there are two categories: one is the master, the other is the saint. The attitude of each in life is quite contrary.

The Saint

The attitude of the saint is to feel sympathy for others, to see the difficulties of the situations of others as of himself, and to sacrifice his wants for the needs of others. He realizes that life is difficult, whereas those who are void of wisdom have still more difficulties as they know not how to surmount the difficulties of life. Out of his love, mercy, and compassion, he thus sacrifices his life to the service of his fellowman by making life easy for them.

In the first place, he sees the worst enemy of his fellowman in himself, knowing that the nature of every ego is hostile. By being resigned to the will of his fellowman and by sacrificing his life's advantages for his brother, he feels he has given his fellowman some relief. By practicing this moral through life at every step, a wise man becomes a source of happiness to all he meets and with whom he comes in contact in life, and his spirit becomes deepened in saintliness.

The spirit of a saint results in being tuned to the whole universe. He is in tune with the climates, with the weather, with nature, with animals, and with birds, he becomes in tune with the trees and plants, with all atmospheres, keynote of the whole universe. All harmonize with him--the virtuous souls, wicked souls, angels, and devils--all become in tune. He becomes in harmony with every object and with every element. He is in tune with those who have passed from this earth, those in the atmosphere, and those who live on earth. The moral of a saint is very difficult, but the spirit of the saint is a benediction to himself and a blessing to others.

The Master

Then there is the way of the master which is quite the opposite. He conquers himself; he battles with life; he is at war with destiny; he invades all that seems wrong to him; he finds the key to the secrets unknown to him. Instead of being resigned to all conditions, all things, and all people, he turns them to the shape that he wishes and molds as he likes the personalities which come in touch with him. He tunes personalities to the tune which suits his orchestration. He has command over objects, he produces effects in objects which are not naturally there. He can even rise to a state where he can command nature.

The spiritual hierarchy is made of the masters. For the world is ruled and governed; although outward governments are different, the inward government is the spiritual hierarchy. In the East such ones whose thought, whose feeling, whose glance, and whose impulse can move the universe are called Wali.

Sincerity

Neither of them, saint or master, comes to claim before the world, "Look at me, I am a saint," or, "I am a master," or, "I can do this," or, "I am such a virtuous person," or, "a good person." They keep themselves in humble guise, one like everybody in the world. It is not a claim, it is an action which proves the master. What do they care if the world acclaims them as a saint or as a master? What benefit is it to them? It is only a benefit to the one who is false, because he is glad to be something he is not.

He who is all does not wish that everybody should recognize him as such. A person with riches knows that he is rich; he need not put on fifty rings to tell everybody how rich he is. The one who puts on fifty rings is seldom rich. There is a beautiful simile known in India: the empty vessel makes the noise; when it is filled with water it makes no noise. In short, sincerity is the principal thing to attain in life. What little is gained sincerely and held unassumingly is worth much more than a greater gain void of sincerity, for it is a hill of sand, and the storm will come and blow it away.

Verily, truth is the treasure that every soul is seeking.