Character

Dimensions

Dreams

Ego

Elements

Guidance

Healing

Heart

Immortality

Initiation

Mastery

Meditation

Physical Body

Planes

Power

Prayers

Purpose

Relationships

Religions

School

Speaking

Stages

Sufism

World

A mureed who is on the path must have an object before him to accomplish. If it is a spiritual object, so much the better. If he has a material object, he must first think and find out if that object is just or unjust, right or wrong, beautiful or ugly, profitable or disadvantageous. As Emerson says, "Know what you ask, for you will get it." A human being retains a childish nature throughout his life, which he shows in his fancies and fantasies, wrong or right, not knowing that life is a repetition.

Life is not an experience which ends, but which continues, if not on the physical plane, in the inner planes; if not in the seen, in the unseen. Once a mureed has decided that this is the object, spiritual or material, that he wants to place before him, he must not only think of that object in his practices, he must even dream of it; and the best time to think of it is during the night. When a moment he wakes up, that time he must occupy with the object, with his exercises, the effect of which is so great that one moment of time given at that time of the night is more than the meditation of the whole day.

Night is conceiving. The effect of the night-time is conceiving; the effect of the daytime is expressing. A thought which is brought to materialization must be conceived first, and that thought is conceived in the heart of the night. A person who works in this manner sees the fulfillment of things which could be attained in three years being accomplished in three days.

Waking up must be spontaneous. For instance, there used to be days in my young age that I used to wake up about two o'clock at night for my meditations, the latest three o'clock. And the sleep of youth is terrible. At that time a person wants to sleep day and night, an alarm clock would not wake you. And a thought used to come. It was a kind of distinct advice from a spark of my being which would say, "How cruel you are to yourself! Is there any wisdom in it, at this time when perhaps everybody in the city is asleep and you want to wake up. Even God will not have leisure to listen to your prayers, He would find it very disagreeable to listen at this time of calm and peace when everybody is asleep." That would be my thought.

And I would say, "No, this is the devilish voice. I will not hear it. You are my worst enemy. Either you are myself or someone else. It is the devil who is speaking to me. I will wake up." And the sleep would be hanging over me, I would feel like dropping down at every step I took, so heavy. Then I would put cold water on my face and hands and wake up; and then would sit and be so thankful to have conquered that nature which is man's enemy. Of course, I would not teach such an asceticism to my mureeds, never. But I can tell you how profitable the night vigil is, because one can say best when one has experienced oneself.

1. Wisdom (Prophet)

There is one path which may be called the way of the intellectual. When an intellectual person has risen above his intellectuality it is then that he may be called an intelligent person. For there is a difference between the intellectual and the intelligent. An intellectual person is he who has gathered knowledge by impressions, by studies; and he is the king of the domain of his intellect. What he has learned, what he has studied, what he has experienced, he has kept in the book of his mind; and that is his world. But it makes him captive to a limited horizon of knowledge, and it is the rising above that knowledge which may be called intelligence.

Yet it is the intellectual person who is capable of being intelligent; intellect is a cover over intelligence, and when this cover is taken off then a person becomes intelligent.

The intelligent one is he who perceives for himself, who learns for himself, who understands for himself, who recognizes things by himself, who is a pupil and who is a teacher within himself at the same time.

Once a person has risen above the boundaries of his limited knowledge, then the higher knowledge begins to come to him by itself. He begins to learn more in one moment than an intellectual person would learn after having read all the books in the library during many years. When once an intelligent person has got an insight into the hidden laws of nature, he begins to see a way opening to the higher knowledge. His reasoning changes its nature; it becomes the essence of reason. He does not see things through the reason he has learned from the world, but he begins to see the reason of all reasons, the reason which is covered by ordinary reasoning.

Man is born intelligent; it is afterwards that recovers his intelligence and that he is glad to call it intellect. Then he is recognized as being learned, and he thinks that he has acquired some knowledge, but it is at this point that he makes his intelligence limited. And as long as his intelligence is limited, he cannot see further than he sees.

There is a time in a person's life when he is learning, and there comes a time when he himself is knowledge. It is at the time when the soul becomes knowledge itself that it begins to have glimpses into the hidden laws of nature; and this illumination may develop so that a person sees the whole of manifestation clearly and fully in the light of intelligence. The Qur'an says, "God is the Light of the heavens and of the earth"; and if there is any spark of God that can be found in man, it is his intelligence. Naturally, therefore, when this divine light which is hidden in man is once brought to a blaze and has risen as a flame, it illuminates his path towards perfection.

2. Responsibilty (Prophet)

The second path to perfection is the path of righteousness, of duty, of good actions. A person may not be intelligent, but conscientious in what he does and what he should do, always using his goodwill to do a righteous action; and by doing so he is fulfilling that law of harmony which automatically raises his soul to perfection. Very often one wonders about friends or relations who one thinks are goodness itself, their actions being righteous actions, and yet they never seem to show any tendency towards religion or meditation; and then one often thinks what a pity it would be if they did not arrive at spiritual perfection. But it is quite possible that they will arrive at that perfection before the seeker who makes too much fuss about it and does little; before a person who talks too much about spiritual things and knows little; before the one who is clinging to the outer signs of religion and spirituality. Merely by his righteous actions, by his good deeds, such a person will attain the goal. He may not know it, but it will work automatically, because he is taking the path of righteousness which will surely lead him to perfection.

3. Discipline (Master)

The third path is the path of discipline, and it is in this path that concentration, meditation, contemplation, and all different forms of discipline are necessary, in order to bring about that realization which is the ultimate goal. The path of meditation enables man to experience different planes of life, not always classified as people do when speaking about this plane and that plane, this grade and that grade. The real experience of inner life cannot very well be classified. For instance, if one asks a meditative person, "Are there seven planes of existence?, he will say, "Yes it is so." But when another person says, "I have read in a book on Greek philosophy that there are nine planes of existence; can it be true?" he will answer, "Certainly." Then another one comes and says, "I think that there are only three planes", and again he will agree. He does not say this to please; he is able to see these planes as five, seven, nine, in as many forms as he likes, because he actually sees them so. Go to a beginner in music and ask how many notes there are. He will answer, seven; and perhaps he will mention the semitones besides. But if you asked of an experienced musician who has given all his life to music and has come to understand the essence of sound, "Is it not true, as the Chinese say, that there are twenty notes in the octave?" he will say, "Yes, it can be true, but when the Indians say that there are twenty-four notes in the octave, that is true too; it is how you look at it.'

All that man learns intellectually about metaphysics keeps him limited to book-learning. He derives no benefit but a passing interest; it is a surprise to him to know that there are so many different planes of our being. He does not go further, and if he wanted to see them and know what they are, he could not. But by meditation he can realize them, and by this realization he can give the interpretation of any philosophy, whether Buddhist, or ancient Greek, or Vedanta philosophy, any philosophy you put before him, for he knows what he has experienced through meditation.

No doubt the way of self-discipline is a very difficult way. It is the way of mastery, of power; but it is a hard and difficult path. Practicing discipline by sitting in a certain pose or posture is very difficult to keep up for a long time. If one makes a vow to refrain from eating fruit, sweet or sour things, a vow of silence, of fasting, of standing so many hours, or walking, or staying up for part of the night or the whole night, it is not always easy to keep to it. Self-discipline is learned by going against one's own inclinations. Why should one go against them? Are inclinations not natural? One cannot say what is one's own inclination; all inclinations are borrowed here, and what one calls natural is what one has become accustomed to.

The word "natural" is a word that one can study for years and years, and one will find at the end of the study that there is no such thing as natural. There are natural inclinations to pleasure and comfort which clash with the still greater and deeper inclinations we have for more power and strength, for more light and for more life. So the inclinations can be divided into two aspects: the innermost inclinations, and the inclinations which one feels in everyday life. There is always a conflict between them; and the innermost inclinations are sometimes undermined by the outer inclinations. By learning selfdiscipline one learns to suppress the outer inclinations in order to make way for the inner inclinations to rise and to flourish, which finally culminates in what we call mastery.

4. Devotion (Saint)

The fourth path of perfection may be called the path of devotion, a path that cannot be compared in value or in depth with any other path. The reason is that devotion touches the Spirit of God. Not everyone is capable of this method, for in some people the heart is closed by the head quality, by intellect, but in others the heart quality is foremost. The first step on the path of devotion teaches selflessness; it makes one unselfish. Devotion is the tuning of the heart to its natural pitch; in other words, the healthiest condition possible in man is that in which devotion has blossomed.

It is devotion alone that buries man's false self, be it devotion to a human being or to God. If truth is ever to be seen it is in devotion; for the world of heart is a different world from the world in which we all live; its law is different, the weather there is different, its sky is different, its sun and moon are different. The nature of that world is different; it is a world in itself. By devotion, heaven is brought to earth. And yet how very often a person says, "But is it not a simple devotion?" It is in simplicity that the greatest subtlety is to be found; for it is the heart of the devotee which is liquid compared to the one which has become crystallized. It is awakened to sympathy, it is open to appreciate all beauty.

Women are more attracted to devotion than men, for generally the nature of women is to be more respectful towards human beings. This is natural, for if it were not for the love of the mother the world would not go on. This is the principle of devotion; it is in the quality of devotion which exists in women that the secret of the whole creation resides. Krishna has said, "I am with my devotees." And therefore if one says, "Where is God? Is He in the sixth heaven or in the seventh, or a certain paradise or palace in which people imagine Him to be?" the answer is that the paradise or the palace or the dwelling-place of God is in the heart of His devotee. No doubt it is not easy for man to rise to devotion to God. It is on this account that the Sufis in all ages have practiced devotion gradually, by their sympathy for their teacher, by the devotion to their Lord, and by the culmination of that devotion in God.

It is devotion which raises the object of its devotion, or its ideal, to the highest heaven. It is by devotion that the rocks have been turned into gods. Someone asked a Hindu, "By worshipping a God made of rock, what do you gain? Do you really believe that you have made a God?" "Yes," said the Hindu, "my hands have made this God of stone, and my devotion has given life to it. If you believe in a formless God and have no devotion, you have not yet reached him. He is far away from you. My God is before me; your God is far away from you." As the Bible says, God is love. If God is to be found anywhere, he is to be found in the heart of man. And when is He to be found? When the heart is awakened to sympathy, to love, to devotion.

1, The Hope of Attainment

We live by the hope of attainment -- without this one cannot exist -- be it spiritual or material, of a selfish nature or of an unselfish one. It is not necessary that all should have one and the same object for their attainment, nor is it possible. It is, however, desirable that we should hold in our thought the best and highest attainment possible for us. It is not necessary for us to force ourselves to have a much higher object of attainment which we are incapable of holding. The object, however, must surely be high, but within the possibility of our own reach. We must not select our object of attainment by noticing that others have the same aim and are in pursuit of the same object; but we must feel and realize that our heart yearns for it.

It is not necessary that we should kill our desire for lack of the presence of the object we desire, but it is wise always to realize the value of the object and its real nature. Things that pass from one hand to the other are but changing things, and be sure that when you gain a thing from another, you may have to pass it on to another also when the time comes, willingly or unwillingly. Therefore be always in search of things that will endure, that will last long, and adopt ways of attaining them by right and just means. It is far better to renounce a thing which can only be procured through the sacrifice of right and justice than to go in pursuit of things which will bring in the end disappointment and disaster, as they are the natural results of the lack of right and justice.

Your object of attainment should be decided and settled in your own mind, and then there should be no change. Any difficulty in obtaining it must not frighten you. With patience, faith, and trust you must pursue your object. Do not for one moment think how small you are before your object of attainment, or how incapable you are of achieving it, or how long it must take to reach it, or where or how the means can be provided to get it. Before you think of all these things, think of one thing:"The object is there and it belongs to me; it is my birthright, it is my natural right, it is my divine right that it should be mine. "

Then turn to other things; think of things which will help you to procure it. If the rein, or the rope of hope is let loose or loosened, then no effort will be of any use. If patience fails you, then there is no sustenance. If your mind changes, then your self is the cause of your failure. When you want a rose and after attaining the rose you wish you had chosen a jasmine; after attaining the jasmine, you cry, "Oh, why did I choose this flower? Why not the other?." . . and when they are both before you, you have lost the power to choose either the one or the other.

When your object is, or seems to be, in a mist, do not cover yourself with clouds because you object seems far off; if you do, everything will become dark before you. But if you keep your light clear, then the ray shooting from your own soul will in time clear the mist. But if you yourself are in confusion whether to have this object or that object or no object, then there is no hope for you. For you must ever bear in mind that the light and the life that goes out from you to the object are quite as important as that light which comes to you from the object.

Therein lies the great mystery of the trinity in all things: the knower, the thing to be known, and the power or light or knowledge which connects them. If the way seems closed, it will be opened. If the means are lacking, they will be given, they will be attained. If the object is far off and beyond your reach, it will be drawn to you, if only you can hold fast to the rein, the rope of hope, with complete faith and trust in God, the giver of all things, the Possessor of all things.

Sadhana

2, Love and Attainment

Concentration is the chief means of attainment. Concentration does not mean sitting and thinking of a certain thing, but it means holding a certain idea or object in the mind at all times. The result of concentration depends upon how much one loves the object of attainment. However great a person may be in holding the thought firmly in mind, he cannot bring about as great results as a person who loves the object he holds in concentration. Love is all-powerful, and it naturally gives power in one's concentration, be it for a person, for wealth, for position, for knowledge, or for God.

Whatever one loves, one gets -- small things or great things. It is better to get a small thing than nothing, because it thus gives a mastery. In every gain through life a person takes a step forward. Every object has a separate path for its achievement, but in the end all must come to the same goal. Do not, therefore, look with contempt upon someone if he is in pursuit of something that you consider inferior to your ideal. Know, rather, that it is his path, though perhaps not yours.

Mostly, by the continual changing of the object and by indecision in regard to an object, one produces weakness, which will produce inferior results. It is often better to accomplish a certain thing by external means, if it can be so accomplished, than a forced mental effort, which should, however, be used when it is necessary. One should look at it with an economical point of view; and if the power of the battery is all exhausted, then one will feel the lack of it.

Therefore, a mental effort for the accomplishment of small things is an unnecessary outlay of force. In other words, the mind must be allowed to work normally with every action. When a person works mentally and does not act outwardly, this may produce a lack of balance, for action must balance thought and thought balance action. This danger always stands before the mental worker.

An object in life, however, must be accomplished, sometimes, at a cost even greater than the value of the object itself when attained, because it is the effort and the success which make one capable, and it is failure that drags one to a still greater fall. Therefore, the price one pays or the effort one makes is greater than the object because it opens a further way for future success; and a loss may be a small loss in itself and yet it may be a greater loss in reality. It is for this reason that people who are successful continually succeed, and with failure a person tends toward failure.

In order to keep the concentration on the right path, one must keep the object always before one. Surroundings, environment, atmosphere, everything helps to bring about the desired attainment. One must not talk much, nor indiscriminately, about one's attainment, for it is a great waste of power. A person who tells all his friends and everyone whom he meets, "I am going to build up that business," has at the start already a lesser chance of success than the one who thinks and ponders upon the subject and keeps quiet, says nothing to anyone, or at least tells only those who he thinks may be helpful to him. One must put aside a certain time of day or night to devote entirely to the concentration of one's attainment, and by being faithful in this practice one gains his object in the end, and thus he learns the only way of mastery.

One great moral point must be understood: One must never desire any attainment which blinds a person to what is right and just, and which destroys kindliness in the heart, which is the essence of God in man.

3, Attitude

The attitude of mind is the most important thing in attainment. The person who attains success by injustice and oppression and by wronging others will meet with failure when he does right, and the one who achieves his success by his goodness, mercy, and right doing will fail when he changes his method and looks for success by doing wrong. This proves that success, as generally so termed, depends upon the fixed attitude; thus the change of attitude mars it.

If by thought, success is brought to one, one must then continue his method of thinking. If by action it is brought, one must continue action. If both thought and action are used, both must be continued, for it is the attitude which is the most important part in attainment. Be obstinate in the path of success. Nothing should keep you back from your effort when your resolution is once taken. Renounce your object of attainment only when you have reached it and you have a better one in view. But when you have attained the object and you cling to it, then you hinder your own progress, for the object is greater than yourself. You are greater than the object when you are able to renounce it after attaining it.

There are two kinds of renunciation: renunciation by mastery, and renunciation by weakness. When you could not reach the apple and then said, "Oh, I would not eat that apple. I am sure it is sour, and it is no use bothering myself about it," then that renunciation is through weakness. But renunciation in the sense of right and justice is better than attainment. When you wish to pick the apple and you renounce the desire by thinking, "I have no right to eat this apple, as it belongs to another person's garden, not mine," then you rise to a higher development than in accomplishing your object.

Every step one takes in evolution changes one's ideal. In your stage, if you love a jasmine today, it is possible that in your next step in evolution you may have grown above it and you love a rose. And it is not necessary that you should keep to the jasmine when your evolution brings you to the love for the rose -- thus one is kept from progressing. Contentment is a great virtue, but it is a virtue only when you have mastered the thing and risen above it. But if you are contented before you have mastered, then contentment, in that case, is a weakness. Things in themselves are not merits --neither are they faults -- but they become so by their proper or improper use. Thus merits may become faults and faults become merits. Therefore let the wise choose the path of wisdom, and by that torch they may journey through life.

4, Inclination, Pursuit, and Attainment

There is a belief, and many have this belief, that external help can be had to further one's attainment, help from saints, sages, masters, spirits, or angels. No doubt there is a great deal of truth in all this, and help comes as you ask for it and need it, and all kinds of helpers will help you as you call upon them. But at the same time, self-help must not be neglected nor ignored, for after all is said, self-help is the best of all help, and all will strive to help the one who tries to help himself.

To what extent one should expect such external help can be best explained by the fact that to the extent of our wish and our will-power, we attract help and power of accomplishment. In our desire for the accomplishment of good and helpful things, we attract good helpers, and in the evil things one desires one attracts evil helpers. The Satanic side of life is ever ready to help man, as is God. As soon as a person has a determined evil thought, all the means of help about one begin to manifest themselves.

The help in good thoughts comes more slowly upon the physical plane, where with a bad thing it comes more quickly, because pebbles, like the line of least resistance, are found everywhere, but diamonds are so rare! Evil motives and deeds take much less time to accomplish their purpose and less trouble, while good things are accomplished with great patience and perseverance. And the difference can only be realized in their results. It is, in truth, in the end that man knows what he has striven after. Evil has ever in the end a weakening power, while virtue is a strengthening power. A disappointment or a failure in the path of virtue will give more happiness in the end than success and accomplishment of desire in the path of evil. The loss which one has experienced along the path of virtue is far preferable to gain in the pathway of evil.

There are three stages in every wish: Inclination, pursuit, attainment. It is after these three stages that the result of man's wish is manifest and not until then that man realizes his wish in its fullness. In the first stage, the wish is apt to be in confusion; in the second stage there is an absorption in the idea and action; in the third stage there is the joy of fulfillment or a sorrow at the loss.

But a result later may prove that one would even prefer the sorrow to the joy and its consequences, for even a joy may prove to be the cause of a greater sorrow. It is so easy to wish for a thing, but is difficult to know if it will prove good for one or not. For what one loves today he may hate tomorrow. And if the wish today be fulfilled tomorrow, when the time of love has expired and the time of hatred approaches, then it would have been far better had one forgotten the wish as soon as it was born.

To want a thing is an easy matter, but to want it continually is a difficult thing. And how much time man wastes on wanting things and then not wanting them! This wanting faculty works also in childhood. Therefore the great task in life is to watch our desires: to know, to understand, and to analyze what I want, "why do I want it, how can I get it, and what result will it be likely to bring about?"It is the part of wisdom, when once you have studied and understood this question, to continue going forward intelligently, courageously and steadily along the path of attainment and to pursue until the end.

5, Necessity of Common Sense

The environment helps towards the accomplishment of the desired object. Things that are around you in the house, the clothes you wear, the food you eat, the people you meet, all these things have an effect upon your life. Do not, even in jest, think, speak, or act against the object you have in view, because it will have a wrong and depreciating psychological effect. One should constantly think of the object he desires, with hope and trust, and even dream of it. And truly, no dream will be lost if it is expressive of the desired object, because it is, first of all, the desire that brings about the dream, and every desire, if held in the mind, must someday, somehow, be realized.

Constancy in holding one object to its fulfillment is most necessary. But after the accomplishment, one must not cling to the habit thus formed. He must be able to turn from one object to another after his desire has been accomplished. A person who desires an object is smaller than the object. But when he attains the object, he and the object are equal. When he clings to the attained object, he is beneath the object, but when he renounces the acquired object, he rises above it. It is then that he can be called the master of his object.

Common sense is necessary in the path of attainment, but not to such an extent that the reason should dominate and lead the will. The will, in action, must lead the reason, whereas if the reason is allowed to lead the will, the will many times becomes paralyzed. But when in cooperation the will leads the reason, then the path of attainment becomes illuminated. The work of common sense in the way of attainment is really to make one understand and comprehend the real meaning and object of the desire:"Am I really worthy to receive this? Do I in truth deserve it? Can I sustain the purpose of the object when I have acquired it? Can the object become worthy of my pursuit? Shall I prove worthy of the test which the attainment of the object would require?"

In the path of attainment, many lose their way and go astray, especially those who are regardless of consideration. There are objects which cannot bring anything but harm, and there are many in this world who would never stop to think of the harm to another, as long as they think that they are safe. But since the very nature of the world is give and take, and as every action has its reaction, and as every cause has its own similar effect, how can one really think that he can be safe by causing harm to another?

Often, in many attainments through life, there is found a benefit for one by the loss of another. And thus we see it go up and down through life, like a scale. And this is a matter of time and experience, and often one finds that a momentary gain is more disastrous than the loss would have been. Therefore, the wise have a greater gain as their object through life than the objects of sense of the average man, who is ever in pursuit of transitory gain, and in success and in failure both he is at a loss, because in the end both may get little. The wise, therefore, fix their eyes on that divine attainment, divine ideal, which is the best object possible, and by the attainment of that object they enjoy eternal bliss.

6, Obect Covering Personality

The success of the motive depends entirely upon the concentration, for mind is productive and creative. It produces and creates all that it forms in itself first as a thought. This concentration must not necessarily be practiced for some time during the day or night, but the motive must cover all things of life and make the whole life as one single vision of the object of concentration. The object of concentration must cover, above all things in life, one's personality.

In other words, it may be said that either the motive should live or the personality. In order to make a motive successful, the personality should be covered entirely by the motive. Life is one, singly and collectively, according to both these points of view, and you cannot live yourself separate from the motive; either the motive should live or you; either the motive must become you or you become the motive, which means one thing should be sacrificed for the other: either personality sacrificed for the motive or motive sacrificed for personality. It is the greatest truth in the world that it is one that lives and it is two that die. And Rumi has said it beautifully in his verse where he says:

The Beloved is All in All,
the lover only veils Him;
The Beloved is all that lives,
the lover a dead thing.

Whatever your pursuit in life, whatever your aim, whatever be your motive, for a real success in a motive you must offer yourself first as a sacrifice for it. The great ones and small ones, all who have accomplished something in their lives, whether an earthly gain or a heavenly bliss, they have sacrificed a part of themselves, or their whole being, even to such an extent that some have arrived at the point where they exist no more for themselves, but for the motive. It is they who know what success is, and it is they who can teach the path of accomplishment.

7, Reserve

The secret of all attainment is centered in reserve. Spiritual or material, when a person has told his plans to others, he has let out the energy that he should have kept as a reservoir of power for the accomplishment of his object. A thing unspoken is alive in the mind, and when spoken, it is as dead. The more valuable your object, the more it must be guarded, as all precious things need strong guarding. When a person tells others of his plan, each one looks at it from his point of view. Some understand, some do not understand; some have a sympathetic point of view, and some take an unfavorable attitude toward it. And every person's attitude has something to do with your life and with your affairs, and if you have whole-heartedly engaged yourself in the accomplishment of a plan, many outside influences can hinder it.

The teaching, "Be wise as a serpent," may be interpreted, "Be quiet as a serpent. "It is quietude that gives wisdom and power. The thought held in mind speaks to the mind of another, but the thought spoken out most often only reaches the ears of a person. Every plan has a period of development; and if man has power over his impulse, by retaining the thought silently in mind, he allows the plan to develop and to take all necessary changes that it may take for its culmination. But when the impulse expresses the thought, it so to speak "puts out the flame," thus hindering the development of the plan. The wise speak with their mind many times before they speak about it to anybody.

8, Patience

The greater the object of your pursuit, the greater patience it requires, and there is a side in human nature which keeps one impatient and which makes one feel that he should mount to the top immediately; and therefore when he rushes impatiently toward the accomplishment of his object, he often falls. In climbing there are steps, and one shouldclimb gradually. One must hold before one's mind the object, but one must at the same time see the steps that one has to climb.

If patience will not help in climbing the steps and in journeying the necessary distance, there will come a fall. This shows that there are three chief things in the path of attainment: Steadiness of concentration in holding the object of concentration firmly before oneself; at the same time noticing with open eyes the many steps that one must climb to reach the object; and the third thing is patient perseverance.

Patience is the most difficult thing in life, and once this is mastered, man will become the master of all difficulties. Patience, in other words, may be called the power of endurance during the absence of the desired things or conditions. They say death is the worst thing in life, but in point of fact, patience is often worse than death. One would prefer death to patience, when patience is severely tried. Patience is a life power; it is a spiritual power and the greatest virtue that one can have, for it is a cross, and on this the patient one is crucified. And as resurrection follows crucifixion, so all success and happiness must follow the trying moments of patience. Noticing the steps toward the goal is the work of intelligence, and this helps to make the work of patience fruitful. But patience and intelligence both become wings to the power of concentration. This is a power to hold the desired thought firmly, so that it may not change.

You must pity the man who cannot decide between two things. He lacks concentration. Single-mindedness is the chief secret of concentration. One must keep one's object steady in the mind, and must not allow anything to change the mind fromthe object. Even things more useful, precious, and better must be considered as temptation. The object that once man has, and once he has embarked upon its attainment, he must accomplish it to its very end, or else not have any object in life.

9, Force

Progress in the path of attainment sometimes produces too much self-confidence in success, and if it comes untimely, it produces a sort of negligence and often it weakens enthusiasm. For instance, one may build a house very carefully and attentively, particular about every detail; and when it has come closer to the finish, one might think that, as it came right so far, it must of necessity be finished rightly. He may neglect, and may lose some of the enthusiasm and attention to every detail, which may result in disappointment. Therefore, self-confidence and enthusiasm and attentiveness are forces which must be economically used, not with extravagance.

The force which is given at the commencement of the work must last till it is finished. If it breaks in the middle, often the whole effort is broken. Pride is a great enemy of man. The man who has finished a part of his work often becomes proud with the hope that he will be able to finish the whole. But pride in all its forms is blinding; a proud man cannot see his path clearly. Even after the attainment of a certain object in life, it is wise not to attribute the credit of it to oneself but to see that power and wisdom in the Almighty God.

After one has accomplished something in life, it often happens that one becomes a captive of his accomplishment, as a spider becomes captive in his web. As the nature of life is freedom, no attainment is valuable, however great, if it masters the freedom of the soul. And therefore, man must always take care that he stands above things he has attained, instead of standing below.

Master is he who controls things and affairs of life, and he becomes a slave who is controlled by he things of this earth. Life's greatest secret is the continuity of progress. When progress stops, it is as death, and as long as man is progressing, mortality cannot touch him. Attainment or no attainment, pursuit after something man's soul cares to reach must be continued, and by single-mindedness, one must build a path from earth to Heaven and from man to God.

10, Caring for Motives

An important rule of psychology is that every motive that takes its root in the mind must be watered and reared until its full development. And if one neglects this duty, one does not only harm the motive, but by this the will power becomes less, and the working of the mind becomes disorderly. Even if the motive be small and unimportant, yet a steady pursuit after its attainment trains the mind, strengthens the will, and keeps the inner mechanism in order.

For instance, when a person tries to unravel a knot, and then he thinks, "No use giving time to it," he loses an opportunity of strengthening the will and attaining the object desired. However small a thing may appear to be, when once handled, one must accomplish it, not for the thing itself, but for what benefit it gives. Yes, thought must be given as to its importance and value in the beginning, when the motive begins to take root in the mind, and one must avoid an undesirable and unimportant motive taking place.

When the motive does not receive a direction, it does not necessarily die away. It takes its own path and culminates in some shape and form quite different from what you had desired. All ugliness, crookedness, and defect in nature and art is mostly caused by this.

1, Attaining Perfection

What one values in life is worth striving for, whether material or spiritual gain. Those who weigh the object that they wish to attain with the difficulty or the cost that is required for its attainment neither know the full value of the object nor do they know the way of attainment. The first principle that one must learn in the path is to esteem the object of attainment more than the cost one has to pay for it.

Even if the object be not of the value of its cost, still the law of attainment is to attain a desired object at every cost. The great ones who have achieved great things in life have achieved in this way. Nothing in the world could take them away from what they wished to achieve. Even a life's cost they considered too small a price for the object of attainment. When this spirit directs the spiritual path, man arrives at having God-communion, for the true pursuer will never go halfway. Either he gains, or he loses himself.

The words hatha yoga mean abstinence, or sternness, to want what one wants, and nothing else in its place will satisfy one. Those who are discouraged and come back from half the way will never arrive at a destination. Especially in the path of God, a person who takes one step forward with hope and two steps backward in doubt will go back or will linger on in the same place. By the sincere pursuit of the object, be it heavenly or earthly, with a willingness for all sacrifice, one attains to what to what the soul longs for -- perfection, the only satisfaction in life.

2, Rope of Faith

When talking about optimism and pessimism, I should say that there are times when the conditions do not allow man to be hopeful, even if by nature he was optimistic. The one who is placed in a situation where everything seems to stand against his prospect in life cannot keep his eyes open, see the condition, and at the same time have an optimistic view. When the conditions in life go against, and everything stands in opposition, it is most difficult for one to have a hopeful attitude in life. Outwardly, the conditions stand against belief, inwardly the reason supports the conditions, for reason is a slave to all that stands before it.

Therefore, if under such circumstances an optimistic person no longer shows optimism, he is not to be blamed. No doubt the one who, in spite of all conditions, against and in spite of his reason, helpless to find a way, still strikes the path of hope, is much more advanced than the pessimistic soul; for he whether he knows or does not know, is holding the rope which is attached to Heaven and which is the only source of safety. This rope is the faith and trust in the greatness and power of God which is within.

And however much things may seem to be against, yet his faith in God can turn all things in time in his favor. It is denying what one does not wish to happen, even to the moment that the happening is knocking at the door, and still deny. That person will turn that happening into something that he desired. Misfortune will turn into good fortune, disease will turn into health, and death will turn into life.

3, Spirit of Optimism

There is no such thing as impossible. All is possible. Impossible is made by the limitation of our capacity of understanding. Man, blinded by the law of nature's working, by the law of consequences which he has known through his few years life on earth, begins to say, "This is possible and that is impossible. "If he were to rise beyond limitations, his soul would see nothing but possible. And when the soul has risen high enough to see all possibility, that soul certainly has caught a glimpse of God.

They say God is all-mighty; and I say, God is all-possible. Possibility is the nature of God, and impossibility is the art of man. Man goes so far, and cannot go any further. Man makes a flower out of paper, giving it as natural a color as possible, yet he says it is not possible to make it fragrant, for he has his limitations. But God, Who is the Maker of the flower and who is the Giver of the fragrance, has all power, and man, who is weakened by his limitedness, becomes more and more limited the more he thinks of it. In this is created the spirit of pessimism.

Man who is conscious of God Almighty, and who in the contemplation of God loses the consciousness of his own self, inherits the power of God, and it is in this power and belief that the spirit of optimism is born.

4, Balance of Power and Knowledge

The secret of the working of the whole universe is in the duality of nature. In all aspects of nature, these two forces are working, and it is the working of these two forces which balances life. Therefore, in attainment, not only power, which manifests as enthusiasm or action, is sufficient, but besides power, enthusiasm, knowledge and the capability of working is necessary. Very often a person fails to obtain success with all his enthusiasm and power and will, and the reason is that either by the power he has he pushes along his object like a ball, or with his strength he hammers the rock, which he really needs as a whole and not in pieces.

Power is no doubt most necessary in attainment, but in absence of knowledge, the power may prove helpless. By power I mean power in all aspects, the power that one possesses in the outward life and the power of mind and body. It is the power of mind which is called willpower. No doubt, many with knowledge but lacking power also meet with failure. If an object is pulled from both sides, by power and by knowledge, then also there will not be a success. It is the cooperation of these two powers which is the secret of all success.

Success, be it of material character or of some other nature, is always a success. Success, however small, is a step forward to something great, and failure, however small, is a failure; it leads to something still worse. Success must not be valued from its outer value. It must be valued from what it prepares in oneself. And failure, however small, makes an undesirable impression upon one's self. This shows how very necessary it is to keep the balance between power and knowledge. It is of a very great value to try and develop in life power and knowledge in attaining one's object.

There are two kinds of people who become tired of the life in the world. One who has risen above the world and the one who has fallen beneath the world. The former has attained his object; but the latter, even if he left the world, any other life would not satisfy him. His renunciation of worldly things means nothing. It only means incapacity. It is the conqueror of the life of the world who has the right to give up the struggle of the world, if he wishes to! But he from whose hands the life of the world is snatched away by his fellowman and who is incapable of holding it, who cannot progress, who cannot attain in life what he wishes to attain, if he left the world it is not renunciation, it is simply poverty.

It is not by any means selfishness or covetousness to want to succeed in life, for by success man is inclined upward. Only when, intoxicated by his worldly success, he closes his eyes to the further path, he stands still; and that standing still is like death. The many successful people whom we see in this world who do not progress spiritually, it means that they did not continue in the path of success. In reality, all roads lead to the same goal; business, profession, science, art, religion, or philosophy. When people do not seem to have arrived at their proper destination, it is not because they have preferred one path to another path, it is that they have not continued on the path.

Very often, people lacking knowledge and with strength more than necessary, destroy their own purpose; while wanting to construct, they cause destruction. The greatest fault of human nature is that every man thinks that he knows best, and when he speaks to another person, he thinks that the other knows half and when he is speaking about a third person, he thinks that the third person knows only a quarter. And some few who do not rely upon their knowledge, they are then dependent upon the advice of others.

Therefore their failure or success or their being depends upon the advice of others. It is most difficult in life to have power, to possess knowledge, and together with it, to have a clear vision; and if there is any possibility of keeping the vision clear, it is by the keeping of balance between power and knowledge.

5, Self-discipline

In worldly attainment or spiritual attainment, the first thing is to attain self-discipline. Many experience, and few know, that things go wrong when one's self in not in discipline. Those who give way to anger, passion, to emotions easily, they may seem for a moment successful, but they cannot continually succeed in life. Very often, misfortunes follow an illness or a failure, and the reason is that a weakness gives way to another, and so a person who goes down, goes down and down and down. It is natural that a step one may take (goes) downwards, for the path of life is not even; but the wise thing is that if one step one has goes down, the next step may be taken upward. It is no doubt resisting against the force that pulls one downward, but that resistance only secures the path of one's life.

What generally happens is that man does not mind a little mistake, he does not take notice of a small weakness, he underestimates a little failure; and in that way in the long run he meets with a great failure. The wise thing is, therefore, to whatever depth one has fallen, to fix one's eyes upward, to try to rise instead of falling. It is very interesting to observe that God or Heaven are always pointed to upward, although, in reality, God is everywhere and so is Heaven.

And what makes one think that God is upward or Heaven is upward is that natural impulse, which is a divine impulse in man, which gives an inclination to rise above. And this shows that success, its attainment, is divine pleasure; failure and its experience is the divine disappointment. People who blame destiny for their failure take the path of least resistance; but there are more difficulties in the path that appears to be of least resistance. For the man who struggles with life, his difficulties lessen as he goes forward.

The one who takes the easy path, for him the difficulties grow more as he grows on. By this it is not meant that one should choose in life a path of more difficulties; by this it is only meant that in the path of attainment, difficulties must not be counted. Difficulties rise over his head who looks at them with awe, and the same difficulties fall beneath his feet who does not take notice of them. The man who fails in the world, fails to attain to spiritual bliss also. Man is the king of his domain; his coming on earth takes away, bit by bit, his kingdom.

During this trial he is tested, if he uses that human virtue which helps him to attain to the mastery over his kingdom. Whatever man's life, he will not be satisfied, for his soul's satisfaction is in the fulfillment of this purpose. The day when he arrives at that mastery, the day when he has gained the kingdom he has lost, he can say, "Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. "And in this the fulfillment of man's being born on earth is accomplished.

The question comes, what is it to be self-disciplined? It is to be able to say, "I can," and not "I can't. "Of course, very often the words, "I can't," man uses of what he does of what he does not think it wise or just to do. In that case it is different. But when there is something of which he thinks is just, it is good, it is right, and he says, "I can't," it is then that self-discipline lacks. When a person says, "I can't tolerate, I can't endure, I cannot bear, I cannot forgive," all these are the signs of the lack of self-discipline.

In order to see this question more clearly, one must picture oneself as two beings, one the king and the other his servant. When one wishes, it is the king who wishes; and the part that says, "No, I can't," is the servant. If the servant has his way, then the king is in the place of the servant, and the more the servant has his way, the more the servant rules and the king obeys. Naturally, therefore, a conflict begins inwardly, and that reflects on the outer life, making the whole life misery. If a person be pious or good or religious, it makes no difference. If man does not realize the kingdom of God within himself, and realize his spirit to be king, he does not accomplish the purpose of his life.

6, Eye of Justice

There are many in this world who push away the object of their attainment as a football, with their enthusiasm. They mean to take it, but without attention, they push it on; and this occurs when one is too enthusiastic to attain a certain thing for which he has not made himself ready. One must remember this in the path of attainment, that one must first feel strong enough to bear the burden of that which one wishes to lift.

The wisdom which one sees working behind nature has intended and has arranged it so that every being and every thing will bear the weight that it is intended to bear. Very often, man's ambition runs before his power of bearing. He, before thinking whether he is entitled to attain a certain thing, strives to attain it; and it is this which causes, very often, failure. Man must become entitled first to have what he wishes to have. This makes it easy for him to gain what he wishes to gain, and it easily attracts to him what he wishes to attain.

There is one thing, which is desiring; and there is another thing, which is imagining. Lying in a grass hut one can desire a solid wall around his hut, but one can imagine a palace before him. Therefore it is not imagination which helps so much in attainment, it is the earnest desire that is needed for it. There are things which are within one's reach, there are things which are beyond one's reach. One must first prove to one's own self one's capacity of attaining things which are within one's reach.

This gives one sufficient self-confidence, in order to attain that which is beyond one's reach. In the path of attainment, one must keep the eye of justice open. One must be able to know what attainment is right for him, and what attainment he does not deserve. There is no soul in the world who is not striving after something. To one, his object of striving is distinct, to another, perhaps, it seems perplexed.

Yet, no one is living and not striving after something. According to the extent that the object is clear to one, it is easy to attain it. In the process of attainment, there are four stages. In the first place, in mind the object must be concrete, which one wishes to attain. Next, it must be reasoned out how the desire can be materialized. The third is what material is to be used and to be obtained for it. The fourth is composing, forming, or building of the object.

The central theme of the whole creation is attainment. In the striving of all souls in the world, there is one impulse, and that is the divine impulse. Yet the man who ignorantly strives after something and wrongly goes to work about it, ends in disappointment -- disappointment not only to himself, but even to God. The one who knows his affair and who accomplishes it rightly fulfills the mission of his life and the wish of God. No matter what one accomplishes, it is only a step towards something else. As one goes along accomplishing in the path of attainment, he in the end arrives at the aim of life. In the final end, attainment is the aim of all souls, although in the beginning it seems different.

7, The Secret of Attainment: Analysis of Self

The secret of all attainment is in the analyzing of the self. The impulse to attain a thing and the control of that impulse, both things are necessary. Very often, what happens? A man loses the chance of attaining something by his over-enthusiasm, because he puts his life out of balance. At the same time the power of impulse is a great power; the person who has no strength in his impulse must certainly lose. It is to strike a balance between impulse and control. There must be an impulse, but it must be under control.

A person who is over-joyous on having riches must be sure that he will very soon lose; and the same is with everything. And the balance is kept by knowing that, "There is nothing too good for me in this life of the earth; that compared to all things that the earth can offer, my soul to me is more precious. "The one who runs after things, the things of his pursuit run from him, frightened of his continual pursuit. But the one who is not running in the pursuit of the objects, then the objects, of necessity, will become his own.

When God will become one's own, who else will not become one's own? In the attainment, confidence is necessary. It is according to one's confidence that the object of attainment is drawn closer. It is not by over-enthusiasm, for over-enthusiasm is intoxication. A person intoxicated by enthusiasm is liable to do the wrong thing instead of the right one. It is always the inner power which is the secret of attainment, and the less the inner power is expressed, the better it is.

A person who allows his power an outlet, he only wastes it. It is the conserving of the power which makes man a reservoir of power, the power with which all things can be accomplished. To the person who has attained to the mystery of sadhana, the attainment, for him there is nothing in the world that cannot be attained. All is within his reach, all within his power, all within his grasp.

As high as is one's object, so high one rises; and as low the object of attainment be, so low is the person. If the object is honor-giving, the person is honorable. If the object is painful, the person is sad. If the object is pleasant, the person is joyous. If the object is exalting, the person is holy. And therefore, the person must know what object to keep before one's view, what object one should pursue through life.

There are many childlike people who do not know what is their object in life. One moment they think of one thing, another minute they think of another thing; in the end they arrive at nothing, because they have no object set before their view. A person who becomes like this, no one can depend upon. Even the bird is frightened to sit upon a moving branch. The person whose object is set, it is that person whose life is settled, whom one can call serious, on whom others can depend.

The person who does not know his own mind, he cannot help his fellow man, he will only upset; neither can he attain for himself nor can he help another. Therefore, it is a thing to be remembered continually, that one must make one's mind so clear as to see one's object before oneself, to see its character, its nature, its value, and then to set forth in its pursuit every effort, to pursue the object patiently till one has attained it. No matter how small the object, the attainment of it builds one step towards the final goal.

August 11, 1925

My Blessed Mureeds,

I would like to speak this evening on the subject of the path of attainment. The path of attainment is likened to a narrow path, to a steep path, that one finds on the mountain, to climb to the top. And therefore the path of attainment is difficult, because it is going uphill. And there is another path which leads to the goal that follows after the attainment. It cannot be very well called downhill, but at the same time the journey on this path is as easy as it is to come down from the top of the mountain.

The path that goes uphill towards attainment requires continual sacrifice. The one who is not ready to sacrifice must stand at the foot of the mountain, or the place he is standing on the way. He cannot go further, because he cannot sacrifice. And the path that is after the attainment requires renunciation to arrive at the goal. But to mix these two words is like confusing the words such as pleasure and happiness, such as intellect and wisdom. These are two different things. The one has not made sacrifice in life, the one who has not yet gone through the path of sacrifice, must not take the name of renunciation, for it is quite a different thing. Everything is good in its own time. When a sacrifice is needed and one makes a renunciation, one goes backwards. When a renunciation is necessary and one makes a sacrifice, he goes backwards, too. For these are two distinct and different things.

Spiritual path apart, even in the things of worldly life such as starting a new business, going in a new profession, making one's career, treading the path of love and friendship, working for name and fame, whatever be the nature or character of the object one wishes to attain, what it asks is a sacrifice, from the beginning to the end. We are apt to forget it, and therefore we each think that our life asks for so many sacrifices. "Look how this professional man is happy, how that businessman is enjoying life, how that man who is making a career in the government is going on in his life!" Only we do not see the sacrifice that each one of them has had to make in order to arrive at that object which he wishes to attain. A lazy man is preferred to a man who is unwilling to make sacrifices. By laziness a man shows that he does not care enough to attain to something. He enjoys his comfort, his convenience; he is quite content in his life. But the man who wishes to attain something and is not willing to make sacrifices, that man will have a difficult time, for he wants to purchase things without coins.

The sacrifice one has to make is of different characters, of different natures according to the object we have in view. The greater the object of attainment, the greater the sacrifice asked for it. But sacrifice must be understood rightly. It is not always that one has to sacrifice what one possesses; but one has to sacrifice what one is. That is a great difficulty. As a miser holds to his last penny, so man, disinclined to sacrifice, holds himself tight. "Anything be stolen, but not myself." It is a natural inclination in man. And what does the spiritual path ask of you? That very thing: "self." Give false self, and get the real self. If the mystery is understood, then attainment is at the next step. But man is not easily inclined to give up himself; anything else, but not himself. What do I mean by this?

One says, "My idea is my idea, my wish is my wish. It is mine. My thought is my thought, my inclination is my inclination, my point of view is my point of view." He makes all these things greater possessions than the possessions he has outwardly, and therefore it becomes easier to give what one possesses than to give up what one thinks and feels. If you say to a person, "But this is a wrong thing to do," he says, "Yes, but I am that way, I think like this. I know that it is wrong. I feel like it, although it is wrong. I cannot do otherwise." In other words, he holds his possessions, thinking that it is himself. But it is not himself. It is his false self. However small be the object of your attainment, it matters little. However great a sacrifice it asks from you, it does not matter. By paying a greater cost if you have attained a small object, even then you have attained something.

And now coming to renunciation. Very often a person sees renunciation in a wrong light. A person thinks that he is not willing to make the sacrifice, therefore he renounces the object of attainment. It is a wrong conception of renunciation. Many renounce object very often in their lives, only because they are unwilling to make enough sacrifices. They value themselves or they value the sacrifice that it asks, more than the object they wish to attain. And because they cannot attain it, they say, "I renounce it."

It is very easy to renounce. The great heroes and the souls who have really done something worthwhile in the world have begun their life with sacrifices. Sacrifice of comfort, sacrifice of convenience, sacrifice of pleasure, of merriment, of joy. There is hardly one among them that you find who did not have to pay a great price to have arrived to that attainment. The higher the attainment the greater the sacrifice it asks. But the one who understands keeps his object always higher than the sacrifice he makes. The one who does not understand wishes to see the object of attainment much less than the sacrifice it asks for. And in it he thinks that it is practical. It is a common sense. No doubt it is practical, and it is a common sense when the object is material to only pay the price of the object.

But the high-minded person who has ideal in him will show that tendency; even if you called him unpractical he does not mind, even in material things. The diamond ring that he likes, he will pay any price for it. Others will mock at him, call him unpractical, but he does not mind. The pleasure he gets out of the thing that he has bought is greater than the money if he had it in the bank. After all, life is but four days. As Sa'adi, the great poet, says, "Who has earned and who has spent, and who has lived is greater than the one who has earned and who has collected at the sacrifice of joy that one gains by sacrifice."

But when it comes to higher things, such as friendship, such as love, such as kindness, there you can never make enough sacrifice. He who had the ideal in his heart, for him always sacrifice is small. What sacrifice he does is always small. It is the one who has no ideal who will weigh and measure and see if it is even or uneven. "What I give is even with what I take, or there is no balance in it." There is his practicality; he calls it wisdom. It is not wisdom, it is cleverness. Wisdom stands higher, above it all. Wisdom does not come by practicality. When a person says, "I will guard my interest against every attempt made by others," he is a different person. That person is greater who trusts, who risks, and who can make sacrifices.

When we come to the spiritual path, it needs a greater sacrifice than anything else. It asks one for one's time, for one's thought; when you are concentrating even it does not allow you to think of anything else. You must think on the object you concentrate on. The further you go, the greater sacrifice is wanted. And the difference between those who go quicker in this path or who go slower is in the capability of sacrifice. Sacrifice teaches renunciation. And there is no other way of self-effacement than sacrifice. The one who knows the path of friendship, the one who knows what real friendship means, he need not be told what sacrifice means; he knows it. For friendship does not mean a good time, a pastime. Friendship means sacrifice. And when once by friendship sacrifice is learned, then one begins to know what sacrifice is necessary on the path of spiritual attainment. God Bless You.