I know that Thou art my Father,

And that naughty or good,

Successful or a failure,

Healthy or unhealthy, ignorant or wise,

I am Thy child, and that Thou must help me

To be good if I am naughty,

Successful if I am a failure, and above all,

Devotionally wise, if I am ignorant.

Teach me to find Thy presence

On the altar of my constant Peace,

And the joy

That springs from deep meditation.

Bless me, that I may find Thee

In the Temple of each thought and activity.

Finding Thee within,

I may find Thee without,

In all people and all conditions.

Teach me to know that Thou art the power

That keeps me healthy, prosperous,

And seeking Spiritual Truth.

Teach me to feel that it is Thy smile

Which is in the dawn, on the lips of roses,

And on the smiling faces

Of noble and good men.

Teach me to behold Thy love only,

In the love of my dear ones.

Teach me to behold Thee

As the only Father and Mother

In the protecting love of my parents.

Teach me to behold Thee as the only friend,

Helping me, encouraging me,

Through all my friends.

Teach me to feel that Thou art the power

Behind all wealth, and the value in all things.

I shall seek Thee

As the ever-increasing Bliss of meditation.

I shall feel Thee as boundless joy,

Throbbing in my heart.

I shall seek to know Thee

First, last, and all the time.

Finding Thee first,

I shall find all things I crave through Thee.

I will not be a beggar,

Begging limited mortal prosperity,

Health, and knowledge. I am Thy child,

And as such I demand, without limitations,

Thy Divine Son’s share of all these things,

Which I already possessed,

But forgot to claim,

Because of the forgetfulness

Caused by my mortal beggary.

I want prosperity, health, and wisdom

Without measure, not from earthly sources,

But from Thy abundant, all-possessing,

All-powerful, all bountiful hands.

Having Thee as the deepest joy

Of deepest meditation,

I know that all things—

Prosperity, health, and wisdom—

Will be added unto me.

Thy light of goodness,

And Thy protective power,

Are ever shining through me.

I saw them not,

Because my eyes of wisdom were closed.

Now Thy touch of peace

Has opened my eyes,

And Thy goodness, and certain protection,

Are flowing through me.

Oh, Divine Shepherd of Infinite Perception,

Rescue the lambkins of my thoughts,

Lost in the wilderness of restlessness,

And lead them to Thy Fold of Silence.

With the approach of Christmas,

I feel the birth of Christ in the flowers,

In the twinkle of lights,

And in the sparkling eyes

Of all living creatures.

The Christ Consciousness in all things

Is coming to be born

In the little hamlet of my consciousness.

With His arrival, I shall behold myself,

And all things ....existing in His light.

I will follow the shepherd of the Wise:

Faith, Devotion, and Meditation,

Who will lead me

Through the Star of Inner Wisdom

To the Christ in everything.

I shall behold the only begotten,

Only reflection,

Of transcendental God, the Father,

Born in the womb

Of all finite matter and vibration,

As the only Christ Intelligence,

Shepherding all Creation

To an intelligent, Divine, end.

Through the transparency

Of my deepest meditation

I will receive the light

Of the omnipresent Father,

Fully passing through me,

And I shall be a son of God,

Even as Jesus was,

By receiving God fully, through His sacred,

Meditation-expanded Consciousness.

I shall close my material eyes

And dismiss the temptation of matter.

I shall peer through the darkness of silence

Until my eyes of relativity open

Into the one Inner Eye of Light.

When my two eyes of good and evil

Become single, and behold

Only the Divine goodness of God

In everything,

Then I shall find my body, mind, and soul

Filled with His omnipresent Light.

All the veils of my ignorant inner life

Are burnt

In the light of my awakening in Christ,

And I behold the intelligence

Of the baby Jesus,

Cradled in the petals of roses,

In the weaving of lights,

In the love thoughts of all true souls.

After the waiting of many incarnations,

Christ is being born anew in me.

All the boundaries

Of my little mind are broken,

So that the omnipresent Christ

May wake Himself

On the lap of my consciousness.

My thoughts are all decorating

The Christmas tree of meditation

With the rare gifts of devotion,

Sealed with golden heart prayers,

So that Christ

May come and receive my humble gifts.

I will mentally join

In the worship of all Mosques,

Churches, and Temples,

And perceive the birth

Of the Universal Christ Consciousness

As peace on the altar of all devotional hearts.

The Christ in me will behold the Christ in all.

Perceiving the Christ Consciousness,

Or Kutastha Chaitanya in all,

(Consciousness in all atoms

Of Hindu scriptures)

I will feel my presence in all.

Feeling my presence in all Creation first,

I will feel my presence beyond all Creation,

In God the Father. Then I will know that I,

In all finite Creation,

As Christ Consciousness,

And the Father ...Cosmic Consciousness,

As infinite beyond all Creation ...are One,

Just as the sunlight shining on the crystal ball

Is the same as the sunshine in the ball.

After baby Christ Consciousness is born

In my consciousness, He will keep growing

Until His Spirit

Shows His spreading presence

In the consciousness of all races,

All men, and all creatures.

Christ was always born in me.

He came and preached

Through my consciousness

To my rowdy and hypocritical thoughts.

By the magic wand of meditative intuition,

He stopped the storms in the seas of my life,

And many other lives. I was mentally blind,

My will was lame, but I was healed

By the awakened Christ in me.

He commanded my dead wisdom

To come forth

From its sackcloth of delusion,

And raised it to life.

At last my Will, Faith, Hope,

Intuition, Purity, Meditation, Desires,

Good habits, Self-Control, Sense-Aboveness,

Devotion, Wisdom—all these disciples—

Obeyed the commandments of the Christ

Who appeared on the mountain

Of my high meditation.

Christ walked

On the restless waters of my mind,

Yet the Judas of restlessness and ignorance,

Deluded by the Satan of sense lures,

Betrayed the Christ calmness,

The Christ joy in me, and crucified Him

On the cross of forgetfulness.

Christ has been crucified many times

By my ignorance.

The immortal Christ Consciousness

Will be resurrected again in me

When my wisdom repents,

And forsaking its age-long slumber,

Remains awake.

Every star, every pure thought,

Each good act,

Will be my window,

Through which I shall behold the Father.

Oh, God, I shall worship Thee

As beauty and intelligence

In the temple of Nature. I shall worship Thee

As power in the temple of activity,

And as Peace in the temple of Silence.

Father, I want Thee first, for Thou art mine

And Thou art everything.

If I want health, I will not always seek

At the door of limited medicine.

If I seek prosperity, I shall know Thee first,

And receive it from Thy hands.

I shall not seek

The fancy-poisoned knowledge

Of most books. I shall receive wisdom

From Thy lips of Self-Realization

In the Temple of Meditation.

WHEN Christmas comes, people usually think of buying gifts for their loved ones. A few think of the beauties of Christmas music and church services. Most people revel in the festivity of the Christmas tree, with its glimmering tinsel and the gifts around it. It is good to celebrate the birth of Christ with songs, dinners, and the exchange of gifts, but if material festivity becomes the only purpose of all the Christmas celebration, it is a pity, and nothing is gained.

Let us learn how to make our celebration of Christmas a real commemoration of the holy life of Christ, a truly spiritual and uplifting experience. Once I saw a shotgun adorning a Christmas tree, and I remarked to my hostess: "Madam, that shotgun for your son is an insult to the Christ who preached ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ A gun means death, murder, revenge, brother fighting brother. For that reason it is out of place in the celebration of the birthday of the ‘Prince of Peace’." The lady took the gun away, and placed there a child’s Bible instead. We must remember that on Christmas Day we should exchange not only useful gifts, but God-reminding gifts.

The original meaning of most religious symbols and holy days is usually forgotten. Most people think of Christmas as an ordinary festivity and forget Christ, the master of ceremonies. Christmas and Christ are used for festivity, and the great spiritual significance of Christmas is lost sight of. As in a picture show, the principal attention of the audience is on the story of the picture, and not on the music, so in Christmas entertainment, the principal attention is on the material celebration, and Christ, though a most necessary part, is pushed into the background.

We should rejoice that such a holy Being as Christ was given to serve as an ideal of perfection for deluded mankind to follow. Indifferent, unconscious honor shown to Him will not do any good. Christmas should be so used that it may materially, mentally, and spiritually give us at least a new impetus to start in the Christ Path of Truth with the beginning of the New Year.

Last year we tried to do this at the Self-Realization Fellowship Mother Center. A short description of the way we celebrated Christmas will give some suggestions as to how spiritual people should celebrate the coming Christmas.

To begin with, we did our Christmas shopping early. Every member, and all others invited to the Christmas festivity, received a gift. However small in money value, it was rich with our love. Everyone in our divine family is considered closer because of the spiritual tie, which is stronger than the material tie of compulsion. We are gathered together in the name of our One Father, and have recognized ourselves as children made in His image.

We knew that getting dinner for a hundred people, adorning the Christmas tree, and making all the arrangements, would take much time, and in the din of activity Christ might slip away unnoticed form the altar of our attention, so the day before Christmas we fasted on fruits and stopped all cooking. About forty of us sat around the exquisitely decorated Christmas tree and alternately chanted and meditated deeply, from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. We ate a supper of fruit and meditated again until 11 p.m. As we retired, many guests said: "We have felt Christ and God today. We never knew before what the deep diving into Cosmic Consciousness meant. Most of us swam on the surface of the sea of silence, but never dived to get the beautiful pearls of God-contact."

Christmas morning we began with a meditation, and then the final preparations were complete and the long-looked-for dinner came. After that was the opening of the mystery packages, then a closing meditation and singing until late at night. So it was that our Christmas began in the Consciousness of Christ and ended in His expanded Consciousness.

With the coming of Christmas, do not let your Consciousness sink into the well of turkey dinners, exchange of gifts, dances, festivities, and cocktail parties. A well of material thoughts is not a fit place in which to celebrate Christ’s birthday. Instead, take your consciousness from the pitfalls of material festivities and enter the secret door of silence with closed eyes to behold the vast altar of peace spread eternally above, beneath, to the left and to the right, in front and behind, within and without.

If you go deeper, you will meet Christ coming to you in His burning robes of Bliss, like the rising Aurora, and your joy will dance in every atom of space. Then open your eyes, behold your little body and say: "The Christ Bliss is descending on the altar of my thought, feeling, and devotion." Meditate upon the statement: "Christ-Peace is descending into every tissue and cell of my body as health."

"Place Christ on the altar of your business and possessions. Say: "I possess these things in Christ." Then meditate on the statement: "My Christ-Peace has descended upon every member of my family, upon my country, and upon my world." Behold Christ-Peace descending upon your body, upon your possessions, and extending to your neighbors, to all countries, and onto the united altar of all hearts and all creatures. Let Christ-Bliss extend from your body to all lands, to America, Asia, South America, Europe, Australia, to the Solar System, to the Island Universes, and to all Beings. Meditate upon the following: "My Christ-Peace is descending upon every living thing, upon every living star, upon every speck of matter and space."

Celebrate Christmas upon the altar of the vast inner silence, and upon the sanctuary of every desire, every living thing in the world, and the Cosmos. Then will you know Christ as the Divine King ruling in the heart of all finite Creation.

TOO MUCH has been said and written about "return to prosperity," and "relief" of one kind and another, so that the whole subject has become practically taboo. The only justification for any further expression about the conditions of these trying times is that we may clearly understand what is happening to us, so that we may intelligently, and as individuals, go purposefully at the job of reconstructing the pattern of our lives.

All of the sense telephones of our social system are alive with messages of distress, suffering, injustice, and hatred. To our America, which in a physical sense, was, a few years ago, boisterous and confident that the Golden Age had at last burst forth through the murder and blood of the World War, this distress is a terrible blow. We are no longer the Americans of those hopeful, optimistic times.

We are a chastened and disillusioned people. We imagined that from our hearts of greed and ruthless profit seeking would be brought forth miraculously some flawless child of love and beauty, but as surely as this plane on which we live and move and have our being is of a grand Cosmic order of law, so do men gather figs of thistles, and so do men reap suffering, starvation, and oppression by more powerful and cunning profit gatherers, when they live by the greed of things and exploitation of the needy and distressed.

Everywhere the masses of our people who have put their all into the hopeful security of little homes are being dispossessed because of the lack of a few dollars which they cannot get by any means. In this, our house, built upon the sands, a man and his family are not entitled to live because he is a man among men, but because of the work he renders for a wage. When, as now, his work is no longer needed, his wage is stopped, leaving him naked in the industrial jungle; despised, disrespected, alone, afraid, desperate. Thousands and thousands of empty homes stand as monuments to the blasted hopes and dreams of many a noble and hard-working family.

In all the fairest of agriculture communities that blanket our country like a gorgeous rug of wealth and plenty, the producers of this plenty are being put off and the rich fields more and more will be untilled until a real and fundamental want is felt. In fact, at the present rate, in a few years famine will be our lot here in modern America, the flower of material science.

In city after city, miles and miles of idle factories testify to the inactivity of idle men who are living upon a charity which, like the best of clocks, at last must run down, for the source of its strength is dying of a pernicious dry rot as the wheels of production are rusting out from idleness.

We cannot help it if all this is not a pleasing picture. We shall not be censured for not being cheerful, for the way that we would point is the only direction in which lies any good cheer except in the mirthless cackle of madness. We do not make the above picture. All of us know that these things are too pitifully true.

We, the human race, have planted a crop and now are reaping the harvest. The seed was greed and ruthless profit taking. The harvest is poverty, starvation, and more oppression. When relief comes, it will come according to Divine Cosmic Law. We shall have to plant new seedS. Would we have justice, plenty, and fellowship? Then we must plant their seeds, which are not greed, but cooperation and fellowship; which are not ruthless profit taking, but the practice of the fellowship of the Golden Rule; to do "first" unto others as you would have them do unto you. But to go no further than this, as do the institutional agencies of religion, is not our intention, for to do so would leave man to die perishing, as in a desert, in sight of the water, but refusing to give it. We shall not ask men to be satisfied with "singing" about Divine law, nor shall we resort to the mockery of praying to a God who cannot hear.

By the light of intuitive illumination, which has been known to men of all times, and proved in every age, we would have man know of a God within himself, who is like an "other self," who has all compassion for his sorrow and trouble, understanding for all his problems, and power to infinity where he is weak. A Power which, like the electric light, the X-ray, and the radio waves is available for use at all times, a Power approachable through songs and beauty, but not living a life of retirement in holy places and art galleries.

To learn to know the God within, GOD, who works through men, is termed Self-Realization, and this God working through men is fellowship. To learn how this God is revealed to each and every one, is the greatest need of today. A definite technique, a method of how to know this other self, this God within, is the great contribution of India and the Orient to the world. When relief comes, it will come to the oppressed and suffering of the earth, by the planting of the seeds of Self Realization and brotherly fellowship. When relief comes, it will come from ourselves, when we have had enough of this absorption with matter worship and turn to the higher realization of our Infinite Inner Selves, and thus lift the plane of human fellowship into the richness of a higher social realization.

"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, ‘If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.’ But Jesus answered and said, ‘It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God’."—Matt. 4:1-4.

Satan saw that the Divine plan was for all finite creation, after a perfect existence, to go back to God, and he knew that with the disappearance of all finite creation, his kingdom would be gone, so he determined to use his God-given power to create imperfect independent desires in finite creatures in order to make them come back to earth again and again through reincarnation.

Satan created the consciousness of death through accident or fear, and thus started a desire in human beings for a perfect life on earth. This desire caused souls to reincarnate again and again in their vain hope of finding a perfect existence on earth, which can only be found in God.

God is almighty. He could destroy Satan, but if He used His physical miraculous force, He would subjugate Satan, but would not convince his immortal intelligence of his evil ways, so God is using love to convert Satan. As Satan is trying to keep human beings deluded by greed, anger, fear, desire, attachment, and delusion, so God is using the psychological counterparts of unselfishness, calmness, courage, satisfaction, unattached Divine Love, and wisdom, to bring man to His Divine Kingdom.

There was no evil in God. Satan precipitated evil by the misuse of his God-given free choice, and his power of creating finite things. God might have anticipated the origin of evil in Satan through His omniscience, yet He organized this Cosmic Play in order to enjoy Himself through His many selves, and because He knew that, ultimately, His goodness would bring all things back unto Him. After God gave independent power to Satan, who had been an archangel, to create perfect finite things, Satan mis-used his independence, as a rebellious general sometimes turns against his King. Ever since then Satan has created an ugly counterpart for every beautiful creation of God, in man’s body, mind, and soul, and in Nature. God created a beautiful body to be charged by Cosmic Energy, and to live in a free, unconditioned, Divine state, but Satan created hunger, and the lure of the senses. For mental power, Satan substituted mental temptation; for soul’s wisdom, Satan invented delusive ignorance; for beautiful Nature, Satan substituted ugly warfare, disease, germs, earthquakes cataclysms, floods, and other disasters.

If there were no individual and industrial greed, selfishness, sex temptation, nor false ambitions, this earth would be free from physical and moral crimes and war. By these misfortunes, Satan is systematically fighting God’s perfect plans of unselfishness, international cooperation, self-control, and true ambition, which includes the happiness of other people in one’s own happiness, brotherhood, and so on.

Why must God’s children be hungry? The soul, identified with the Satan-desecrated human body, feels hungry, and in turning to the earth-products for nourishment, remains earth-bound. Thus, the soul forgets that it can live like God by God’s Cosmic Energy.

Jesus, as he contacted God, found that hunger is a delusion connected with the law of change in the body, and can be overcome gradually until one can live entirely by God’s energy. Man should behold the soul as above hunger and the desire for food, for as long as the soul feels dependent upon food, it is earth-bound, and so long must it come back again and again to satisfy this flesh desire. This does not mean that the spiritual aspirant should stop eating, but it does mean that he should joyously eat to maintain the temple of God (the body) and not eat just to satisfy sense craving.

Even when Jesus said that stones could be made into bread by changing their rate of electronic vibration, he realized that it would be foolish to remember and encourage his mortal habits when tempted by Satan, since he knew that he was immortal and could live by God-power. Stones can be changed into bread when man understands how Divine Intelligence controls atoms and electrons. God’s intelligence has divided vibrations into solids, liquids, and gases, and is holding them in balance by mind, thermal, and electrical laws.

Man must understand how his intelligence controls the atoms of his body. When he learns that, he will find that his intelligence is a reflection of Divine Intelligence, which supports the life of his body. When he understands that, he knows that his body is not maintained by the physical law of bread only, but that it is sustained principally by God’s Cosmic Energy. So Jesus controlled his mortal enemy of hunger by His Divine Memory of unconditioned spiritual existence, which is self-sustaining.

The Cosmic Satan, through past mortal memory, asked Jesus to use his Divine power over atoms to change stones into bread. Satan wanted Jesus to forget his newly remembered Divine State of unconditioned existence. So Satan worked through the mind of Jesus, and said: "Why don’t you use your Divine power to change stones into bread?" If Jesus had done that, he would have misused his Divine power, and also would have again catered to the Satanic psychology of physical hunger, instead of living by Cosmic Energy.

If Jesus had converted stones into bread, he would have had to depend again on bread for life. Of course, Jesus humanly ate bread even after this experience, but he did it as a God-man, and not as a deluded human being, subject to physical hunger. Great souls, who attain the highest, do not use their miraculous power for themselves, but live in the common human way, so that they may attract people to God by the higher miracles of love and devotion, and not by ostentatious physical miracles.

By not yielding to Satan’s temptation to turn stones into bread, Jesus conquered, and from then on it was at His option to live with or without food. Jesus found that a Son of God should not test God, for that is to doubt Him. God’s power should not be used to satisfy the challenge of unbelievers, unless so commanded by God Himself. For those who see the miracles of God, there is nothing left to disbelieve. It is those who believe in God’s power without seeing, who deserve to behold the miracles of God.

So Jesus answered within himself with a great vibratory force of thought, to the metaphysical Satan, who was tempting Him to transgress God’s laws. The word "said" signifies vibrating thought, and not a speaking voice. Jesus quoted the scriptural truth, not theoretically, as so many theologians do, but after his own experience of finding the mystery and origin of life through a forty-day fast, and by an intense inner meditative preparation. Man does not need to depend upon bread, or solids, liquids, and gases only for sustaining life, but upon the vibrating Cosmic Energy proceeding from the medulla (Mouth of God) into the human system.

Evil on earth was not all created by man’s wrong actions, (evil Karma) accumulated during many incarnations. Evil existed from the time the Cosmic Satanic force first misused the Cosmic Energy to create imperfect things and beings. Even when Adam and Eve were created, Satan foresaw that if they remained perfect on earth, and were dematerialized and drawn back into God, there would be nothing left for him to do, and he would lose his power, so, even in that early period, Satan had already turned against God, and had created such patterns of imperfection as physical temptation, to make Adam and Eve transgress the perfect laws and become earth-bound through the creation of imperfect desires.

Adam and Eve, by yielding to Satan’s temptation of physical procreation, lost the power of immaculate creation, by materializing their tendencies and energy into Divine children, even as God had especially created them out of the ether. All creation is special in the beginning, and physical creation is secondary, for male and female must first exist before physical creation is possible.

From then on, the law of reincarnation became effective from the outworking of human desires on the earth plane by rebirth. Satan created this law because he wanted souls to be bound to the earth by earthly desires.

Reincarnation originated principally from Satan trying to immortalize changeable flesh in order to keep creatures under his subjugation. Satan found, however, that flesh was subject to the law of change, which included the change of the state called death.

Souls, being immortal, could not go back to God, with the imperfect desires engendered on earth by Satan, so they had to return to earth, through reincarnation, to work out their material desires. In a way, Satan is helplessly acting as the tool of God in ultimately freeing souls from Body and earth attachment. Reincarnation assures freedom, for it gives immortal souls time to work out their past desires. In that way Satan is deceived into thinking that souls will remain earthbound forever, whereas, at the expiration of the incarnation of desires, they will be liberated.

When a soul incarnates to work out its desires of past incarnations, Satan, fearing the freedom of that individual at the end of the working out of those desires, creates new desires in this incarnation by ingenious temptations, so that the soul may keep on reincarnating by weaving fresh nets of desires. Reincarnation, forced by earthly desires, is painful, and wrought with suffering, and is the tool of Satan to keep souls earthbound and miserable.

Death was to have been a conscious, happy transition from the changeful body to the changeless God. This was God’s idea of death. Satan created the painful, dreadful, unconscious, phenomena of death. To desire lasting happiness in the body causes unconsciousness and pain at the time of death. Satan made souls think death was a parting from the beautiful earth, and as such, that they should grieve and desire to come back. Souls fail to see, due to Satan’s delusion, that death was to be a godly event, a promotion, a liberation from the toil weary, imperfect earth life, to the perfect, everlasting freedom in God.

CHRISTMAS! The stores disgorge their bewildering avalanche of gifts—things for mother, dad, child, friend. On every hand you are tempted to buy of the glorious glitter. Every Christmas inflicts us with a blind hysteria of buying, a desperate desire to give, but isn’t it rather shocking, when we stop to think, that the greatest gifts we can offer to those we love are withheld because we have become schooled in the art of formal living, rather than sincere feeling?

Why do we rush madly in pursuit of material gifts at this Holy Season? Have we lost our appreciation of how limited our purse really is, not in the money sense, but in the real value of the gifts we buy?

We laugh over the cartoons of father hiding the Christmas cigars and the neckties in the ash can, and mother furtively trying to exchange those countless useless things which thoughtless hearts shower in careless generosity, but it is true that thousands and millions of dollars are flung into the greedy maw of the merchants in our frenzied fervor of getting "ready-made" expressions of personal emotions.

What are you going to give to those you love? Sincerely try to feel their needs. Perhaps, most desperately they need real understanding, real sympathy, real spiritual guidance in a problem. Don’t be reluctant in your giving of these. A fur coat cannot cure a troubled heart, a car cannot quiet a restless spirit. To the casual observer a handsome fur or a costly car may spell prestige, but in life’s personal relationships we are not casual, and our ultimate worth lies in the character beneath the coat, the spirit behind the shell. They deserve the gifts, not the frame that hides them.

We Americans have developed a curious aversion toward outwardly expressing those qualities of our souls so completely hidden beneath our practical selves. We have not yet come to recognize the practicality of maintaining an integrity between our inner and our outer selves. Our inner selves are gorged with secret feelings that we repress shamefully. Blinded by selfish love, we shower costly gifts on those around us—gifts that reflect a generosity of purse but, very often, a pauperous spirit.

Are we afraid to be genuine? Then why do we choose to offer gifts of momentary pleasure rather than those of lasting good. There are no factories manufacturing sympathy, understanding, love, friendship, or spiritual succor. Somehow, these qualities have escaped a formula, nor can you buy them for a dollar.

Be generous in showering gifts, more generous this year than ever before, but with gifts from your heart. There will be slogans flung at us from all sides urging us to buy to "end the depression," which is reasonable. If one is hungry, food is of more immediate good than intangible sympathy, but in your giving this year, let your inner gifts be sent first. Subtract the limited selfish relationship you bear toward those you love and see their needs through the eyes of a real friend, then let your generosity surmount the false barriers of vanity and pride and give humbly and bravely of love, devotion, understanding, sympathy, and spiritual guidance, as they are needed, and rest content in the thought that this season you have truly performed a joyful service in His Name.

After exchanging the gifts of the heart first, then express yourself in giving strictly useful and beautiful gifts extremely needed by your loved ones, for exchange of gifts without exchange of heart qualities is a mechanical social habit of hypocritical show as to what you can give; whereas, to give Christ-reminding spiritual gifts and needful material gifts after exchanging soul-gifts is practical, and doubly helpful. Sympathy in the heart must express itself in action. Offering gifts teaches one to sacrifice for others, to participate in the joys of others, and to put into practice what is in the heart. Virtue lies in activity.

EACH of the four Yugas, as described by the ancient Hindu sages, has a correspondence with one of the four powers of Maya, the darkness of Illusion that hides from man his Divine nature. Each Yuga brings to mankind in general an opportunity to control and understand one of these universal powers. The four Illusions, Abidyas, of Maya, counting from the grossest to the most subtle, are:

(1) Atomic form, Patra or Anu, the world of gross material manifestation, wherein the One Substance appears as innumerable objects; (2) Space, Desh, whereby the idea of division is produced in the Ever-Indivisible; (3) Time, Kal, whereby the mind conceives of change in the Ever-Unchangeable, and (4) Vibration, Aum, the universal creative force which obscures our realization of the Ever-Uncreated.

This four-fold aspect of Maya is mentioned in the bible in the following passage (Rev. 4:6): "And in the midst of the throne and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind."

In Kali Yuga, the knowledge and power of man is confined to the world of gross matter (Bhu Loka, first sphere,) and his state or natural caste is Sudra, a menial or dependent of Nature. During this Yuga, his mind is centered on the problems of material objectivity, the Abidya of Atomic Form.

In Dwapara Yuga, man gains a comprehension of the electrical attributes, the finer forces and more subtle matters of creation. He is then said to belong to the Dwija or twice-born class, since his mind has arisen form the grave of belief in materialism, and he now understands that all matter, atomic form, is in the last analysis nothing but expressions of energy, vibratory force, electrical attributes. During the course of this Age of Dwapara, man is given the power to annihilate the Abidya, Illusion, of Space, and the second limitation of Maya is thereby conquered. During this span, man’s mind is centered on the problems of the second sphere of creation (Bhuba Loka) which, by the absence of gross matter and the presence only of Nature’s finer electrical matters or energies, is called Shunya, the Vacuum Ordinary.

In Treta Yuga, man extends his knowledge and power over the attributes of universal magnetism, the source of the positive, negative, and neutralizing electricities, and the two poles of creative attraction and repulsion. His natural state or caste in this period is that of Bipra, or perfect (human) class, and he succeeds in piercing the third veil of Maya, the Illusion of Time, which is Change.

The present state of development of human intelligence in this, our own Dwapara Age, is not sufficient to enable us to even dimly understand the problems of the third sphere of Nature (Siva or Swa Loka), that will be met and mastered by the men of Treta Yuga, whose next appearance is scheduled to start in the year 4098 A.D. This third sphere, of universal magnetism, being characterized by the absence of all matter, whether gross or fine, is called Maha Shunya, the Great Vacuum.

In Treta Yuga, the intelligence of man, having penetrated the secrets of the finer material forces of Nature, of Bhuba Loka, in the preceding Age of Dwapara, now comes upon the solution of the mysteries of Swa Loka, the source and origin of all matter-energies, gross and subtle, thus being enabled to comprehend the true nature of the universe. In this state, man’s intelligence is sufficiently purified to grasp the principles of Chittwa, universal Heart Atom, magnetic third portion of Creations and throne of Purush, Spirit, the Creator,

Chittwa, the throne, has seven attributes—five kinds of electricities, Panch-Tatwa, the five Root-Causes of creation, and two magnetic poles, one of attraction, Buddhi, the Intelligence which determines what is Truth, and one of repulsion, Manas, the Mind, which produces the ideal world for enjoyment. These seven attributes appear to the spiritual sight as of seven different colors, as in a rainbow. "And there was a rainbow round about the throne."—Rev. 4:3.

The throne of universal magnetism, Chittwa, and its seven attributes, have been compared in the Bible to a sealed casket of knowledge, which no man under Maya, even in Satya Yuga (heaven) can fully understand:

"And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the back side, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?’ And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon."—Rev. 5:1-3.

In Satya Yuga, man comprehends the source of universal magnetism with its principle of duality, or polarity, and his intelligence reaches out to grasp the mystery of Vibration, Aum, the creative power that sustains the universe. "These things saith the Amen (Aum), the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God."—Rev. 3:14.

If this fourth and last sheath of Maya is thus removed, in the Golden Age, from the eyes of the perfected man, he passes on to the fifth sphere. In this state, freed from the four Illusions, he is called Brahman, knower of the Creator, Brahma, the spiritual light and only Real Substance of the universe. The fourth sphere, Maha Loka, is the connecting link between the three lower Lokas, worlds, and the three spiritual Lokas above, and is thus called Dasamadwar, the Door.

The universe, from the Eternal Substance God down to the gross material creation, is divided by the ancient Hindu rishis into seven different spheres, Swargas or Lokas, of which the first four, the kingdom of Maya, have been described above. The remaining three, not being subject to the illusory limitations of vibrations, time, space, or atomic form, are of course unconnected with the time-cycles of the different Yugas, and it will therefore be sufficient here merely to mention them briefly.

The fifth sphere is Jana Loka, the abode of the Songs of God, wherein the idea of the separate existence of the Higher Self originates. As it is above the comprehension of man while under the Illusions of Maya, this sphere is called Alakhsa, the Incomprehensible.

The sixth sphere is Tapa Loka, that of the Holy Spirit or Eternal Patience, as it remains forever undisturbed by any limited idea. Because it is not approachable even by the Songs of God, as such, it is called Agam, the Inaccessible.

The seventh and highest sphere is Satya Loka, abode of God, the only Real Substance, Sat, in the universe. No name can describe it, hence this sphere is called Anam, the Nameless.

When man, in Satya Yuga, reaches the fourth, intermediate sphere of Maha Loka, the Door, and overcomes the fourth and last power of Maya, he leaves behind him the illusory world of reflected light, and is baptized directly in the true spiritual light, becoming a son of God. Thus, having been immersed in the sacred stream of Aum (symbolized by water) and illuminated by the direct light of Spirit, he enters into Jana Loka, the Kingdom of God, wherein his own Sonship is made manifest. Jesus answered: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."—John 3:5.

Thomas saith unto him: "Lord, we know not whither thou goest: and how can we know the way (Door), the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me."—John 14:5-6. The Door, the fourth sphere of Maha Loka, represents the last Abidya, Illusion, of Maya, which produces the idea of the separate existence of the (lower) self, Ahamkar, Ego, the son of Man. Thus Man, Manava, being the off-spring of Maya, Ignorance, and its four powers or illusory ideas, is considered to have his source and origin in these four Ideas or Manus.

The powers of Maya have been divided into twenty-four principles, Tatwa, by the ancient sages, namely, (1) Ahamkar, Ego; (2) Chittwa, Heart Center, universal magnetism; (3) Buddhi, Intelligence; (4) Manas, Mind, (5-19) five kinds of electricities, Pancha-Tatwa, each with three manifestations, and (20-24) Bhoota, five matters of the gross physical world. These twenty-four divisions are mentioned in the Bible as the twenty-four Elders, or primeval principles. "And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty Elders."—Rev. 4:4.

The five kinds of electricities manifest in three ways through the three Gunas—Sattwa, the positive, Tama, the negative, and Raja, the neutralizing. The Gunas are the three causative, guiding qualities inherent in and operative upon all Tatwa. The word Guna comes from the roots gu, to work imperceptibly, and nee, to guide. The five positive Sattwa attributes of the electricities are the abstract knowing senses, Jnana-Indriya, through which man realizes his five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Manas, the Mind, guides these Jnana-Indriya through its sense-consciousness.

The five neutralizing Raja attributes of the electricities are the abstract working senses, Karma-Indriya, through which man realizes his five abilities of articulation, motion, generation, absorption, and excretion. The Karma-Indriya are guided by Pran, the Life-Energy.

The five negative Tama attributes of the electricities, by their resisting force, produce the five Tanmatra, the objects of the abstract senses. Tanmatra comes from the root, Tat, that, and matra, merely. Tanmatra, then, are Only That or Merely That, the most subtle and most imperceptible form of matter, the vibratory structure of material substance. They are classified as Roop, form and color; Shabda, sound; Gandha, odor; Ras, taste and fluidity; and Sparsha, touch.

These fifteen electrical manifestations, together with the two magnetic poles, Intelligence and Mind, make up the Linga-Sharir or Sukshma-Sharir, the fine material body of Purush, Spirit.

A further increase of the negative Tama Guna, and a combination and mixture of the five Tanmatra, produce the five material substances, or Bhoota, of our physical universe. Bhoota has a root-meaning of "to have been." Hence, Bhoota means past. The real nature of the five Bhoota is left behind in time, in their causative Tanmatra, and all the preceding Tatwa. By tracing the etymology of these terms, we realize the great scientific advancement, far out-stripping that of the scientists of our present era, of the sages who thus classified the orderly processes of creation.

Within itself the blind mind consulted introspection, the impartial judge of all states of consciousness, asking: "My children, the crooked mental tendencies (Kurus), and the pure discriminative faculties (the pure Pandus), eager for different psychological battles, what did they?" The blind boisterous mind wanted the introspective faculty to reveal the battles between the sense-bent mental tendencies and the pure wisdom-loving, discipline-loving, self-control-evolving, wisdom faculties.

THE accompanying charts show the clash between the Ego, holding the five searchlights of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch, and the Soul, holding the five God-revealing super inner searchlights.

Man’s soul holds two bundles of inner and outer searchlights. The soul, which is really ever-existing, ever-conscious, ever-new, individualized Bliss-Spirit, and its pure reflection, withdraws, during deep meditation, its limited matter-identified attention, with the power of the inner eye of attention. The soul beholds, through the searchlights of astral visions, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, the territory of Omnipresent Cosmic Consciousness, and its blessed boundlessness.

In this state, Prince Soul, freed from the intoxications of delusion and illusive mortal habits, thinks of all the twinkling atoms of Cosmic Energy as his own eyes. He enjoys the fragrance of Bliss in everything, along with the astral fragrance. He tastes the astral nectar of liquid, Cosmic Energy. He feels his voice vibrate, not in a human throat, or body, but in the throat of all vibrations, in his body of all finite matter. In its own state, the soul, as pure reflection of Spirit, instead of feeling the little body as the pseudo-soul, or ego, feels its blood of perception run through all the veins in the body of all finite vibratory Creation.

Now then, we find that Prince Soul, when deluded and tempted by Cosmic Delusion, or psychological Satan, becomes the limited ego. When Prince Soul identifies with the body, and its material relatives and possessions, it becomes the deluded ego. The soul, as the ego, ascribes for itself all the limitations and titles of the body with which it is identified. In the ego-state, Prince Soul, being identified with the slum of matter, imagines himself poor and limited, just as a rich prince, wandering and living in the slums, might imagine himself to be poor.

The soul, as ego, has its attention identified with the outer searchlights of the five sense of sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch, and beholds only the limitations of matter. A searchlight reveals only objects in front of it, not behind. The matter-bound searchlights of the senses, turned toward matter, reveal only the limitations of matter in front of them, and not the vast Kingdom within. In the ego state, the Soul sees not the beautiful Cosmic Energy in every speck of space, but only the limitations of human faces, flowers, and the beauty of Nature. On the other hand, the soul coaxes its attention to turn its searchlight inward, and behold, through its astral vision, the ever-burning, ever-changing, multicolored lights of the fountain of cosmic Energy, playing through the powers of all atoms.

The beauty of a face, or of Nature, is fleeting, and depends upon the power of the physical eyes. The beauty of Cosmic Energy is everlasting, and can be seen with or without the physical eyes. The astral beauties of roses, scenery, and heavenly faces, all play their infinitely fascinating roses of ever-changing colors on the stage of the Astral Cosmos. Beholding this, the soul can never be attached to the changeable objects of beauty in Nature, and foolishly expect from it everlasting beauty. The most beautiful face wrinkles and droops with age. Roses wither, and mock our desire for eternal beauty in them.

In one of my classes there were two beautiful young married persons. They were ideal lovers, the envy of all the class. I said to them: "I am very fond of you both, but I do not envy you, though your youth, beauty, and love are the envy of most people. Some day you will envy me." Whenever they sat talking with me, being swayed by the breeze of love, they would bring their faces together, like two half-opening roses, whispering fragrance and beauty under the spell of the gentle breeze. The boy was dreamy, well formed, beautiful, and so was the girl.

It was a perfect match. He said: "If only I could get a job, we would be supremely happy. Please pray for me." And I answered, feeling that my prayer was heard: "You shall have a job, but at the end of a year I shall visit you and see if that is all you need to make you happy. I will compare my love with my Beloved Omnipresence, who sings to me through stars, atoms, and nightingales, with your limited human love." A baby was about to come.

One year later, God took me to them. The boy came out of a grocery store. His back was bent, his brow was wrinkled, and he said with a bedraggled smile: "I got a job all right, but it is such hard work. However, I still believe in God." Then I saw his wife. Another baby was coming. All her smiles were gone. She greeted me with a tired, worried face, and said: "I never see my husband any more. He is in the store from eight in the morning until eight in the evening. The baby cries all the time. We hardly have time to meditate, and when we do, our thoughts run riot, and they chase us all over Creation away from God." Then I said: "Look at my serene face. My love for my Eternal Beloved has deepened and ripened. My eyes are more filled with joy than yours ever were. Wake up, without God’s love, your love, which is His reflection, will fade away. Feed your love with the ever-flowing power of His love, or it will wither into nothingness.

Old age will mar all beautiful faces. Death will destroy all the buds of youth, and cataclysms will demolish the beauties of this earth, but nothing can destroy the beauties of the Astral Cosmos. These assume wonderful forms at the mere command of your imagination, and disappear when you don’t want them. They wake again, in ever new garb of beauty, at the command of your fancy.

The ego loves to hear sweet words of prevaricating flattery, and the evanescent, fickle praises of world-wide fame, and the promise of everlasting love from the "must-die" lips of youth. The sweet voice of mothers, and the words of lovers will be buried in the grave of oblivion unless in their echo you hear the Divine Lover’s voice, and recognize His presence.

The soul turned within listens to its own voice, signing through the flute of atoms, and through the shimmering waves of all Creation. Listening to the song of the Spirit, the soul desires to hear nothing else. The soul, in the superconscious state, smells the fragrance of astral atom blossoms, blooming in the Cosmic garden, and tastes the honey of liquid, tangible joy, existing in the honeycomb of electronic space. In this state, the soul no longer revels in imitation perfumes, the lure of material greed for food, and sense pleasure. It lives by its own Divine energy, and its eternal, living state, and does not think it must depend upon physical food only.

Last of all, the ego battles to keep attention a prisoner in the domain of touch. The physical plane has promised happiness, but has given only ill health, and hastened old age, nervousness, disease, and death. The sense of touch has given only enslaving body comforts, which has made it always afraid of hurt and exertion. The soul, which has conquered the limited comfort desire of the body, feels all matter as its body, and enjoys all Divine sensations in matter as its own sensations.

The Divine, or superman, feels the smooth glide of the river over the breast of the earth. He feels the home of his Being in the ocean of space, and he perceives the swimming waves of Island Universes on his sea bosom. He feels the softness of the petals of blossoms, and the tenderness of all loves, in all hearts, and the aliveness of youth in all bodies. His youth is everlasting. He feels his body, a tiny living atom, in the vast body of his Cosmos.

This final battle between human consciousness beholding the suffering, tortured lives, in changeable matter, and the Cosmic Consciousness of the soul, beholding the kingdom of all-powerful Omnipresence, must be won. The soul must battle its misguided ego consciousness of human titles, such as, "I am a man, an American, a Hindu, so many pounds of flesh, a millionaire, in this toy playhouse," and so on, and release the prisoner of attention.

A released attention will withdraw the mind of the soul, beholding through the limited searchlights of the senses, and will show it how to behold its Infinite Kingdom through the searchlights of inner perception.

Next month the second stanza of the first chapter of the Gita will be interpreted.

If heart is calmed or medulla or point between eyebrows is stimulated by will, one can control the inner and outer searchlights. By will the outer searchlights of the senses can be shut off, excluding all perceptions of matter and intensifying the luminosity and current of the inner reversed searchlights in order to see God. The outer searchlights only show material objects to the Ego and when these lights are switched off, all material distractions vanish. Then the Ego automatically turns to behold through the reinforced inner searchlights the forgotten beauty of the inner astral Kingdom.

THE great events of human history always have been movements toward simplicity. The Saviors of mankind have all been simple, direct spirits who have come to earth at moments when humanity was yearning for peace, and have manifested their works of healing and upbuilding in humble surroundings, among plain, unpretentious folk. The highest spiritual ideals have been born as simplifying processes.

It was a very small and comparatively unimportant world in which the Jewish people lived during the reign of Augustus, Caesar of Rome. Palestine—the Holy Land—not much larger in area than our State of Massachusetts, was just a corner of the great Roman realm, although a very troubled one. It was small in territory, but how packed with history, that land—more history to the square foot than any other equal area of the earth’s surface.

Of the rest of the then known world, Rome was Lord. The Mediterranean world, so-called, had all come under the "Pax Romana," but beyond the shores of that Middle Sea, also, the Roman eagles were supreme. From the mud villages of the Picts on the Cheviot hills of Britain to the Pillars of Hercules in Africa, from the Basques of the Biscay to the plains of Mesopotamia, from the edge of the gloomy German forests even to the rim of the sandblown Sahara, "Imperator Romanus" reigned unchallenged. Hoary Egypt, classic Greece, the venerable empires of Tigris and Euphrates, all were submerged in Rome. Never before in human history had there been such undisputed mastery over such a vast empire as that then exercised by the proud Seven-Hilled City on the Tiber.

Our western history books tell us that this was the world of those days, but we now know that, in other lands, far away from the Mediterranean, men lived, moved, and had their being.

In the land of the Ganges, in what we now call India, the power of the Greek successors to the Great Alexander had begun to decline. Politically, ruling dynasties were changing rapidly. We read of all sorts of strange names—Sunga, Kanva, Kushan, Saka, who were, perhaps, Scythian satraps. We hear of a trade embassy from an Indian monarch to the Roman Caesars. Commerce evidently was flourishing. Buddhism had already crystallized into formalism and had begun to decline in Hindustan.

Another civilization, also venerable, was in full bloom in Northeastern Asia. China, today, still the largest cultural unit on the planet, was just coming under the powerful Han dynasty. So resplendent was that reigning family that even to this day the Chinese are often referred to as the "Sons of Han." The Great Wall had been built. Confucius was acquiring wide influence and Taoism was spreading. Buddhism had come and was extending its sway even to Japan.

To the South, almost we might say, between China and India, another people, mysterious as yet to us, and only recently studied at all, was flourishing. The Cambodians, or Khmers (now called Annamese, and under French rule), had erected a powerful kingdom. They had built a magnificent capital at Ankor-Vat, which amazes us of 1932. They were building this wonder city when Pilate the Roman was delivering Jesus up to the Sanhedrin.

On our own American hemisphere, (as we have only recently learned), a truly remarkable set of civilizations, not merely one, was blooming. We do not as yet know much definitely about the Incas of Peru, as to dates and times, but we do know that in Yucatan, modern Mexico, there was then an extraordinary culture, the Mayan, which was in full bloom from about 200 B. C. to 400 to 500 A. D. The Mayans had a calendar that permitted of astronomical calculations and a system of numbers that made bookkeeping possible.

But it was what we now know as Europe, together with the northern shores of Africa and the Near East, which was the world. The rest did not exist for historians, although the Roman chronicler, Pliny, does speak of China and India, and even, at least once, refers to the "lost continent" of Atlantis.

This known world was Roman. The haughty city on the Tiber had conquered all. The pagan gods were supreme. On the one hand there was luxury to the point of effeminacy, and, on the other hand, misery almost beyond belief. It was a world static and corrupt. On the edge of the empire, where the campfires of the Legionnaires were burning, the barbarians were already gathering their spears and clubs to hurl them on a dying order in Italy and an effete culture in Hellas.

Of Gods there were many, too many. The Greeks were so open-minded on this subject that they were afraid of missing some so they spoke of the "Unknown God." "Oh, ye men of Athens," said St. Paul later, standing on Mars Hill in the city of the Violet Crown, "Ye are, I perceive, too superstitious. Ye have erected an altar to the Unknown God. Him whom ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you."

Greek philosophy had become skepticism and impotence, and Roman formulas had degenerated into Pantheism and luxury. The simplicity of the new creed was to become "to the Jew a stumbling block, to the Greeks foolishness."

The Pharisee was the ripe fruit of Jewish formalism. With him works counted, not faith.

"One who offered up many sacrifices in the temple was quit of the duty of maintaining his aged parents. In his discourses he spoke not of his sins of conscience, but of how many paces it is permissible to walk on the Sabbath day. For years he had eagerly discussed the question whether the corn for the sacrifice on the second day of the Passover might lawfully be cut on the Sabbath. Is it binding to swear by the temple, or only by the gold of the temple? When incense is burned before the Holy of Holies, should it be kindled before or after the entrance of the high priest?"

The Pharisee idolized the letter of the law, accepting its plain wording without any spiritual interpretation, doing this at a time when and in a world, where a turmoil of conflicting ideas, a state of general uncertainty, prevailed. On the letter of the law, the Pharisee could stand, and on that rock he would split.

There was need of a new religion. The time was ripe for a new avatar. A revolutionary spiritual philosophy was being prepared in Judea. Jesus was a radical, a revolutionary, come to change things. So the Pharisee hated Him, but there were others among the Jews who were sending forth to the people a message of hope.

"There would certainly come a new Moses, a new liberator. Never for a moment, even, must the Jews forget that they were the chosen people. Theirs was the City of God, and it was their part to despise the heathen. Just as their fathers had refused to swear fealty to the false house of King Herod, so now must they renounce allegiance to the Romans."

But could any good come out of Nazareth, out of Galilee, that country of yokels and bumpkins, of simple farmer folk? Yes, "From Galilee, from Galilee alone, could deliverance come."

In a rare volume on Jesus, as "the Son of Man," the modern German biographer, Emil Ludwig, graphically describes political, social, and general living conditions in Palestine at the time of the Nativity. He speaks of the armed truce between the over-lord Romans and the suspicious, sullen Jewish population. Through it all the Hebrews stubbornly held to their belief that their "King" would come.

"Even while the conquered, and conquerors, are sleeping and while hate is in abeyance in the relaxed limbs, still, through the dreams of men and women alike, looms faith in the One God. He will return as King of the Jews and Lord of the world. Two worlds face each other, men of faith and men of war."

Jesus was not an historian, a theologian, or a critic, but, nevertheless, there was an air of finality and universality about all He taught—God’s continuous presence, His love, His mercy, His goodness—as facts of immediate experience. We are all children of God.

"Our Father, Who Art in Heaven!" Could there have been a more revolutionary creed than this? Let us analyze this epoc-making supplication, no, declaration of sonship.

Not the stern unbending judge of the Old Testament, the avenging Jehovah, but "Father."

"Who Art in Heaven"

Not the King on his awful throne, but in the hearts of men, where the Kingdom of Heaven must always be. "the Kingdom of Heaven is within you."

"Hallowed Be Thy Name"

Not feared, not dreaded, but "hallowed," "blessed."

"Thy Kingdom Come"

Not an earthly reign of "pomp and circumstance," but the quiet rule of peace and love.

"Thy Will Be Done, On Earth As It Is In Heaven"

Away with temporal ambitions and dreams of earthly grandeur. Let man pray and work for God’s Kingdom and Will. "My Kingdom is not of this world."

"Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread"

What a commentary on the greed, avarice, and hurly-burly for material possessions so widespread even in the ancient world, and how much more today!

"And Forgive Us Our Debts As We Forgive Our Debtors"

The Golden Rule again. We must come to the Eternal Mercy Seat with clean hands.

"Lead Us Not Into Temptation, But Deliver Us From Evil"

Keep us unspotted from the world.

"For Thine Is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory, Forever and Ever, Amen."

All selfishness pressed out.

To a world of complexities, sophistries, and sophistications came He who said "Except ye become as little children, ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of God." To a world of the lusts of the flesh and pride of the eye, the Son of Man said: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." To a tired, weary, and heartsick world came this Healer saying: "Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."

Night was brooding over the halls of the Temple more than nineteen centuries ago. The priests on watch swayed drowsily betwixt sleep and waking. They had forgotten the Roman soldiers, forgotten the slavery of Israel. Passover was at hand, and their minds were filled with thoughts of the coming Redeemer. All the sleeping city of Jerusalem was dreaming of the Messiah.

Has He, this spiritual revolutionist, come to us, here in the United States of America?

1/2 pint dried split peas

1/4 teaspoonful ginger

1/8 teaspoonful of mace and salt

4 hard boiled eggs

12 small boiled onions, or onions sliced and fried.

Soak the peas in water over night, then wash them well, and wash the rice. Cover the peas with water, add the ginger, mace, and salt to taste, cook until half done, then add the rice. Cover closely, and cook slowly until the rice is swollen and tender, stirring very frequently towards the end of the cooking, when nearly all the water should have evaporated. Serve garnished with hard-boiled eggs cut in halves and surround with small boiled onions or slices of fried onion.

Grind 1/8 pound of almonds. Mix with brown sugar. Form into small lumps and cover with melted chocolate. Pistachio nuts may be used instead of almonds, or a combination of raisins and almonds, or raisins and pistachio nuts may be used.

Chop 1/2 head of lettuce fine. Add one tablespoonful of honey and one tablespoonful of whole pignolia nuts. Combine and serve in individual mounds topped with whipped cream.

IF YOU have given up hope of ever being happy, cheer up. Never lose hope. Your soul, being the reflection of the ever-joyous Spirit, is, in essence, happiness itself. If you keep the eyes of your concentration closed, you cannot see the sun of happiness burning within your bosom, but no matter how tightly you close the eyes of your attention, it nevertheless remains a fact that the happiness rays are ever trying to pierce the closed doors of your mind. Open the portals of calmness and you will find a sudden burst of the bright Sun of Joy right from within yourself.

The joyous rays of the soul can be perceived if you interiorize your attention. This can be done by using the architect of your mind to enjoy the beautiful scenery of thoughts in the invisible, tangible Kingdom within you. Do not search for happiness only in beautiful clothes, clean houses, delicious dinners, and soft cushions and chairs. These will imprison your happiness behind the bars of externality or outwardness. Rather, in the airplane of your visualization, glide over the vast tracts of Fancy, beholding the limitless empire of thoughts. There behold the mountain ranges of unbroken, lofty, spiritual aspiration, for improving yourself and others.

Glide over the deep valleys of Universal Sympathy. Fly over the geysers of enthusiasm, and the Niagara Falls of perpetual wisdom, plunging down the hoary crags of your Soul’s peace. Soar over the endless river of intuitive perception, to the Kingdom of His Omnipresence. There, in His Mansion of Bliss, drink from His fountain of Whispering Wisdom, and quench the thirst of your desires. Dine with Him on the fruits of Divine love, in the Banquet Hall of Eternity. If you have made up your mind to find joy within yourself, sooner or later you will find it. Seek it now, daily, by steady, deep, and deeper meditation within, and you will surely find everlasting happiness. Make a steady effort to go within and you will find your greatest happiness there.

In that land of everlasting Christmas and Christ-Omnipresent-Festive-Consciousness you will find Jesus, Krishna, the Saints of all religions, and the great Guru preceptors, all waiting to give you a floral reception of ever-new, everlasting happiness.

Celebrating the birth of omniscient, omnipresent Christ-Consciousness in your consciousness, on the joyous Christmas festivity of your inner awakening, you will find the unbroken happiness of your dreams.

On the Christmas tree of Christ Consciousness hang your material desires, to remain forever. Give unto Christ all the gifts of love and devotion. Let Him, on the Christmas morn of your spiritual awakening, break open the gorgeous presents of your heart offerings, sealed with the tears of your golden joy and bound with the cord of your eternal fidelity to Him. He accepts only the gifts of sacred soul-dreams, and His acceptance will be His greatest gift to you, for, if He gives anything, to anyone, He gives nothing less than Himself, and in giving Himself He will make your heart big enough to hold Him, then your heart will throb with Christ in everything. Enjoy this festivity, the birth of Christ, in your mind and soul, and in every living atom.

Washington Star: "A little man consents to eat breakfast under a mango tree in far-off India and a sigh of relief goes round the world. Mahatma Gandhi by his recent fast bends both the British Empire and the haughty Hindus in great measure to his will, in the political arrangements for representation of the ‘untouchables’."

Boston Evening Transcript: "The Mahatma’s apparent success is an impressive demonstration of the survival of the force of personal influence in the world’s affairs."

Baltimore Sun: "It may well be said to mark the highest point yet attained in Gandhi’s dramatic career as the most powerful leader millions of Hindus have ever had."

New York Sun: "Neither political India nor political Great Britain could afford the moral risk of permitting Gandhi to die in such a Cause."

Hartford Daily Times: "It is an impressive fact that all parties to the contest feared Gandhi’s death quite as much as they do the living Gandhi."

Providence Evening Bulletin: "There is no denying, after this exhibition, the tremendous power that the Mahatma wields."

Chicago Daily News: "One need not approve Gandhi’s political strategy or concede that wisdom marks all his contentions in order that one may recognize moral sublimity in his devotion to his people’s political and economic advancement."

Kansas City Times: "Gandhi emerges as the most powerful of living leaders. His ordeal will enhance his prestige abroad as certainly as it will consolidate his authority in India. Neither Stalin nor Mussolini could have performed such a feat by sheer force of personality. His threat to starve himself compelled Hindu leaders to reach a compromise on the subject which involves prejudices of centuries."

Asbury Park Evening Press: "What disturbances might have followed his death from his hunger strike could not be foreseen at this distance, but they threatened tremors that would shake the entire globe. It is fortunate that the compromise between the Hindus and the leaders of the lower castes has been approved by London and found acceptable by Gandhi."

Dubuque Catholic Daily Tribune: "How this Indian leader shames the world’s statesmen in this universal dark hour of economic misery. He suffers personally to gain the most vital decision for the welfare of his country, while the so-called Christian leaders of the world powers think only of settling their differences by force, by arming, and by butchery of their nationals, keeping their own precious selves far away from danger."

Cincinnati Times-Star: "If Gandhi has won a great victory, it is a victory over his fellow Hindus. The emaciated little brown man is pitting himself against the accumulated religious prejudice of centuries. The Occident cannot but wish him well in his task, compared to which the labors of Hercules were child’s play."

Oklahoma City Oklahoman: "Altogether, his intellectual and spiritual diet has been as substantial as his material diet has been thin. The world breathes more easily and partakes of its food more comfortably since Mr. Gandhi is taking a little orange juice and goat’s milk, diluted with warm water. Anyone who has read of the caste discrimination against the ‘untouchables’ of India, and who is even slightly aware of their pitiful condition, will rejoice that their champion has won his case.

Gandhi has a great interest in books. He has read through the King James Version of the Bible, and the Koran. He has re-familiarized himself with the works of Tolstoy. He has read Henry Thoreau’s ‘Paradoxes of Civilization,’ ‘Life Without Principles,’ and ‘An Essay on the Duty of Civil Disobedience.’ He has renewed acquaintance with Ruskin."

Similarly, if we seek to become free of our material life by torturing or destroying the body, or by one means or another ridding ourselves of our material possessions, which may seem to be a menace to our spiritual development, we are in danger of defeating the desired end. If we follow those misguided ones who advise us to be rid of our material life and possessions at any cost, we risk the deplorable consequence of destroying our spiritual life and qualities as well. Still, we must give up the life-material in order to live the life-spiritual, but if giving up the life-material does not mean giving up the body and material possessions, then what does it mean? It means that we must destroy the matter-consciousness from our lives. We must replace the consciousness of matter with the consciousness of Spirit. Everything is Spirit. Only realize that great truth and your matter-consciousness will be transmuted into Spirit-consciousness. Verily, Christ is the only way, but this Christ Way does not rest upon the personality of Jesus. It is the Way of Christ-Consciousness. Christ is a state of consciousness and not a personality.

To travel upon the Way we must dwell constantly with the thought of Christ. We must work with him, rejoice with Him, serve with Him, and behold Him in every object and every person with whom we come in contact. How can we ever expect to attain Christ-Consciousness unless we live perpetually in Him? Thus, you may have every legitimate wish fulfilled in this life and may enjoy every one of your possessions, provided you have them and enjoy them with the consciousness of God. Love all your dear ones, and enjoy their comradeship by seeing Spirit in them, God in them. Always realize that they are the manifestations of God. You are Spirit, they are Spirit. Spirit loves Spirit.

Very often it is said that you must give up your material possessions in order to enjoy spiritual things. Perhaps you will recall the incident in the life of Jesus when He told the rich young man to relinquish all his material possessions in order to enjoy the life eternal. Through that incident, Jesus really taught that one must give up "matter-attachment" to attain the life eternal, but matter-attachment can never be given up unless we have given up matter-consciousness.

Then, again, it is impossible to give up matter-consciousness without replacing it with Spirit-consciousness, which is the realization that matter is purely the manifestation of Spirit, that every object in the projected universe is the manifestation of the Spirit. Thus, we must give up our matter-attachment, born of matter-consciousness, to inherit the life eternal. How I wish I could see Jesus today! Oh, how I should like to ask Him a few questions that would save humanity from misrepresenting and misunderstanding His teachings.

It is said in one of the oldest Upanishads, called the "Isha-Upanishad," "Everything must be saturated with the consciousness of God." This is the opening verse of this very ancient compilation of the orally-expressed inner realization of our Aryan forefathers, but you must know that it is not easy to live in the consciousness of God. It is a very difficult undertaking. The way is narrow, and few there be who find it.

The first requisite for living in Spirit consciousness is a pure heart. Jesus said: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." A pure heart is of greater value to spiritual life than a great brain. I should prefer to have an infinite heart and an atom of brain, rather than an infinite brain and no heart, but best of all is to have a pure heart and a perfect brain as well. Have such a heart that you will be able to feel for the whole Universe, and have such a brain that you will be able to understand the whole universe. It is impossible to live in the consciousness of God by brain alone, you must also have the heart to go with it. Both are necessary. The possession of either one alone makes us dogmatic or fanatical.

Never become discouraged when you have done something wrong. If you have told a lie, or committed a sin, do not worry about it. Man, as a human being, must make mistakes, because no man, as a man, is perfect. A cow never tells a lie, but a cow is always a cow, at least in this life. A lamp post does not walk, neither does it stumble, but it always remains a post. It is those who walk that fall, those who attempt that fail. If you have fallen, if you have failed, do not remain in that state. Get up and march on. "Arise, awake, march on until the goal is reached."

You must be patient and persevering. Nothing is accomplished by those who are impatient or whimsical. Do not worry. You still have infinite opportunity to realize your soul’s perfection. Be sincere. Sincerity commands divinity. By your sincerity you will be able to command God. God obeys the command of a sincere heart. Hypocrisy is one of the deadliest sins. Never say that you have lost your attachment for your material life, unless you have been able to replace it with the love of Spirit.

Once someone said to me: "I have lost the matter-consciousness, but have not yet found anything to replace it." Immediately, I knew that was not true. It was self-deception, or hypocrisy, or else it was ignorance. Father, forgive (give wisdom to) such unenlightened ones! It is impossible for us to lose our matter-attachment, or matter-consciousness, unless we have become lovers of Spirit and have realized Spirit in all.

Such statements usually come form indolent persons. They have heard or read about spiritual truths. They are allured by the noble state of spirituality, but they do not wish to work in order to attain it. Then, when they have failed to practice and attain, they try to console their hearts with self-deceptive expressions or beliefs. As a result, they become dissatisfied and unhappy and frequently turn to the belief in vicarious atonement as a last hope. This belief is highly dangerous. Like a mirage in the desert, it betrays and finally kills them. For a while it may seem to answer very well, but in the end they are certain to be deceived and find themselves in a pitiable state.

The test of true God realization is the enjoyment of constant, inner happiness. If you are not happy, you have not yet loved God, you have not even started to love God. Are those ostriches is happy who consider themselves safe with their heads buried in the sands of vicariousness? No! And they are never going to be happy either if they continue to be such parasites in their spiritual life. It is much better to be unhappy in your own struggle because you can be sure of your final happiness. It is much better to suffer in your own home than to suffer in another’s home, because you have at least the consolation of knowing that the circumstances of the suffering belong to you.

It is advisable to avoid associating with those who always complain about life. They are a great hindrance, particularly at the beginning of your spiritual life. They may ruin your newly-awakened spirituality, which is like a tender plant growing within you. Avoid such people and try to always be happy, no matter how you are situated. God will never reveal Himself to you unless you are contented and happy. God never comes to those who constantly grunt and groan.

If you are unhappy and complaining, you have not resigned yourself to God. In resignation alone there is peace. Resignation to God leads us to perform every work with the sense of privilege, gratitude, and joy: privilege on our part, gratefulness to God, and joy for all. The moment you resign yourself to Spirit you are joyous. Peace is the criterion of spirituality. Judge your own spirituality by the amount of peace you realize.

You must saturate everything with God. Realize that there is only One that exists. There is only One in which all that is exists. Everything is that One. That One is God. Unify everything in God—your human relations, material possessions, natural environment. Unify everything in Spirit and realize Spirit always in everything. This unification of all in Spirit is God-Consciousness. In God-Consciousness, alone, peace and happiness abide. In Spirit-Consciousness, alone, there is joy and bliss. The best and highest reward in our life of God-Consciousness is the realization of happiness, unceasing happiness, which we call Peace or Bliss.

THIS is a wonderful season, and the magical word that expresses its Spirit is "Christmas." These are indeed the feast days of Christ, days of rejoicing for that Master and days in which man may feed on the bread of heaven, the words of Truth which fell like jewels from the lips of the gentle Nazarene. Christ was a man of power, wisdom, and love and He left to humanity a rich heritage of these Divine qualities.

By His words and deeds He showed humanity the beauty and simplicity of childhood, the sacredness of womanhood, and the dignity of manhood. We know that Jesus suffered at the hands of ignorant men, but we who write this do not believe that the Christ was ever harmed. That the Christ glorified the body of Jesus we do believe, and we also believe that this Master among men still lives, in body and in Spirit, rejoicing in His eternal Godhood and ever ready to shed His light on whoever will receive it.

The writer is a firm believer in the "historical Jesus," but he KNOWS of the existence of the eternal Christ. Jesus Christ is a beautiful fact of time, and the glorious truth of Eternity. He lives beyond and above us, yet He also lives within us. At any moment, any one of us may contact the Christ, think His thoughts, and manifest His love.

"For as the lightning cometh out of the East and shineth even unto the West, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." The Son of Man is verily the "sun" of man, the Light of the world, the beacon light that shines through the darkness of ignorance, the Guide that leads man through the wilderness of misunderstanding, the Truth that makes us free, the Way back home. To the Light that was, and is, in Jesus the Christ, we bow our heads and hearts in reverence.

"THIS commandment which I command thee this day, is not from thee, neither is it far off. The word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it."—Deut. 30:11.

"I have set before thee this day Life and Good, and Death and Evil. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you, Life and Death, Blessing and Cursing."—Deut. 30:15.

Eternal Life is so exhibited, so offered to, so urged upon us. Let us see that we refuse not Him that speaketh from heaven. Let us search deep the secrets hidden in the heart and mouth. In the mouth as a subject of conversation. In the heart as Love and Confidence, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

Those professing to live the life of a Christian have here a sure and simple test of character, where self examination lies upon the surface, and where self deception is scarcely possible. Nothing can be more contrary to our Christian obligations, profession, and character.

Desire, therefore, to approve yourselves to God, and show yourselves to the world as truly wise and prudent, and endowed with a true knowledge of yourselves and God, and His laws and ways.

Earnestly practice all manner of good works in the whole course of conversation, with a meek and humble spirit, but never be fond or boast of an envious, quarrelsome disposition and designs which will torment your soul, and sting and wound others, and are directly contrary to the meek and humble spirit of the Christ doctrine. Never dare either in thought, word, or deed, to varnish over such wickedness, or pretend sincerity.

"For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy without partiality and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace."—James 3:17.

The Heavenly and Divine Wisdom which God bestows leads men to a strict regard to purity of doctrine and manners, in heart, speech, and behavior. It renders our mind open to conviction, and also renders us impartial and generous in judging and condemning others, and we become sincere and free.

This state of righteousness, holy peaceable temper, upright conversation, by the Grace of God, issues in our own and our neighbors’ happiness in this world, and brings us into our eternal peace.

The soy bean is a meat substitute which is better, more nutritious and much cheaper than meat.

No more hard times—you can economize; 3 oz. of soy beans will do the work of 6 oz. of costly beef; the soy bean yield of protein is nearly twice that of average meat, four times that of eggs, wheat, and other cereals, five times that of bread, twice that of lima or navy beans, and double that of walnuts, and most other nuts.

The protein of the soy bean is the same as the protein of the meat, only with alkaline reaction instead of acid. All these foods are strictly alkaline, they are excellent for REDUCING, because of small starch content.

These products are put up in many pleasing forms, as, soy beans, plain or with tomato sauce, soy-ce, a perfect substitute for coffee and a splendid breakfast beverage, soy flour for starchless bread, soy milk, and cheese, soy loaf, soy bologna, soy sandwich spread and soy butter.

These are an excellent food for Diabetics and obstetric patients, also for babies who cannot use cow’s milk.

"And God said, Let there be lights

In the firmament of the heavens,

To divide the day

From the night; and let them be for SIGNS

And for seasons . . . "—Genesis

A General Life Reading deals with the character, talents, finances, domestic and environmental influences, marriage, children, health, travels, dangers, difficulties, trials, occupations, honor, success and friends of the life, taken as a whole.

A Yearly Forecast mentions the general trend of events in the year ahead, with definite dates given of favorable and unfavorable periods for finances, health, travelling, starting new matters, asking favors, expanding business, making friends, etc.

General Life Reading, $15. Year’s Forecast, $25. Both Readings for $25. Data required: Birthplace, sex, month, day and year of birth, with minute of birth given as accurately as possible.

The symbology of the Ark is very beautiful and most sacred to all lovers of ancient symbols. It is clothed with reverence and beauty. It is described as a small chest overlaid with gold, containing the two tables of stone upon which was written the ten commandments, a pot of golden manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded. The top of the chest was covered with two golden cherubims. The lid is called the mercy seat, over which the Skekinah hovered like a visible cloud, the emblem of Jehovah’s presence.

Before it the mind was consulted. Joshua 7:6. The waters of the Jordan parted by the power of the Ark, Joshua (which means savior), Joshua 3:5, said unto the people: "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. Hereby ye shall know that the Living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive from before you the enemies."

This ark is your own Divine self, a treasure chest containing all you need. When you open the ark in Heaven, you have unlocked a chest containing golden manna. Gather what you will, but do not hoard it. The law is contained therein, and the light of Shekinah (the Glory of God) overshadows you like a visible cloud.

I OBEY Thee in the temple of discipline.

I love Thee in the temple of devotion.

I worship Thee in the temple of my love.

I touch Thy feet in the temple of stillness.

I behold Thy eyes in the temple of delight.

I feel Thee in the temple of emotion.

I fight for Thee in the temple of meditation.

I enjoy Thee in the temple of peace.

Peace flows through my heart,

And blows through me as a zephyr.

Peace fills me like a fragrance.

Peace runs through me like rays.

Peace stabs the heart of worries and noise.

Peace burns through my disquietude.

Peace, like a globe of fire,

Expands and fills my omnipresence.

Peace, like an ocean, rolls in all space.

Peace, like red blood,

Vitalizes the veins of my thoughts.

Peace, like a boundless aureole,

Encircles my body of infinity.

Peace flames blow

Through the pores of my flesh,

And through all space.

The perfume of Peace flows

Over the gardens of blossoms.

The wind of Peace runs perpetually

Through the winepress of all hearts.

Peace is the breath of stones, stars, and sages.

Peace is the ambrosial wine of Spirit

Flowing from the cask of Silence,

Which I quaff

With my countless mouths of atoms.