3. The Divine Law is as a cloud which, with a garland of lightning, spreads joy on the earth. The water falls on all creatures; on 'herbs, bushes, and trees; and each pumps up to its own leaf and blossom what it requires for its special need. So falls the rain of the Law on the many-hearted world. The Law is for millions; but it is one, and it is alike beautiful to all.

4. Only the religious man is good. And what is religion? It is the perfect agreement of the will with the conscience. Alms and pious demon

strations are of no worth compared with the loving-kindness of religion. The festival that bears great fruit is the festival of duty. A man may rehe is not a doer of it, he is like a cite large portions of the law but if

herdsman who counts the cattle of others.

5. One should seek for others the happiness one desires for one's self. There is no higher duty than to work for the good of the whole world. Abstain from acquiring or keeping the property of another by fraud or violence. Contract no friendships with the hope of gain.

6. Speak the truth; Do not yield to anger. When asked, give of the little thou hast. Judge not thy neighbor. Thou shalt not calumniate. Thou shalt not excite quarrels by repeating the words of others. Indulge not in idle talk. Speak not words which are to no purpose but harm. By these steps we approach the Immortals.

7. Do not call ill names. Avoid all anger, hatred, and bitter language. Speak not of injuries. Not the failures of others, not their sins of commission or omission, but his own misdeeds and negligences should a wise man take notice of.

8. The good man, when reviled, reviles not again; when smitten he is not angry; when treated violently, he returns love and good-will; when threatened with death he returns no malice. We should be deaf to hear evil of others, and blind to perceive their imperfections.

SELECTION II.

CHERISH thy father and thy mother; to honor father and mother is better than to worship gods of heaven and earth; if a child should carry father and mother, one upon each shoulder, for a hundred years, he would not then do more for them than they have done for him. The shrine of worship is in families where father and mother are perfectly honored, venerated, and served.

2. To feed one good man is infinitely more meritorious than attending to questions about heaven and earth, spirits and demons. It is blessedness without measure to keep the thoughts fixed on the laws of reason throughout the entire day's conduct, and from this religious conduct to realize a deep principle

of faith.

3. Overcome anger by love; overcome greed by liberality; overcome falsehood by truth; overcome evil by good. Hatred never ceases by hatred, but by love; this is an old rule. If a man foolishly does us wrong let us return to him the protection of ungrudging love. The more evil comes from him the more

good should go from us; the fragrance of those good actions abiding with us, and the harm of the slanderer's words abiding with him.

4. Let a man keep in subjection his speech, his arm, and his appetite. Beware of anger of speech; control the tongue. Beware of anger of thought; control the mind. Practise virtue with the tongue and with the mind. By reflection, by restraint and control a wise man can make himself as an island which no floods can overwhelm. He who conquers himself is greater than he who in battle conquers a thousand thousand

men.

5. He who is tolerant with the intolerant, mild with fault-finders, and free from passion with the passionate,-him we call indeed a wise man. Who is the great man? He who is strongest in the exercise of patience; he who patiently endures injury. He for whom there is neither this shore not that shore, nor both; he who is fearless and unshackled,-him we call a wise man.

6. He who has cut all fetters, who is independent and unshackled, who never trembles,-him we call a wise man. He who has cut the girdle, the strap, and the rope, with all that pertains to them; he who has burst the bar and is awakened,-him we call a wise man. Like a solid rock unshaken by the wind, wise people are unfaltering amid praise or blame, in struggle and sorrow as in ease and joy.

SELECTION III.

If any one speaks or acts with evil thoughts, suffering will follow him, as surely as the wheel follows him

who draws the carriage. As a bee gathers nectar without injuring the beauty or the fragrance of the flower, so should a wise man live in this world.

2. He who indulges sensual appetites is like a person who runs against the wind with a lighted torch in his hand. Foolish man! If he does not let go the blazing torch, he must needs have the pain of a burnt hand; so it is with respect to the fires of lust, anger, covetousness, and envy. One who greedily seeks wealth or sensual pleasure is like a child who eats honey with a knife; scarcely has he tasted the sweetness, when he finds he has cut his tongue.

3. One who cherishes sensual passions is like a vase filled with dirty water; all sorts of beautiful things may be placed in it but the water, being shaken, obscures them all. Sensual desires cause confusion in the heart, as mud does in water, and prevents our seeing the beauty of supreme reason. When we get rid of this pollution we perceive the spiritual portion of ourselves, which we had from the beginning.

4. Is a woman old? regard her as your mother; Is she of honorable station? regard her as your sister; Is she of small account? regard her as your younger sister; Is she a child? Treat her reverently. Ab

stain from all sensual thoughts. Look not upon women unchastely.

5. Drink not wine, nor any thing that may intoxicate; he who drinks intoxicating liquor, or indulges even one sensuous act or desire, pulls up his own root, even in this world. Let no one think lightly of evil, saying in his heart: It will not come near unto me! by the falling of drops, so a foolish As a water-pot is filled man becomes filled with evil, though it be little by little. Dig up sensual appetites by the root that the tempter may not crush you again and again, as the stream crushes the

reeds.

6. There was once a king, whose righteous administration of justice put an end to litigation in his kingdom and left him time to turn attention to his own faults with a view of correcting them; but when he questioned his retinue and the citizens they told him only of his virtues. So he mounted his chariot and rode through the length and breadth of the land, inquiring what were his faults. In a narrow defile, he met another king, who was abroad on a similar mission. It was necessary for one of the chariots to make way for the other, and the coachmen began to dispute about precedence. As the kings were equals in age, wealth, and power, it was difficult to settle the question; and it was finally determined that the most virtuous should take precedence of the other. The first king's charioteer said: My master conquers the strong

by strength, the mild by mildness, the good with goodness; and the evil with evil. The charioteer of the second said: My master conquers anger by meekness, avarice by liberality, falsehood by truth. When the first king heard this, he ordered his coachman to descend and turn his chariot aside for his superior to pass.

7. Let us glory not in ourselves, but rather in our neighbor; let us be lowly in heart, that we may be lowly in actions. By one's self is evil done, and by one's self one suffers; by one's self evil is left undone, and by one's self one is purified; purity and impurity belong to one's self, no one can purify another.

8. Out of mud springs the lotus flower; out of clay comes gold and many precious things; out of oysters the pearls; brightest silks, to robe fairest forms, are spun by a worm; bezoar from the bull, musk from the deer are produced; from a stick is born flame; from the jungle comes sweetest honey. As from sources of little worth come the precious things of earth, even so it is with hearts that hold their fortune within; they need not lofty birth or noble kin; their victory is recorded.

SELECTION IV.

IF any thing is to be done, let a man do it; let him attack it vigorously. He who does not rise when it is time to rise; who, though young and strong, is indolent; whose will and thought are weak,-that idle man will never find the way to

knowledge. Say not: Go, and by aid of supernatural power work great miracles; but instruct men in the Truth and say to them: Live pure and useful lives, hiding your good works and showing your sins.

2. One who was born blind denied that there were any such things as sun, moon, or stars; and vain was the effort to persuade him that other people saw them. He also said he could see no colors, and he did not believe that others could. But after a while a skilful physician operated upon his eyes and enabled him to see; then he was transported with wonder and joy, and acknowledged that he had formerly been blind. "But now," exclaimed he, "I see and know every thing!" A holy man, hearing his conceited talk, perceived that he had an inward blindness, worse than his former want of eyesight; and he said to him: How canst thou say: 'I know all!' Thou canst not see through the walls of thy house, thou canst not read the thoughts of thy fellow-men, thou canst not recall any thing about thy own conception and birth; remember, with humility, how much remains obscure and by so doing thou wilt see more clearly.

3. The true doctrine makes no distinction between high and low, rich and poor; it is like water which washes and purifies all alike; it is like the sky, for it has room for all; for men and women, boys and girls, rich and poor. A virtuous poor man with a single handful of flowers

heaped the alms-bowl, which an unvirtuous rich devotee could not fill with ten thousand bushels.

4. One should feel compassionate interest in the welfare of all human beings. All virtues grow from a compassionate love of mankind. Love all mankind equally. As a mother so long as she lives watches over her only child, so among all beings let boundless goodwill, unmixed with unmixed with enmity, prevail throughout the world.

5. He who is beloved of Heaven honors every form of religious faith; he considers no gift or honor so much as increase in the substance of religion. The root of religion is to reverence one's own faith, and never to revile that of others. The good man's purpose is to increase the mercy, charity, truth, kindness, and piety of all mankind.

SELECTION V.

THE soul is not born; it does not die; it was not produced from any one, nor was any produced from it; Unborn, eternal, it is not slain though the body is slain; subtler than what is subtle, greater than what is great; sitting, it goes far; sleeping, it goes everywhere. Thinking of the soul as unbodily among bodies and firm among fleeting things, the wise man casts off all grief.

2. The effect of water poured on the root of a tree is seen aloft in the branches and fruit; so in the next

world are seen the effects of good deeds performed here.

3. There are treasures laid up in the heart treasures of charity, piety, temperance, and soberness. These treasures a man takes with him beyond death, when he leaves this world.

4. Man never dies; the soul inhabits the body for a time, and leaves it again. The soul is myself; the body is only my dwelling-place.

5. Birth is not birth; there is a soul already existent when the body comes to it. Death is not death; the soul merely departs, and the body falls. It is because men see only their bodies that they love life

and hate death.

6. The pearls and gems which a man has collected, even from his youth, cannot go with with him to another world; friends and relations cannot go with him a step further than his place of burial. But a man's actions, good or bad, go with him to the future world.

7. As kindred, friends, and dear ones salute him who hath travelled far and returned home safe, so will good deeds welcome him who goes from this world and enters another.

8. Never should one seek or consent to receive private, individual salvation; never consent to enter into final peace alone; but for ever and ever, and everywhere, should we live and strive for the universal redemption of every creature throughout all the worlds.