At-the-Feet-of-the-Master.pdf

7/27/2019 At-the-Feet-of-the-Master.pdf

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rv . B BI Ibfi


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KrishnamurtiAlcyone


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^t ti|^ F^^txtt t\\t lUaat^r

I

[j. KRISHNAMURTl]

AMERICAN EDITIOM

THE RAJPUT PRESSL

CHICAGO.1911'


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-^//l

AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER


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Digitized by tine Internet Arciiivein 2008 witii funding from

IVIicrosoft Corporation

littp://www.arcliive.org/details/atfeetofmasterOOkrisrich


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PREFACE^g^ HE privilege is given to^2 me, as an elder, to pen aword of introduction to this littlebook, the first written by a youngerBrother, young in body verily, butnot in Soul. The teachings con-tained in it were given to him byhis Master in preparing him forInitiation, and were written downby him from memoryslowly andlaboriously, for his English lastyear waa far less fluent than it isnow. The greater part is a repro-duction of the Master's own words;that which is not such a verbal re-production is the Master's thoughtclothed in His J)upil's words. Two


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omitted sentences were supplied bythe Master. In two other cases anomitted word has been added. Be-yond this, it is entirely Alcyone'sown, his first gift to the world.May it help others as the spoken

teachings helped himsuch is thehope with which he gives it. Butthe teaching can only be fruitfulif it is lived, as he has lived it, sinceit fell from his Master's lips. Ifthe example be followed as well asthe precept, then for the reader, asfor the writer, shall the great Por-tal swing open, and his feet be seton the Path.

Annie Besant. .


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TOTHOSE WHO KNOCK


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From the unreal lead me to the Real.From darkness lead me to Light.From death lead me to

Immortality.


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FOKEWOEDHESE are not my words;f^^ they are tlie words of the

Master who taught me. With-out Him I could have done nothing,but through His help I have set myfeet upon the Path. You also de-sire to enter the same Path, so thewords which He spoke to me willhelp you also, if you will obey themi.It is not enough to say that theyare true and beautiful ; a man whowishes to succeed must do exactlywhat is said. To look at food and


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say that it is good will not satisfya starving man; he must put forthhis hand and eat. So to hear theMaster's words is not enough, youmust do what He says, attendingto every word, taking every hint.If a hint is not taken, if a word ismissed, it is lost forever; for Hedoes not speak twice.


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Four qualificationsthere are for

this pathwayDiscriminationDesirelessnessGood conductLoveWhat the Master has said to me

on each of these I shall try to tellyou.


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W!^^ HE first of these Qualifica-[^^^%| tions is Discrimination ; andthis is usually taken as the discrim-ination between the real and the un-real which leads men to enter thePath. It is this, but it is also muchmore ; and it is to be practised, notonly at the beginning of the Path,but at every step of it every dayuntil the end. You enter the Pathbecause you have learnt that on it

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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTERalone can be found those thingswhich are worth gaining. Men whodo not know, work to gain wealthand power, but these are at mostfor one life only, and therefore un-real. There are greater things thanthesethings which are real andlasting; when you have once seenthese, you desire those others nomore.

In all the world there are onlytwo kinds of peoplethose whoknow, and those who do not know;and this knowledge is the thingwhich matters. What religion a

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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTEBman holds, to what race he belongsthese things are not important;the really important thing is thisknowledgethe knowledge of God'splan for men. For God has a plan,and that plan is evolution. Whenonce a man has seen that and reallyknows it, he cannot help workingfor it and making himself one withit, because it is so glorious, sobeautiful. So, because he knows,he is on God's side, standing forgood and resisting evil, workingfor evolution and not for selfish-ness.

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If he is on God's side he is oneof us, and it does not matter in theleast whether he calls himself aHindu or a Buddhist, a Christian ora Muhammadan, whether he is anIndian or an Englishman, a China-man or a Eussian. Those who areon His side know why they are hereand what they should do, and theyare trying to do it ; all the others donot yet know what they should do,and so they often act foolishly, andtry to invent ways for themselveswhich they think will be pleasantfor themselves, not understanding

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that all are ODfe, and that thereforeonly what the One wills can ever bereally pleasant for any one. Theyare following the unreal instead ofthe real. Until they learn to dis-tinguish between these two, theyhave not ranged themselves/ onGod's side, and so this discrimina-tion is the first step.But even when the choice is made,

you must still remember that of thereal and the unreal there are manyvarieties; and discrimination muststill be made between the right andthe wrong, the important and the

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unimportant, the useful and theuseless, the true and the false, theselfish and the unselfish.Between the right and wrong it

should not be difficult to choose, forthose who wish to follow the Masterhave already decided to take theright at all costs. But the body andthe man are two, and the man'swill is not always what the bodywishes. When your body wishessomething, stop and think whetheryou really wish it. For you areGod, and you will only what Godwills; but you must dig deep down

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AT THE FEET OF THEMASTER

into yourself to find the God withinyon, and listen to His voice, whichis your voice. Do not mistake yourbodies for yourselfneither thephysical body, nor the astral, northe mental. Each one of them willpretend to be the Self, in order togain what it wants. But you mustknow them all, and know yourselfas their master.When there is work that must be

done, the physical body wants torest, to go out walking, to eat anddrink; and the man who does notknow says to himself: "I want to

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do these things, and I must dothem." But the man who knowssays: ^^This that wants is not I,and it must wait awhile." Oftenwhen there is an opportunity tohelp some one, the body feels:*'How much trouble it will be forme; let some one else do it." Butthe man replies to his body: ^^Youshall not hinder me in doing goodwork."The body is your animalthe

horse upon which you ride. There-fore you must treat it well, and takegood care of it ; you must not over-

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work it, you must feed it properlyon pure food and drink only, andkeep it strictly clean always, evenfrom the minutest speck of dirt.For without a perfectly clean andhealthy body you cannot do the ar-duous work of preparation, youcannot bear its ceaseless strain.But it must always be you who con-trol that body, not it that controlsyou.The astral body has its desires

dozens of them ; it wants you to beangry, to say sharp words, to feeljealous, to be greedy for money, to

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envy other people their possessions,to yield yourself to depression. Allthese things it wants, and' manymore, not because it wishes to harmyou, but because it likes violent vi-brations, and likes to change themconstantly. But you want none ofthese things, and therefore youmust discriminate between yourwants and your body's.Your mental body wishes to think

itself proudly separate, to thinkmuch of itself and little of others.Even when you have turned it awayfrom worldly things, it still tries to

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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTEB

calculate for self, to make you thinkof your own progress, instead ofthinking of the Master's work andof helping others. When you medi-tate, it will try to make you thinkof the many different things whichit wants instead of the one thingwhich you want. You are not thismind, but it is yours to use ; so hereagain discrimination is necessary.Tou must watch unceasingly, oryou will fail.Between right and wrong, Occult-

ism knows no compromise. Atwhatever apparent cost, that which15


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is right yon must do, that which iswrong yon mnst not do, no matterwhat the ignorant may think or say.Yon mnst study deeply the hiddenlaws of Nature, and when you knowthem arrange your life according tothem, using always reason andeommon-sense.You must discriminate between

the important and the unimportant.Firm as a rock where right andwrong are concerned, yield alwaysto others in things which do not mat-ter. For you must be always gentleandkindly,reasonable and accommo-

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AT THE FEET OE THE MASTER

dating, leaving to others the samefull liberty which you need for your-self.Try to see what is worth doing:

and remember that you must notjudge by the size of the thing. Asmall thing which is directly usefulin the Master's work is far betterworth doing than a large thingwhich the world would call good.You must distinguish not only theuseful from the useless, but themore useful from the less useful.To feed the poor is a good and nobleand useful work; yet to feed their

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souls is nobler and more useful thanto feed their bodies. Any rich mancan feed the body, but only thosewho know can feed the soul. If youknow, it is your duty to help othersto know.However wise you may be al-

ready, on this Path you have muchto learn; so much that here alsothere must be discrimination, andyou must think carefully what isworth learning. All knowledge isuseful, and one day you will haveall knowledge; but while you haveonly part, take care that it is the

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most useful part. God is Wisdomas well as Love ; and the more wis-dom you have the more you canmanifest of Him. Study then, butstudy first that which will most helpyou to help others. Work patientlyat your studies, not that men maythink you wise, not even that youmay have the happiness of beingwise, but because only the wise mancan be wisely helpful. Howevermuch you wish to help, if you areignorant you may do more harmthan good.You must distinguish between

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truth and falsehood ; you must learnto be true all through, in thoughtand word and deed.In thought first; and that is noteasy, for there are in the worldmany untrue thoughts, many foolishsuperstitions, and no one who is en-slaved by them can make progress.Therefore you must not hold athought just because many otherpeople hold it, nor because it hasbeen believed for centuries, nor be-cause it is written in some bookwhich men think sacred; you mustthink of the matter for yourself, and

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judge for yourself whether it isreasonable. Eemember that thougha thousand men agree upon a sub-ject, if they know nothing about thatsubject their opinion is of no value.He who would walk upon the Pathmust learn to think for himself, forsuperstition is one of the greatestevils in the world, one of the fettersfrom which you must utterly freeyourself.Your thought about others must

be true ; you must not think of themwhat you do not know. Do not sup-pose that they are always thinking

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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTEBof you. If a man does somethingwhich you think will harm you, orsays something which you think ap-plies to you, do not think at once:*'He meant to injure me.'' Mostprobably he never thought of you atall, for each soul has its owntroubles and its thoughts turnchiefly around itself. If a manspeak angrily to you, do not think:''He hates me, he wishes to woundme." Probably some one or some-thing else has made him angry, andbecause he happens to meet you heturns his anger upon you. He is

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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTBB

acting foolishly, for all anger isfoolish, but you must not thereforethink untruly of him.When you become a pupil of theMaster, you may always try thetruth of your thought by laying itbeside His. For the pupil is onewith his Master, and he needs onlyto put back his thought into theMaster's thought to see at oncewhether it agrees. If it does not, itis wrong, and he changes it instant-ly, for the Master's thought is per-fect, because He knows all. Thosewho are not yet accepted by Him

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cannot do quite this ; but they maygreatly help themselves by stoppingoften to think: **What would theMaster think about this? Whatwould the Master say or do underthese circumstances?" For youmust never do or say or think whatyou cannot imagine the Master asdoing or saying or thinking.You must be true in speech too

accurate and without exaggeration.Never attribute motives to anotheronly his Master knows his thoughts,and he may be acting from reasonswhich have never entered your

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mind. If you hear a story againstany one, do not repeat it ; it may notbe true, and even if it is, it is kinderto say nothing. Think well beforespeaking, lest you should fall intoinaccuracy.Be true in action; never pretend

to be other than you are, for all pre-tence is a hindrance to the purelight of truth, which should shinethrough you as sunlight shinesthrough clear glass.You must discriminate between

the selfish and the unselfish. Forselfishness has many forms, and

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when you think you have finallykilled it in one of them, it arises inanother as strongly as ever. Butby degrees you will become so fullof thought for the helping of othersthat there will be no room, no time,for any thought about yourself.You must discriminate in yet an-

other way. Learn to distinguishthe God in everyone and everything,no matter how evil he or it may ap-pear on the surface. You can helpyour brother through that whichyou have in common with him, andthat is the Divine Life; learn how

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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTERto arouse that in him, learn how toappeal to that in him; so shall yousave your brother from wrong.

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nW^^ HERE are many for whomf^^^jg] the Qualification of Desire-lessness is a difficult one, forthey feel that they are their de-sires^that if their distinctive de-sires, their likings and dislikings,are taken away from them, therewill be no self left. But theseare only they who have not seenthe Master; in the light of Hisholy Presence all desire dies, but thedesire to be like Him. Yet before

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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTERyou have the happiness of meetingHim face to face, yon may attain de-sirelessness if you will. Discrimi-nation has already shown you thatthe things which most men desire,such as wealth and power, are notworth having; when this is reallyfelt, not merely said, all desire forthem ceases.Thus far all is simple ; it needs

only that you should understand.But there are some who forsake thepursuit of earthly aims only inorder to gain heaven, or to attainpersonal liberation from rebirth;

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into this error you must not fall.If you have forgotten self alto-gether, you cannot be thinking whenthat self should be set free, or whatkind of heaven it shall have. Ee-member that all selfish desire binds,however high may be its object, anduntil you have got rid of it you arenot wholly free to devote yourselfto the work of the Master.When all desires for self are gone,

there may still be a desire to see theresult of your work. If you helpanybody, you want to see how muchyou have helped him ; perhaps evenyou want him to see it too, and to be

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grateful. But this is still desire,and also want of trust. When youpour out your strength to help,there must be a result, whether youcan see it or not; if you know theLaw you know this must be so. Soyou must do right for the sake ofthe right, not in the hope of re-ward; you must work for the sakeof the work, not in the hope of see-ing the result ; you must give your-^self to the service of the world be-cause you love it, and cannot helpgiving yourself to it.Have no desire for psychic

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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTERpowers; they will come when theMaster knows that it is best for youto have them. To force them toosoon often brings in Its train muchtrouble; often their possessor ismisled by deceitful nature-spirits,or becomes conceited and thinks hecannot make a mistake ; and in anycase the time and strength that ittakes to gain them might be spentin work for others. They will comein the course of developmenttheymust come; and if the Master seesthat it would be useful for you tohave them sooner, He will tell you

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AT THE PEET OP THE MASTEBhow to unfold them safely. Untilthen, you are better without them.You must guard, too, against cer-tain small desires which are com-mon in daily life. Never wish toshine, or to appear clever; have nodesire to speak. It is well to speaklittle; better still to say nothing,unless you are quite sure that whatyou wish to say is true, kind andhelpful. Before speaking thinkcarefully whether what you are go-ing to say has those three qualities;if it has not, do not say it.

It is well to get used even now to


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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTERthinking carefully before speaking;for when you reach Initiation youmust watch every word, lest youshould tell what must not be told.Much common talk is unnecessaryand foolish; when it is gossip, it iswicked. So be accustomed to listenrather than to talk; do not offeropinions unless directly asked forthem. One statement of the Quali-fications gives them thus; to know,to dare, to will, and to be silent;and the last of the four is the hard-est of them all.Another common desire which

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you must sternly repress is the wishto meddle in other men's business.What another man does or says orbelieves is no affair of yours, andyou must learn to let him absolutelyalone. He has full right to freethought and speech and action, solong as he does not interfere withany one else. You yourself claimthe freedom to do what you thinkproper; you must allow the samefreedom to him, and when he ex-ercises it you have no right to talkabout him.

If you think he is doing wrong,85


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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTERand you can contrive an opportunityof privately and very politely tell-ing him why you think so, it is possi-ble that you may convince him ; butthere are many cases in which eventhat would be an improper interfer-ence. On no account must you goand gossip to some third personabout the matter, for that is an ex-tremely wicked action.

If you see a case of cruelty to achild or an animal, it is your dutyto interfere. If you see any onebreaking the law of the country, youshould inform the authorities. If

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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTEByou are placed in charge of anotherperson in order to teach him, it maybecome your duty gently to tell himof his faults. Except in such cases,mind your own business, and learnthe virtue of silence.

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inHE Six points of Conduct^^^ which are specially requiredare given by the Master as

1. Self-control as to the Mind.2. Self-control in Action.3. Tolerance.4. Cheerfulness.5. One-pointedness.6. Confidence.[I know some of these are often

translated differently, as are thenames of the Qualifications; but in88


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all cases I am using the names whichthe Master Himself employed whenexplaining them to me.]

1. 8elf-co7itrol as to the Mind,The Qualification of Desirelessnessshows that the astral body must becontrolled; this shows the samething as to the mental body. Itmeans control of temper, so that youmay feel no anger or impatience; ofthe mind itself, so that the thoughtmay always be calm and unruffled;and (through the mind) of thenerves, so that they may be as littleirritable as possible. This last is

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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTERdifficult, because when you try toprepare yourself for the Path, youcannot help making your body moresensitive, so that its nerves areeasily disturbed by a sound or ashock, and feel any pressure acute-ly ; but you must do your best.The calm mind means also cour-

age, so that you may face withoutfear the trials and difficulties of thePath; it means also steadiness, sothat you may make light of thetroubles which come into everyone's life, and avoid the incessantworry over little things in which

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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTERmany people spend most of theirtime. The Master teaches that itdoes not matter in the least whathappens to a man from the outsidesorrows, troubles, sicknesses, lossesall these must be as nothing tohim, and must not be allowed toaffect the calmness of his mind.They are the result of past actions,and when they come you must bearthem cheerfully, remembering thatall evil is transitory, and that yourduty is to remain always joyous andserene. They belong to your pre-vious lives, not to this ; you cannot

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alter them, so it is useless to troubleabout them. Think rather of whatyou are doing now, which will makethe events of your next life, for thatyou can alter.Never allow yourself to feel sad

or depressed. Depression is wrong,because it infects others and makestheir lives harder, which you haveno right to do. Therefore if ever itcomes to you, throw it off at once.

In yet another way you must con-trol your thought ; you must not letit wander. Whatever you are do-ing, fix your thought upon it, that

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it may be perfectly done ; do not letyour mind be idle, but keep goodthoughts always in the backgroundof it, ready to come forward the mo-ment it is free.Use your thought-power every

day for good purposes ; be a force inthe direction of evolution. Thinkeach day of some one whom youknow to be in sorrow, or suffering,or in need of help, and pour outloving thought upon him.Hold back your mind from pride,

for pride comes only from igno-rance. The man who does not know43


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thinks that he is great, that he hasdone this or that great thing; thewise man knows that only God isgreat, that all good work is done byGod alone.

2. Self-control in Action.If yourthought is what it should be, youwill have little trouble with youraction. Yet remember that, to beuseful to mankind, thought must re-sult in action. There must be nolaziness, but constant activity ingood work. But it must be yourown duty that you donot anotherman's, unless with his permission

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and by way of helping him. Leaveevery man to do his own work inhis own way; be always ready tooffer help where it is needed, butnever interfere. For many peoplethe most difficult thing in the worldto learn is to mind their own busi-ness; but that is exactly what youmust do.Because you try to take up higherwork, you must not forget your or-

dinary duties, for until they aredone you are not free for other ser-vice. You should undertake no newworldly duties ; but those which you

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have already taken upon you, youmust perfectly fulfilall clear andreasonable duties which you your-self recognise, that is, not imagi-nary duties which others try to im-pose upon you. If you are to be His,you must do ordinary work betterthan others, not worse ; because youmust do that also for His sake.

3. Tolerance.^Tou must feel per-fect tolerance for all, and a heartyinterest in the beliefs of those ofanother religion, just as much as inyour own. For their religion is apath to the highest, just as yours is,

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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTEBAnd to help all, you must under-stand all.But in order to gain this perfecttolerance, you must yourself first be

free from bigotry and superstition.You must learn that no ceremoniesare necessary; else you will thinkyourself somehow better than thosewho do not perform them. Yet youmust not condemn others who stillcling to ceremonies. Let them do asthey will; only they must not inter-fere with you who know the truththey must not try to force upon youthat which you have outgrown.

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Make allowance for everything; bekindly towards everything.Now that your eyes are opened,

some of your old beliefs, your oldceremonies, may seem to you ab-surd; perhaps, indeed, they reallyare so. Yet though you can nolonger take part in them, respectthem for the sake of those goodsouls to whom they are still impor-tant. They have their place, theyhave their use; they are like thosedouble lines which guided you as aohild to write straight and evenly,until you learnt to write far better

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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTEBand more freely without them.There was a time when you neededthem ; but now that time is past.A great Teacher once wrote:''When I was a child, I spake as achild, I understood as a child, Ithought as a child; but when I be-came a man I put away childishthings." Yet he who has forgottenhis childhood and lost sympathywith the children is notihe man whocan teach them or help them. Solook kindly, gently, tolerantly uponall ; but upon all alike, Buddhist or

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Hindu, Jain or Jew, Christian orMuhammadan.

4. Cheerfulness.You must bearyour karma cheerfully, whatever itmay be, taking it as an honour thatsuffering comes to you, because itshows that the Lords of Karmathink you worth helping. Howeverhard it is, be thankful that it is noworse. Eemember that you are ofbut little use to the Master untilyour evil karma is worked out, andyou are free. By offering yourselfto Him, you have asked that yourkarma may be hurried, and so now

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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTEBin one or two lives you workthrough what otherwise might havebeen spread over a hundred. But inorder to make the best out of it, youmust bear it cheerfully, gladly.Yet another point. You must

give up all feeling of possession.Karma may take from you thethings which you like besteven thepeople whom you love most. Eventhen you must be cheerfulready topart with anything and everything.Often the Master needs to pour outHis strength upon others throughHis servant; He cannot do that if

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the servant yields to depression. Socheerfulness must be the rule.

5. One-Pointedness.The onething that you must set before youis to do the Master's work. What-ever else may come in your way todo, that at least you must never for-get. Yet nothing else can come inyour way, for all helpful, unselfishwork is the Master's work, and youmust do it for His sake. And youmust give all your attention to eachpiece as you do it, so that it may beyour very best. The same Teacheralso wrote : ^ *Whatsoever ye do, do

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it heartily, as to the Lord, and notunto men. ' ' Think how you woulddo a piece of work if you knew thatthe Master was coming at once tolook at it ; just in that way you mustdo all your work. Those who knowmost will most know all that thatverse means. And there is anotherlike it, much older: ^* Whatsoeverthy hand findeth to do, do it with thymighf

One-pointedness means, too, thatnothing shall ever turn you, even fora moment,from the Path upon whichyou have entered. No temptations,

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no worldly pleasures, no worldlyaffections even, must ever draw youaside. For you yourself must be-come one with the Path ; it must beso much part of your nature thatyou follow it without needing tothink of it, and cannot turn aside.You, the Monad, have decided it ; tobreak away from it would be tobreak away from yourself.

6. Confidence.You must trustyour Master; you must trust your-self. If you have seen the Master,you will trust Him to the uttermost,through many lives and deaths. If

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AT THE FEET OP THE MASTEByou have not yet seen Him, you muststill try to realise Him and trustHim, because if you do not, even Hecannot help you. Unless there isperfect trust, there cannot be theperfect flow of love and power.You must trust yourself. Yousayyouknowyourself too well? Ifyou feel so, you do not know your-

self; you know only the weak outerhusk, which has fallen often into themire. But youihe real youyouare a spark of God's own fire, andGod, who is Almighty, is in you, andbecause of that there is nothing that

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you cannot do if you will. Say toyourself: ^'What man has done,man can do. I am a man, yet alsoGod in man ; I can do this thing, andI will.'' For your will must be liketempered steel, if you would treadthe Path.

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AT THE FEET OP THE MASTER

IVyJl^F all the Qualifications, Love\^ is the most important, for if

it is strong enough in a man,it forces him to acquire all the rest,and all the rest without it wouldnever be sufficient. Often it istranslated as an intense desire forliberation from the round of birthsand deaths, and for union with God.But to put it in that way soundsselfish, and gives only part of themeaning. It is not so much desire

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as will, resolve, determination. Toproduce its result, this resolve mustfill your whole nature, so as to leaveno room for any other feeling. Itis indeed the will to be one with God,not in order that you may escapefrom weariness and suffering, but inorder that because of your deeplove for Him you may act with Himand as He does. Because He isLove, you, if you would become onewith Him, must be filled with perfectunselfishness and love also.

In daily life this means twothings ; first, that you shall be care-

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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTERful to do no hurt to any living thingsecond, that yon shall always bewatching for an opportunity to help.

First, to do no hurt. Three sinsthere are which work more harmthan all else in the worldgossip,cruelty, and superstition^becausethey are sins against love. Againstthese three the man who would fillhis heart with the love of God mustwatch ceaselessly.

See what gossip does. It beginswith evil thought, and that in itselfis a crime. For in everyone and ineverything there is good; in every-

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one and in everything there is evil.Either of these we can strengthen bythinking of it, and in this way wecan help or hinder evolution ; we cando the will of the Logos or we canresist Him. K yon think of the evilin another, you are doing at thesame time three wicked things

(1) You are filling your neigh-bourhood with evil thought insteadof with good thought, and so you areadding to the sorrow of the world.

(2) If there is in that man theevil which you think, you arestrengthening it and feeding it ; and

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SO you are making your brotherworse instead of better. But gen-erally the evil is not there, and youhave only fancied it ; and then yourwicked thought tempts your brotherto do wrong, for if he is not yet per-fect you may make him that whichyou have thought him.

(3) You fill your own mind withevil thoughts instead of good; andso you hinder your own growth, andmake yourself, for those who cansee, an ugly and painful object in-stead of a beautiful and lovable one.Not content with having done all

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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTBB

this harm to himself and to his vic-tim, the gossip tries with all hismight to make other men partners inhis crime. Eagerly he tells hiswicked tale to them, hoping thatthey will believe it; and then theyjoin with him in pouring evilthought upon the poor sufferer.And this goes on day after day, andis done not by one man but by thou-sands. Do you begin to see howbase, how terrible a sin this is ? Youmust avoid it altogether. Neverspeak ill of any one ; refuse to listenwhen any one else speaks ill of an-

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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTERother, but gently say: "Perhapsthis is not true, and even if it is, itis kinder not to speak of it,Then as to cruelty. This is of

two kinds, intentional and uninten-tional. Intentional cruelty is pur-posely to give pain to another livingbeing; and that is the greatest of allsinsthe work of a devil ratherthan a man. You would say that noman could do such a thing; but menhave done it often, and are dailydoing it now. The inquisitors didit; many religious people did it inthe name of their religion. Vivi-

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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTERsectors do it; many schoolmastersdo it habitually. All these peopletry to excuse their brutality bysaying that it is the custom; but acrime does not cease to be a crimebecause many commit it. Karmatakes no account of custom ; and thekarma of cruelty is the most terri-ble of all. In India at least therecan be no excuse for such customs,for the duty of harmlessness iswell-known to all. The fate of thecruel must fall also upon all whogo out intentionally to kill God'screatures^ and call it ' ^ sport '\

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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTERSuch things as these you would

not do, I know ; and for the sake ofthe love of God, when opportunityoffers, you will speak clearlyagainst them. But there is acruelty in speech as well as in act;and a man who says a word withthe intention to wound another isguilty of this crime. That, too, youwould not do ; but sometimes a care-less word does as much harm as amalicious one. So you must be onyour guard against unintentionalcruelty.

It comes usually from thought-65


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lessness. A man is so jBlled withgreed and avarice that he nevereven thinks of the suffering whichhe causes to others by paying toolittle, or by half-starving his wifeand children. Another thinks onlyof his own lust, and cares little howmany souls and bodies he ruins insatisfying it. Just to save him-self a few minutes' trouble, a mandoes not pay his workmen on theproper day, thinking nothing of thedifficulties he brings upon them.So much suffering is caused justby carelessness^by forgetting to

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think how an action will affectothers. But karma never forgets,and it takes no account of the factthat men forget. If you wish toenter the Path, you must think ofthe consequences of what you do,lest you should be guilty of thought-less cruelty.

Superstition is another mightyevil, and has caused much terriblecruelty. The man who is a slaveto it despises others who are wiser,tries to force them to do as he does.Think of the awful slaughter pro-duced by the superstition that ani-

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mals should be sacrificed, and bythe still more cruel superstitionthat man needs flesh for food.Think of the treatment which su-perstition has meted out to the de-pressed classes in our belovedIndia, and see in that how this evilquality can breed heartless crueltyeven among those who know theduty of brotherhood. Many crimeshave men committed in the nameof the God of Love, moved by thisnightmare of superstition; be verycareful therefore that no slightesttrace of it remains in you.

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These three great crimes youmust avoid, for they are fatal to allprogress, because they sin againstlove. But not only must you thusrefrain from evil; you must beactive in doing good. You must beso filled with the intense desire ofservice that you are ever on thewatch to render it to all aroundyou^not to man alone, but even toanimals and plants. You mustrender it in small things every day,that the habit may be formed, sothat you may not miss the rare op-portunity when the great thing

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offers itself to be done. For if youyearn to be one with God, it is notfor your own sake; it is that youmay be a channel through whichHis love may flow to reach yourfellow-men.He who is on the P^th exists not

for himself, but for others; he hasforgotten himself, in order that hemay serve them. He is as a pen inthe hand of God, through which Histhought may flow, and find for itselfan expression down here, whichwithout a pen it could not have.Yet at the same time he is also a

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AT THE FEET OF THE MASTERliving plume of fire, raying outupon the world the Divine Lovewhich fills his heart.The wisdom which enables you tohelp, the will which directs the wis-dom, the love which inspires thewillthese are your qualifications.Will, Wisdom and Love are thethree aspects of the Logos; andyou, who wish to enroll yourselvesto serve Him, must show forththese aspects in the world.

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