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WE have seen that the general standard by which actions should be judged at the present stage of evolution is Union, although many Jivas are not yet arrived at this stage. For the majority we can test each action by asking: Does it promote union? Does it promote separateness? If the answer to the first…

THESE two words, Right and Wrong, are in the mouth of everybody, but it is not everybody who can tell us exactly what he means by right and wrong. Let us try to understand. We have seen that we have specially to do with three worlds, the Triloki, and we know that the Triloki is…

WE have already seen that the first proclamation of Religion is “The Self is One.” There are indeed many selves in appearance, but they are all portions or reflections of the One. Their separateness is temporary, their unity is eternal. Many pots may be dipped into a tank, but the water that fills each is…

SCIENCE is a definitely arranged body of knowledge, of facts related to each other. A collection of facts does not make a science; the facts must be systematically arranged in their relations to each other, and the principles underlying these relations must be known, before the collection can be called a science. ETHICAL means that…

IN the long pilgrimage of the Jivatma through myriads of births, already referred to, there are four distinctly marked stages, called of old Varnas, or colours, and recognised in the social polity laid down by Manu as distinct social classes, or castes. These stages are universal, all Jivatmas passing through them; the peculiarity of the…

NATIONS have characteristics, just as have individuals, and among the characteristics of the Hindu nation in old days were order and balance. The Sanatana Pharma stamped these characteristics on the people, and thus shaped a very dignified type of man, evenly developed and well balanced. So much are these the characteristics of the true follower…

THE performance of the five daily sacrifices by man as an inter-dependent part of a universe, does not, however, completely satisfy the longings of the truly religious man. He longs to come into conscious relations with the Lord of the Universe, with Ishvara, with the great Life of which his own is a part. This…

WE have seen that there exists a law of Yajna, of Sacrifice, and that man’s glory is to voluntarily work with it. We have now to see how the Sanatana Dharma trained its followers to this end. We may pass over, for the present, the numerous sacrifices of various kinds laid down in the sacred…

SHAUCHAM, or Shaucha, consists of the rules laid down for keeping bodily purity, and thus ensuring physical health and strength. Disease is a sign that some law of nature has been disregarded, and the Rishis—knowing that the laws of nature are the laws of God, the expression of His being, and that the Jiva is…

SHRADDHA is the name of the ceremonies performed to help the Jiva, who has put off his visible body in death, by those who remain in this world. The diva that has put off his visible body is called a Preta, and the part of the shraddha performed to help him at this stage is…