of word, and purity of deed,--these are the essentials of one who would
rise above the ordinary level and join the "gods." A cultivation of the
feeling of unselfish philanthropy is the path which has to be traversed
for that purpose. For it is that alone which will lead to Universal
Love, the realization of which constitutes the progress towards
deliverance from the chains forged by Maya (illusion) around the Ego.
No student will attain this at once, but as our Venerated Mahatma says
in the "Occult World":--

The greater the progress towards deliverance, the less this will be the
case, until, to crown all, human and purely individual personal
feelings, blood-ties and friendship, patriotism and race predilection,
will all give way to become blended into one universal feeling, the only
true and holy, the only unselfish and eternal one, Love, an Immense Love
for Humanity as a whole.

In short, the individual is blended with the ALL.

Of course, contemplation, as usually understood, is not without its
minor advantages. It develops one set of physical faculties as
gymnastics does the muscles. For the purposes of physical mesmerism it
is good enough; but it can in no way help the development of the
psychological faculties, as the thoughtful reader will perceive. At the
same time, even for ordinary purposes, the practice can never be too
well guarded. If, as some suppose, they have to be entirely passive and
lose themselves in the object before them, they should remember that, by
thus encouraging passivity, they, in fact, allow the development of
mediumistic faculties in themselves. As was repeatedly stated--the
Adept and the Medium are the two Poles: while the former is intensely
active and thus able to control the elemental forces, the latter is