III.
SELF-CONTROL
Let us unite in silence with these words: “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto me.”
These are the words of Jesus Christ spoken from the central I. For this I to be lifted up from the earthy thoughts, the earthy associations, is to lift up all the thoughts so that they work for peace and not pain, for harmony and not discord. So we take the statement as our very own: "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto me.”
The Three Bonds Broken
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THE Hindu philosophers are among the deepest students of psychology, understanding the subjective nature so well, that we can take their description of the bonds that hold and rule unregenerate humanity, as sufficiently reliable, for our inquiry into concentration. |
Let us briefly review the three great causes of the mortal manifestation. The first of the three bonds that hold humanity is the quality of dullness, deadness, torpor, drifting, blankness, ignorance. It is the lack of knowledge—inertia, laziness. It is that which causes us to drift along the old lines and take no step progressively, the Tamas quality. It is back of laziness—whether physical, mental or spiritual.
The second quality is just the opposite—passion, that which causes great action, hurrying, struggling,
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