The negative idea of the infinite is merely an indefinite enlargement of the limits of things; in fact, a perpetual postponement of infinitude. I am told that mathematics has come to the conclusion that our world belongs to a space which is limited. It does not make us feel disconsolate. We do not miss very much and need not have a low opinion of space even if a straight line cannot remain straight and has an eternal tendency to come back to the point from which it started. In the Hindu Scripture the universe is described as an egg; that 63 THE RELIGION OF MAN is to say, for the human mind it has its circular shell of limitation. The Hindu Scripture goes still further and says that time also is not continuous and our world repeatedly comes to an end to begin its cycle once again. In other words, in the region of time and space infinity consists of ever-revolving finitude.
But the positive aspect of the infinite is in advaitam, in an absolute unity, in which compre- hension of the multitude is not as in an outer re- ceptacle but as in an inner perfection that per- meates and exceeds its contents, like the beauty in a lotus which is ineffably more than all the con- stituents of the flower. It is not the magnitude of extension but an intense quality of harmony which evokes in us the positive sense of the infinite in our joy, in our love. For advaitam is anandam; the infinite One is infinite Love. For those among whom the spiritual sense is dull, the desire for realization is reduced to physical possession, an actual grasping in space. This longing for magni- tude becomes not an aspiration towards the great, but a mania for the big. But true spiritual realiza- tion is not through augmentation of possession in dimension or number. The truth that is infinite dwells in the ideal of unity which we find in the deeper relatedness. This truth of realization is not in space, it can only be realized in one’s own inner spirit 64 SPIRITUAL UNION Ekadhaivanudrashtavyam etat aprameyam dhruvam.
(This infinite and eternal has to be known as One,) Para akasat aja atma — “this birthless spirit is beyond space”. For it is Purushah, it is the “Person”.
The special mental attitude which India has in her religion is made clear by the word Yoga, whose meaning is to effect union. Union has its signifi- cance not in the realm of to have, but in that of to be. To gain truth is to admit its separateness, but to be true is to become one with truth. Some religions, which deal with our relationship with God, assure us of reward if that relationship be kept true. This reward has an objective value. It gives us some reason outside ourselves for pursuing the prescribed path. We have such religions also in India. But those that have attained a greater height aspire for their fulfilment in union with Narayana, the supreme Reality of Man, which is divine.
Our union with this spirit is not to be attained through the mind. For our mind belongs to the department of economy in the human organism. It carefully husbands our consciousness for its own range of reason, within which to permit our rela- tionship with the phenomenal world. But it is the object of Yoga to help us to transcend the limits built up by Mind. On the occasions when these are overcome, our inner self is filled with joy, 6s THE RELIGION OF MAN which indicates that through such freedom we come into touch with the Reality that is an end in itself and therefore is bliss.
Once man had his vision of the infinite in the universal Light, and he offered his worship to the sun. He also offered his service to the fire with oblations. Then he felt the infinite in Life, which is Time in its creative aspect, and he said, "Tat 'kincha yadidam sarvam prana ejati nihsritam/' “all that there is comes out of life and vibrates in it”. He was sure of it, being conscious of Life’s mystery immediately in himself as the principle of purpose, as the organized will, the source of all his activi- ties. His interpretation of the ultimate character of truth relied upon the suggestion that Life had brought to him, and not the non-living which is dumb. And then he came deeper into his being and said "Raso vat sak'% “the infinite is love itself”, — the eternal spirit of joy. His religion, which is in his realization of the infinite, began its journey from the impersonal dyaus, “the sky”, wherein light had its manifestation; then came to Life, which represented the force of self-creation in time, and ended in purushah, the “Person”, in whom dwells timeless love. It said, ‘"Tam vedyam purusham vedah!", “Know him the Person who is to be realized”, “Yatha ma vo mrityug parivya- thah*’ — “So that death may not cause you sorrow”. For this Person is deathless in whom the individual 66 SPIRITUAL UNION SPIRITUAL UNION person has his immortal truth. Of him it is said: ‘"Esha devo visvakarma mahatma sada jananam hridaye sannwishatah". “This is the divine being, the world-worker, who is the Great Soul ever dwelling inherent in the hearts of all people.”
Ya etad vidur amritas te bhavanti. “Those who realize him, transcend the limits of mortality” — not in duration of time, but in perfection of truth.
Our union with a Being whose activity is world- wide and who dwells in the heart of humanity cannot be a passive one. In order to be united with Him we have to divest our work of selfishness and become visvakarma, “the world-worker”, we must work for all. When I use the words “for all”, I do not mean for a countless number of individuals. All work that is good, however small in extent, is universal in character. Such work makes for a realization of Visvakarma, “the World-Worker” who works for all. In order to be one with this Mahatma, “the Great Soul”, one must cultivate the greatness of soul which identifies itself with the soul of all peoples and not merely with that of one’s own. This helps us to understand what Buddha has described as Brahmavihara, “living in the infinite”. He says; “Do not deceive each other, do not despise any- body anywhere, never in anger wish anyone to suf- fer through your body, words or thoughts. Like a mother maintaining her only son with her own 67 THE RELIGION OF MAN life, keep thy immeasurable loving thought for all creatures.
“Above thee, below thee, on all sides of thee, keep on all the world thy sympathy and immeas- urable loving thought which is without obstruc- tion, without any wish to injure, without enmity.
“To be dwelling in such contemplation while standing, walking, sitting or lying down, until sleep overcomes thee, is called living in Brahma”.
This proves that Buddha’s idea of the infinite was not the idea of a spirit of an unbounded cos- mic activity, but the infinite whose meaning is in the positive ideal of goodness and love, which cannot be otherwise than human. By being chari- table, good and loving, you do not realize the infinite, in the stars or rocks, but the infinite re- vealed in Man. Buddha’s teaching speaks of Nir- vana as the highest end. To understand its real character we have to know the path of its attain- ment, which is not merely through the negation of evil thoughts and deeds but through the elimination of all limits to love. It must mean the sublimation of self in a truth which is love itself, which unites in its bosom all those to whom we must oflfer our sympathy and service.
When somebody asked Buddha about the orig- inal cause of existence he sternly said that such questioning was futile and irrelevant Did he not mean that it went beyond the human sphere as 68 SPIRITUAL UNION our goal — that though such a question might legitimately be asked in the region of cosmic phi- losophy or science, it had nothing to do with man’s dharma, man’s inner nature, in which love finds its utter fulfilment, in which all his sacrifice ends in an eternal gain, in which the putting out of the lamplight is no loss because there is the all-pervad- ing light of the sun. And did those who listened to the great teacher merely hear his words and understand his doctrines? No, they directly felt in him what he was preaching, in the living lan- guage of his own person, the ultimate truth of Man.
It is significant that all great religions have their historic origin in persons who represented in their life a truth which was not cosmic and unmoral, but human and good. They rescued religion from the magic stronghold of demon force and brought it into the inner heart of humanity, into a fulfil- ment not confined to some exclusive good fortune of the individual but to the welfare of all men. This was not for the spiritual ecstasy of lonely souls, but for the spiritual emancipation of all races. They came as the messengers of Man to men of all countries and spoke of the salvation that could only be reached by the perfecting of our relationship with Man the Eternal, Man the Divine. Whatever might be their doctrines of God, or some dogmas that they borrowed from 69 THE RELIGION OF MAN their own time and tradition, their life and teach- ing had the deeper implication of a Being who is the infinite in Man, the Father, the Friend, the Lover, whose service must be realized through serving all mankind. For the God in Man de- pends upon men’s service and men’s love for his own love’s fulfilment.
The question was once asked in the shade of the ancient forest of India: Kasmai devaya havisha vidhema?
'*Who is the God to whom we must bring our oblation?’^ That question is still ours, and to answer it we must toow in the depth of our love and the maturity of our wisdom what man is — ^know him not only in sympathy but in science, in the joy of creation and in the pain of heroism; tena tyaklena bhunjitha, “enjoy him through sacrifice” — the sac- rifice that comes of love; ma gridhah, “covet not”; for greed diverts your mind to that illusion in you which is your separate self and diverts it from truth in which you represent the farama purushah, “the supreme Person”.
Our greed diverts our consciousness to materials away from that supreme value of truth which is the quality of the universal being. The gulf thus created by the receding stream of the soul we try to replenish with a continuous stream of wealth, which may have the power to fill but not the power 70 SPIRITUAL UNION to unite and recreate. Therefore the gap is danger- ously concealed under the glittering quicksand ol things, which by their own weight cause a sudden subsidence while we are in the depths of sleep.
The real tragedy, however, does not lie in the risk of our material security but in the obscuration of Man himself in the human world. In the crea- tive activities of his soul Man realizes his sur- roundings as his larger self, instinct with his own life and love. But in his ambition he deforms and defiles it with the callous handling of his voracity. His world of utility assuming a gigantic propor- tion, reacts upon his inner nature and hynotically suggests to him a scheme of the universe which is an abstract system. In such a world there can be no question of mukti, the freedom in truth, because it is a solidly solitary fact, a cage with no sky beyond it. In all appearance our world is a closed world of hard facts; it is like a seed with its tough cover. But within this enclosure is working our silent cry of life for mukti, even when its possibil- ity is darkly silent. When some huge overgrown temptation tramples into stillness this living aspi- ration then does civilization die like a seed that has lost its urging for germination. And this mukh is in the truth that dwells in the ideal man.
71 CHAPTER V THE PROPHET In my introduction I have stated that the universe to which we are related through our sense percep- tion, reason or imagination, is necessarily Man’s universe. Our physical self gains strength and success through its correct relationship in knowl- edge and practice with its physical aspect. The mysteries of all its phenomena are generalized by man as laws which have their harmony with his rational mind. In the primitive period of our his- tory Man’s physical dealings with the external world were most important for the maintenance of his life, the life which he has in common with other creatures, and therefore the first expression of his religion was physical — it came from his sense of wonder and awe at the manifestations of power in Nature and his attempt to win it for him- self and his tribe by magical incantations and rites. In other words his religion tried to gain a perfect communion with the mysterious magic of Nature’s forces through his own power of magic. Then came the time when he had the freedom of leisure to divert his mind to his inner nature and the mystery 72 THE PROPHET THE PROPHET of his own personality gained for him its highest importance. And instinctively his personal self sought its fulfilment in the truth of a higher per- sonality. In the history of religion our realization of its nature has gone through many changes even like our realization of the nature of the material world. Our method of worship has followed the course of such changes, but its evolution has been from the external and magical towards the moral and spiritual significance.
The first profound record of the change of direc- tion in Man’s religion we find in the message of the great prophet in Persia, Zarathustra, and as usual it was accompanied by a revolution. In a later period the same thing happened in India, and it is evident that the history of this religious struggle lies embedded in the epic Mahabharata associated with the name of Krishna and the teach- ings of Bhagavadgita.
The most important of all outstanding facts of Iranian history is the religious reform brought about by Zarathustra. There can be hardly any question that he was the first man we know who gave a definitely moral character and direction to religion and at the same time preached the doctrine of monotheism which offered an eternal founda- tion of reality to goodness as an ideal of perfection. All religions of the primitive type try to keep men bound with regulations of external observances.
73 THE EELIGION OF MAN Zarathustra was the greatest of all the pioneer prophets who showed the path of freedom to man, the freedom of moral choice, the freedom from the blind obedience to unmeaning injunctions, the freedom from the multiplicity of shrines which draw our worship away from the single-minded chastity of devotion.
To most of us it sounds like a truism to-day when we are told that the moral goodness of a deed comes from the goodness of intention. But it is a truth which once came to Man like a revela- tion of light in the darkness and it has not yet reached all the obscure corners of humanity. We still see around us men who fearfully follow, hop- ing thereby to gain merit, the path of blind formal- ism, which has no living moral source in the mind. This will make us understand the greatness of Zarathustra. Though surrounded by believers in magical rites, he proclaimed in those dark days of unreason that religion has its truth in its moral significance, not in external practices of imagin- ary value; that its value is in upholding man in his life of good thoughts, good words and good deeds.
“The prophet”, says Dr. Geiger, “qualifies his religion as ‘unheard of words’ {Yasna 31. i) or as a “mystery” (T. 48. 3.) because he himself regards it as a religion quite distinct from the belief of the people hitherto. The revelation he announces is 74 THE PROPHET to him no longer a matter of sentiment, no longer a merely undefined presentiment and conception of the Godhead, but a matter of intellect, of spirit- ual perception and knowledge. This is of great importance, for there are probably not many re- ligions of so high antiquity in which this funda- mental doctrine, that religion is a knowledge or learning, a science of what is true, is so precisely declared as in the tenets of the Gathas. It is the unbelieving that are unknowing; on the contrary, the believing are learned because they have pene- trated into this knowledge.”
It may be incidentally mentioned here, as show- ing the parallel to this in the development of In- dian religious thought, that all through the Upan- ishad spiritual truth is termed with a repeated emphasis, vidya, knowledge,, which has for its opposite avidya, acceptance of error born of un- reason.
The outer expression of truth reaches its white light of simplicity through its inner realization. True simplicity is the physiognomy of perfection. In the primitive stages of spiritual growth, when man is dimly aware of the mystery of the infinite in his life and the world, when he does not fully know the inward character of his relationship with this truth, his first feeling is either of dread, or of greed of gain. This drives him into wild exag- geration in worship, frenzied convulsions of cere- 75 THE RELIGION OF MAN monialism. But in Zarathustra’s teachings, which are best reflected in his Gathas, we have hardly any mention of the ritualism of worship. Con- duct and its moral motives have there received almost the sole attention.
The orthodox Persian form of worship in an- cient Iran included animal sacrifices and oflfering of haema to the daevas. That all these should be discountenanced by Zarathustra not only shows his courage, but the strength of his realization of the Supreme Being as spirit. We are told that it has been mentioned by Plutarch that “Zarathustra taught the Persians to sacrifice to Ahura Mazda, ‘vows and thanksgivings’ ”. The distance between faith in the efficiency of the bloodstained magi- cal rites, and cultivation of the moral and spiritual ideals as the true form of worship is immense. It is amazing to see how Zarathustra was the first among men who crossed this distance with a cer- tainty of realization which imparted such a fer- vour of faith to his life and his words. The truth which filled his mind was not a thing which he borrowed from books or received from teachers; he did not come to it by following a prescribed path of tradition, but it came to him as an illu- mination of his entire life, almost like a commu- nication of his universal self to his personal self, and he proclaimed this utmost immediacy of his knowledge when he said: 76 THE PROPHET 76 THE PROPHET When I conceived of Thee, O Mazda, as the very First and the Last, as the most Adorable One, as the Father of the Good Thought, as the Creator of Truth and Right, as the Lord Judge of our actions in life, then I made a place for Thee in my very eyes. — Yasna 31.8 (Translation D. J. Irani).
It was the direct stirring of his soul which made him say: Thus do I announce the Greatest of all! I weave my songs of praise for him through Truth, helpful and beneficent of all that live. Let Ahura Mazda listen to them with his Holy Spirit, for the Good Mind instructed me to adore Him; by his wis- dom let Him teach me about what is best. — Yasna 45.6 (Trans- lation D. J. Irani).
The truth which is not reached through the ana- lytical process of reasoning and does not depend for proof on some corroboration of outward facts or the prevalent faith and practice of the people — the truth which comes like an inspiration out of context with its surroundings brings with it an assurance that it has been sent from an inner source of divine wisdom, that the individual who has realized it is specially inspired and therefore has his responsibility as a direct medium of coinmuni- cation of Divine Truth.
As long as man deals with his God as the dis- penser of benefits only to those of His worshippers who know the secret of propitiating Him, he tries to keep Him for his own self or for the tribe to which he belongs. But directly the moral nature, 77 THE RELIGION OF MAN that is to say, the humanity of God is apprehended, man realizes his divine self in his religion, his God is no longer an outsider to be propitiated for a special concession. The consciousness of God transcends the limitations of race and gathers to- gether all human beings within one spiritual circle of union. Zarathustra was the first prophet who emancipated religion from the exclusive narrow- ness of the tribal God, the God of a chosen people, and offered it the universal Man. This is a great fact in the history of religion. The Master said, when the enlightenment came to him: Verily I believed Thee, O Ahura Mazda, to be the Supreme Benevolent Providence, when Sraosha came to me with the Good Mind, when first I received and became wise with your words. And though the task be difiScult, though woe may come to me, I shall proclaim to all mankind Thy message, which Thou declarest to be the best.-— Yama 43 (Translation D. J. Irani).
He prays to Mazda; He prays to Mazda; This I ask Thee, tell me truly, O Ahura, the religion that is best for all mankind, the religion, which based on truth, should prosper in all that is ours, the religion which establishes our actions in order and justice by the Divine songs of Perfect Piety, which has for its intelligent desire of desires, the desire for Thee, O Mazda. — Yastta 44.10 (Translation D. J. Irani).
With the undoubted assurance and hope of one who has got a direct vision of Truth he speaks to the world; 78 THE PROPHET Hearken unto me, Ye who come from near and from far! Listen for I shall speak forth now; ponder well over all things, weigh my words with care and clear thought. Never shall the false teacher destroy this world for a second time, for his tongue stands mute, his creed exposed. — Yasna 45.1 (Translation D. J. Irani).
I think it can be said without doubt that such a high conception of religion, uttered in such a clear note of affirmation with a sure note of con- viction that it is a truth of the ultimate ideal of perfection which must be revealed to all humanity, even at the cost of martyrdom, is unique in the history of any religion belonging to such a remote dawn of civilization.
There was a time when, along with other Aryan peoples, the Persian also worshipped the elemental gods of Nature, whose favour was not to be won by any moral duty performed or service of love. That in fact was the crude beginning of the scien- tific spirit trying to unlock the hidden sources of power in nature. But through it all there must have been some current of deeper desire, which constantly contradicted the cult of power and in- dicated worlds of inner good, infinitely more precious than material gain. Its voice was not strong at first nor was it heeded by the majority of the people; but its influences, like the life within the seed, were silently working.
Then comes the great prophet; and in his life and mind the hidden fire of truth suddenly bursts 79 THE RELIGIOlSr OF MAN out into flame. The best in the people works for long obscure ages in hints and whispers till it finds its voice which can never again be silenced. For that voice becomes the voice of Man, no longer confined to a particular time or people. It works across intervals of silence and oblivion, depression and defeat, and comes out again with its conquer- ing call. It is a call to the fighter, the fighter against untruth, against all that lures away man’s spirit from its high mission of freedom into the meshes of materialism.
Zarathustra’s voice is still a living voice, not alone a matter of academic interest for historical scholars who deal with the facts of the past; nor merely the guide of a small community of men in the daily details of their life. Rather, of all teach- ers Zarathustra was the first who addressed his words to all humanity, regardless of distance of space or time. He was not like a cave-dweller who, by some chance of friction, had lighted a lamp and, fearing lest it could not be shared with all, secured it with a miser’s care for his own domestic use. But he was the watcher in the night, who stood on the lonely peak facing the East and broke out singing the paeans of light to the sleeping world when the sun came out on the brim of the horizon. The Sun of Truth is for all, he declared — its light is to unite the far and the near. Such a message 8o THE PROPHET always arouses the antagonism of those whose habits have become nocturnal, whose vested in- terest is in the darkness. And there was a bitter fight in the lifetime of the prophet between his followers and the others who were addicted to the ceremonies that had tradition on their side, and not truth.
We are told that “Zarathustra was descended from a kingly family”, and also that the first con- verts to his doctrine were of the ruling caste. But the priesthood, “the Kavis and the Karapans, often succeeded in bringing the rulers over to their side”. So we find that, in this fight, the princes of the land divided themselves into two opposite parties as we find in India in the Kurukshetra War.
It has been a matter of supreme satisfaction to me to realize that the purification of faith which was the mission of the great teachers in both com- munities, in Persia and in India, followed a similar line. We have already seen how Zarathustra spir- itualized the meaning of sacrifice, which in former days consisted in external ritualism entailing bloodshed. The same thing we find in the Gita, in which the meaning of the word Yajna has been translated into a higher significance than it had in its crude form.
According to the Gita, the deeds that are done solely for the sake of self fetter our soul; the 8i THE RELIGION OP MAN disinterested action, performed for the sake of the giving up of self, is the true sacrifice. For creation itself comes of the self-sacrifice of Brahma, which has no other purpose; and therefore, in our per- formance of the duty which is self-sacrificing, we realize the spirit of Brahma.
The Ideal of Zoroastrian Persia is distinctly ethical. It sends its call to men to work together with the Eternal Spirit of Good in spreading and maintaining Kshathra, the kingdom of righteous- ness, against all attacks of evil. This ideal gives us our place as collaborators with God in distribu- ting his blessings over the world.
Clear is this to the man of wisdom as to the man who care- fully thinks; He who upholds Truth with all the might of his power, He who upholds Truth the utmost in his words and deed, He, indeed, is Thy most valued helper, O Mazda Ahura!
Yasna 31.22 (Translation D. J. Irani) It is a fact of supreme moment to us that the human world is in an incessant state of war be- tween that which will save us and that which will drag us into the abyss of disaster. Our one hope lies in the fact that Ahura Mazda is on our side if we choose the right course.
The active heroic aspect of this religion reflects the character of the people themselves, who later on spread conquests far and wide and built up great empires by the might of their sword. They 82 THE PROPHET accepted this world in all seriousness. They had their zest in life and confidence in their own strength. They belonged to the western half of Asia and their great influence travelled through the neighbouring civilization of Judaea towards the Western Continent. Their ideal was the ideal of the fighter. By force of will and deeds of sacri- fice they were to conquer haurvatat — welfare in this world, and ameratat — immortality in the other. This is the best ideal in the West, the great truth of fight. For paradise has to be gained through conquest. That sacred task is for the heroes, who are to take the right side in the battle, and the right weapons.
There was a heroic period in Indian history, when this holy spirit of fight was invoked by the greatest poet of the Sanskrit Literature. It is not to be wondered at that his ideal of fight was simi- lar to the ideal that Zarathustra preached. The problem with which his poem starts is that para- dise has to be rescued by the hero from its invasion by evil beings. This is the eternal problem of man. The evil spirit is exultant and paradise is lost when Sati, the spirit of Sat (Reality), is dis- united from Siva, the Spirit of Goodness. The Real and the Good must meet in wedlock if the hero is to take his birth in order to save all that is true and beautiful. When the union was attempted through the agency of passion, the anger of God 83 THE RELIGION OF MAN was aroused and the result was a tragedy of dis- appointment. At last, by purification through penance, the wedding was effected, the hero was born who fought against the forces of evil and paradise was regained. This is a poem of the ideal of the moral fight, whose first great prophet was Zarathustra.
We must admit that this ideal has taken a stronger hold upon the life of man in the West than in India — the West, where the vigour of life receives its fullest support from Nature and the excess of energy finds its delight in ceaseless activities. But everywhere in the world, the un- realized ideal is a force of disaster. It gathers its strength in secret even in the heart of prosperity, kills the soul first and then drives men to their utter ruin. When the aggressive activity of will, which naturally accompanies physical vigour, fails to accept the responsibility of its ideal, it breeds unappeasable greed for material gain, leads to unmeaning slavery of things, till amidst a raging conflagration of clashing interests the tower of am- bition topples down to the dust.
And for this, the prophetic voice of Zarathustra reminds us that all human activities must have an ideal goal, which is an end to itself, and therefore is peace, is immortality. It is the House of Songs, the realization of love, which comes through strenuous service of goodness.
84 THE PROPHET All the joys of life which Thou boldest, O Mazda, the joys that were, the joys that are, and the joys that shall be, Thou dost apportion dl in Thy love for us.
We, on the other hand, in the tropical East, who have no surplus of physical energy inevitably over- flowing in outer activities, also have our own ideal given to us. Our course is not so much through the constant readiness to fight in the battle of the good and evil, as through the inner concentration of mind, through pacifying the turbulence of desire, to reach that serenity of the infinite in our being which leads to the harmony in the all. Here, like- wise, the unrealized ideal pursues us with its malediction. As the activities of a vigorous vitality may become unmeaning, and thereupon smother the soul with a mere multiplicity of material, so the peace of the extinguished desire may become the peace of death; and the inner world, in which we would dwell, become a world of incoherent dreams.
The negative process of curbing desire and con- trolling passion is only for saving our energy from dissipation and directing it into its proper chan- nel. If the path of the channel we have chosen runs withinwards, it also must have its expression in action, not for any ulterior reward, but for the proving of its own truth. If the test of action is removed, if our realization grows purely subjec- tive, then it may become like travelling in a desert SS THE RELIGION OF MAN in the night, going round and round the same cir- cle, imagining all the while that we are following the straight path of purpose.
This is why the prophet of the Gita in the first place says: Who so forsakes all desires and goeth onwards free from yearn- ings, selfless and without egoism, he goeth to peace.
But he does not stop here, he adds: Surrendering all actions to me, with Thy thoughts resting on the Supreme Self, from hope and egoism freed, and of mental fever cured, engage in battle.
Action there must be, fight we must have — not the fight of passion and desire, or arrogant self- assertion, but of duty done in the presence of the Eternal, the disinterested fight of the serene soul that helps us in our union with the Supreme Being.
In this, the teaching of Zarathustra, his sacred gospel of fight finds its unity. The end of the fight he preaches is in the House of Songs, in the symphony of spiritual union. He sings: Ye, who wish to be allied to the Good Mind, to be friend with Truth, Ye who desire to sustain the Holy Cause, down with all anger and violence, away with all ill-will and strife 1 Such benevolent men, O Mazda, I shall take to the House of Songs!
The detailed facts of history, which are the battle- ground of the learned, are not my province. I am 86 THE PROPHET a singer myself, and I am ever attracted by the strains that come forth from the House of Songs. When the streams of ideals that flow from the East and from the West mingle their murmur in some profound harmony of meaning it delights my soul.
In the realm of material property men are jeal- ously proud of their possessions and their exclusive rights. Unfortunately there are quarrelsome men who bring that pride of acquisition, the worldli- ness of sectarianism, even into the region of spirit- ual truth. Would it be sane, if the man in China should lay claim to the ownership of the sun be- cause he can prove the earlier sunrise in his own country?
For myself, I feel proud whenever I find that the best in the world have their fundamental agreement. It is their function to unite and to dissuade the small from bristling-up, like prickly shrubs, in the pride of the minute points of their differences, only to hurt one another.
87 CHAPTER VI THE VISION I HOPE that my readers have understood, as they have read these pages, that I am neither a scholar nor a philosopher. They should not expect from me fruits gathered from a wide field of studies or wealth brought by a mind trained in the difficult exploration of knowledge. Fortunately for me the subject of religion gains in interest and value by the experience of the individuals who earnestly believe in its truth. This is my apology for offer- ing a part of the story of my life which has always realized its religion through a process of growth and not by the help of inheritance or importation.
Man has made the entire geography of the earth his own, ignoring the boundaries of climate; for, unlike the lion and the reindeer, he has the power to create his special skin and temperature, includ- ing his unscrupulous power of borrowing the skins of the indigenous inhabitants and misappropriat- ing their fats.
His kingdom is also continually extending in time through a great surplus in his power of mem- ory, to which is linked his immense facility of bor- 88 V 1 O X V/ JN