Chapter XXXIII (1)

But Kangsa was troubled by the triumph of the brothers, and next morning called the wrestlers who were to match the two brothers, and again put to them the weight of the contest, and placed armed men at the gates of the arena. He then proceeded with many forebodings to the amphitheatre, where the sports were to take place. He took his seat amid the beating of drums, the blaring of trumpets and the waving of banners.

Already many spectators had assembled, among them many crowned chiefs, Brāhmans and Kshatriyas, all with expectancy overwhelming, as to the outcome of the wrestling.

Forward the wrestlers came with a rush and stood in the centre of the ring, wrestlers whose fame was known throughout all the land for their brute strength and skill.

Few there were who dared to meet these men, and as Krishna and Rima came forward to see the meeting of the first pair, they found a huge elephant posted there at the entrance.

Krishna, seeing this, asked the driver to make way with the beast for Him. At this the rider urged the infuriated beast towards Him.

With a smile, Krishna grasped with his soft little hand the nose of the furious beast, who, with a bellow, fell to the ground lifeless, dragging the driver down with him.

Krishna then tore the tusks from the brute's head; and Rāma and Krishna entered the wrestling grounds with the tusks in their hands and blood-stained from the slaying of the beast.

Kangsa's heart sank at the sight, and even the wrestlers recoiled in terror at the blood-stained figures who gazed on them with supernatural power in their youthful eyes.

Yet true to the command of Kangsa, Chānoor, the chief of the wrestlers, cried: "Come, ye youngsters, good wrestlers are ye! The good king hath invited you to participate in the contest, so come and wrestle and give pleasure to King Kangsa, he who is the greatest of all kings and men.

With a smile all-wise Krishna looked at the wrestlers, then, with eye aslant, he gazed on Kangsa, who trembled at the look; and answered Chānoor thus: "Though subjects of King Kangsa, yet only boys of the forest are we, unlearned in the art of wrestling. Therefore, we pray you, match us with boys of our age and not with men whose muscles are iron and whose hearts are bold as a lion's. If we are to meet men like these, unfair is the game, and unjust, and we decline the arrangement." Then Chānoor became insolent, because of the confession of Krishna which he thought was made in weakness, and cried:

"O thou who hast killed the furious elephant as if in sport, thou askest to be matched with one of thine own age! With me thou shalt wrestle, me the most powerful, the strongest man of the age, and Rāma shall match with Mushtik; and, be it just or unjust, fair or unfair, thee I will fight and fight to kill." And so a combat began between the man that was mortal and the youth that was God.

The man a giant was of colossal brute force, of stature great, with muscles all knotted and crooked as the boughs of an oak-tree of many years' growth.

And the Boy, smooth as a sweet maiden, all curved with grace, smilingly awaited the onslaught.

Forward the wrestler came, with the snort of a wild bull, to meet the Boy, who, calm and serene, smiled in his eye.

The people arose and sprang from their benches, and hissed, and threw their head gear and staffs into the ring, as they shouted:

"Give up, the fight is unfair!"

"Oh, shame!" they cried, "coward and beast! put a stop to the slaughter!" on seeing the seemingly unequal fight.

Several times Chānoor struck furious blows at the fair, slight body of Krishna, the youth, but provoked naught but a smile from Him; while beads of blood sprang to the brow and arms of Chānoor, and his huge legs trembled and broke at the knee as he tried to reach the belt of Him, who, after several circles about the ring, seized Chānoor by the arms, and, lifting him high above His head, to the wonderment of the crowd, dashed him down to the ground, as a playing child doth throw the pebbles. And the wrestler breathed his last with a yearning look of love in his eyes, as they rested on Him, whom a moment before he beheld with hate.

And Rāma, too, victorious was.

But when Krishna stood and faced the mass of people there, they shouted and cheered with mad delight and jumped on the railings in panic wild: "He is more than human, He is God come down to earth! It is He, for whom the world hath waited! He will free our land from oppression! Hari is He, the Invincible! Oh, mighty art Thou and possessest in Thy frame the forces of all the universe!"

But Kangsa, the King, full of terror and rage, cried: "Ho, guards! Seize him and take him to the outskirts of my kingdom and drive him into banishment Imprison Nanda and Yasodā, confiscate all their lands and belongings, and take from the Gopas their wealth and goods and drive them from Brindāban. Kill Devaki and Vāsudeva, who are now imprisoned in my dungeon. Kill all who know and love this youth, 'tis my command."

A moment Krishna gazed on Kangsa, then with a bound he reached the platform where Kangsa stood with sword unsheathed.

"O Kangsa. I am the eighth son of Devaki whom thou so long hast sought to slay. It is writ that thou by my hand must die! O King, dost thou think that human hand can turn aside the force of the Law?"

And hurling Kangsa down on the ground, He leaped over the prostrate king, whereat his life departed.

But his glazed eyes were fixed on Him whose hand had blessed even him by its touch and burned away every sin from his soul.

Then, hastening through the lines of guards, who prostrated low at His approach. He went to where His father and mother were imprisoned in dungeons dark and deep.

Low he bent to their feet, murmuring in accents sweet;

"O parents mine! Oh, much have ye suffered for my sake and all ye shall gain through Me; for in Me is all there is to gain and outside of Me there is naught. From thy womb. O Devaki, I was born, yet out of Me thou didst come. I prostrate before thee."

Then saluting them both, 'mid deafening cheers, he led them forth to the palace.

And the father of Kangsa, dethroned by his son, received and welcomed them there.

And wild was the joy of the populace on that day that Krishna lifted the yoke of bondage from them, and they blessed the hour that the sun had ushered in that day, which brought a new ruler in their land.

And already Mathura felt the joy that was but a forerunner of a perfect reign. For Krishna it was who placed on the throne the one who would rule the land in goodness and plenty.

Messages and Revelations from Sree Krishna

MESSAGES AND REVELATIONS FROM SREE KRISHNA

Within my belly you do dwell, yet in every heart I sit. Know you this, O my own, and you shall forget and fetter yourselves to Me. The wings of your Self now are close clapped like a dripping feather all wet with tears of pain and folded about your body, keeping it rolled like a ball, unable to stand upon the feet of might and strength which I have endowed you with. These wings, my own, I will spread for you, until the grand, noble forehead of your Self shall rise above the realm where Time and Space do reign.

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Deep have the waters of seeming failures dashed about thy feet and threatened to drag you into the perturbed sea of despair, but still thy head has been close to the clouds and thou hast caught the smile of my radiance and heard the voice of my kindness. Dost thou think that I who have numbered the grains of sand and have weighed the drops of water in all the oceans, seas, lakes and rivers,—that I will allow one who is a spark of Myself to be devoured by the wolf of famine or by the dread of despair? Look up, it is light, look to thy right and a hand reaches out to thee. And I have placed thee where those who know how to love what is lovable can look at thee and love.

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The soul which has need of blessedness, to that soul do I answer at its call! Let it feed the heart that is hungry for an answer.

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A lamp within your midst I place and those who would enjoy the radiance which the lamp gives out, must cast their eyes to where the lamp does stand and stir to reach unto its height. A shading tree upon the sandy hill I place. The weary traveller, all hot, who of its cooling shade would partake must come within the circle of its throwing shade. He, who will not see the lamp or walk to where the shadows dark and cool do fall, he cannot enjoy the blessing of the lamp as it casts its light or the cooling shades of the slanting branches. So 'tis with Love: if you will seek its warmth and glow, do thou seek it. Only those who seek Me do I in return meet.

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Oh, the love that stoops low at every foot! Take thou that love in thy hands and burdens will lighten. Put thou My Love in thy heart and thy world will brighten. Oh, give with love to all who come within the radius of thy glory. The heritage of My Love much more thou wilt know. As immeasurable as space thy self shall become and heights in thy hearts will appear, and splendours more splendid than all thou hast known, and heights more sublime than the whited peaks where once thou hast stood and looked into the calm tranquility of my Everlasting Eye.

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The man who seeketh to do good, oft doth lose his aim by becoming desirous to reach high places through that same good.

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A man who hoards his gold, oft learns to love the smile of his golden sweetheart and develops into an avaricious creature.

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The maid who plaits shining tresses, in so doing may be weaving a net of vanity in her soul. This by ignorance of self may be brought about though the original motive was pure and good. Hence Ignorance is sin!

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A sharp edged sword hung at the side will cut the baby's hand as it plays with its sharpness. There again ignorance is punished like sin.

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Love now does mould you; love does enfold you; love does behold you, and bind you, my children, I wear on my brow the great pearl of Love which no god or saint or man or worm or beast or ant can resist. Even I who All Love do look upon the beauty of my Love and love and love.

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Ye, O my children, that jewel shall wear on your brow. I who am All Love ye may wear and I who am love-filled ye may hold. For love must ever fly to love and love must ever draw from love, and love must ever live in love, for life doth spring from love. And I do live in love.

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Oh, list! Plant not thy seed in fertile ground and wait for it to root and blossom and fruit for thy own self alone. Rather do thou plant thy seed for the heart of every heart that lives within My Great Heart. He who waters, tends and sprouts his plant not for his own sweet taste alone but for the taste of every man, he of that sweetness and freshness shall taste even before the fruit is ripe. Know you, O my children, the life which I have given you sprang from My Love. Oh, make thy life a song sublime and not a groan.

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Evil availeth not when you my laws do know. List I fill your heart with love, with sunshine which freely I scatter to you; and I will bring there soft rains and the seed of love to life I will stir; and that which to your senses of infants doth reek of the charnel-house, a fertilizer shall become, for your love to grow and sprout, even as the creeping vine that drops and takes root wherever it falls.

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I am the swiftness in the sailing cloud, the flame struck from the flint. I am the fire housed in every star, the breath I am of every living thing. All things that are, do love, for I am all that lives—I, who am life and love— I, who am love and life, and naught is there besides. The hearing ear I am, the seeing eye, the throbbing heart, I waken in every man the love that reaches out.

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O Daughter! Rise in thy dignity and survey that which thou art master of and look to the marble halls which beckon thee even now. Know this, that love and wisdom is the mystery of all things and that Love when understood is twin to Dominion. Do thou the work that lies at thy hand! Remember each day is thy fulfilled world. It is thy Zion, it is thy life complete. Such jewels as have crowned few are daily being laid at thy feet! Spurn them not for the material seeming blessings which invite thee.

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A HOLY MAN'S PRAYER.

There was a holy man who thought never of himself, but ever of those among whom he lived and passed his days. So wondrous virtuous and holy he was, that ofttimes the host of unseen ones who loved to remain near him recognized the greatness of his goodness and spoke among themselves thus: "Holy is this man in truth and strange to say he knows it not. Surely few are like him. Let us who love him ask him how he would be served by us, how we may bestow upon him gifts which to the blind earthwalkers are called the supernatural or miraculous."

"So be it," in unison they replied. And one among the spirit-host who, by the strength and beauty of holiness was superior, addressed him thus: "O holy man, we who look upon you hourly and love you much, we would bestow upon you some gift What shall if be? The miracle of making all who look upon you—man, woman or child,—love you? Or would it be the miracle of relieving all whom thou dost meet and love of the load of poverty which thou seest and which makes thee sad at the look? Or shall it be the power of relieving the sick of his burden of disease which draggeth him to an early grave?"

The holy one looked at the gentle and lovely spirit with eyes in which dwelt the very beauty of love and holiness and said: "Nay, dear spirit, not for me are these miracles. To my Lord, who is the giver of all joy and pain, doth belong the great power of removing what he giveth. But this I ask, that I walk in humbleness and in my heart the prayer will grow to love my Lord the more. That love I may be able to give to all who come within my reach. This, O gentle spirit, is all I ask. Depart and allow me to but see my Lord in humbleness and pray to love him."

The spirit departed and to the unseen host did say: "For such as he is the Love of the Lord! Already hath he acquired what we in vain seek—Love for the Lord!"

Glory to Gooroo who bringeth love and light wherever he walketh. Love Love's own creation is, it is its own reward. No human law its force can sway. No human force can stay its tide. Love is the source of living things and all that it doth love. Naught that thine eyes can rest upon but hath its root in Love. The heart that love denies is cold. It sleepeth and it stagnant is; it is frozen o'er by snows of earth and sinneth most against itself. Love giveth of itself to all, nor asketh it return. It is a law unto itself, a law to man and beast and plant. The snake doth glide Love's warmth to know the bird the air doth cleave its force to feel; the flower upward turns its wondering gaze the kiss of Love to meet The beast doth pant all eagerly the eye of Love to behold. But man it is who makes the simple theme of Love a huge complexity. In restlessness he struggles for that which he already hath, for that without which he could not exist.

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O My jewels! lean on the altar of My all-creating Love and soon your heart will be as a laughing child. Quick My all-responsive touch to know, a bursting fount of gladness and generosity you will be, and the hot desert of your heart, which dry and sandy now is, a garden of lily and rose will become.

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Love was My natural gift to one and all of My creation. Who this doth know a treasure hath in truth.

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O my children! ever outward looking, turn within your blinded eyes, and there a world all, big with joy and love you will find, a world made wise by My wisdom, a world of the Real. Then you will know what Love has made of you; what Love doth bless you with; what Love doth will that you should be.

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Poor and ignorant is the man who seeketh for that which he hath and knoweth it not. Poor and ignorant is the man who knoweth not the nobility of my Love that surroundeth him, with which I crowned him withal.

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O my children! in your midst My well beloved one doth walk. Mark, freely all his love he giveth, gladly of My Love receiveth, and the measure of his sweetness doth he give to overflowing unto all that near him come. Lo! he knoweth my Love is flowing into him that largely giveth of the Love I do bestow. Within your midst in every heart I am, unknown, till by a touch of pain in struggle great you brush against My wide white wings. Then thrilled and amazed you look into Mine eyes and know that I am and ever have been and ever must be.

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The hand of My Love has gone from My Abode and scattered into space, giving unto all that will receive. Unto each child of Mine blessings I have given; ofttimes in their blindness they saw it not. But few there are who raise the gifts that He in great profusion at their feet. More are those who turn their eyes in wilful waywardness from them and with yearning cry do wail for that which I have crowned them withal. Most of my own do amble on, defiantly denying that such gifts there are, denying Me, the Giver of all gifts denying Me, the Author of their being.

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The few who raise My gifts and make them as their own and making them as their own thus, do give them forth to those their hungering neighbors, unto them do I scatter more than they in ease can carry, for he who giveth forth receiveth ever largely of the store I hold for them. He who hungers to feed the heart of those he meets along his way, unto him shall be given the wherewithal to satisfy their hunger.

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O my child! what mattereth it who speaketh the word of love, of truth, of courage and life unto thy heart? Whether thou dost catch it from the song of birds, from the lips of a babe, from the glad tone in a maid or the shout in a frolicsome boy? Whether it comes from the heart of him who hath given all to know Me and to reflect Me in thine heart, or whether it came from the spirit all bright as he hovered about to find thee a way when thou didst grope in the wilderness of doubt and amaze of worldly turmoil? Take thou the truth from wherever it comes, for truth that is real finds its root in Me and no matter how slender and lean the twig may be, it is the shoot that has sprung from My Root.

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Glory to Gooroo whose wisdom is as silver is! Glory to Gooroo! who by his love and wisdom illumineth the hearts that seek after Me. His day and his waking, his night and his slumber I with My Love will preserve.

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O my children, illumined you will be, yet you seek not the light that sits in your midst! Its radiance I would throw in your midst and give to the heart that is darkened with clouds the peace that it seeketh, the joy that it owneth—the joy that is warming to the senses and that dances like live streams of water that leap from the mountains and play with the rivers.

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Oh, tarry awhile from the whirl and the strife of the world! Ye who seek My light, the sons of my light shall be, and earth shall not soil nor rob you of My glory, nor will your mind be darkened and dull. For I will beautify and quicken it with love and with joy, for the light of the mind is love. The light of life is love. Where love is, contentment and peace are. Where contentment is, there My smile is too. Where contentment reigneth, in satisfaction I dwell. Where contentment is, there the fountain of peace too is playing.

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O ye who find perplexity above your rearing head and underneath your lagging feet, at your right hand and your left hand! An enigma unto yourselves you will be until lowly and glad as a child you become. Then Me you will know, and knowing, yourselves you will know, and your worlds you will rule. And looking out from the great world within to the smaller world without, all things you will bless and find all is well with time and you.

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You who give out much love dost multiply My Love unto yourself. But you who nourish souring doubt and fill your heart with hate and bitterness but subtract hourly from the gifts which are thine by the right of My blessing and love. For thoughts of evil rise not beyond the earth. But thoughts of love do mount to My Throne crowned with living stars, and rebound again to the centre freighted with My Love and Light.

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Humility is the softened shadow that is cast by My Love. Lowly it lieth on the ground; yet he that is weary and full of the hate of the world doth seek it and rest in its shadow and strength he doth gather and peace he doth draw from the nurse, all gentle, that gladdens his day.

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Humility is welcome unto Me. Hence all men do seek it, yet know it not. The countenance of humility is restful and good to look upon, and he that is fettered by flesh, senses its beauty even as a blind man senses the rose that is near by its fragrance and sweetness, as My feathered and furred creatures do sense the night by the darkness that precedeth it. When humility in your midst doth sit, know that true worth is nigh and rejoice in the blessing that ye behold, for true humility springeth from My Love and with majesty pure and holy is crowned. It is the grace of all grace that I on My children bestow.

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O ye, every step that you take I am with you and lead you to My Great Heart and joy I bestow and obstacles remove and sorrows erase that you wist not of!

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The beginning and the end of all I am, the sap in the tree, the foundation of the rock whereon it leaneth, the force of the eagle that round it saileth, the oil of the whale, the deeps wherein it sporteth, I make the worm to crawl on its belly; from the clouds I flash in light that blindeth; the nobleness in man am I; the gladness in beauty, the spontaneous spring of the bounding beast on the earth, the star on high, the rose at your feet. The jewels transparency my touch hath made.

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Glory to Gooroo who liveth close to the Heart of Love and giveth love to the heart of man! Unto him I bestow My blessings, even as the early fruit tree doth shower its blossoms on all that stand beneath its fragrant glory.

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O my children! Drink of the cup that is in your midst that was deep in My Ocean of Love, and strength and sweetness to you it will bring and your hearts it will quicken, even as light doth feed the darkness and make transparent the gloom.

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O you who sit in bondage and pant for freedom and seek the love that is a world unto itself and with satisfaction is crowned I I am the key that opens the portal that reaches to the rarely discovered land where contentment alone is found.

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Let not the flickering flame from without urge you on to serving the senses for the love of the flesh but vaporous is and falleth again to the ground whence it was drawn.

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Walk in the sunshine, climb up to the mountains, stretch the pinions of your soul to its summit, in cheerfulness sit clothed in courage, and with My Love's completeness I will crown you withal.

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A chain of love around your loins I have cast; stretch not, nor pull, nor fret, nor strain, lest it hurt; but you who walk laughing in its reach, the wisdom of My every hour shall know. He who seeks Me, to him understanding I will give that revealeth all things even unto a little child, and My wisdom and truth from his heart shall flow as strong streams of water flow from a fountain, and My hand of beauty I will register in his heart, and all who look upon his countenance shall see the glory of his coming and the joy of his awakening.

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Crowned on the snow-capped mountains I am, yet in the lowly blade of grass am I too. Eternal space I fill, yet am I captured in every heart. All men seek Me, yet are My arms entwined around every man; none can exist without Me, yet in far off space am I enthroned.

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I am the One and All, the All in One, whom noises confuse not, nor disturb, for above the roaring of the thunder claps, above the booming of the rising waves, the first faint wail of the new-born infant I hear and smile at its coming.

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I hold the reins of the winds in my hand and control their motion and measure their distance.

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When darkness is, my eye doth light the nest where the young owlet hooteth. The first green of the sapling I note, even as I see the upheaval of the earth.

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O My children! No heights there are that you cannot mount, no depths that you cannot sound, no boundaries that you cannot surround if you but let the light shine in your soul–your soul that was born of light and panteth to bathe again in that light.

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O My Beloved, thee I embrace and enfold, thee I hold and bless, to the days everlasting!

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Glory to Gooroo who liveth the Truth and Love. Again, O My children, for wisdom you call, but My words do not sink into the depth of your heart. But few in your midst do My glory receive, but once it is applied, I come. A light I place in your midst, but unheeding you are, wayward, forgetful and fretful. You cling with strained hands to the chains of bondage. The wisdom that comes from My Realm you would have, yet you reach not your soul to that Realm.

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Each man receives a wisdom that is born in this Realm. You eat from the table whereat you do sit, you munch of the fruit from the tree that you pluck, but your pure hearts are hindered for want of satisfaction. Yet you turn from My table of plentiful supply often from the crumbs that fall from my feast. Would you know, O my children, how your hearts shall be led? You yourself shall be fed with My Love. Quit the longing and striving for that which is null and void. Cease from your ignorant ideas of happiness, of wisdom, from your empty desires, your thoughts insincere. Know this it is that hinders thy heart from knowing My Love. It is this that prohibits thine eyes from seeing My face. Lo, O heart that is empty and is shadowed by darkness! I bring thee now a light to give peace, a peace that is buried and strives to be free, Lo! freely from the streams of blessing that flows from My Love you may partake. It is its own flavor and virtue. Its richness of charm it never can lose. Its grace is unbounded, as far-reaching as the sky you see. And as you quaff of its nectar your heart will grow, bursting with joy.

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As you look from the big world within to small world without, all this shall be well in time with you.

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I beautify Nature with My breath, as the breeze that sweetens all space. The silver of the wide-riding moon is My glory. The down on the breast of the dove is My softness. Love-touched, love-made, love-filled, am I. The Secret of Life, the Revelation of Death, the Beginning of All Things, the End Everlasting am I.

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Of all the lights, the Light am I which you know by the shadow; the Shadow am I which has cast all that light for you all My Face to behold.

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The rose lifts its petals My Love to unfold. I fan your hot hearts with my breezes of love. I crystal and diamond the snow as it falls. As My breath sweeps the earth to prepare for seed, so My breath sweeps your hearts to prepare it for My Love. And the sap of your souls, like the sap of the tree, will flow through your life and burst into budding.

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My Beloved, My son, from bondage is free. Thy heart I do clasp and breathe there a blessing. I hold thee and bless thee and serve thee, My son. A little while yet and thy mission is over. Come thou to the innermost heart and list to My love.

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Greeting to Gooroo who by the sunlight of Love brought distinction to ignorance.

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Love stoops to the feet of all and embraces life. Love is the source of all. Love is a law unto itself. Love is law unto man and unto woman. Spirit eyes to them by Love were given, to see the smiling world within, to see what Love willeth them to be.

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Good to everyone, Love sways from self to selflessness. Love is the lotus that sends its spirit, gives its sweetness and grace. It in equal measure giveth its fairness and its fragrance to all who near it cometh. Love is omnipotent.

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Ye are flowers, O My children, flowers of rarest splendour. Ye must give my grace out in plenty, knowing that love holds on its fingers mountain heights and specks of dust; knowing the love that is powerful in the man as in the child that weepeth when Mine Eye it cannot see; knowing the Love that is all in all.

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On the broad expanse of white the blackest dirt is easiest seen. Would you know how Love does hold its own? A chain of love for all is made. If you do but pull and dig and draw, the links do cut and sting. But if you laugh and dance and sing, a lotus-leaf it does become. Draw nearer still, scatter the petals to those that wait unknown till with a touch of pain they breathe the white-winged thoughts from thee.

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You gaze into My Eyes and know that I am All in All.

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Then know you too, O listen all, that oft the eyes of earth-sense are thickened with the gray of truth misundertood, why do ye not rise to meet the love that stretches out to you? Why are the plumed wings not outspread? Why the spirit-forehead stands on tip-toe?

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In the play ground of the forest, by the bank of the sportive river, 'neath the trees when the wing of songbirds stirs the leaves of sleeping roses, and the perfume of the lotus calls languorous love, where the sparkling stars are laughing and the moonbeams kills the darkness, in the sweet divine embracing where the the Twain in Bliss do meet—there am I.

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Therefore because thou art thus, not all the concentrated beauty of a whole universe can take from thee that which is thine, nor can the combined virtues of realm on realm hold to thee that which is not for thee.

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Glory to Gooroo who by the law of wisdom taketh away ignorance! Glory and salutation to Gooroo!

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When you do come to Me, let all your robes be white, your motives clean. When a man is blind there is a veil before his eyes. I do not mix with earth. Unless all clean and free from earth-nature, how can you understand the words that are born in My Abode?

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One there is who long into My Eyes has looked. My Love is potent with him now. Some are vain who call to Him who sitteth in the heart of every man. He who reaches for My Love I touch with thrill unfelt before.

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I am revealed in every living thing, whose heart is knit in love. No light there is wherein I do not live; no darkness is wherein I do not peer. My seed perfected in you lives unknown, it grows and freeth you from crooked ways. Unheard it thunders louder than the mountain claps when they in gladness meet.

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You who ask, Love is best, it is the richest of all riches, it is the gainer of all gains. Unbought, secure, once found, it never itself can lose. Who knows not love, is blind; who knows not love is dead. Oh, you weep because of the springing flowers, yet you cannot die. Look to the flower-seed, deep planted in the soil itself, but watering it takes, watering much, for it is good for you to give. So it is with Love. It is stirred to life by My breath, but watching too it takes for it to blossom and bear fruit. Bear love in your mind, when action you perform; bear love in your mind in duties or tasks. With eyes of pure love in all things look, even in yourselves. All things love-existence are. Do you respect them as such. Even the beginnings of worlds, the whirling mote of dust, the heart that is fertile and the heart that is barren, on all look with eyes of pure love. In this you accomplish. Mounted on love's white wings you will rise and obstructions will disappear as over them you pass.

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Oh, arise to your true Self and there is naught to fear! Be not a destroyer of yourself, and that you are, unless My beckoning hand of Love you see that sets you laughing, laughing in My Law. The greatest wisdom and self-knowledge is the immortal through the mortal to find. When this you have done, then laws you will make and barriers break; with the stars you will play and you will create. A man once prayed for wisdom great, for knowledge proud, for gifts of wondrous rarity. For these he prayed and saw not the flowers springing at his feet. O my children! look to the flowers at your feet, the pearls of love in your midst.

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Oh, seek not for happiness, nor for misery, for happiness is the seeking of that which joys the senses. When once you know Love is the source of all, from Love all things evolve, then in Love's embrace forever you are locked.

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I am the Source, the Middle and the End of all things. I hold the thunder in My hand; I am the winds that purify; I am the light registered in the babe's eye, that dimples in the pure maid's smile; I am the flowery season of all seasons, the immeasurable mountain heights am I, the perfume of the lotus, the ice-clasped rain; I am the calmness of serenity; I am the secret of all silence; the solitude in all quietude am I; I am the destroyer of time and space. With Me time lives and laughs and kicks and plays with the dust it has made, yet every mote a whirling world becomes, when it My hand has touched. I am the knower of all that is knowable, the wisdom of all that is wise. I am the creator of all created, for I am Love and Love is the mother of all.

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My Beloved, thee I embrace and hold. Bring thou the light, while I do shine thy way.

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Love maketh all things well and knoweth all things well. It is the rise of man; it knoweth the fall of the beast; it toucheth the opening flowers, its kiss falleth light on the lotus, it painteth the new East rainbow hues and wingeth the eaglet as it flieth. There are no foes, for I have made them all.

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Much wisdom I give to ye, which yet is unapplied. The drums of the ear are stopped by the din of earth. Ye will not turn from the cup to drink of My Ocean of Love that is near. List! Oh, wonderful beings ye are, all potent in love I have made ye. Look to the spark of the spirit that spreads from the crooked within you, that winds to My Perfect Abode. There fixed are ye by Me, then all obstacles vanish, as over them you mount. As the dawn of the morn throws its light through the branches so My Love reaches ever to touch ye, My jewels. I caress ye and stand in your midst. Ye are the branches of leaves that hide Me from your eyes. Give of the radiance ye have of Me to the heart that is darkened. I am the joy that bubbles and gurgles, that springs from the mountains, that leaps from the heart, that spreads on the brow, that leaps from the heart to light on the clouds. With this I bless you and stand in your midst, but ye, all fretful, turn by, complaining like children all fed with overmuch sweet.

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I am the force that shapes the rose leaf's curl, that cushions the grassy mountain-side; the snake too I measure as it glides. I quicken the dove as it mates. I breathe at the root of the springing flower. I am the fresh surprise in the maid newly wooed; I am the glad wonder in the new mother's breast. I am the wisdom in the babe's slow gaze as it turns from the mother's breast to her love-lit eyes. I am the fire in the warrior's eye. I dance behind the veil of the sun's scorching heat; I clothe in bright armour the fish as it swims. I am the joy that leaps from the heart and plays in the eye, that spreads over the brow and tingles each member.

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Glory to Gooroo that knoweth that Love is the rock upon which all permanancy is founded.

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Again, O My children, to Me ye have come for light and wisdom; but still the doors of your souls unopened sire, or else you would partake of the wisdom and light I drop at your feet. Do you take of its warmth and its blessing, I ask it. The Love that you seek all-pervading is, of wonderful might and beautiful. A conqueror it is too. The root of all pleasure it is, the day of every soul. It teacheth the untutored heart, it winneth and quickeneth the dead and dull conscience. But he who knoweth my love remembereth the blessedness and blessings, and recognizeth not evil and darkness. But he who knoweth it not, doth forever dwell in the experience of darkness, and is a child of blindness even in his infancy.

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O ye outward-gazers, grossen not the beauty which I have clothed ye with, lest that which is noonday brightness become to thy blinded eyes but a dab of gray! My love is of perfect flowering, My love is of rare fragrance. My love is of wide expanding. A native plant of every soil it is, for from the root of Love it is sprung.

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The man that cometh from out of the ocean doth drip with brine. So ye who have come from out of My Belly of Love must forever hanker and pant as again of that Love you partake and know once more of its potency.

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My love is a giant of strength; my love is a new mother in gentleness. My love is all eloquent; my love is all lovely; my love is all wise. A ruler it is and ye are all servants. A winner it is, yet lowly its head is ever laid. All riches it is, yet it boasts not of gold, of silver or of precious jewels. All highest nobility it is, yet it rarely sitteth on the throne of kings or queens.

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Let not your outward-looking lure you aside to hunt wayward themes; but see to My gracious shedding smile of love that illuminates your universe within and brightens the world without, and those who look upon you shall marvel at the wonder of your glowing. And they, too, shall partake of that light.

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The rolling cloud is My breath; the frost and the feathery snow I jewel. The laughing fields, the peaceful valleys, the sleeping lakes and the dented hills are the throbs of My mighty breast. The beauty of the sun, the softness of shade, the color of the flowers, the rose of a baby's lips, the gold that lurks in the rich plumage of the swift-winged bird are but the light touches of my hands.

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Ye, O My children, are the gifts of My Love unto Myself.

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O My daughter, take that which is placed in your hand. Hurl not back the gift to the giver, lest you call it in vain,—you whose eyes do filmy seem because of their dulness.

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O My son, thy path is blessed and bright, for love you have brought to the heart that loved not.

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Oh thou My Beloved! About thee a halo I do create. Thy path is made smooth of thy humility. Thy gratitude enricheth thy heart.

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Glory to Gooroo who knoweth Love as the sovereign of all creation and therefore beholdeth its glory.

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O my children, you seek Me to know Me, you behold Me not as I stand in your midst in all My radiance. My splendour more splendid is than all the splendour of heaven and earth. My beauty is even like that which the dawn first spies in a garden of rare flowers. My glory is like unto a blazing casket of jewels, of jasper and crystalline pearls, that standeth in the radiance of the sun at high noon.

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My softness is like unto the wondrous rose that lieth deep in the folds of the new baby's curled palm, or the gold that clingeth to the heart of the lotus in bloom.

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In all My rare lovliness in your midst I stand, in every heart I reign with a crown of living stars upon My brow ensceptered. Quickened with light and love am I; on My breast the sun of ecstasy; and all who once have looked upon My glory have realized the rainbow of promise that has spanned the sky of every human heart. From his eyes the shroud of flesh has fallen, in his breast he carries a garden all fertile with blossoms of delight and beareth fruits of peace.

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O My children, to know thyself, know Me. Those who once have looked upon Me, upon his brow I have placed a crown that readeth in blazing letters of light, a crown of love and wisdom and humbleness. He walketh even in lowliness and reacheth away from the earth and commandeth sublimity itself to kneel at his feet.

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O My jewels rare! Arise, survey the kingdom you may possess. Laws you may make, barriers break, tread on the stars, and the comets themselves will rush at your command. Know I have made you heir to all I have created, I, your Maker's Self, once walk a man and as a man all men I love. To know yourself, know Me. And having gained knowledge of Me, all will be revealed unto you and the bitter waters of self-seeking shall become holy and sweet as the waters of the Ganges. And you I will clothe in My Truth sublime, My Truth that is devoid of changes of age and time. In its shadow you will abide—My Truth that is permanent, the Root of all Eternity.

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You, my son, whose young heart is grafted on the strength of Him who bringeth illumination to you, in all humbleness walk and in thy young humbleness thou shalt know the smile of Love.

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O Gooroo, My Beloved son I you who give forth words whose potency doth bring healing to the heart of those who in swiftness do expand their wings to catch your words in their passing, know thrice in the ages that were, your words have travelled through the corridors of the hearts that listened to you and now have sprung within their hearts to life again. Even deeper in the days to come shall you drink of a fount of truth that is life.

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The ripest grape without the seed of intoxication, the sweetest fragrance that is robbed of its death-dealing heaviness, the sound minus its discord. The temple wherein all glory playeth.

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Glory to Gooroo who is a grateful branch on the imperishable tree of life.

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O ye my jewels, a throb of My Heart ye are, a word of My Wisdom, a grain of My Hill of Faith, a drop of My Ocean of Love, a ray of My Light that penetrateth all darkness.

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Heirs are ye of all I have created. Why will ye be fretful truants of earth? Know, not all the crust of your earth-bound minds, nor the stagnant waters of your hearts can crust the soul which is of Me, or quench the spark ignited by My light of love. Lo, a joy unto yourselves you are made, a vital joy unto yourselves! Why will ye be quaking slaves of harmful hopes? Lo, My will it was that ye should be, My will that willeth only good. My that is the sum of all bliss, the stock of all creation, the links that join it together; the root of all Eternity. Lo! the essence of all love am I. I scatter it to one and all freely, even as herbage is scattered on all the land. My heritage to you it is. Do you embrace it, and your life shall be as molten gold. With-' out its embrace you drop into darkness. Lo, the mystery of all things am I and the illuminated path that leadeth through mazes and maketh all accessible simple and straight.

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Covered am I to him that is crooked, not to him that is straight, to him that standeth forth in the flash of My light of love. Him do I draw to My breast and place on his brow the sun of ecstasy, so that ail may marvel at the awakening of his soul.

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O ye My children! in your midst a pearl I do cast. Tread not on its fairness nor cover with dust its lustre lest you seek it again and find it not. Take it up, treasure it, drop it into the innermost chamber of your hearts and there it will glow even as the moon that breaketh through a bank of storm-clouds and lighteth the heart of the jungle.

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O you who ask, know that wisdom ever in lowliness is found. It struteth not, neither does it clamor aloud to be seen; it is calm and needs not to be looked upon. It knoweth not the tread of clamorous feet, nor needs it the strut and the swagger that are born of traitorous doubts in its highness. The frontal of wisdom is ever made wide; it lifteth its brow to the Eye of Love and leaneth thereon for sustenance. Poor and naked is My child of love that knows not wisdom nor finds the path that leadeth thereto. Naked is he indeed and mistaken in aim and intent who seeketh with hungry eagerness that happiness, yet walketh through strange tracks and climbeth hills of sand that have no foundation for his feet to rest upon. He findeth but the roots of weeds that choke the flower of gladness. The growth of wisdom is not grown there; its footfall is light, it walketh abroad. Wisdom's countenance is fair and soft and good to look upon. It is embraced by love; it is linked to bliss and ecstasy, and he who hath found it thus will search ho more. He knoweth not change, and time by him, even as the plunderer sneaketh away from the king that is armed. In him the river of joy flows in wondrous majesty forever. He walks in My footsteps; he knows not space, and beholds the souls that tenant endless spheres. My smile he sees that is perpetual. Evil forever hath fallen from him; the stars innumerable are his to command, and the sun is the shining of his life. The beginning of all things he knoweth and the end everlasting he seeth. He readeth the light and the winds are his to understand.

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What am I? The smile of the new mother am I; the velvet corners of the maid of pure soul. Beautiful time am I that sitteth in silver on the brow of the aged one. Mercy's soft self am I that sweeteneth the eye where on it sitteth. The life of the shrub am I, the spontaneous outburst that bubbles from the heart and rings from the lips of the clamorous, bounding, growing boy. The illumination am I that reigns in the heart of the ascetic and makes light his dismal cell, even to rivalling the glare of the palace in hours of festivities; the potency of sympathy am I that meets in the handsclasp of high-hearted manhood. Know that all I give I receive, most open am I to him who draweth most deeply from My bounty. Oh, my tree of life shall reach from earth to heaven.

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Greeting to thee. My jewel! I came to take thee on a journey. I came to take thee with Me and show thee what it is to live. Until now thou hast known but the mockery of life, the life that breathes but to live that life, but to draw breath. Now, I will take thee where life is born, where life is lived, where life is loved; not lived for the living, but lived for the loving.

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