n the Law of Truth, and to put into practice the
precepts given to them by their Master, are content to formally worship, to
cling to their particular creeds, and to continue in the ceaseless round of
sin and suffering. Strive to rise, by the power of meditation, above all
selfish clinging to partial gods or party creeds; above dead formalities
and lifeless ignorance. Thus walking the high way of wisdom, with mind
fixed upon the spotless Truth, you shall know no halting-place short of the
realization of Truth.

He who earnestly meditates first perceives a truth, as it were, afar off,
and then realizes it by daily practice. It is only the doer of the Word of
Truth that can know of the doctrine of Truth, for though by pure thought
the Truth is perceived, it is only actualized by practice.

Said the divine Gautama, the Buddha, "He who gives himself up to vanity,
and does not give himself up to meditation, forgetting the real aim of life
and grasping at pleasure, will in time envy him who has exerted himself in
meditation," and he instructed his disciples in the following "Five Great
Meditations":--

"The first meditation is the meditation of love, in which you so adjust
your heart that you long for the weal and welfare of all beings, including
the happiness of your enemies.

"The second meditation is the meditation of pity, in which you think of all
beings in distress, vividly representing in your imagination their sorrows
and anxieties so as to arouse a deep compassion for them in your soul.

"The third meditation is the meditation of joy, in which you think of the
prosperity of others, and rejoice with their rejoicings.

"The fourth meditation is the meditation of impurity, in which you consider
the evil consequences of corruption, the effects of sin and diseases. How
trivial often the pleasure of the moment, and how fatal its consequences.

"The fifth meditation is the meditation on serenity, in which you rise
above love and hate, tyranny and oppression, wealth and want, and regard
your own fate with impartial calmness and perfect tranquillity."

By engaging in these meditations the disciples of the Buddha arrived at a
knowledge of the Truth. But whether you engage in these particular
meditations or not matters little so long as your object is Truth, so long
as you hunger and thirst for that righteousness which is a holy heart and a
blameless life. In your meditations, therefore, let your heart grow and
expand wi