e thought, and to whom goodness and purity have become
as natural as scent and color are to the flower. The holy man is divinely
wise; he alone knows Truth in its fullness, and has entered into abiding
rest and peace. For him evil has ceased; it has disappeared in the
universal light of the All-Good. Holiness is the badge of wisdom. Said
Krishna to the Prince Arjuna--

"Humbleness, truthfulness, and harmlessness,
Patience and honor, reverence for the wise,
Purity, constancy, control of self,
Contempt of sense-delights, self-sacrifice,
Perception of the certitude of ill
In birth, death, age, disease, suffering and sin;
An ever tranquil heart in fortunes good
And fortunes evil, ...
... Endeavors resolute
To reach perception of the utmost soul,
And grace to understand what gain it were
So to attain--this is true wisdom, Prince!
And what is otherwise is ignorance!"

Whoever fights ceaselessly against his own selfishness, and strives to
supplant it with all-embracing love, is a saint, whether he live in a
cottage or in the midst of riches and influence; or whether he preaches or
remains obscure.

To the worldling, who is beginning to aspire towards higher things, the
saint, such as a sweet St. Francis of Assisi, or a conquering St. Anthony,
is a glorious and inspiring spectacle; to the saint, an equally enrapturing
sight is that of the sage, sitting serene and holy, the conqueror of sin
and sorrow, no more tormented by regret and remorse, and whom even
temptation can never reach; and yet even the sage is drawn on by a still
more glorious vision, that of the savior actively manifesting his knowledge
in selfless works, and rendering his divinity more potent for good by
sinking himself in the throbbing, sorrowing, aspiring heart of mankind.

And this only is true service--to forget oneself in love towards all, to
lose oneself in working for the whole. O thou vain and foolish man, who
thinkest that thy many works can save thee; who, chained to all error,
talkest loudly of thyself, thy work, and thy many sacrifices, and
magnifiest thine own importance; know this, that though thy fame fill the
whole earth, all thy work shall come to dust, and thou thyself be reckoned
lower than the least in the Kingdom of Truth!

Only the work that is impersonal can live; the works of self are both
powerless and perishable. Where duties, howsoever humble, are done without
self-interest,