nst the opposition of the ground the growing
point mounts upward, and by the opposition of the ground the forces are
evolved that make the seed grow, and the little plant appears above the
soil. Then the wind comes and blows and tries to drag it away, and, in
order that it may live and not perish, it strikes its roots deeper and
gives itself a better hold against the battering force of the wind, and
so the tree grows against the forces which try to tear it out. And if
these forces were not, there would have been no growth of the root. And
so with the root of I'shvara, the life within us; were everything around
us smooth and easy, we would remain supine, lethargic, indifferent. It
is the whip of pain, of suffering, of disappointment, that drives us
onward and brings out the forces of our internal life which otherwise
would remain undeveloped. Would you have a man grow? Then don't throw
him on a couch with pillows on every side, and bring his meals and put
them into his mouth, so that he moves not limb nor exercises mind. Throw
him on a desert, where there is no food nor water to be found; let the
sun beat down on his head, the wind blow against him; let his mind be
made to think how to meet the necessities of the body, and the man
grows into a man and not a log. That is why there are forces which you
call evil. In this universe there is no evil; all is good that comes to
us from I'shvara, but it sometimes comes in the guise of evil that, by
opposing it, we may draw out our strength. Then we begin to understand
that these forces are necessary, and that they are within the plan of
I'shvara. They test evolution, they strengthen evolution, so that it
does not take the next step onward till it has strength enough to hold
its own, one step made firm by opposition before the next is taken. But
when, by the conflicting wills of men, the forces that work for
retardation, to keep a man back till he is able to overcome them and go
on, when they are so reinforced by men's unruly wishes that they are
beginning, as it were, to threaten progress, then ere that check takes
place, there is reinforcement from the other side: the presence pf the
Avatara of the forces that threaten evolution calls forth the presence
of the Avatara that leads to the progress of humanity.

We come to the third cause. The Avatara does not come forth without a
call. The earth, it is said, is very heavy with its load of evil, "Save
us, O supreme Lord," the Devas