come and cry. In answer to that cry the
Lord comes forth. But what is this that I spoke of purposely by a
strange phrase to catch your attention, that I spoke of as an Avatara of
evil? By the will of the one Supreme, there is one incarnated in form
who gathers up together the forces that make for retardation, in order
that, thus gathered together, they may be destroyed by the opposing
force of good, and thus the balance may be re-established and evolution
go on along its appointed road. Devas work for joy, the reward of
Heaven. Svarga is their home, and they serve the Supreme for the joys
that there they have. Rakshasas also serve Him, first for rule on earth,
and power to grasp and hold and enjoy as they will in this lower world.
Both sides serve for reward, and are moved by the things that please.

And in order, as our time is drawing to a close, that I may take one
great example to show how these work, let me take the mighty one, Ravana
of Lanka,[6] that we may give a concrete form to a rather difficult and
abstruse thought. Ravana, as you all know, was the mighty intelligence,
the Rakshasa, who called forth the coming of Shri Rama. But look back
into the past, and what was he? Keeper of Vishnu's heaven,
door-keeper of the mighty Lord, devotee, bhakta, absolutely devoted to
the Lord. Look at his past, and where do you find a bhakta of Mahadeva
more absolute in devotion than the one who came forth later as Ravana?
It was he who cast his head into the fire in order that Mahadeva might
be served. It is he in whose name have been written some of the most
exquisite stotras, breathing the spirit of completest devotion; in one
of them, you may remember--and you could scarcely carry devotion to a
further point--it is in the mouth of Ravana words are put appealing to
Mahadeva, and describing Him as surrounded by forms the most repellent
and undesirable, surrounded on every side by pisachas and bhutas,[7]
which to us seem but the embodiment of the dark shadows of the burning
ghat, forms from which all beauty is withdrawn. He cries out in a
passion of love:

Better wear pisacha-form, so we
Evermore are near and wait on Thee.

[Footnote 6: Ceylon.]

[Footnote 7: Goblins and elementals.]

How did he then come to be the ravisher of Sita and the enemy of God?

You know how through lack of intuition, through lack of power to
recognise the meaning of an order, following the words not the spirit,
following the outside n