Regeneration. Submit to naught but nobleness. Rejoice like a strong athlete straining for
the prize when thy full strength is tried. Be not the slave of lusts
and cravings, and indulgences, of disappointments, miseries and griefs, fears,
doubts and lamentations. But control thyself with calmness, master that in THEE which
masters others, and which heretofore has mastered THEE. Let not thy passions rule,
but rule thy passions. Subjugate thyself till passion is transmuted into peace and
wisdom crown THEE. So shalt thou action attain, and by attaining no Having
considered and examined the nature of temptation in its five interdependent stages, let us
now turn to the process of regeneration and also consider its nature, so that
the reader, who has all already receives some measure of enlightenment, may be
still further guided in his strenuous climbing towards the perfect life. The five stages
in regeneration already enumerated are one reflection, two introspection, three self analysis,
four meditation, and five pure perception. The first stage in a pure and
true life is that of thoughtfulness. The thoughtless cannot enter the right way of
life. Only the reflective mind can acquire wisdom. When a man, ceasing
to go after enjoyment, brings himself to a standstill in order to examine his
position and to reflect upon the condition of the world and the meaning of life,
then he has entered upon the first stage of regeneration. When a man
begins to think seriously and with a deep and noble purpose in view, stepped
out of the broad way where the thoughtless and the frivolous clutch at the bubbles
of pleasure, and has entered the narrow way, where the thoughtful and the
wise comprehend eternal verities. Such a man's liberation from sin and suffering is already
assured, for though he is as yet surrounded by much uncertainty, he is
already releasing a foretaste of the peace which awaits him. His passions, though
still strong, are quieter, his mind is calmer and clearer, his intercourse
with others is purer and graver, And in his moments of deepest thought,
he sees as in a vision, the strength and calmness and wisdom which he
knows will one day be his well earned possessions. Thus he passes on to
the second stage, Reflecting day by day with ever increasing earnestness upon life in
all its phases. He comes to perceive the passions and desires in which men
are involved, and realizes the sorrows which are connected with their strangely ephemeral existence.
He sees the burning fevers of lusts and ambitions and cravings for pleasure,
and the chilling egg us of anxieties and fears, and the uncertainty of slowly
approaching death, and he aspires to know the meaning of it all. Is
eager to find the source and cause of that which seems so sorrowful and inexplicable.
Recognizing himself as a unit in humanity, as one involved in like passions
and sorrows with all other men, he vaguely understands that somehow the secret of
all life is inevitably bound up with the neophyte, the mind purified, calmed,
and his own existence. And so unsatisfied with the surface theories which are
based on observation only, and which still leave him subject to passions and sorrows
and the prey of anxieties and fears, he turns his thoughts inwardly upon his
own mind, thinking perchance that the wish for revelation of wisdom and peace awaits
him there. Thus he becomes introspective, and so he passes on to the
third stage. When the introspective habit is fully ripened and acquired, there is
called upon in the mind a subtle process of inductive thought, by the aid
of which the innermost recesses of the man's nature, and therefore of all humanity,
begin to unveil themselves and yield up their secrets to the penetrating insight of
the patient's searcher, who, unraveling now the tangled threads of thought, and
tracing out the warp and wolf of the web of life as it is woven
in the mental processes, and by the swift flying shuttle of thought, begins
for the first time to somewhat clearly comprehend the inner causes of human deeds and
the meaning and purpose of existence. As this purpose of thought is preceded with
the desires and passions are purified away from the mind, the calmness necessary to
a right perception of truth is acquired, and gradually the fixed principles of things
are presented to the comprehension, and the eternal laws of life are coherently grasped
by the understanding, and now quietly and almost as imperceptibly as the soft light
of dawn, stealing upon the sleeping world. Controlled passes into the fourth stage
and opens his long sleeping eyes upon the rising light of truth. He becomes
habitually meditative, and in meditation he finds the master key, which unlocks the
door of knowledge. It is at this advanced stage in the process of regeneration
that the sinner becomes the saint and the pupil is transformed into the master.
For here the process of transmutation, too slow and painful, is greatly accelerated,
so that the spiritual forces formerly spent in pleasures, gratifications, passions,
and afflictions are now conserved, controlled, and turned into channels of productive and
reproductive thought. And so wisdom is born in the mind and bliss and peace
as skill and power are acquired in meditation, the fifth and last stage is
reached, where the perfect insight of the seer in the sage is evolved,
so that the facts of life are grasp and the laws and principles of things
stand revealed. Here the man is altogether regenerated, is purified and perfected.
All human passions are conquered, and human sorrows are transcended. Here things are
seen as they are. All the intricacies of life stand out naked in the
light of truth. And there is no more doubt and perplexity, no more
sin and anguish. For he whose pure and enlightened eyes perceive the hidden causes
and effects which operate infallibly in human life, He who knows how the bitter
fruits of passion ripen, and where the dark waters of sorrow spring. He
it is who no more sins and no more sorrows. Lo he has come
to peace. The five stages so passed through may be thus presented. One
reflection, deep and earnest thought on the nature and meaning of life. Two
introspection looking inwardly for the causes and effects which operate in life. Three self
analysis, searching the springs of thought and purifying the motives in order to find
the truth of life. Four meditation, pure and discriminative thought on the facts
and principles of life. Five pure perception insight direct knowledge of the laws of
life. The whole process of regeneration may be likened to the growth of a
plant. At first the small seed of reflection is cast into the dark soil
of ignorance. Then the little rootlets come forth and grope about for light and
sustenance introspection, Next the strenuous self examination as the plant, reaching upwards toward
the light. And then the development of the bud and opening flower of meditation,
ending at last in that pure and wise insight, which is the spiritual
glory of the Sage, the perfect flower of enlightenment. Thus beginning in sin
and suffering, and passing through thoughtfulness, self searching, self purification, meditation
and insight, the seeker, after the pure life in the divine wisdom,
reaches at last the undented habitation of a spotless life, and so passes beyond
the dark halls of suffering, knowing the perfect law