The true tablet

5 March 1968, Prasanthi Vidhwanmahaasabha, Hyderabad

Professor Kasturi's English.

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WHAT a great fortune to be born in , which is redolent with the fragrance of God, echoing through ages the voices calling humanity to proceed along the path of God. The saints and sages from this land have been teaching the people of East and West manifold ways to lift the veil of ignorance, that hides God from Man. One such "means" is the worship of 'idols,' symbolising God. This method has been grossly misinterpreted by many fanatics with one-track minds. The significance of the idol is simple and can be easily understood. When you desire to drink something, say, milk, you need a cup! The milk then fills the cup and takes the form of the cup. When you have the as the idol, you feel it is filled with Divine effulgence, glory and grace. When you worship the idol, you have a more ornate cup wherein you fill the same Divine essence, so that you may quaff it and slake your thirst. The seeker elevates the stone image into a replica of God, he does not reduce God into a stone. The idol is just a container, prompter, a base, a reminder, a residence which God is invited to occupy. The Supreme is not squeezed into the small; the small is recognised as symbolic of the Supreme. Through the seen to the unseen, from the drop to the sea, from the patent to the latent - that is how idol-worship helps the aspirant. In fact, no one can conceive of the Almighty without picturing It as Power, Light, Mercy, Wisdom, Energy, Intelligence, Purity. And, these qualities can enter the consciousness only through some concrete experience, as the Sun, the Lotus, the Sky, the Ocean and the Wave etc. The name is a vocal image, the image is a visual base. The seed contains the tree; the contains the manifestable and the manifested Universe, including the Creator whose Will it is.

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This is God's world and all beings are His God is to be recognised in all that exists, all that is charming, or suffering, blooming or drooping. He is Intelligence in the insect, Faithfulness in the dog, Latent Energy in the rock! announced at Chicago that Hindhuism uncovered the (body encasement) and sought the inner core of the Divine in all things, animate and inanimate. A gentleman may wear morning dress, evening dress, dinner coat or luncheon slacks; he is the same inside all these dresses, isn't he? If you know the road and the goal, then you can discover whether you are progressing or not; otherwise how can you? The goal is to enlarge your vision, your sympathy, your love to the extent that God has spread His Love, His Compassion and His Grace. So, be ever watchful to see that you strive to take in more and more of God into you. Blood has to circulate from head to foot; Love has to circulate from high to low; then only can health and happiness be ensured, for the individual and for the community. This is God's world; all beings are His. He loves them all, as the Moon sheds coolness on all. Do not get attached to wordly things and pursuits. Be in the world but, do not let the world be in you. Work disinterestedly, content to do your duty as best as you can. Have no desires to place before God, for, whatever He does with you, however He treats you, is the gift He likes best to give you!

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Practise the that you study. They are the discoveries of practical men and women, who set upon the task of conquering the alternating calamity of joy and grief, and of attaining perfect equanimity and balance. Practice alone makes man perfect. Each life is like a day's march in the pilgrimage; make the fullest use of your talents and march forward to pitch the tent nearer the goal when darkness falls. Do not waste a single moment, in idling or loose living. Live in the Presence, in fear and humility, in love and service.