Chapter VIII
The next morning Chander Sen continued his talk. “I have been shown beyond a question of doubt that the human intelligence can be transmuted into Divine Intelligence. As this was made plain to me, I found that I could enter the Kingdom of God and that Kingdom was right within. Now I know that God is the only power, Omnipresent and Omniscient; and that sin, discord, sickness, old age, and death belong only to a past experience. I now perceive the reality and know that I had been lost in the mist of illusion. Time and space have completely disappeared and I know that I now dwell in the subjective and that it belongs to the objective world. Had it been possible for me to have held to the promptings and the glimpses the finer senses have revealed from time to time, how many weary and anxious hours would I have been saved. While in youth I, like the greater portion of humanity, decided that there was but one life to live and that was the gratification of self in every way, so I determined to get the most out of that life. I made self-seeking the principle aim in life and I gave the animal passions full sway, with the result that I dissipated the life fluids of my body until it was but the empty shell that you first saw. Let me bring forth a picture that will more graphically illustrate my thoughts.”
He sat silent for a moment and a picture like those already described appeared upon one wall of the room. This was the picture of himself as we had seen him a short time ago. It was that of an old man, tottering along, leaning on his wooden staff. Following this was the likeness of the man as he appeared this morning. He continued, “The first represents the one who has dissipated the energies and life fluids of his body until nothing but the empty shell remains. The other represents the one who has conserved his energies and the vital life fluids within his body. You look upon this in my case as a complete and entire rejuvenation, which is true. But I look at it from another angle. How many could be as fortunate as I was, to have the help, sympathy, and assistance of those dear ones as I have had?
“In order that you may get my thought, let us follow the life of a person from birth to the end, as so many look upon death. The child is born. It is unconscious of the life-carrying fluids which course through its body, as they are inactive because the organs that generate life fluids are inactive and not yet developed. During this stage of development, if the child is normal, it is beautiful, active, and bubbling over with life. The life fluids are built up stronger and stronger, until the child reaches the stage of development where the life fluids are active, and they may be dissipated. If this dissipation takes place, in a few years the child begins to show age. The eyes lose their luster, the body its activity and grace. The features become set. In a few more years the brain loses its power of coordination with the muscles and the body is that of a decrepit old man or woman, but the empty shell of the former self.
“Then take the person who has conserved all the life fluids and allowed them to circulate in their natural course through the body, and see how strong and vigorous that one is. Should that one go on always conserving the life fluids, even though he did not perceive any higher idea of life than to be born, live a short time upon this earth, then pass on, the span of that life would be extended from three to four times that of a person who has dissipated the life fluids. If he does perceive that there is a greater scheme in God’s plan for him, he will at all times conserve the life fluids in the body, as he soon finds that they are a necessary adjunct for perfect development.
“It was only a short time ago that your learned men began to know of the delicate system of arteries and veins composing the circulatory system of your bodies. It is still left for them to determine that there is a far more delicate and subtle circulatory system throughout the body, which carries the life force to every atom. Through your nervous system this life force is sent to a set of cells in the brain. These cells, in tern, act as a distributor for the force and it is sent out to every atom of the body along the nerves, for which it has an affinity. It also acts as a protection for the nerves. If the life force is dissipated, the cells become set and cannot change for the new cells (that are formed to take their place) and the new cells are thrown off instead of the old ones, which gradually decompose and die. If the life force is conserved, the cells change as readily at five hundred years as at ten.
“It will be found that when all the life force is conserved, the body can be so charged with life that you can speak life into all forms. You can paint a picture, model a statue, or take any of your handiwork that expresses your ideal and breathe the breath of life into it and it will become alive. It will speak to you and to others who can see the life inspiration that you have spoken into it; and it will be active because you, the Lord God of you, has spoken and it is as He wills. But those forms will not assume the human, unless you carry them to the God Life. If you do give them life you must carry them through to the pure God Life; then they are perfect forms, as you are perfect, and you have fulfilled your responsibility. This you will find is true genius.
“There is one vital error that I wish to point out. The genius, as you consider him, as he begins to develop, has consciously or unconsciously acquired the ability to conserve and send the life forces in their purity through their natural channels; this condition has animated his body and the creative faculty and he sees that there is something higher for him to express than the ordinary. While he conserves the life forces and gives them free rein, he will go on to more and more glorious achievements; but if he allows sex lust to creep in, he quickly loses his creative power. The body has been first built up by conserving the life forces until the cells are of a finer texture than the lower order of person who has dissipated the life force. By this time the genius has risen to fame and, not having developed his deeper perceptive or God power, is carried away by self-glory. He forsakes his guiding light because he has not been fully awakened; in the urge for greater excitement, he begins to dissipate the life forces and quickly loses all power. For if man does raise his thought above the animal passions and conserves the life forces until the body has begun to take on the finer texture, then allows himself to fall back, he will go back much more rapidly than one that has not been thus awakened.
“When one has been awakened so that he will conserve all the life forces and let them be distributed to the nerves in the natural way, then let them go coursing along the nerves to every atom of the body, without deforming it with thoughts of sex-lust or passion, the exhilaration will be permanent and the sensation will far transcend that of sex. the serpent will be lifted up and will need to crawl on its belly through the murk and mire of lust and passion.
“If man could understand that this life fluid is many times more vital than a corresponding amount of pure blood, he would conserve instead of dissipate it. But he shuts his eyes to this fact (he may be entirely ignorant of it) and goes on, either in blindness or ignorance, until the Reaper arrives. Then a wail goes up, for he does not admire the harvest.
“You look upon old age with veneration and snow-white locks as a crown of honor, which I would not detract from in any way. But as you look upon the picture, I leave it for you to decide which is the more to be honored, he with the snow-white locks, who has by ignorance or direct perversity brought decrepitude upon himself or the one who, in maturity, becomes more vital, strong, and better equipped to meet the advancing years and because of them is more kind and generous. I recognize that the one who reaches the end through ignorance is to be pitied, while the one who knows and reaches the same end, is unspeakable.”
