TheCeasing ofSorrow.^99
help from being Insult. Every bud of pain
opensintoablossomofpower,andwhowould
grudgethebrieftravailthroughwhichaneternal
Saviourisbroughtforth?
Without theexperienceof sorrow we could
not gain the knowledge of good and evil;
withoutthisthe consciouschoiceof thehighest
could not becomecertain, northe veryroot of
desiretounitewithformsbe eradicated. The
perfectmanis not onewhose lower naturestill
yearns forcontact-born delights,but isstrongly
held in check; he is one who has eliminated
from his lower nature all its own tendencies,
andhasbroughtitintoperfectharmoniousunion
(yoga) with himself; who passes through the
lowerworlds unaffected byanyof theirattrac-
tionsorrepulsions, hiswillunalterablypointing
towards the highest,workingwithout an effort
with all the inviolability of law and all the
flexibility of intelligent adaptation. For the
buildingofsuchamanhundredsofincarnations
arenottoomany,myriadyearsarenottoolong.
Never let usforget, in the wildeststorm of
sorrow,that theseearlystagesof ourevolution,
in which pain plays solarge a part, areearly
stages only. They bear an infinitesimal pro-
portion to our existence; nay, the two things
areincommensurables,forhowcanwemeasure
