76
 

ALBERUNPS INDIA.
 

Quotations
from Gitd.
 

Greek
and Sufi
parallels.
 

Second
part: The
practical
path leading
to Moksha
 

However, the reader must not believe that it is only
the union of the soul with any forms of life that perish
and return into existence that is perfect liberation, for the
same book, Gitd, says : "He who knows when dying that
God is everything, and that from him everything pro¬
ceeds, is liberated, though his' degree be lower than that
of the saints."

The same book says : " Seek deliverance from this
world by abstaining from any connection with its follies,
by having sincere intentions in all actions and when
making offerings by fire to God, without any desire for
reward and recompense; further, by keeping aloof from
mankind." The real meaning of all this is that you
should not prefer one because he is your friend to
another because he is your enemy, and that you should
beware of negligence in sleeping when others are awake,
and in waking when others are asleep; for this, too, is
a kind of being ahseiit from them, though outwardly
yon Sure present witiithQin. Further: Seek deliverance
by guarding soul from soul, for the soul is an enemy if
it be addicted to lusts; but what an excellent friend
it is when it is chaste ! "

Socrates, caring little for his impending death and
being glad at the prospect of coming to his Lord, said :
" My degree must not be considered by any one of you
lower than that of the swan," of which people say that
it is the bird of Apollo, the sun, and that it therefore
knows what is hidden ; that is, when feeling that it will
soon die, sings more and more melodies from joy at the
prospect of coming to its Lord. " At least my joy at my
prospect of coming to the object of my adoration must
not be less than the joy of this bird."

For similar reasons the Sufi define love as being en¬
grossed by the creature to the exclusion of God.

In the book of Patanjali we read : " We divide the
path of liberation into three parts :—

" I. The practical one (kriyd-yoga), a process of habitu-