2. Beautiful are the words of the prayer: "Come and dwell in us." All is comprised in these words. Man has all that he requires if God comes to dwell in him. So that God may dwell in us, we must do only one thing: diminish ourselves in order to give place to God. As soon as man has diminished himself, God enters and dwells in him. Therefore in order to have all that is needful to him, man must first humble himself.
3. The more deeply man penetrates into self, and the more insignificant he appears to himself, the higher he rises towards God. Brahmintc tvisdom.
4. He who worships the All-Highest, pride flees from his heart even as the light of a camp fire before the rays of the sun. He whose heart is pure and in whom there is no pride, he who is humble, constant and simple, who 1оЫс8 upon every creature as upon his friend and loves every soul as his own, he who treats every creature with equal tenderness and love, he who would do good and has abandoned vanity—in his heart dwelleth the Lord of life.
Even as the earth is adorned with beautiful plants which she brings forth, even so is he adorned in whose soul dwelleth the Lord of life. Vishnu Purana.
' How to Combat Pride 1. True humility is difficult. Our heart revolts at the thought of scorn and humiliation. We strive to hide all
things that could humiliate us before the eyes of others, we strive to hide them before ourselves. If we are evil we do not desire to see ourselves as we are. But no matter how difficult true humility may be, it is possible. Let us strive to rid ourselves of all things that impede it.
Pious thoughts.
2. The very defects which are so annoying and intolerable in others seem as nothing and impalpable in our own self. We do not feel them. It frequently happens that people speaking of others and judging them harshly fail to notice that they accurately describe themselves.
Nothing would help us more to correct our faults than if we could see ourselves in others. If we clearly saw our faults in others we should hate our faults just as they deserve. La Bruyhre.
3. Nothing IS so harmful in striving after moral perfection as self-satisfaction.
Happily, if we grow better, the improvement is so imperceptible that we can not observe our success excepting after a long lapse of time.
But if we note our improvement it is a sign that we have either stopped advancing or are retrogressing.
4. Avoid the thought that you are better than others, and that you have virtues which others lack. Whatever your virtues be, they are worthless if you regard yourself better than other people.
5. Endeavor not to think well of yourself. If you can not think ill of yourself, know that it is bad enough that you can not think ill of yourself.
6. Any comparison of yourself with others for the pur-
pose of self-justification is an error and an obstacle to good life and to its principal concern—striving after perfection. Compare yourself with supreme perfection only, and not with other people, who may be lower than you.
7. In order to learn humility, strive to detect yourself in proud thoughts when alone.
8. Are you abused or condemned—be glad; are you praised or approved—be on your guard.
9. Do not fear humiliations; if you can bear them in humility they will redeem themselves with the spiritual blessings that are associated with them.
10. Strive not to conceal in obscure nooks of your mind the humiliating remembrances of your sins, but on the contrary keep them always in readiness so that in judging the sins of others you may remember your own.
11. Always regard yourself as a scholar. Never think that you are too old to learn, that your soul is just as it should be and can not improve. For a rational man there is no graduation from schooclass="underline" he is a learner until his grave.
12. Only he who is humble in heart can know the truth. Humility does not evoke envy.
Big trees are borne away by the stream, small brushes remain.
A wise man said: "My child, do not grieve if you have not, been rightly esteemed, for no one can deprive you of what you have done, or render to you that which you have not done, A prudent man is content with the esteem that he has merited."
"Be good-natured, respectful, friendly, caring for the gain of others, and happiness will come to you as naturally as the vrater finds its level." Vishnu.
VI. Effects of Pride
1. He who lacks humility always condemns others. He sees the faults of other people, but hb own passions and vices grow more and more. Buddhist wisdom.
2. Л man who is not enlightened by Christianity loves only himself. And loving himself, he would be great, but he sees that he is small, he would be important, but he sees that he is insignificant, he would be good, but he sees that he is evil. And seeing these things man begins to dislike the truth and to invent such arguments as would prove to him that he is indeed such as he would be, and having invented such arguments he becomes in his own eyes great, important and good. Herein is the great twofold sin-pride and falsehood. Falsehood comes from pride, and pride from falsehood. Pascal.
3. He who fails to abhor that self-love which compels him to regard himself as above all else in the woHd is entirely blind, for nothing is so much out of harmony with justice and truth as such an opinion of self. It is false in itself, because one can not be higher than anything else in the world, and it is besides unfair, as everybody else seeks the same thing for himself. Pascal.
4. There is one dark spot on our sun: it is the shadow which is cast by the veneration we feel for our own person. Carlyle.
5. There is no hiunan superiority—beauty, strength, wealth, honors, learning, enlightenment, even goodness— which unassociated with humility would not degenerate from superiorities and good qualities into re^uUvvc c^».^%sl-
teristics. There is nothing more repulsive than з man boasting of his wealth, position, learning, mind, enlightenment and goodness. People crave to be beloved of others and know that pride is repulsive, and yet they cannot be humble. Why ? Because humility can not be acquired independently. Humility is the effect of removing your desires from the domain of the material into the domain of the spiritual.
VII.
Humility Off«n Man Spiritutl Happiness and Strength in Fighting Against Temptations
1. There is nothing more helpful to the soul than humiliation received with joy. Just as a warm rain after the glaring and searing sun of self-satisfaction, humiliation meekly received refreshes the soul of man.
2. The portal of the temple of truth and blessedness is low. Only they will enter the temple who approach it with head bowed down. And happy are they who enter. There is wide scope and freedom therein, and people love one another and help one another and know no sorrows.
This temple is the true life of man. The portal of the temple is the teaching of wisdom. And wisdom is granted unto the humble, unto those who do not lift themselves up but abase themselves.
3. Perfect joy, according to Francis of Assist, is in bearing unmerited reproach, and suffering even bodily harm without experiencing enmity against the cause of the reproach and of pain. This joy is perfect because no injuries, insults or attacks of people can violate it.
4. "For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."
Luke XIV, 2.
5. The feeblest thing on earth overcomes the strongest; < the lowly and humble overcomes the exalted and proud. Only few in this world realize the power of humility.
Lao-Tse.
6. The higher a man accounts himself, the weaker he is. The lower he accounts himself, the stronger he is— both before himself and before others.
7. There is nothing more gentle and yielding on earth than water, and yet when it encounters that which is hard and stubborn, nothing can compare with it in strength. The feeble conquers the strong. The gentle overcomes the cruel. The humble vanquishes the proud. Everybody in the world knows this, but no one will act thereon.