THE QUALIFICATION b J^UK. .uri^-i. v .c^Ai^c, -<^

that bind the soul to it.' The messengers went back and
made, report of this to Indra. He was pleased and bade
them go again, and this time lead the king to where the
Rshi Valmiki dwelt, and pray the Bshi from him to give unto
the king that which he wanted, the Final Knowledge.

"Thou too hast seen, 0 Prince !, as thou didst well
describe, that offices howsoever high, places ancT* powers
howsoever great, worlds howsoever glorious, lives howsoever
far-reaching in space and long-lasting in time, are still as much
short of the Infinite and the Supreme as the lowest, meanest,
poorest, smallest and most ephemeral; that mere addition of
the finite to the finite will not make the Infinite ; that the
Inner alone is the Inner and the Infinite, ever-present and
ever-available if we would only turn our eyes to It; that the
Outer is always only the Outer and always within the Inner ;

and that the Knowledge of the Inner and the Infinite alone,
whichever holds, and ever denies, at once, within Itself, all
Outer and all Finite, can bring satisfaction.

^Knowledge is the only Cure of ills. As the small ills
of daily life are tided over with the help of petty knowledge,
so can this giant all-pervading 111 of Doubt, Despair, and
Weariness which lies concealed in the heart of all limited
life, however high or low, be mastered only with the aid of the
Great Knowledge of the Truth of the Lord of Life and Death.

^Four are the warders standing at the gates within
which dwells that Knowledge: Shama, Dispassionate Calm of
mind, Vichara, indefeasible, invincible, untiring Reflection,
Santosha, greedless Contentment, and Sadhu-samsarga,
Association with the Good.

^He who has felt the grasp of that great 111 of Doubt, and
is resolved to grapple with and master it, he who possesses
the Sattvika (pure) Vairagya, and has the means to satisfy
these four gatekeepers of his fitness, or three or two or even