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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
cloak also; similarly, if thou art compelled to go a mile, offer to go twice that much.'
Such is the purport of the memorable sermon. The question is : what did Jesus mean by all this? Why are the poor in heart blessed ? Why should one mourn ? Why should our enemies be loved ?
We have seen that the wretched condition of the soul is the result of a desire to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It has also been seen that the state of bliss is the natural inherent condition of the soul which is hidden beneath the mud of desires ; and it has been observed that the bringing into manifestation of this hidden state of blessedness is the Ideal of the soul. What we have, therefore, now got to do is to remove the mud of desires to let the inherent state of bliss shine forth. To put it in different words, the state of desirelessness is the true ânanda which becomes an actuality of experience only by giving up all desires, one after another. When you give up the desire to be rich you become poor, and because you have done so to bring out your spiritual Self from beneath the filth of desires, you are said to be poor in spirit. The expression refers to one who has deliberately given up riches and preferred poverty ; it does not apply to all the poor indiscriminately. There is no room for one who grumbles anywhere in this system; nor is the making a virtue of necessity to be commended. By becoming poor, by choice, we give up a number of desires, lessening the burden of worldly filth and bringing into manifestation, in due proportion, our natural state of desirelessness which is bliss. Hence, anything which tends to make us desireless also
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