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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
all-absorbing love, with the bouquet of the orange blossoms of pure thoughts in one hand, and the lamp of jnâna (true wisdom), ever trimmed and ready to guide her steps towards the Bridegroom, the moment he comes, in the other, the Soul of the Yogi prepares herself for her union with the Lord. She has no fear, no uneasiness, no doubt about his coming; and the lamp is kept constantly burning, lest he turn away on seeing the bridal chamber plunged in darkness. The very idea of the wastage of oil is foreign to the notion of love. Better that all the oil in the world be consumed, in waiting and watching for the Lord, than that there should be the least disappointment in Love. The Bridegroom wants only undivided love; he is highly jealous in his love affairs, and does not allow idols of cupidity and attachment to prevail against him. At the faintest idea of calculating commercialism he turns his back on the bridal chamber. If the bride fears the loss of oil, or allows her laziness to have the better of her love, the Bridegroom also fears the contamination of such a bride. "Therefore, take ye heed, watch and pray for ye know not when the time is" (Mark, XIII. 33). Such is the beautiful lesson to be learnt from the parable of the ten maidens propounded by Jesus (Matthew, XXV. 1-12).
If you want real happiness, it will come to you by the right use of concentration alone. So long as you do not give up your false ideals of bustling worldly life, you stand in your own way and debar yourself from true joy. When rightly understood, the individual forces of mankind can be rendered of invaluable assistance for the uplifting of each other, and even our modern civilization
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