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272.
THE GREAT KING OF GLORY.
CH.
and had seated himself upon the couch of gold, having put away all passion and all unrighteousness, he entered into, and remained in, the First Ghana,
-a state of joy and ease, born of seclusion, full of reflection, full of investigation.
5. By suppressing reflection and investigation, he entered into, and remained in, the Second Ghầna,
-a state of joy and ease, born of serenity, without reflection, without investigation, a state of elevation of mind, of internal calm.
6. By absence of the longing after joy, he remained indifferent, conscious, self-possessed, experiencing in his body that ease which the noble ones announce, saying, “The man indifferent and selfpossessed is well at ease," and thus he entered into, and remained in, the Third Ghana.
7. 'By putting away ease, by putting away pain, by the previous dying away both of gladness and of sorrow, he entered into, and remained in, the Fourth Ghana,-a state of purified self-possession and equanimity, without ease, and without pain ?
8. “Then, Ânanda, the Great King of Glory went out from the chamber of the Great Complex, and entered the golden chamber and sat himself down on the silver couch. And he let his mind pervade
1 The above paragraphs are an endeavour to express the inmost feelings when they are first strung to the uttermost by the intense effects of deep religious emotion, and then feel the effects of what may be called, for want of a better word, the reaction. Most deeply religious natures have passed through such a crisis; and though the feelings are perhaps really indescribable, this passage is dealing, not with a vain mockery, but with a very real event in spiritual experience.
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