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THE METHOD AND THE MEANS
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comes the practice of self-restraint and self-denial. The immense possibilities of divine realisation in the soul cannot get actualised without struggle and without such practice on the part of the aspiring devotee. “The mind must always think of the Lord.” It is very hard at first to compel the mind to think of the Lord always, but with every new effort the power to do so grows stronger in us. “By practice, O son of Kunti, and by non-attachment is it attained,” says Sri Krishna in the Gita. And then as to sacrificial work, it is understood that the five great sacrifices (49pry) have to be performed as usual.
Purity is absolutely the basic work, the bedrock upon which the whole Bhakti-building rests. Cleansing the external body and discriminating the food are both easy, but without internal cleanliness and purity, these external observances are of no value whatsoever. In the list of the qualities conducive to purity, as given by Ramanuja, there are enumerated, Satya, truthfulness; Arjava, sincerity; Dayâ, doing good to others without any gain to one's self; Ahimsa, not injuring others by thought, word or deed; Abhidhyâ, not coveting others' goods, not thinking vain thoughts, and not brooding over injuries received from another. In this list, the one idea that deserves special notice is Ahimsa, noninjury to others. This duty of non-injury is, so to say, obligatory on us in relation to all beings; as with some, it does not simply mean the non-injuring of human beings and mercilessness towards the lower
