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MOKSHA
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from bias and high intellectualism combine to put at the service of every true student of nature. No one certainly is at all likely to know the truth who allows prejudice or bigotry to obscure his intellect. Another thing to bear in mind is that knowledge and belief are two different things, and have to be distinguished from one another. Many people profess to believe in a thing, but their actions only show them to be hypocrites, for the test of belief is that it should begin to actuate one from within as far as his circumstances would permit. It is not meant that purity of conduct can be acquired all at once, but that regret is felt at each wrong step taken, and there is a longing to repair the damage done. Self-chastisement and the actual undoing of the injury inflicted upon another are the characteristics of a firm belief, while perfect faith leads to the avoidance of sinful actions altogether.
The causes which interfere with the acquisition of truth may also be briefly pointed out. They are three-fold in their nature, and consist in want of respect for the true deva (God), the true guru (Teacher) and the true śāstra (Scripture); for these are the only sources of right knowledge from without, and it requires no great familiarity with logic to predict that he who ridicules any or all of them necessarily denies the truth of their Word, and is thereby debarred from the acquisition of truth. It is also worth while to understand the true functions of these objects of worship. God is worshipped because He has realised the Ideal of the soul, because He is a living example for every aspiring soul, and because He is the true source of religion; the gur is revered because he imparts true instruction and because without his practical help it will be exceedingly difficult, though not impossible, to tread the thorny path of Self-realisation; and the claim of the śāstra to worship rests on the ground that it is the last resort in case of doubt, and the only authority on matters which fall outside the domain of intellect, such as the des. cription of heavens and hells and the like. The Scripture might, no doubt, appear at times to be in conflict with the conclusions arrived at by modern science, but it is necessary to bear in mind the important fact that the dictum of modern science on matters spiritual is not based on anything approaching the omniscience of the Perfect Ones, and is admittedly grounded on nothing more certain than the weight of probe
