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BHARATA
157
mantras with which they are accompanied. They think that power lies in the mantras themselves; but how can misunderstood formulas help any one in acquiring greatness? Mere sounds (mantras in a tongue that is not understood) count for nothing; it would be foolish to expect them to make a proper impression on any one's mind, much less on that of a small child. And what force can a few muttered or mumbled sounds possess against persistent intelligible suggestion to the contrary which is dinned into one's ears daily? For no sooner does the mystified child go out into the world outside, after the ceremony at home, than his friends and associates do not leave a stone unturned in impressing upon his mind that he is a big idiot, a dullard and a dunce, and an impudent imp! Today the harmful suggestion, conveyed in the vulgar language of the street, as a matter of fact, takes deep root and produces men that are nothing but burning libels on the Aryan name! This is because it is persistent and intelligible, while the really healthy one is lost in the mist of unintelligibility and 'hieroglyphics. Let us be warned in time, before further damage is done!
Bharata was endowed with clairvoyance which he evolved out on one of the occasions when he went to worship the WORLD TEACHER.
