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GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS
lege to bestow, but as a duty to perform, ever seeking to remove ignorance, not to punish it; who endeavour to restore to the world the Science of the Spirit, asking man to realize the Self, the true Self, the God within, teaching him to know the Spirit, the Ātman, as himself, and the mind and body as his servants.
THEIR BENEFICENT WORK FOR HUMANITY These are the monks, who have been continuously carrying on their beneficent work for humanity, pouring down from their lofty heights freely and abundantly high and noble ideals, sublime and inspiring thoughts, pure and devotional aspirations, streams of intellectual and spiritual help for mankind. These are the self-denying, selfless souls, who have completely and unconditionally dedicated themselves to the service of humanity, bending all the sublime powers that they hold to the quickening of the evolution of the human race. With all the mighty forces at their command, they devote themselves freely and fully to the cultivation of spiritual knowledge, spiritual wisdom and spiritual aspiration, weaning people from their sole and supreme devotion to the objects of the senses, pointing out to them the path of spiritual progress, which will necessarily render them less likely to sacrifice the higher dictates of humanity on the altars of their individual earthly interests, guiding them into those paths of purity and holiness, which will ultimately lead them to the vast ocean of spiritual consciousness, wherein alone can be found pure
