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OCCULT POWERS
He himself can then evolve many powers. This can be assisted by certain austerities. Persons who fast on certain occassions merely show force of a strong will power, because when a person does this, his physical nature is curbed by his mental and moral nature. If a person is not able to fast, he may limit himself and abstain from certain articles; he may think he will not eat any kind of fatty substance. He is then gaining in will power. Certain persons think that their mentality is very strong, and therefore they will pot obey these rules. This very fact shows that their mentality is not strong. First of all the mentality acts, then the physical nature acts in accordance with that suggestion, Eating and drinking are done in response to a suggestion from the mentality. How can the spiritual powers be evolved ? The laws of spirituality itself must be obeyed. The spirit or soul is connected with the body, and there are so many links existing between the different natures of the compound human being that a man cannot be spiritual unless he is perfect on the physical, mental and moral planes. It is the spiritual nature of the soul itself, however, which should always be kept in sight. No mental thought or physical act should be done witaout keeping this idea in view. Therefore the choice of food, the idea of taste, of dress, etc., ought to be subservient to the development of the spiritual nature; but when the idea of the body or of show, or any other lower nature comes in, we degrade ourselves in our spiritual nature and the idea of spirituality is lost. In many
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