THE HARMONY OF VIRTUE

384 The Harmony of VirtueHe does not create it, permits it.To our mind there is no escaping from that belief that, ifGod exists, He is all. All proceeds from Him: from what othersource can it proceed? All exists in Him: in what other being orcontinent can it exist? Therefore evil must proceed from Him,evil must exist in Him. Since He is All-Wise, for all knowledgeis His, it must exist for some wise and perfect purpose. SinceHe is All-Love, it must exist for good and not for anything whichcontradicts the good. Only, His is an infinite wisdom, ours a finite,His perfect, ours undeveloped. His is an infinite and allwiselove, ours a finite and unwise love, a love imperfectly informedby knowledge full of mÀyÀ, attachment to passing happinessand pleasure. God's love looks beyond, ours fixes its eyeson the moment.Experience must always be the basis of true knowledge, butit must be experience illuminated by true perception, not experiencedominated by surface impressions. The experience of themind which has compassed calm and is able to preserve its tranquillityunder the most strenuous assaults of pain, misfortune andevil, is alone worth having. The mind which is not dhÈra, whichfeels grief and thinks under the influence of affection and passion,even if it be a noble affection and passion, cannot arrive atthe samyagjÜÀnam, the complete and perfect truth. Emotion isfor the heart, it should not besiege the intellect; for the properbusiness of the intellect is to observe and understand, not to beobscured by the slightest prejudice, the least trace of feeling. Onewho is dhÈra will look narrowly at every incident and, if he cannotsee at once, wait for enlightenment as to its ultimate purposeand issue; so waiting, so calmly considering, the meaningof life dawns on the mind, an infinite purpose reveals itself inthings small and great, in occurrences good and bad: omniscientProvidence reveals itself in the fall of the sparrow and the deathof the ant as well as in the earthquake that destroys great citiesand the floods that make thousands destitute and homeless. Rudraand Shiva reveal themselves as One. The Yogin sees God in allthings, not only in all things, but in all events. He is the flood.He is the earthquake. He is death, that leads to a higher life,He is Pain that prepares us for a higher bliss. This is a thing