SAIVA-SIDDHANTA

"
2l6
THE FOUR PATHS.
"As
a metal disc (mirror), tarnished by dust, shines brigth
again after it has been cleaned, so is the one incarnate person,
satisfied and freed from grief after he has seen the real nature
of himself." "And when by the real nature of himself he sees
as by a lamp the real nature of the Brahman, then having
known the unborn Eternal God, who transcends all tattvas, he
is freed from all pasa."
"From
meditating on Him, from joining Him, from becom
ing one with Him, there is further cessation of all Maya
ii* the
end." In Drummond s language these verses read bee God,
reflect God and become God."
Students of Darwin will have noted how powerful
is the
law of association and assimilation or identity in the animal
and human evolution. Persons who are ever associated with
P*g s e t piggy faces, and with horses horsey faces. In the case
of a husband and wife, when they have been perfectly loving,
it
has been found, to- effect a complete assimilation of their facial
features ^n^uii. Such is the power of the human mind ;
it can
lower itself to the very depths of the brute or it can raise itself
to the very height of Godhood. This law is spoken of in our
text-books as the law of
garudadhyanam.
This brings us to the very end of our subject.
We cannot know God really by all our religious rites and
performances, repetition of prayers and formulas by sagv.na or
nirguna worship, with or without idols, and even by the highest
yoga, except when His grace and Love fills us all and we lose
ourselves in this Love.
Look at how St. Meykandan ridicules this idea of the Yogi
that he knows God.
"If it can be meditated, then as an object of our senses, it
becomes Asat. If you regard it as not conceivable \,y our
organs (internal and external), even then it is of no use. If you
contemplate it as beyond contemplation even then it
gives you