Sensitiveness is the sign of a living heart. It is sensitiveness which makes the heart a mirror. Sorrow makes the heart sensitive, but it can also make it sore, and it is possible that the soreness would cause irritation instead of fineness. It is not the sore heart which can always become a mirror, it is the etherealised heart which becomes transparent. The living heart is that which does not only respond to sorrow but to every form of beauty—beauty of word, form, movement, feature, line, colour, tone, or rhythm. It responds most to its own surroundings, and its surroundings are according to its pitch. It is not the wound of the heart but the tune of the heart which harmonises it with all that is beautiful. There comes a time in one’s evolution when every touch of beauty moves the heart to tears, and it is at that time that the Beloved of Heaven is brought on earth.

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The real proof of one’s progress in the spiritual path can be realised by testing in every situation of life how indifferent one is. There are calls from every side, from all that is good, from all that is beautiful, from all that is kind, from all that is comforting. And when one has shown indifference to all these calls, then one begins to hear calls from one’s immediate surroundings, and those are a wish that one’s goodness may be appreciated and that one’s kindness may be gratefully received, that one’s knowledge may be understood by others; one’s rank must be recognised; one’s piety must be observed by others; one’s virtue must be valued; and one’s good qualities must find response; one’s good actions must bear fruit. The more one makes oneself free from all these calls the more one becomes raised above life. That is the true indifference–Vairagya–that one must practise. And the strength that comes from this indifference is inexplicable and gives one mastery over life.

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The greatest moral that a sage must observe is to refrain from self-assertion in every form, not only to refrain from pride or conceit, but even from self-assertion in the form of modesty or humility. For very often these become more convenient forms of asserting self, for modesty and humility can become a mask over one’s pride and conceit. By desiring to know others’ opinion about oneself, looking for people’s appreciation of one’s good works, expecting gratitude from others, demanding respect from others, one asserts self.  Self-assertion is a Satanic attitude, even if it would appear in a saint. For it is the only obstacle, which stands as a mountain in the way of a traveller in the spiritual path.