or the Satya age of purity, while now several of them have reached their Iron Age, the Kali Yuga, an age black with horrors.  This state will last ... until we begin acting from within instead of ever following impulses from without.  Until then the only palliative is union and harmony—­a Brotherhood in actu and altruism not simply in name.”

Edwin Arnold, in his wonderful poem, “The Light of Asia,” which tells the story of the Buddha, explains the doctrine of Karma from the Buddhist standpoint.  We feel that our students should become acquainted with this view, so beautifully expressed, and so we herewith quote the passages referred to: 

     “Karma—­all that total of a soul
       Which is the things it did, the thoughts it had,
     The ‘self’ it wove with woof of viewless time
       Crossed on the warp invisible of acts.

* * * * *

     “What hath been bringeth what shall be, and is,
       Worse—­better—­last for first and first for last;
     The angels in the heavens of gladness reap
       Fruits of a holy past.

     “The devils in the underworlds wear out
       Deeds that were wicked in an age gone by. 
     Nothing endures:  fair virtues waste with time,
       Foul sins grow purged thereby.

     “Who toiled a slave may come anew a prince
       For gentle worthiness and merit won;
     Who ruled a king may wander earth in rags
       For things done and undone.

     “Before beginning, and without an end,
       As space eternal and as surety sure,
     Is fixed a Power divine which moves to good,
       Only its laws endure.

     “It will not be contemned of any one: 
       Who thwarts it loses, and who serves it gains;
     The hidden good it pays with peace and bliss,
       The hidden ill with pains.

     “It seeth everywhere and marketh all: 
       Do right—­it recompenseth!  Do one wrong—­
     The equal retribution must be made,
       Though DHARMA tarry long.

     “It knows not wrath nor pardon; utter-true
       Its measures mete, its faultless balance weighs;
     Times are as naught, to-morrow it will judge,
       Or after many days.

     “By this the slayer’s knife did stab himself;
       The unjust judge hath lost his own defender;
     The false tongue dooms its lie; the creeping thief
       And spoiler rob, to render.

     “Such is the law which moves to righteousness,
       Which none at last can turn aside or stay;
     The heart of it is love, the end of it
       Is peace and consummation sweet.  Obey!

* * * * *

     “The books say well, my brothers! each man’s life
       The outcome of his former living is;
     The bygone wrongs bring forth sorrow and woes,
       The bygone right breeds bliss.