Many people, in trying to kill out love, only throw themselves back, becoming less human, not superhuman; by their mistaken attempts.  It is by and through human ties of love and sympathy that the Self unfolds.  It is said of the Masters that They love all humanity as a mother loves her firstborn son.  Their love is not love watered down to coolness, but love for all raised to the heat of the highest particular loves of smaller souls.  Always mistrust the teacher who tells you to kill out love, to be indifferent to human affections.  That is the way which leads to the left-hand path.

Meditation With and Without Seed

The next step is our method of meditation.  What do we mean by meditation?  Meditation cannot be the same for every man.  Though the same in principle, namely, the steadying of the mind, the method must vary with the temperament of the practitioner.  Suppose that you are a strong-minded and intelligent man, fond of reasoning.  Suppose that connected links of thought and argument have been to you the only exorcise of the mind.  Utilise that past training.  Do not imagine that you can make your mind still by a single effort.  Follow a logical chain of reasoning, step by step, link after link; do not allow the mind to swerve a hair’s breadth from it.  Do not allow the mind to go aside to other lines of thought.  Keep it rigidly along a single line, and steadiness will gradually result.  Then, when you have worked up to your highest point of reasoning and reached the last link of your chain of argument, and your mind will carry you no further, and beyond that you can see nothing, then stop.  At that highest point of thinking, cling desperately to the last link of the chain, and there keep the mind poised, in steadiness and strenuous quiet, waiting for what may come.  After a while, you will be able to maintain this attitude for a considerable time.

For one in whom imagination is stronger than the reasoning faculty, the method by devotion, rather than by reasoning, is the method.  Let him call imagination to his help.  He should picture some scene, in which the object of his devotion forms the central figure, building it up, bit by bit, as a painter paints a picture, putting in it gradually all the elements of the scene He must work at it as a painter works on his canvas, line by line, his brush the brush of imagination.  At first the work will be very slow, but the picture soon begins to present itself at call.  Over and over he should picture the scene, dwelling less and less on the surrounding objects and more and more on the central figure which is the object of his heart’s devotion.  The drawing of the mind to a point, in this way, brings it under control and steadies it, and thus gradually, by this use of the imagination. he brings the mind under command.  The object of devotion will be according to the man’s religion.  Suppose—­as is the case with many of you—­that