Page:Mahatma Gandhi A Memorial Service.djvu/7

 FIRST LESSON

Bhagavad Gita, Part XII, read by Mr. Holmes

“Tell me, O Lord, which of those who worship and serve Thee, with earnest minds well-mastered, serve Thee most worthily and best? Which are on the best path, those who worship Thee as God in thy revealed form; or those who worship Thee as The Absolute—The Unmanifest—The Infinite.

“Those, who have concentrated their minds fixedly upon me as God, and who serve Me with unwavering zeal and impregnable and steady faith—are regarded by Me as being most devoted. But, also, those who worship Me as The Absolute: The Unmanifest; The Unknowable; The Unthinkable; The Ineffable; The Invisible; The Eternal; The Immutable; The All; such so worshipping, and mastering the mind and senses, and regarding all things in nature as good and deserving to fare well, and rejoicing in the welfare of all equally—verily, these also cometh unto Me. . ..

“Place thy mind firmly upon Me, O Prince, and let thine understanding penetrate into My being, and then, of a truth, shalt thou enter into Me. But if thou art not able to hold thy mind firmly fixed upon Me, then seek to reach Me by the path of Practice and Discipline. And if even by Practice and Discipline thou art still unable to attain, then shalt thou seek me by the path of Service through Right Action. For by the performance of Right Actions, solely for My sake, shalt thou then attain perfection. . ..

“Verily, I say unto Thee, that he is very dear and near to Me, who harboreth no malice or ill-will to any being or thing: who is the friend and lover of all Nature; who is merciful, free from pride and vanity and selfishness; who is undisturbed by pleasure or pain, being balanced in each; who is patient under wrong and injustice, and who is forgiving, contented, ever devout, with mind, senses and passions ever under control, and whose mind and understanding is ever fixed upon Me.

“He, also, is dear to Me, who neither fears the world of men, nor is feared by it; and who is delivered from the turbulence of anger, joy, impatience, or fear, regarding finite things or happenings.

“And he who desireth nothing; who is just and pure; impartial; free from anxieties; and who hath abandoned all finite rewards or hopes of rewards, is also dear to me. . ..

“And dear to Me, also, is he who regardeth equally both friend and foe; who sees repute and disrepute as one to the wise mind. Such a one regardeth not solicitously the passing of events; and to him praise and condemnation are the same. He is silent and well satisfied with whatsoever befall him or come to pass in the world. He, of whom I have just spoken, is of a steady and equable mind, and devotion is ever manifested by him—he verily loveth Me, and I him.”

SOLO

“Love Never Faileth” Sung by Raymond Keast