Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 2.djvu/110

 is to an object of love that we owe much of life's strength, wisdom and inspiration. He who would lead a pure life will best achieve his aim by cherishing wholehearted love for something good, pure, noble, something worthy in itself. It may be the inspiring example of a companion; it may be the moving appeal to chivalry from a helpless sister; it may be a good cause or a noble institution, that requires all the time and all the energy you can devote to it. It may be you so love your neighbourhood or town or country that there is no time, no energy left to admit of your mind being diverted from this 'master bias.' It is this occupation of the mind, it is this engagement of the heart, it is this active application of the energies to a good end—something which leaves no chance for dirty, unholy thoughts and feelings to find harbour in the soul—and not mere passive austerity, not ascetic silence and aloofness, that helps you to realise the great object of life. For, corresponding to the laziness