Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 2.djvu/126

 up the impure act. Then, go deeper and give up the vicious inclination. Then, descend deeper still, and let the discipline consist in the cultivating of the opposite kind of desire and, next, the opposite kind of act. Say unto yourself, 'Here I am, impure in thought and act. First I shall give up the impure acts and thoughts, then set my foot in the opposite direction and develop the opposite kinds "of desires and inclinations, so that this eye, which hitherto cast lustful looks on a sister, should then be able to throw a halo of chaste love around the same sister." First, it is the little habit that has to be curbed. Next, it is the powerful inclination that has to be obliterated ; and then, the opposite kind of inclination and action has to be sedulously cultivated. Never fancy a little thing does not matter. In this world there is an inseparable and, therefore, natural connection between cause and consequence. A soldier was once posted by the side of a moat, and asked to watch and report, should ought extraordinary