Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 2.djvu/254

 of creation, a process which construes the complete cycle of cosmic life as a four-fold self-presentation of the Deity as the Progenitor, the Protector, the Perfector and the Perpetuator (to adopt the terminology of the first verse of our congregational chant, goshti pravdhana)—as we read the universe in this light, we understand why sadhana has been prescribed, not as a process of mere spiritual gymnastics, not as a system of self-help, but as the pilgrim's progress along the everlasting path unto the eternal goal. If only we thus address our-selves in the proper spirit, according to the right method, to this ceaseless quest of the Eternal One, how in a single moment we feel we are transformed! This so-called fleshly body, with its encumbrance of bone and muscle and skin and what not, becomes the holy temple in which the Spirit is enshrined; and, as one keen-sighted thinker suggests, when we touch the human body with the right sentiment, we really touch the hem of His garment, the sacred garb of the Divine. Aye, the whole