We live by the hope of attainment -- without this one cannot exist -- be it spiritual or material, of a selfish nature or of an unselfish one. It is not necessary that all should have one and the same object for their attainment, nor is it possible. It is, however, desirable that we should hold in our thought the best and highest attainment possible for us. It is not necessary for us to force ourselves to have a much higher object of attainment which we are incapable of holding. The object, however, must surely be high, but within the possibility of our own reach. We must not select our object of attainment by noticing that others have the same aim and are in pursuit of the same object; but we must feel and realize that our heart yearns for it.

It is not necessary that we should kill our desire for lack of the presence of the object we desire, but it is wise always to realize the value of the object and its real nature. Things that pass from one hand to the other are but changing things, and be sure that when you gain a thing from another, you may have to pass it on to another also when the time comes, willingly or unwillingly. Therefore be always in search of things that will endure, that will last long, and adopt ways of attaining them by right and just means. It is far better to renounce a thing which can only be procured through the sacrifice of right and justice than to go in pursuit of things which will bring in the end disappointment and disaster, as they are the natural results of the lack of right and justice.

Your object of attainment should be decided and settled in your own mind, and then there should be no change. Any difficulty in obtaining it must not frighten you. With patience, faith, and trust you must pursue your object. Do not for one moment think how small you are before your object of attainment, or how incapable you are of achieving it, or how long it must take to reach it, or where or how the means can be provided to get it. Before you think of all these things, think of one thing: "The object is there and it belongs to me; it is my birthright, it is my natural right, it is my divine right that it should be mine."

Then turn to other things; think of things which will help you to procure it. If the rein, or the rope of hope is let loose or loosened, then no effort will be of any use. If patience fails you, then there is no sustenance. If your mind changes, then your self is the cause of your failure. When you want a rose and after attaining the rose you wish you had chosen a jasmine; after attaining the jasmine, you cry, "Oh, why did I choose this flower? Why not the other?". . . and when they are both before you, you have lost the power to choose either the one or the other.

When your object is, or seems to be, in a mist, do not cover yourself with clouds because you object seems far off; if you do, everything will become dark before you. But if you keep your light clear, then the ray shooting from your own soul will in time clear the mist. But if you yourself are in confusion whether to have this object or that object or no object, then there is no hope for you. For you must ever bear in mind that the light and the life that goes out from you to the object are quite as important as that light which comes to you from the object.

Therein lies the great mystery of the trinity in all things: the knower, the thing to be known, and the power or light or knowledge which connects them. If the way seems closed, it will be opened. If the means are lacking, they will be given, they will be attained. If the object is far off and beyond your reach, it will be drawn to you, if only you can hold fast to the rein, the rope of hope, with complete faith and trust in God, the giver of all things, the Possessor of all things.

Concentration is the chief means of attainment. Concentration does not mean sitting and thinking of a certain thing, but it means holding a certain idea or object in the mind at all times. The result of concentration depends upon how much one loves the object of attainment. However great a person may be in holding the thought firmly in mind, he cannot bring about as great results as a person who loves the object he holds in concentration. Love is all-powerful, and it naturally gives power in one's concentration, be it for a person, for wealth, for position, for knowledge, or for God.

Whatever one loves, one gets -- small things or great things. It is better to get a small thing than nothing, because it thus gives a mastery. In every gain through life a person takes a step forward. Every object has a separate path for its achievement, but in the end all must come to the same goal. Do not, therefore, look with contempt upon someone if he is in pursuit of something that you consider inferior to your ideal. Know, rather, that it is his path, though perhaps not yours.

Mostly, by the continual changing of the object and by indecision in regard to an object, one produces weakness, which will produce inferior results. It is often better to accomplish a certain thing by external means, if it can be so accomplished, than a forced mental effort, which should, however, be used when it is necessary. One should look at it with an economical point of view; and if the power of the battery is all exhausted, then one will feel the lack of it.

Therefore, a mental effort for the accomplishment of small things is an unnecessary outlay of force. In other words, the mind must be allowed to work normally with every action. When a person works mentally and does not act outwardly, this may produce a lack of balance, for action must balance thought and thought balance action. This danger always stands before the mental worker.

An object in life, however, must be accomplished, sometimes, at a cost even greater than the value of the object itself when attained, because it is the effort and the success which make one capable, and it is failure that drags one to a still greater fall. Therefore, the price one pays or the effort one makes is greater than the object because it opens a further way for future success; and a loss may be a small loss in itself and yet it may be a greater loss in reality. It is for this reason that people who are successful continually succeed, and with failure a person tends toward failure.

In order to keep the concentration on the right path, one must keep the object always before one. Surroundings, environment, atmosphere, everything helps to bring about the desired attainment. One must not talk much, nor indiscriminately, about one's attainment, for it is a great waste of power. A person who tells all his friends and everyone whom he meets, "I am going to build up that business," has at the start already a lesser chance of success than the one who thinks and ponders upon the subject and keeps quiet, says nothing to anyone, or at least tells only those who he thinks may be helpful to him. One must put aside a certain time of day or night to devote entirely to the concentration of one's attainment, and by being faithful in this practice one gains his object in the end, and thus he learns the only way of mastery.

One great moral point must be understood: One must never desire any attainment which blinds a person to what is right and just, and which destroys kindliness in the heart, which is the essence of God in man.

The attitude of mind is the most important thing in attainment. The person who attains success by injustice and oppression and by wronging others will meet with failure when he does right, and the one who achieves his success by his goodness, mercy, and right doing will fail when he changes his method and looks for success by doing wrong. This proves that success, as generally so termed, depends upon the fixed attitude; thus the change of attitude mars it.

If by thought, success is brought to one, one must then continue his method of thinking. If by action it is brought, one must continue action. If both thought and action are used, both must be continued, for it is the attitude which is the most important part in attainment. Be obstinate in the path of success. Nothing should keep you back from your effort when your resolution is once taken. Renounce your object of attainment only when you have reached it and you have a better one in view. But when you have attained the object and you cling to it, then you hinder your own progress, for the object is greater than yourself. You are greater than the object when you are able to renounce it after attaining it.

There are two kinds of renunciation: renunciation by mastery, and renunciation by weakness. When you could not reach the apple and then said, "Oh, I would not eat that apple. I am sure it is sour, and it is no use bothering myself about it," then that renunciation is through weakness. But renunciation in the sense of right and justice is better than attainment. When you wish to pick the apple and you renounce the desire by thinking, "I have no right to eat this apple, as it belongs to another person's garden, not mine," then you rise to a higher development than in accomplishing your object.

Every step one takes in evolution changes one's ideal. In your stage, if you love a jasmine today, it is possible that in your next step in evolution you may have grown above it and you love a rose. And it is not necessary that you should keep to the jasmine when your evolution brings you to the love for the rose -- thus one is kept from progressing. Contentment is a great virtue, but it is a virtue only when you have mastered the thing and risen above it. But if you are contented before you have mastered, then contentment, in that case, is a weakness. Things in themselves are not merits -- neither are they faults -- but they become so by their proper or improper use. Thus merits may become faults and faults become merits. Therefore let the wise choose the path of wisdom, and by that torch they may journey through life.

There is a belief, and many have this belief, that external help can be had to further one's attainment, help from saints, sages, masters, spirits, or angels. No doubt there is a great deal of truth in all this, and help comes as you ask for it and need it, and all kinds of helpers will help you as you call upon them. But at the same time, self-help must not be neglected nor ignored, for after all is said, self-help is the best of all help, and all will strive to help the one who tries to help himself.

To what extent one should expect such external help can be best explained by the fact that to the extent of our wish and our will-power, we attract help and power of accomplishment. In our desire for the accomplishment of good and helpful things, we attract good helpers, and in the evil things one desires one attracts evil helpers. The Satanic side of life is ever ready to help man, as is God. As soon as a person has a determined evil thought, all the means of help about one begin to manifest themselves.

The help in good thoughts comes more slowly upon the physical plane, where with a bad thing it comes more quickly, because pebbles, like the line of least resistance, are found everywhere, but diamonds are so rare! Evil motives and deeds take much less time to accomplish their purpose and less trouble, while good things are accomplished with great patience and perseverance. And the difference can only be realized in their results. It is, in truth, in the end that man knows what he has striven after. Evil has ever in the end a weakening power, while virtue is a strengthening power. A disappointment or a failure in the path of virtue will give more happiness in the end than success and accomplishment of desire in the path of evil. The loss which one has experienced along the path of virtue is far preferable to gain in the pathway of evil.

There are three stages in every wish: Inclination, pursuit, attainment. It is after these three stages that the result of man's wish is manifest and not until then that man realizes his wish in its fullness. In the first stage, the wish is apt to be in confusion; in the second stage there is an absorption in the idea and action; in the third stage there is the joy of fulfillment or a sorrow at the loss.

But a result later may prove that one would even prefer the sorrow to the joy and its consequences, for even a joy may prove to be the cause of a greater sorrow. It is so easy to wish for a thing, but is difficult to know if it will prove good for one or not. For what one loves today he may hate tomorrow. And if the wish today be fulfilled tomorrow, when the time of love has expired and the time of hatred approaches, then it would have been far better had one forgotten the wish as soon as it was born.

To want a thing is an easy matter, but to want it continually is a difficult thing. And how much time man wastes on wanting things and then not wanting them! This wanting faculty works also in childhood. Therefore the great task in life is to watch our desires: to know, to understand, and to analyze what I want, "why do I want it, how can I get it, and what result will it be likely to bring about?" It is the part of wisdom, when once you have studied and understood this question, to continue going forward intelligently, courageously and steadily along the path of attainment and to pursue until the end.

The environment helps towards the accomplishment of the desired object. Things that are around you in the house, the clothes you wear, the food you eat, the people you meet, all these things have an effect upon your life. Do not, even in jest, think, speak, or act against the object you have in view, because it will have a wrong and depreciating psychological effect. One should constantly think of the object he desires, with hope and trust, and even dream of it. And truly, no dream will be lost if it is expressive of the desired object, because it is, first of all, the desire that brings about the dream, and every desire, if held in the mind, must someday, somehow, be realized.

Constancy in holding one object to its fulfillment is most necessary. But after the accomplishment, one must not cling to the habit thus formed. He must be able to turn from one object to another after his desire has been accomplished. A person who desires an object is smaller than the object. But when he attains the object, he and the object are equal. When he clings to the attained object, he is beneath the object, but when he renounces the acquired object, he rises above it. It is then that he can be called the master of his object.

Common sense is necessary in the path of attainment, but not to such an extent that the reason should dominate and lead the will. The will, in action, must lead the reason, whereas if the reason is allowed to lead the will, the will many times becomes paralyzed. But when in cooperation the will leads the reason, then the path of attainment becomes illuminated. The work of common sense in the way of attainment is really to make one understand and comprehend the real meaning and object of the desire: "Am I really worthy to receive this? Do I in truth deserve it? Can I sustain the purpose of the object when I have acquired it? Can the object become worthy of my pursuit? Shall I prove worthy of the test which the attainment of the object would require?"

In the path of attainment, many lose their way and go astray, especially those who are regardless of consideration. There are objects which cannot bring anything but harm, and there are many in this world who would never stop to think of the harm to another, as long as they think that they are safe. But since the very nature of the world is give and take, and as every action has its reaction, and as every cause has its own similar effect, how can one really think that he can be safe by causing harm to another?

Often, in many attainments through life, there is found a benefit for one by the loss of another. And thus we see it go up and down through life, like a scale. And this is a matter of time and experience, and often one finds that a momentary gain is more disastrous than the loss would have been. Therefore, the wise have a greater gain as their object through life than the objects of sense of the average man, who is ever in pursuit of transitory gain, and in success and in failure both he is at a loss, because in the end both may get little. The wise, therefore, fix their eyes on that divine attainment, divine ideal, which is the best object possible, and by the attainment of that object they enjoy eternal bliss.

The success of the motive depends entirely upon the concentration, for mind is productive and creative. It produces and creates all that it forms in itself first as a thought. This concentration must not necessarily be practiced for some time during the day or night, but the motive must cover all things of life and make the whole life as one single vision of the object of concentration. The object of concentration must cover, above all things in life, one's personality.

In other words, it may be said that either the motive should live or the personality. In order to make a motive successful, the personality should be covered entirely by the motive. Life is one, singly and collectively, according to both these points of view, and you cannot live yourself separate from the motive; either the motive should live or you; either the motive must become you or you become the motive, which means one thing should be sacrificed for the other: either personality sacrificed for the motive or motive sacrificed for personality. It is the greatest truth in the world that it is one that lives and it is two that die. And Rumi has said it beautifully in his verse where he says: The Beloved is All in All, the lover only veils Him; The Beloved is all that lives, the lover a dead thing.

Whatever your pursuit in life, whatever your aim, whatever be your motive, for a real success in a motive you must offer yourself first as a sacrifice for it. The great ones and small ones, all who have accomplished something in their lives, whether an earthly gain or a heavenly bliss, they have sacrificed a part of themselves, or their whole being, even to such an extent that some have arrived at the point where they exist no more for themselves, but for the motive. It is they who know what success is, and it is they who can teach the path of accomplishment.

The secret of all attainment is centered in reserve. Spiritual or material, when a person has told his plans to others, he has let out the energy that he should have kept as a reservoir of power for the accomplishment of his object. A thing unspoken is alive in the mind, and when spoken, it is as dead. The more valuable your object, the more it must be guarded, as all precious things need strong guarding. When a person tells others of his plan, each one looks at it from his point of view. Some understand, some do not understand; some have a sympathetic point of view, and some take an unfavorable attitude toward it. And every person's attitude has something to do with your life and with your affairs, and if you have whole-heartedly engaged yourself in the accomplishment of a plan, many outside influences can hinder it.

The teaching, "Be wise as a serpent," may be interpreted, "Be quiet as a serpent." It is quietude that gives wisdom and power. The thought held in mind speaks to the mind of another, but the thought spoken out most often only reaches the ears of a person. Every plan has a period of development; and if man has power over his impulse, by retaining the thought silently in mind, he allows the plan to develop and to take all necessary changes that it may take for its culmination. But when the impulse expresses the thought, it so to speak "puts out the flame," thus hindering the development of the plan. The wise speak with their mind many times before they speak about it to anybody.

The greater the object of your pursuit, the greater patience it requires, and there is a side in human nature which keeps one impatient and which makes one feel that he should mount to the top immediately; and therefore when he rushes impatiently toward the accomplishment of his object, he often falls. In climbing there are steps, and one should climb gradually. One must hold before one's mind the object, but one must at the same time see the steps that one has to climb.

If patience will not help in climbing the steps and in journeying the necessary distance, there will come a fall. This shows that there are three chief things in the path of attainment: Steadiness of concentration in holding the object of concentration firmly before oneself; at the same time noticing with open eyes the many steps that one must climb to reach the object; and the third thing is patient perseverance.

Patience is the most difficult thing in life, and once this is mastered, man will become the master of all difficulties. Patience, in other words, may be called the power of endurance during the absence of the desired things or conditions. They say death is the worst thing in life, but in point of fact, patience is often worse than death. One would prefer death to patience, when patience is severely tried. Patience is a life power; it is a spiritual power and the greatest virtue that one can have, for it is a cross, and on this the patient one is crucified. And as resurrection follows crucifixion, so all success and happiness must follow the trying moments of patience. Noticing the steps toward the goal is the work of intelligence, and this helps to make the work of patience fruitful. But patience and intelligence both become wings to the power of concentration. This is a power to hold the desired thought firmly, so that it may not change.

You must pity the man who cannot decide between two things. He lacks concentration. Single-mindedness is the chief secret of concentration. One must keep one's object steady in the mind, and must not allow anything to change the mind from the object. Even things more useful, precious, and better must be considered as temptation. The object that once man has, and once he has embarked upon its attainment, he must accomplish it to its very end, or else not have any object in life.

Progress in the path of attainment sometimes produces too much self-confidence in success, and if it comes untimely, it produces a sort of negligence and often it weakens enthusiasm. For instance, one may build a house very carefully and attentively, particular about every detail; and when it has come closer to the finish, one might think that, as it came right so far, it must of necessity be finished rightly. He may neglect, and may lose some of the enthusiasm and attention to every detail, which may result in disappointment. Therefore, self-confidence and enthusiasm and attentiveness are forces which must be economically used, not with extravagance.

The force which is given at the commencement of the work must last till it is finished. If it breaks in the middle, often the whole effort is broken. Pride is a great enemy of man. The man who has finished a part of his work often becomes proud with the hope that he will be able to finish the whole. But pride in all its forms is blinding; a proud man cannot see his path clearly. Even after the attainment of a certain object in life, it is wise not to attribute the credit of it to oneself but to see that power and wisdom in the Almighty God.

After one has accomplished something in life, it often happens that one becomes a captive of his accomplishment, as a spider becomes captive in his web. As the nature of life is freedom, no attainment is valuable, however great, if it masters the freedom of the soul. And therefore, man must always take care that he stands above things he has attained, instead of standing below.

Master is he who controls things and affairs of life, and he becomes a slave who is controlled by he things of this earth. Life's greatest secret is the continuity of progress. When progress stops, it is as death, and as long as man is progressing, mortality cannot touch him. Attainment or no attainment, pursuit after something man's soul cares to reach must be continued, and by single-mindedness, one must build a path from earth to Heaven and from man to God.

An important rule of psychology is that every motive that takes its root in the mind must be watered and reared until its full development. And if one neglects this duty, one does not only harm the motive, but by this the will power becomes less, and the working of the mind becomes disorderly. Even if the motive be small and unimportant, yet a steady pursuit after its attainment trains the mind, strengthens the will, and keeps the inner mechanism in order.

For instance, when a person tries to unravel a knot, and then he thinks, "No use giving time to it," he loses an opportunity of strengthening the will and attaining the object desired. However small a thing may appear to be, when once handled, one must accomplish it, not for the thing itself, but for what benefit it gives. Yes, thought must be given as to its importance and value in the beginning, when the motive begins to take root in the mind, and one must avoid an undesirable and unimportant motive taking place.