Flesh is earthly, and spiritually void and weak, whilst Soul in its higher nature is heavenly, and spiritually rich and strong. The latter is bipolar; in its lower nature it lives in the former, the flesh, and its contact with the fleshly part of man imparts to it the material tendencies and idiosyncrasies, and renders it stupefied and blind to the realities beyond matter as long as and whenever its life in matter persists. In its blindness, alas! the Lower Soul sees reality nowhere else but where it lives, knows no other reality but what its physical consciousness enables it to perceive, and if a ray of Buddhic Splendor does manage to penetrate through the thick veils of matter, it fails to take root therein because the physical affords no suitable soil for a spiritual seed. Even if a glimmer of light inculcates a certain truth it cannot bring it into practice because it is at present of flesh and spiritually weak.
Sometimes man laments and is breaking his heart crying because some beloved one of his has recently passed on to the other side of life on earth. Though his experience tells him and he knows well that his cries cannot bring his deceased friend back to earth, nor could they be recommended for the well-being of his own body and soul, yet he cries and is miserable and unhappy. Why? Public opinion in general, no doubt, would maintain that his love for his late colleague is the cause of his sorrow. But is it, indeed, his love alone, or is it his spiritual weakness, which is the author of his unhappiness? It is a question as to which of the two is making him sad. It is rather a subtle point. Ponder! Reflect! If it is love which is the cause of his sadness, it is the personal one — of physical nature. Love, of course, is a divine principle in whatever form or grade it may be exhibited. It creates, it preserves, and it destroys. Love makes one mourn as well as rejoice. It is the cause of pain as well as of bliss. In fact, no two atoms could have been brought together; no earth could have been developed nor any beings to inhabit it; the manifestation of "Divine Self would have been but a dream unrealized, without the vestures that Love knits; and, indeed, the possibility of evolution would have been but a phantasy of mind, but for Love! Love is "All" and Love is "Naught" — it is both the manifested and the un-manifested. Love is the Essence Unknowable. It is the slayer and the slain. But the fact remains that there is love and Love. The former is personal, belongs to personality, and is born of the manifested, hence temporary: "This is my father and I love him. But as neither he is, nor I am, here on earth for ever, and our relation dissolves as the breath leaves the body, therefore this my love is not eternal but mayavi."
On the other hand there is Love which is impersonal, pertains to Individuality, and is Universal and deathless — eternal: "All are sparks of the same deathless Divinity, and I am one of them, hence all are my eternal brothers in whichever forms and colors they may be existing and wherever they may be; and I love all that is. This is Eternal Love." The former, the personal love, doubtless has its due place. It is by no means to be totally ill-regarded but on the contrary it is known to play a most prominent part in the building and upkeep of manifestations, since personality is the most efficient weapon in the hand of Individuality to self-express itself; but when the personal and the love pertaining to it overdo and choke, as it were, Individuality and the love impersonal, the spiritual situation of the Divine Soul is ingressively threatened, and the Higher Ego is laid open to the possibility of losing its way. The vital fact, that is the heart of the Ancient Wisdom herein, is that the Divine Spark — each one of us — leaving its Divine Home, peregrinating from sphere to sphere downwards in the course of the evolution of matter, going through the chain of reimbodiments at each realm or plane on its way earthwards, inhabiting grosser and grosser environments, and wearing the self-produced and self-made "coats of skin one after the other, has been tainted and impregnated with the propensities and temperaments of the lower matter, and "That" which is divine in its origin, has Its Higher Swabhava sunk into the lap of matter, and now thinks, acts, and loves earthly and hence limitedly — materially and personally — in its best. Worldly love always and in each and every case has a certain amount of selfishness, however insignificant and unsuspected it may be. And this amount of worldliness is the root of man's weakness and tends to tie him to earth. The spiritually wise love selflessly, impersonally, and hence spiritually. Their love is celestial and divine. The man possessing it is a really prosperous and strong man. He can be a real help to all who come in touch with him. The ancient Rishis lifted countless souls out of the coil of the snake of illusion, and put their feet on the path of Gods — the right-hand path — that leads to Heaven. Remember that one may be a family-man, a householder, and yet a Rishi at the same time. To become an initiate it is not necessary to leave all and take to the woods for contemplation. In fact that would be an act of cowardice. Brave man is he who feeds his dependents and wins victory over his carnal self, and develops inwardly, living among men. He loves his people, but wisely and unattachedly.
Lest the remarks concerning the personal love should be misunderstood, it is to be stated clearly once again that it, even as it is, is utterly indispensable to spirit. The latter could not enter into physical life without the material love because it is the love for earth-life that brings the spiritual Soul to earth again after death; soul could not learn what earth can teach because it is only by becoming earthly that it can make mistakes and it is by its mistakes that it learns. In fact the earth could not be kept as it is — a fit and proper habitat for its creatures, the infant Gods — because man would not be interested in worldly affairs without love; and, indeed, the door of earth would have been closed on the face of the reincarnating Ego without earthly love because there would have been nothing to unite two persons together to develop a physical body for it. It is verily the most subtle scheme of Mother Nature that she has trapped man into the net of worldly love. In her deepest wisdom she has it that the "Divine Spark" — the Un-self-conscious God-Spark at its outset — must descend into the grossest states of matter, then ascend to the highest spheres or states, and finally become fully Self-Conscious God. And she achieves her mission through the instrumentality of illusion, illusory love, "Maya." All these remarks about the lower love are true to the letter, but they fail to obscure the truth that man under its overwhelming sway has dozed off into a spiritual torpor, has forgotten his divine origin, ceased to recognise that the higher realms of life are his real abodes, and has become a living and talking doll of clay. Should no savior either in the form of man or but a holy thought, come to his rescue by putting a bend in his headlong dropping into the darker and darker caves and coves of this ever-tempting and misleading material, sensual and illusory love, he would lose his only real possession, the "Jewel in the Lotus," his higher Ego. As a divine being he is immortal, painless, harmless, and harmonious, but as a creature of earth he is subject to decay, sorrow, and other aches hereof. Perverted by the timely allurements of this Canopus of ours and caught in the whirl of "Maya," the spiritual man has lost his light in this dark dome of matter. He is groping, but knows not what he has lost that he is looking for. He is crying but he hardly knows "why." He is cognisant of the fact that the dead cannot be restored to life, and also it can be explained to him that the vibrations set up by the love-saturated mournings issuing forth from the mourner's heart may revivify and quicken the sympathetic cord between him and the deceased before the latter reaches "Devachan" — Swarga Puri — and that such awakening tends to impede the reincarnating "Ego" from cleansing itself of its mortal Coats, delays their disintegration, and thus it is no aid to the "Spiritual Soul" in following Its Sublime Journey towards and through "Swarga-Lokas." Thus he could be solicited and informed that his lamentations and cries are a great detriment to the well-being of his departed friend, and prove to be an act of unkindliness on his part rather than love. But, alas! yet he cries. Should we take his cries as the manifestations of his love for the departed? Or should we call it his lack of spiritual attainment? Think! Reflect! and Know! We, poor humans! hardly know at times what we do. We often hurt with our love-taps those whom we love most, unconsciously to ourselves. When the matter is weighed up unbiasedly and according to the Ancient Wisdom, it is not so much of a love as of a sheer spiritual weakness, which, indeed, is the cause of his unhappiness. He lives in flesh, enjoys physical consciousness, and in consequence is weak and unprepared to face the higher and unfamiliar operations of man's real nature. No doubt, there are very few whose hearts do not shrivel at the loss of their best companions, and the writer is quite conscious of that fact, but the matter when truly understood stands as given in the statements hereinbefore made. The extent of grief on the death of a friend is in exact proportion with the insufficiency of higher understanding and spiritual power. This lack is the child, as it were, of the physical consciousness; and it is only the Blessed Ones who have control over this weakness and do not shed tears on the death of their beloved ones. The secret of their reserve and ability lies in their wisdom, their vision, and their spiritual will-power that enables them to act wisely. They can see (1) the nature of their worldly relations as compared with their real — the inner — relation with all that lives, (2) what the "Real Love" is, (3) where it lies, and (4) how to gratify it.
Underneath the garb of flesh each soul is an independent entity on the path of evolution. One, as a child of Spirit, is as good as any other. It is the worldly agency through whom he receives his physical body, and who nominates, as it were, his earthly relatives on earth, with whom he has no concern whatsoever after he discards his body. When the body is gone the relations are gone: "this is my so-and-so, and that is my so-and-so," are no more. In fact, Ego is neither masculine nor feminine but neutral before it enters into the embryo. And when death supervenes, it is neutral again. It ought to be quite clear that even our senses are but earthly and hence unreal. Note well the fickleness of the worldly relations and equipments. Of course the karmic ties play their parts again when the Ego returns to earth after Swarga-basa — Devachanic life. One looks upon someone as his son, his father, his mother, or as any other relative on earth, but this is but a "Mayavic look." In reality all are the leaves, as it were, of the same tree of "life," or the rays of the same "Spiritual Sun." The entities and their embodiments, and their names, are but the colors, forms, and names of the same Ishwar — Reality — underlying them all. It is impersonal; it is Eternal. May be that it is an atom, or a man, a God, a star, or a Universe, all are but the manifestations of, and united together by, the same one thread, the "One Essence." Beings are like the beads of a rosary, and that subtle tie is but the thread running through the hearts of them all. One may fly to the tip of the North Pole or to the highest region of the Galaxy, our Home Universe — -he cannot, even if he may wish to, fall out of it. "It" is the "Sutratman," the Bond of "One Universal Brotherhood." This is eternal, Impersonal, and the only real relation that one must take to his heart and love all that lives. Doing so he is an impersonal lover; being that, he becomes a co-worker with Nature and she begins to confide in him and teaches him all he can learn; and in time he becomes a Master, a Buddha, a "Jivanmukta," immortal — and a Savior of Men. He grieves not, he flutters not like a bird in a trap, he is still like the calm sea, and his vision is as clear as the blue sky. Take from here, O reader, the key to open the gate that leads to happiness inexhaustible, "Ananda." "The Blessed Ones" possess it and never fill their eyes with tears when their earthly relatives have left earth for heaven. To them man never dies but only changes his dwelling.
Love as conceived by the world of men in general is the product of materialized Swabhava. It lies on the surface of things as a rule. But the real love lies in the inmost core of man's heart. And this fact is another main cause of the indifferent attitude of the wise ones towards the deceased. Now listen to this: "Man is at a farther distance from another when on earth than when he is dead, even though they both live in the same family." Reflect! and Reflect! It is another deep point. During the earthly life the real man is imprisoned in the physical body and enchained by the fetters of material pursuits and temptations, but after death he is free from all such shackles and is, considering the case of the average man, in Devachan or Swarga as we call it in India. Devachan, of course, refers to a certain locality too, but, technically speaking, it is the name of a state of consciousness. Now, a man living on earth can, if he be trained, launch himself into the Devachanic state of Consciousness — Sushupti — which is the third state of Consciousness in the core of man's "heart and mind," and can thus bring himself closer to his departed friend now than when the latter was in earthly life, although Nature allows no one to disturb a Devachani or "Swarga-basi." Nor do the Wise indulge in such acts, but they rejoice in the fact, which is a solemn and sublime truth, that their beloved one is resting in the inmost core of their heart. "He is here but we must not disturb him," say they to themselves, and rejoice in the nearness of their friend who is in blissful repose in the third state of their mind. Remember that even if one is not trained to this high state, still his deceased friend is there in the inmost of his heart. And the untrained minds could surely solve the problem of their sorrow and be happy like those who are trained, but only if the former could believe in this truth! But, alas! how few can even believe in such subtle but grand truths. On earth one could never be nearer to anyone than when in Devachan because the human mind in the former case — one can almost say — is never concentrated in one state of Consciousness — not even for a full minute; secondly, it is most rare that two minds can adequately be in one and the same state of consciousness simultaneously on earth. Whereas Sushupti-State may be enjoyed by more than one mind at one time more or less because "That World" is more harmonious, void of disturbance, and more calm than "this one." Here is another key to wipe the tears from the mourner's eyes: "My beloved one sleepeth in the inmost core of my heart but I must not disturb him," must he say to himself, and keep happy on the loss of his deceased beloved ones.
II
One by one the cogs of the ever running wheel of life keep falling behind. Every hour the clock chimes tells one who has ears to hear, "another hour is cut off from your life on earth" — a mystic warning, indeed! Time is never off its wings and is always fleeting. Tomorrow is more anxious to come than today. Days pass into months, and months into years. Three score and ten mortal years that on the average make up man's longevity, bid farewell like a flash of lightning. Everything is on the continuous whirl of change, and man of yesterday is not man of today; as the years go into the womb of the past, the time-worn body begins to look like a weather-worn rock. Time comes when the old "vahan" must be changed for a new one because it is no longer a suitable vehicle for the conveyance of the soul within, and the latter also needs rest after life-long hard work. Then comes what the people call "death" but what the "Great Ones" call the merciful "act" of Mother Nature. In the past, at times, he had been unhappy and shedding tears when his beloved ones had passed away, but, this time, he has no words to express his grief because he himself is going. Alas! he cannot do otherwise. He had been living on earth as if it were his only habitat, and had forgotten his real "Home" where he is now going — a fact which even at this moment he may or may not believe in. He had been spending his years in equipping himself with weapons to conquer the riches of this world as if they were the only possessions worth having and real — in fact, an humble "Sadhan" might have often appeared to him but a time wastrel. Hunting and horse-races, cinema-scenes and theaters, and many a low hobby, and pleasure-grounds, let alone his worldly friends, none of whom would now change place with him, had been claiming and receiving his fullest attention as if they were the only springs emitting elixir of life for him. But now finding them all to be nothing but a mirage of the desert and a sheer waste of time, and seeing none around him who could and would accompany him and whom he could call really his own, he feels lost to both the worlds. Should one wonder that he is upset and unhappy? The causes of his unhappiness are too subtle and probably too many to be recorded here, but the main fact which is of the utmost importance, is that during the earthly period he had led the life of attachment and had bedded himself body and soul in the inmost recesses of material environments. He had fastened himself so tightly to earth and its things that now at the time of break he inevitably feels it painful. This break is a severe jerk and a sudden shock; and he has nothing to balance it with. In the esoteric sense he is a bankrupt. He sees now that the riches he had accumulated, the friends he had made, and the thoughts that he had been cherishing, are all of no help to him, hence are valueless. He cannot carry them with him, hence they are not his real possessions. He realizes what a waste of time and energy it all was. He had seldom been interested in the veiled side of life and had never, perhaps, garnered the invisible holy crops in the depository of his inner Soul; hence he has nothing with which to mitigate the blow of this shock. The intensity of his bewilderment depends upon the balance between his spiritual and material behaviors during the life just lived as well as the one carried forward previously. If he had only thought during his life as the sages think: "our life on earth is but a few days" wonder, another chance given to redeem the past, to learn lessons, and to go higher and higher, to learn more and more on the evolutionary ladder of our Eternal Life," he would have halfway loosened the knot of personality that ties him to earth. If he had only worded as the Blessed Ones word: "Kindly and serenely, lest the voice of the "Silence" should pass unheard and the inmost God ignored," he would have now a guide with him to show him the path. Oh! but if he had done what the gods do: "minding all but ignoring themselves and living in the midst yet above it all — unattachment"; he would then have entirely robbed death of its sting and would have passed on as the heroes do, with a smile of glory on his face, happy here and hereafter as well. O Reader! Draw aroma from these lines, inhale it, and inspire your soul to aspire. Here is the key to unlock the mystic cabin of Bliss.
Again, is this the only life that man has ever lived or shall ever live? Emphatically No; but on the contrary he has lived millions of lives before and shall live countless more besides his present one — "the chain of Chaurasi" — before he attains to Jivan-mukti, Nirvana. And every time that he lived, he probably had a family and friends whom he had to leave, and he shall have to do likewise in the future reincarnations. If this is his eternal mode of conduct, why should he worry and break his heart about his present family situation? He ought to have adapted himself to such separation and be always ready to meet it. But, alas! he neglects the serious side of his eternal life and finds it strange and irksome when he has to face it. Really, an awakened mind is a great guard against the hot winds of time, and a real help to those to whom it belongs.
Birth is death and death is birth. In other words, birth on earth is the death of Spirit in the Swarga-Iokas, and the death on earth is the rebirth of Spirit in Its native realms, the Swarga-lokas. Birth and death are two aspects of the being of the same entity, who as it were, is playing the part of two actors on two different stages, the spiritual and the physical. On the former he plays the part of a god and on the latter that of a man. When one part is being played the other part is in obscuration, or resting. Rest and work, or work and then rest, are two alternate intervals of his eternal life. But for this procedure he would have gone hopelessly fatigued and blunted, and his progress, or spiritual income, would have receded rather than proceeded. Hence if he only knew what death means to him, he would have taken it as his best friend and not as his enemy. In the distant future when mankind shall be more spiritual than it is today, the approach of death shall no longer be a dread to it but a sublime anticipation and hope of a period of blissful rest brought about by the merciful law of Mother Nature.
What has been said above about the causes of unhappiness and the means of happiness at the time of death, is by no means all that can be said. In fact, there are some means of happiness that are more practical and substantial than those hitherto written. Here is one which is of a more esoteric nature than an exoteric one. Let a student study a sacred and devotional book, such as Bhagavad-Gita, or Golden Precepts of Esotericism by G. de Purucker, the two books known to the writer to be most suitable. Let him dwell upon what he has read. It will be cleansing his mind all the time while he is reflecting. Let him also study some deep philosophical book written by a real spiritual teacher, such as Fundamentals of the Esoteric Philosophy by G. de Purucker, or The Ocean of Theosophy by W. Q. Judge; these are to be recommended for a new student. Let him dwell upon what he has read in the philosophical book. The former study tends to carry the mind towards God within and the latter educates him in deep thinking and thus leads him inward. Both the studies shall purify and feed the mind of the student with right food. If he brings his knowledge thus acquired into practice and builds his character thereby, a time will come when he becomes what is called "Ready," and Gurudeva shall appear to him. If he is found fit and worthy to be taken on, the latter shall accept him as his Chela. If successful in Chelaship and again ready to rise higher in the future, he shall be raised still higher.
Let it be understood that the men who have attained to Chelaship, Mastership, etc., are only those recipients of spiritual attainments who have become co-workers with Nature. Their postmortem career is quite different from that of the average humanity. At the time of leaving this earthly life they know to a great extent what is their position then and thereafter. The approach of death cannot and does not annoy them because they know that it only means living and working on earth in a subtle body instead of the physical one. After they have died their families and friends may think that they are no more, but as far as they themselves are concerned they are quite conscious where they are and what they are doing, even though known to be dead. In fact, they might be visiting those whom they had left behind if there be a call for them. They live and work consciously to themselves on behalf of Nature wherever they are. Dying is only a little more difficult process for them than taking their garments off before going to bed. Where is then the horror of death? Nowhere, if man would do only what he ought to do. The dread of death is but the bogy of a child, and only those who are spiritually young fear it.
If a student, or a striver, dies before reaching the recognised stages of spiritual unfoldment — Chelaship, Adeptship, etc. — and before he has developed to be a co-worker with Nature, his death is no different from the average mankind, but his cleansing period in the Kama-loka becomes considerably shorter, and his entry into the (Swarga-Dham) Swarga-Lokas is quicker and most blissful.
Ill
Points connected with man's departure from this earth are rather serious and of the gravest importance, hence they have been emphasized in the previous pages by affording them the first place in the limited scope of this article. Nevertheless, there are besides death other things that often, nay, mostly, during one's life on earth do crucify him on the cross of fiery ordeals, tribulations, diseases and heartaches. Man, who in manifestation is speeding through life's sunshines and shadows, happinesses and unhappinesses, is too often seen with his head bowed on his knees. Probably he is out of work, cannot provide himself and his family with daily bread, fit raiment, and a shelter over their heads; and however he tries to get on he fails and consequently he is unhappy. If unemployment is not the cause of his being tormented, probably some mental or physical disease is making prey of him. If he is in good health and regularly at his work, perhaps some of his youngsters or his wife is going through some kind of agony and that is the cause of his being unhappy. In short, there is something somewhere that concerns him and is at present out of order which is making him miserable. O Brother in pain and despair, listen to this! No matter what kind of suffering, mental or physical, how intense, and of how long a period, it may be; and, on the other hand, no matter of what kind, how blissful, and of what duration, may the happy circumstances be; all are the results of the Karmic accounts opened by man, consciously or unconsciously to himself, between himself and Nature in the past. They are the fruits of the seeds sown by him in the field of the invisible world. They are the effects of the causes that he had set into motion by his thoughts, words, and acts, in this life or in those that preceded it. There is not a sigh nor a smile which is not either the fruition of past conduct or a new account opened. The effects of the past lie within and without the fabric of man awaiting an opportunity to befall. When time is ripe for them they bring forth their ill or favorable influences, whichever the case may be, upon him. When he is suffering either through poverty or through mental or physical ailments the effects are being exhausted, or, as the theologians would say, "his past sins are being washed away," not through a vicarious atonement as the latter maintain it, but through his own efforts and inflictions. It is only through self-directed activity and by bearing discomposure, mortifications, and distresses of whatever kind, that man gets the remission of his mistakes. The cleansing away of the past sins, the remission of one's past mistakes, and the exhaustion of the effects of one's past misbehavior, are but different manners of expression to explain the same one truth, but, in reality, none of them exposes the matter adequately.
The fact is that what is called "Karma" is in a way the solidified matter, or, in other words, the karmic effects are the concreted thoughts that once upon a time in the past were cherished and were forces or ethereal matter then, but now they are concreted matters and compose man's sevenfold constitution, of which the only visible part is his physical body. When something comes on the scene the atoms or the solidified thoughts are melted, as it were, retransformed into an ethereal state and their influence upon him is that they bring a change in his condition either for the better or for the worse. However, whatever kind of change or influence they may play upon him, it is of secondary importance; but the main point to be emphasized is that after the period of bitterness, calamity, or suffering, or the pains of narrow circumstances, one must be sure that certain of the past misthoughts or misdeeds that were waiting for an opportunity to burst upon him, are dead and buried, and he need not be afraid of them any longer, because they are dissolved, exhausted, remitted, forgiven, and are no more. He is a new man again — a sinless man as far as those sins are concerned. Hence, elucidating the matter of "bad Karma or the ill Karmic effects" philosophically and satisfactorily, they are the concentrated and concreted ill-ethereal matters manifesting themselves as various kinds of diseases and bad happenings or a certain kind of poverty. And when the unhealthy situation is abolished it means that the ill-past, or certain poisonous atoms bedded in man's fabric or his body, are smoked out or burnt out, and the man is put on his right feet again.
That being so, is there nothing at all which is most beautiful and helpful even in man's suffering? If he be told and somehow made to believe that his present low waters are but the cleansing stuff and the means of the atonements of his past errors, and that they are only transitory, would he not feel a lofty promise of hope and a glimmer, however dim, of the silver lining mysteriously surging upwards beneath the glooms of his heart? And at the termination of his stormy days if he be told again: "Your past sins are forgiven, go ye and sin no more," would he not feel that his Savior had spoken to him? O Reader! Man's sufferings, of whatever kind, are his saviors, teachers, and the means of his spiritual evolution. Blessed are they who suffer! And really happy are they alone who in their palmy days are careful! The Sun of prosperity does not shine always. Nothing is forever. Poor days are in store for those who drink too much of the delicious cup proffered by their present happy privileges! Happy times are the times during which shiploads of new sins are most likely to be created and taken on if care be not taken, and thus they tend to be the cause of future calamities. Hence, O Martyrs, take cheer! and Midases, beware!
Cases have been known where men are enjoying the best of health, have well-established positions, and all and everything belonging to them is going pretty well and smoothly, yet they are miserable and can by no means be called the happiest, because Mr. So-and-So has larger banking accounts, rides in cars, and smokes costly cigars, and they have less of such privileges and consequently they are discontented and unhappy. Probably, even if such things were provided for them, they would feel no better after a short time and would want to be still richer. If all the treasures and every pie of this vale of "Maya" be melted into one mass and given to them they would still be found wanting and unhappy. Their unhappiness is no less than that of a man who cannot afford to have for himself and his family even the daily necessities of life. In fact, in the majority of cases the poor and the down-trodden are found to be happier, of higher moral courage and spiritual strength than the mighty rich. What is the cause of the latter's unhappiness? Discontentment, greed, and the perversion, or the materialization, or the unnaturalization, of the Higher Mind into becoming the lower mind. Take away every pie that they have, give them the life of the poor, and oblige them to be contented with a morsel of rice, or what the humble humanity are destined to eat; then, after a certain period of time, their minds, once duped by the material tendencies, but now having nothing to be duped by, will come to their natural setting — contented and happier — and that would be the rejuvenation of their higher part. This point belongs to the higher psychology and is illustrated herein by focusing the remarks on the rich among mankind as to what should be done for their recovery, if they are really gone down in their spiritual nature. The writer has no bias against the rich, in fact he is proud of them in a way, because in many ways they are a great support of the poor. Nevertheless, glory be to those who are contented!
(To be continued)