Today's Beautiful Gem: `The Spirit's Pilgrimage' by Mira Behn.

"It was a lonely spot on the shore of the Arabian Sea. I was
standing there in the spray of the breaking waves, and gazing
out on the vast stormy ocean, when a solitary, pure white bird
passed over the waters. To me, at that moment, it was a symbol
of the Soul passing over the Ocean of Life-- detached and
peaceful. For is not that what the soul within us is-- and
which we realise in the rare moments when we become conscious
of our inmost selves?

"The feeling comes clear and simple in one's early years, without
one's knowing what it is. And then, with God's grace, it may
begin to come even clearer in later days, now with something of
conscious understanding, as the joys and sorrows of life fall
into their true pespective. It runs through life like a thread
strung through a row of beads, the two ends of which are finally
joined together."

Note: The above is the opening page of Madeleine Slades' book
`The Spirit's Pilgrimage' published by Coward-McCann, Inc., NY.
Her father was an Admiral in the Royal Navy. She became a
disciple of the Mahatma and it was he who gave her the Indian name
Mira. She accompanied the Mahatma to England for the Round Table
conference. She died a few years ago. Besides the Mahatma, she
was enchanted by the music of Beethoven. Please borrow the above
book and read it.

om s'aantih: Peace! - J. K. Mohana Rao

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