E'en the clear-sighted who discern the way,
And seek to enter, find the portal barred,
And hard to be unlocked. Its massive bolts
Are pride and passion, avarice and lust."

Men cry peace! peace! where there is no peace, but on the contrary,
discord, disquietude and strife. Apart from that Wisdom which is
inseparable from self-renunciation, there can be no real and abiding peace.

The peace which results from social comfort, passing gratification, or
worldly victory is transitory in its nature, and is burnt up in the heat of
fiery trial. Only the Peace of Heaven endures through all trial, and only
the selfless heart can know the Peace of Heaven.

Holiness alone is undying peace. Self-control leads to it, and the
ever-increasing Light of Wisdom guides the pilgrim on his way. It is
partaken of in a measure as soon as the path of virtue is entered upon, but
it is only realized in its fullness when self disappears in the
consummation of a stainless life.

"This is peace,
To conquer love of self and lust of life,
To tear deep-rooted passion from the heart
To still the inward strife."

If, O reader! you would realize the Light that never fades, the Joy that
never ends, and the tranquillity that cannot be disturbed; if you would
leave behind for ever your sins, your sorrows, your anxieties and
perplexities; if, I say, you would partake of this salvation, this
supremely glorious Life, then conquer yourself. Bring every thought, every