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THE FOUNDATIONS OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHY model presence on the Hindu masses derives from the fact that in him is expressed an identity of ascetic wisdom (as a style of existence) with politics (as an effective attitude toward worldly issues, whether of daily life or of national policy). His spiritual stature is expressed and honored in the title bestowed upon him: Mahātina: "whose essence of being is grcat," "he in whom the supra-personal, supra-individual, divine essence, which pervades the whole universe and dwells within the microcosm of the human heart as the animating grace of God (ātman), has grown to such magnitude as to have become utterly predominant (mahat).” The Spiritual Person has swallowed and dissolved in him all traces of ego, all the limitations proper to personal individuation, all those limiting, fettering qualities and propensities that belong to the normal human state, and even every trace remaining from ego-motivated deeds (karma), whether good or evil, whether derived from this life or from deeds in former births. Such traces of personality bias and distort a man's outlook on worldly affairs and prevent his approach to divine truth. But the Mahātma is the man who has become transformed in his being through wisdom; and the power of such a presence to work magic we may yet live to
see.27
"The Dying round the Holy Power'
THE SAGE is both worshiped and feared because of the miraculous soul-force that he radiates into the world. A man of 27 Editor's note: This lecture was delivered in 1942.
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