like when a man is being suffocated by being hung. He was not merely content with imagining what it would be like; but he wanted to have that experience for himself. So he asked one of his friends to help him to perform the experiment upon himself. He said that he would get hanged by a rope and that he would signal to his friend when the feeling of suffocation reached the dangerous limit. He further asked his friend not to relieve him from the gallows before he received the intended signal. His friend agreed to all this; and the man got hung by tying a rope around his own neck. But, when he got suffocated, he became unconscious, and he therefore could not give his friend the promised signal. The friend, however, was wise, and finding that the suffocation of the man had really reached a dangerous limit, he went beyond the limits of his agreement and relieved the man just in time to save his life. The man could be saved not through his own thoughtfulness and precautions, but through the wise discretion of his friend. In the same way, it is safer for the aspirant to rely upon the Master than upon any provision of his own making.

The process of meditation aims at understanding and transcending the wide and varied range of experience. When meditation is interpreted in this manner, it is at once seen to be something which is not peculiar to a few aspirants; it turns out to be a process in which every living creature is in some way engaged.

The tiger which is going to devour a lamb it has sighted, "meditates" upon the lamb; the lamb, in its turn, having sighted the tiger, "meditates" upon the tiger. The man who waits for the train at the platform, is "meditating" upon the train; and the driver of the train, who expects to be relieved at the next station, is "meditating" upon the station. The scientist, who works upon an unsolved problem "meditates" upon that problem. The patient who is waiting for the doctor with tense anxiety is "meditating" upon the doctor; and the doctor, who is waiting for his bill, is "meditating" upon the bill. When the police try to catch a thief, they both "meditate" upon each other. The person who "falls in love" is "meditating" upon the beloved; the man, who is jealously watchful about his rival, is "meditating" on his rival; the man who is struck with grief at the bereavement of a friend is "meditating" upon that friend; and the person who seeks revenge upon his enemy is "meditating" upon his enemy. The man who is lost in making himself presentable by a suitable garment is "meditating" upon himself as the body; and the person who boasts of his intellect or psychic