portions], for although it be the only,
indeed the whole wisdom of the world, it is yet powerless in comparison
with the divine wisdom of the soul, which is the love towards God, in the
keeping of his commandments.... Hast thou been covetous, profane one? Be
thou meek and pious and serve in all lowliness the glorious creator; if
thou art not determined to do that, thou art employed in trying to wash an
Ethiop white."

Desire is, as some ancient philosophers think, the root of all affects,
which manifest themselves in pairs. Joy corresponds to desire fulfilled,
sorrow to the obstructed or imperiled fulfillment; hope is the expectation
of fulfillment, fear the opposite, etc. All the pairs of opposites are in
some degree superficial, something that comes and goes with time, while
the essential remains, itself invisible and without relation to time--a
perpetual activity, an ever enduring conation as it was formerly called.
(It is the libido of the psychoanalysis. In its manifestations it is
subjected to bipolarity, as Stekel has named the inevitable pairs of
opposites.)

The pairs of opposites have been noticed in the Hindu doctrine of
salvation exactly as in alchemy. Alchemistic hieroglyphics we know are
rich in [ambiguous] expressions for a hostile Dyas (couple), with whose
removal a better condition first commences, although at the outset it is
actually requisite for the achievement of the work. In the Bhagavad-Gita
the pairs of opposites play a great part. The world is full of agony on
account of the pairs of opposites, which are to be found everywhere. Heat,
cold; high, low; good, evil; joy, sorrow; poor, rich; young, old; etc. The
basis of the opposites is formed by the primal opposition Rajas-Tamas. To
escape from it in recognizing the true ego as superior to it and not
participating in it, is the foremost purpose of the effort toward
salvation. So whoever has raised himself above the qualities of substances
is described as having escaped from opposites.

"Contact of atoms is only cold and warm, brings pleasure and pain,
They come and go without permanency--tolerate them O Bharata.
The wise man, whom these do not affect, O mighty hero,
Who bears pain and pleasure with equanimity he is ripening for
immortality." (II, 14 ff.)

The spirit, the true ego, is raised above the agitation of the qualities
of nature:

"Swords cut him not, fire burns him not,
Water wets him no