ts, lived in this ancient motherland, the whole
of all knowledge was the heritage of every man, and what to-day are
called miracles were understood as natural working of pure law. It was
nothing in those days for a man to walk through fire unscathed, for
there was very little difference between the gods and men, and men knew
themselves for masters of the universe, subject only to _Parabrahm_.

"Nevertheless, the sons of men grew blind, mistaking the shadow for the
substance. And because the least error when extended to infinity
produces chaos, the whole world became chaos, full of nothing but
rivalries, sickness, hate, confusion.

"Meanwhile, the sons of men, ever seeking the light they lost, have
spread around the earth, ever mistaking the shadow for the substance,
until they have imitated the very thunder and lightning, calling them
cannon; they have imitated all the forces of the universe and called
them steam, gasoline, electricity, chemistry and what not, so that now
they fly by machinery, who once could fly without effort and without
wings.

"And now they grow deathly weary, not understanding why. Now they hold
councils, one nation with another, seeking to substitute a lesser evil
for the greater.

"Once in every hundred years men have been sent forth to prove by public
demonstration that there is a greater science than all that are called
sciences. None knew when the end of the _Kali-Yug_ might be, and it was
thought that if men saw things they could not explain, perhaps they
would turn and seek the true mastery of the universe. But what happened?
You, who are from America; is there one village in all America where men
do not speak of Indians as fakirs and mock-magicians? For that there are
two reasons. One is that there are multitudes of Indians who are thieves
and liars, who know nothing and seek to conceal their ignorance beneath
a cloak of deceit and trickery. The other is, that men are so deep in
delusion, that when they do see the unexplainable they seek to explain
it away. Whereas the truth is that there are natural laws which, if
understood by all, would at once make all men masters of the universe.

"I will give you an example. To-day they are using wireless telephones,
who twenty years ago would have mocked whoever had suggested such a
thing. Yet it is common knowledge that forty years ago, for instance,
when Roberts the British general led an army into Afghanistan in
wintertime and fought a battle