The Star in the West

THE OLD BOTTLE 151 a thousand -headed hydra , for ever battling with him on the field of the world , fearing her awful powers and dim mysteries , reversed facts which were so un palatable to him , and drinking deep of the cup of joy during those short moments when it was proffered to his lips , dimly or vividly saw through the intoxicating fumes cloudy realms of perpetual libation , of hope , and of glorious expectations . Heaven and then Hell . The former first , for man is essentially selfish ; having found a fat billet for himself , it was not long before he found a lean one for his neighbour : To divide my devotees From those who scorned me to the close : A worm , a fire, a thirst for these ; A harp - resounding heaven for those !? The primary object of existence is to keep alive , and all heavens , hells , paradises , gehennas , valhallas , nirvanas , and other abodes of the dead , have never for long exercised such a superabundance of power as to crush and extinguish the flaming desire for ex istence . The fools having devised God with jam for the good in heaven , were not long in devising Satan with a pickled birch for the naughty in hell . Those who were not fools and who found their bread un palatably dry , found that butter could be supplied free of cost by literally doing nothing . Any one familiar with a native city in India is aware of the vast hordes of indolent fakirs who practically do nothing except stand still and gaze vacantly into the clouds utter ing , “ Rama , ” “ Hanuman , ” and before they drop their eyes their bowls are full of atta and dhal . Hence priests and kings , those truly greedy anthropophagi : Songs of the Spirit , vol . i, p . 43 .