From the foundation of Dana, love for all because of the oneness of essence, begins the approach to Shila, "harmony in word and act." If we have really grasped the idea that what affects one affects all, this harmony should not be difficult of achievement. But the apparently simple may in fact be very abstruse!

Shila is the key that "counterbalances the cause and the effect." What does this mean? We are all the time reaping the effects of prior causes and creating new causes that will bear fruit later on. Why should harmony in word and act counterbalance the cause and the effect? Why is thought not mentioned, though thought is the originator of causes? If we have learnt already to "thrill in response to every sigh and thought of all that lives and breathes," why are we now asked, as a further step, to practise harmony in word and act?

What has been learnt by the mind and heart has to be translated into words and acts, and it is the effort to do so that makes life difficult. Though we may agree with what the key of Dana teaches us, yet when difficulties arise we do not act as we know we should, because, for generations, we have been used to another line of life—that of self-preservation. It takes time to get accustomed to a new life, and though the performance of right action often gives us difficulty, yet continuity of effort will eventually bring success.

The passage on page 56 of The Voice of the Silence helps us to understand the real meaning of harmony and why it is necessary for us to establish it or, rather, take our part in it. Just as Light on the Path asks us to "listen to the song of life" and learn from it that we are "a part of the harmony," so here we are given the analogy of Vina; its strings are likened to disciples, and its sounding-board to mankind. The hand that "sweeps it" is the GREAT WORLD-SOUL. Each string must be in harmony with all the other strings; if not, it will break and be cast away.

Harmony is needed everywhere, between all. Nature may seem harsh when it destroys temporarily those units which fail to be in harmony with cyclic law and evolution, and which disturb the equilibrium of the Whole; but the time must come when for the sake of the Whole the single unit must be sacrificed—not for ever, but till it learns the lesson of harmony. It is not an easy lesson to learn and trial and error there needs must be at first. The goal is only reached by succeeding in a series of examinations, and even if there is failure there has to be the determination to try again. The trial run of a vast ocean liner affords an illustration of this point. The individual screws, nails, pegs, planks and all parts of the machinery have to "learn" to move together and make the ship carry on as a unit. So with the running in of a new car. Time and care have to be expended at first so that there is no undue strain on the parts as they learn to run as a unit, each one performing its own function perfectly. If any part is found defective, then that unresponsive part has to be changed. The law of the eternal fitness of things is universally operative. So all disciples have to become attuned to the Master-Mind, the Over-Soul.

During the first stage of the Path between Dana and Shila, while we are still novices, all seems well. Love, indeed, is the fulcrum that moves the world, and filled with the love of Dana, we pass on through green vales. The nightingales sing to us their glorious song of hope, and birds of radiant plumage chant our success. They sing of the fivefold Bodhisattva virtues—the panchashila—and of the seven steps in Knowledge: (1) Mindfulness or attentiveness or self-possession, (2) Wisdom or investigation of the Doctrine (Dhamma), (3) Energy, (4) Joyousness or Rapture, (5) Serenity, (6) Concentration or Meditation, (7) Equanimity.

We are supposed to have progressed in these directions to some extent in order to pass through the gate of Dana and be on the way to Shila. This way is verdant, too, but it winds uphill towards a rocky top. As with all mountain tops, this one also is hidden in mists, and all is dark beyond. Now it is, when we cannot see the way ahead, that we begin to feel unsteady. We forget the melody of hope we had heard earlier, and doubt begins to assail us.

Why does doubt arise? Because, lacking clear vision of the path ahead, we begin to fear. This fear comes from no definite point and, before we are overwhelmed by it, we must find out what it is we are fearing. It is not so much fear of consequences as of the unknown, for the immediate goal is hidden in mists and the going is hard. Without the sunlight of the heart we seem to be surrounded by darkness, and we see nothing and hear nothing. If we have not developed, at least to some extent, the Shila virtue of harmony in word and act, then we trip, and the Karmic consequences bruise our feet. Only when our feet are firmly planted in Dana can they be steady on the rocky path, so that those rocks do not harm us. With doubt killing out hope we begin to get into a condition where we do not know what to do; we cannot see straight; doubt makes us hesitate and, unless conquered, in time roots our feet to the spot and we cannot go ahead.

At this stage we have to begin the practice of Kshanti and be patient. But we are apt to cry out: "How can one be patient when all around is dark and treacherous?" Only the reawakening of Dana, love immortal, gives a meaning to our journey, i.e., the helping of others, and can enable us to gain fortitude and thus to practise patience. Judge, the victorious disciple, tells us that "the way gets clearer as we go on, but as we get clearer we get less anxious as to the way ahead." When the fog descends and we cannot see ahead, we ought to sit down and wait.

Let us always remember that "Man has never been without a Friend." Men never will be without a friend, for there is the Silent Watcher who never quits his self-chosen post as the guide and protector of weary pilgrims. Why? "Because the lonely, sore-footed pilgrims on their way back to their home are never sure to the last moment of not losing their way in this limitless desert of illusion and matter called Earth-Life" (The Secret Doctrine, I, 208). We are not alone any more. This will keep us going until we reach the gate which opens for us the Kshanti Path.

It is, again, the indestructibility of Spirit, the SELF, Love immortal, which gives us the solid foundation of hope turned to fortitude, and the necessary patience and quietude to reach the final goal.