The last of the Paramitas mentioned in The Voice of the Silence, or rather the culmination of the previous six, is Prajna. For those desirous of further advancement, those who wish to become the teachers of men, there are four additional Paramita-Perfections. These are: (1) Upaya-kaushalya, or the skilful means of helping others; (2) Prani-dhana, or Vow—to destroy evil and pain, to learn the Truth, to save all beings and lead them to Brotherhood; (3) Bala, the gaining of strength or power, and (4) Jnana, the gaining of Knowledge.

Prajna, we are told, "makes of a man a God, creating him a Bodhisattva." In The Secret Doctrine we learn that Prajna is the "capacity of perception" and that it exists in seven different aspects corresponding to the seven conditions of matter. We can therefore see that this Paramita leads us to the highest stage, the stage of full perception—perception of things as they are and not as they appear—unaffected by any worldly experience of our own.

Perhaps a glimpse of what this stage is like can be had by reading The Light of Asia's description of the Buddha's Enlightenment in "the middle watch," when he attained "the 'fourth' degree of Dhyana (the seventh in esoteric teachings)."

What differentiates the Dhyana Path and the Aryahata Path (The Voice of the Silence, p. 75) is that the former does not go beyond the cessation of individual life, whereas he who treads the latter is able to hear the voice of Divine Compassion which speaks of "everlasting right, and fitness of all things, the law of Love eternal."

The terrible tragedy of the Path of Liberation seems to be this. All the suffering undergone to reach the Dhyana haven only brings partial success. The whole fruition of the suffering brings selfish bliss. On the other hand, one who strives along the Aryahata Path suffers for others; he travails on the Path because of his wish to live to benefit mankind, and every step is permeated through and through with Love Immortal, Dana. It is this that enables him, in his hour of triumph, when he has reached the goal, to hear the voice of his suffering fellow men. The cry of pain that he has heard throughout has pierced his heart, and therefore at the moment of triumph the thought comes uppermost, "Can there be bliss when all that lives must suffer? Shall thou be saved and hear the whole world cry?

At this stage the victor visualizes his past lives of suffering and knows that they were worth while; but he faces now the fact that if he lets the voice of the world's suffering overcome the urge for Bliss, he will have to "wed woe." He sees the truth that through future Kalpas he will remain "wedged as a stone with countless other stones which form the 'Guardian Wall,'" the Wall which shields mankind. All that he has gained must be used for others; he can use nothing for himself. All he can do is to invite suffering on himself by shielding others. It is because of the undercurrent of love working in him all through, that when he accomplishes the final Renunciation the whole of Nature responds with a thrill of joyous awe.

This is a wonderful idea. We hear of the Unity of all manifestation, the inseparableness of every tiny atom of life from the Whole, since all are manifestations of the one Golden Light. Hence the success of one must be felt by all, however low in the scale. Speaking of this from another angle, a writer has said that "a ray of wisdom may enlighten the universe and glow into remotest centuries."

If we could realize more the Enlightenment of the Buddha or the vision Arjuna had of the true nature of Krishna, we might be enabled to build into our consciousness now and here some of the feeling of the unity that underlies all.

The fountain of all knowledge is in every one of us.

—Swami Vivekananda