"As a metal disk (mirror) tarnished by dust shines bright again after it has been cleansed, so the one incarnate person satisfied and free from

' grief after he has seen the real nature of himself. And when by real nature of himself, he sees as by a lamp, the real nature of the Brahman, then having become the unborn eternal God who transcends all tattvas, he is freed from all pasa." (Svetas Upanishat ii. 14, 15). "From meditat. ing Him (abhidhyanath), from joining Him (yojanath), from becoming one with Him (tatvabhavat), there is further cessation of all Maya in the end." (Svetas Upanishat i. 10). "As a flame is enveloped by smoke, as a mirror by dust, as an embryo is wrapped by the womb, so this (soul) is enveloped by it (desire). (Gita iii. 3).

And St. Meykandan has this stanza (viii. 3. a). The principle of it receives its exposition in the Sankhya and in the Yoga Sutras, by means of this illustration of mirrors and colours.

"Though it (soul) be unassociated, still there is a tinging (reflectionally) through non-discrimination; [for there is not a real tinge in that which is unassociated (with tincture or anything else), still there is as it were a tinge; hence the tinge is treated simply as reflection by those who discriminate the tinge from the soul which it delusively seems to belong to].

"As is the case with the Hibiscus and the crystal, there is not a tinge, but a fancy that there is such." Sankhya aphorism vi. 27-28 - Gablie's Translation.

In the words of Professor Max Muller, this is how the subject is treated in the Yoga Sutras: "Now if we ask what is the result of all this, we are told in Sutra 41, that a man who has put an end to all the motions and emotions of his mind, obtains, with regard to all objects of his senses, conformation grounded on them, or steadiness and consubstantiation the idea being that the idea is modified or changed by the objects perceived, (i. 41). As a crystal when placed near a red flower, becomes really red to our eyes, in the same way the mind is tinged by the objects perceived" (Six Systems.

P. 453).

This principle of mind identifying itself with the objects perceived, is stated in the following passages of the Upanishat also.

"Now a man is like this or that, according as he acts and according as he behaves, so will he be: a man of good acts will become good, a man of bad acts bad. He becomes pure by pure deeds, bad by bad deeds.

"As is his desire, so is his will; and as is his will, so is his deed. Whatever deeds he does, that he will reap.

"Whatever object man's own mind is attached to, to that he goes strenuously with his deed.

"He who desires the Atman, being Brahman, he goes to Brahman. That Atma is indeed Brahman." (Brihat IV, iv. 5. 6).

Similar passages are found in the Mahabharata and the familiar statement of it in Sanskrit is:

'Yat Bhavam tat Bhavati.'

Hebest Spencer calls this union as one of absolute identity. And this is almost the language used by St. Meykandan

As the Upanishat writers, Sankhyans, and Yogins, and Siddhantins state this principle and base on it their scheme of salvation, so does also Professor Henry Drummond in his remarkable address entitled "The Changed Life," based on the text from St. Paul,

"We all, with unveiled face, reflecting, as a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit." He paraphrases the sentence as follows: " We, all reflecting, as a mirror, the character of Christ, are transformed into the same image from character to character - from a poor character to a better one, from a better one to one a little better still, from that to one still more complete, until by slow degrees the perfect image is attained. Here the solution of the problem of sanctification is compressed into a sentence, "reflect the character of Christ, and you will become like Christ," or, as we will say, reflect the image of God in yourself, and you will become God-like, or God.

But how is the poor character to be made better and better, or the reflecting image clearer and clearer? It is by cleansing the mirror (soul) freer and freer from dirt, and bringing it more and more in line with the effulgent light, that this can be effected; and when the mirror is absolutely perfect and nearest, the light shines brightest, and so overpowers the mirror, that the mirror is lost to view, and the Glory and Light of the Lord are felt. For, observes the learned Professor truly, "What you are conscious of is 'the glory of the Lord.' And what the world is conscious of, if the result be a true one, is also the glory of the Lord. In looking at a mirror, one does not see the mirror or think of it, but only of what it reflects. For a mirror never calls attention to itself - except when there are flaws in it." These flaws are the colours of the Siddhanti who compares them to the maya or body. In union with the body, it is the body alone that is cognized, and not the mirror-like soul. In union with God, the Glory and Light alone are perceived and not the mirror-like soul either; and the Professor declares, "All men are mirrors - that is the first law on which this formula (of sanctification or corruption) is based.

One of the aptest descriptions of a human being is that he is a mirror," and we must beg our readers to go through the whole pamphlet to note how beautifully he draws out this parallel.

He notes the second principle which governs this process, namely, the law of assimilation or identification. "This law of assimilation is the second, and by far the most impressive truth which underlies the formula of sanctification - the truth that men are not only mirrors, but that these mirrors, so far from being mere reflectors of the fleeting things they see, transfer into their own inmost substance and hold in permanent preservation, the things that they reflect. No one can know how the soul can hold these things. No one knows how the miracle is done. No phenomenon in nature, no process in chemistry, no chapter in necromancy can even help us to begin to understand this amazing" operation. For think of it, the past is not only focussed there in a man's soul, it is there. How could it be reflected from there if it were not there? All things he has ever seen, known, felt, believed of the surrounding world, are now within him, have become part of him, in part are him - he has been changed into their image."