Only one word about the meaning of the words 'merging ! and 'losing,' before I continue the thread. I quote from a textbook of science: -

"When a river enters the sea, it soon loses its individuality, it becomes merged in the body of the ocean, when it loses its current and when, therefore, it has no power to keep in suspension the sediment which it had brought down from the Higher lands." Please reread the lines in this way and the application will become clear. "When the soul loses its individuality (its feeling of I and mine) Ahankaram or Anavam, it becomes merged in God when it loses its karma, and when, therefore, it has no power to keep in suspension its mala, with which it was associated from the beginning. This losing of self is the real sacrifice, brought about by love. It is this sacrifice we are asked to make as we enter the Temple precincts and the moment we make it, ourwill leave us and we will becomethe Blissful Sivam.

We likened the soul to the mirror and the following passages from the upanishats may be considered.

"As a metal disc (mirror), tarnished by dust, shines brigth again after it has been cleaned, so is the one incarnate person, satisfied and freed from grief after he has seen the real nature of himself." "And when by the real nature of himself he sees as by a lamp the real nature of the Brahman, then having known the unborn Eternal God, who transcends all tattvas, he is freed from all pasa."

"From meditating on Him, from joining Him, from becoming one with Him, there is further cessation of all Maya in the end." In Drummond's language these verses read - "See God, reflect God and become God."

Students of Darwin will have noted how powerful is the law of association and assimilation or identity in the animal and human evolution. Persons who are ever associated with pigs get piggy faces, and with horses horsey faces. In the case of a husband and wife, when they have been perfectly loving, it has been found, to effect a complete assimilation of their facial features Such is the power of the human mind; it can lower itself to the very depths of the brute or it can raise itself to the very height of Godhood. This law is spoken of in our text-books as the law of 'garudadhyanam.'

This brings us to the very end of our subject.

We cannot know God really by all our religious rites and performances, repetition of prayers and formulas by saguna or nirguna worship, with or without idols, and even by the highest yoga, except when His grace and Love fills us all and we lose ourselves in this Love.

Look at how St. Meykandan ridicules this idea of the Yogi that he knows God.

"If it can be meditated, then as an object of our senses, it becomes Asat. If you regard it as not conceivable by our organs (internal and external), even then it is of no use. If you contemplate it as beyond contemplation even then it gives you do benefit as it is a mere fiction. If you contemplate it as yourself, this is also fiction. Giving up these fictitious ideas of God, the only way to know Him is by understanding with His Arul or Grace."