Whence therefore this difference in people's likes and dislikes, whence their disability to suit means to ends, and their ignorance of their real selves, and mistaking of one for another ? Does it not show that there is an original want of understanding, a want of power, and a want of real knowledge, a serious defect in all sorts and conditions of men? And when, from want of this knowledge, the first wrong step is taken, the first mistake is made, does it not lead to a series of falls, and succession of mistakes, and does not man commit more mistakes in his ignorance when he tries to rectify one error than when he leaves it alone?

We do not propose to answer the question, whence was this defect or ignorance in man, and what is its nature etc., For our present purpose, it is enough to know and recognize that this defect is in us in one and all; that we are all full of faults and liable to err at every step. And these defects were in Eve, the original woman, typical of the lower man (Adam meaning the Higher life of man, pulled down by the lower part of him). And when Eve saw the tree was good for food, that is to say she only thought of what would give pleasure to her body and satisfy her appetite, regardless of the consequences, just as a child wants to snatch the sweets-from a confectioner's shop. She saw that it was pleasant to the eyes: that is to say she only mistook what was not good as good* She saw it was a tree to be desired to make one wise* And when that most learned of the divines, full of his own knowledge and wisdom, wanted St. Meykandan to inform him of the nature of Anava or Ahankara or Egoism, what was the reply he had got? The True Seer replied that the Anava or Ignorance or Egoism stood before him disclosed.

One desires to be wise, as Eve desired, then learns much and thinks himself wise, and this is the highest type of Egoism or Ignorance.

The delusion whereby men deem that the truth which is not, That is the cause of hapless birth,.

So that it is clear that before Eve ate the forbidden fruit, she was ignorant and filled with Egoism or Anava. To say that the serpent or the Devil misled her is to carry it one step behind. If she was wise she would not have been misled by the wiles of the tempter. If she knew beforehand what was to befall her, she would not have yielded to the words of the serpent, and disobeyed the word of God. She had as such no knowledge and no forethought. She was weak and ignorant even before the temptation. Being ignorant and weak, the moment the fruits of pleasure and pain were placed before her, she was dazzled, she was attracted, she seized them at once. And the devil, vanishes from the scene. The devil, we take it, merely represents this inherent weakness or ignorance or Anava in man and nothing more. Adam and Eve typify the mere babes of human creation. There is something in the merest babe which makes it desire to live, and learn and know. It tries to put everything into its mouth whether a piece of bread or a piece of chalk, and it wants to feel the anotomy of every plaything it handles by pulling it to pieces.

Can any amount of warning and advice prevent the baby from touching the flame of a burning candle? The loving parent no doubt gives the warning 'Don't touch, don't touch,' but the advice is all useless and the wise father usually allows it to get a singeing, enough for it to know the good and evil, the pain and pleasure thereof; and he takes care that the baby is not burnt. Throw a brilliantly coloured and glowing fruit of the strychnine tree, the baby will seize it and try to bite it, but the ever watchful father will take care to see that the baby does not swallow it. It is our love that prompts us to give instruction, advice, warning, and even chastisement, but all this will be thrown away if the soil itself is not good. And in our wisdom we recognise that all this is of no use, that the wayward child should be allowed to gain peace by tasting the bitterness "of sorrow in all the days of its life." So too, the All-loving Father in Heaven told Adam and Eve what was not good for them, not to taste or desire the fruits of both good and bad acts, i.e, the pleasures and pains of this world. But they would not bear it in mind nor listen. Did not God know that they would be tempted, and did he try to save them from the Devil ? No; he permitted them to be tempted.

Nay, he willed them to taste the fruit as a father would take a child to touch ever so slighty the candle-flame. "He whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,"

And the misery and suffering that flow from our tasting of the fruit of good and evil acts are merely for our chastening, and purification, and this can only be done in this existence and no other; and the whole purpose and scheme of creation becomes thus evident. (Sivajnanabodha first Sutra It is for the purpose of removing this defect or weakness or Anava or egoism in man that this life is given him, and every means which a loving Father can devise for his betterment is afforded him. But all such means do not influence each individual in the same way. The best of education, the purest of home influence, and the holiest of associations seem, actually thrown away on some people. They have a bent of their own, their own individuality, and this thrusts itself out under all shades and under all cloaks. This contradicts with the theory that human mind is a mere tabula rasa. Youth and white paper take impressions as the saying goes. Evolutionists seek here-, dity to explain it. But it is now acknowledged that heredity does not explain all. The most model of parents have begotten the most vicious of children. Neither the Theologians of the west nor their scientist brethren have explained this aspect of the case, and we must confess this as the only one weak point in modern Christianity which their best defenders have not been able to strengthen.