SEVENTH TALK Il7

and in many cases what we know as " a good body,"
to begin with, will stand a great deal of ill-usage.
But the fact Aat it survives the ill-usage and that
the man lives through it does not by any means
imply that no harm has been done, or that the man
in question will, for the rest of his life, be able to do
equally well. On the contrary, very often a very
slight overstrain leaves a permanent mark.

Therefore I would caution any of you, who are
attempting anything in the way of occult develop-
ment, to be very careful in your ordinary life as well
as in your Theosophical life, that you do not over-
strain your body. It is not a right thing to do. It is
not a politic thing to do. You do not, in the end,
gain anything by it. I have done it myself; I am
speaking from experience. I have on occasions
overstrained my vehicles, but I know that I am
getting an old man, that I pay for that in being
•somewhat less efficient than I might have been, if on
various occasions in earlier life I had been just a
little more careful. So I would warn you emphatic-
ally, do not run the risk of overstrain; take to heart
our President's words : " What I have not time to do
is not my work." That is a very important thing to
remember. I know each person is impressed with
the idea that there is a vast amount of work which
only he can do and nobody else can do quite so well.
That may be true, nevertheless you must not do that
which you cannot do without injuring your vehicle.