l76 TALKS ON (< AT THE FEET OF THE MASTER "
in a sacred book. Do not believe anything because
it is handed down to you by tradition. Do not
believe anything because good ,and holy people
tell it to you. Do not believe anything because
it comes to you as a presumed spiritual inspiration
from within. Do not believe what I, The Buddha,
tell you unless it agrees with your own common sense,
and when it does, act accordingly and abundantly."
These are the words of the Lord Buddha, the wisest
of men, the Great Lord of Wisdom. Surely we can
•apply them in the present day. Here you have them
in a very slightly modified form by your own Master.
He says:
Remember that though a thousand men agree upon
a subject, if they know nothing about that subject their
opinion is of no value.
That is a thing which it is very hard for the
modern world to realise. It is a lesson which it has
yet to learn. People seem to think nowadays that,
if you only pile up enough ignorance, you will some-
how get knowledge out of it. But you do not, and
presently the modern world will have to learn that
fact. What our President has called u the many-
millioned ignorance " can only lead it sadly wrong.
The ignorant must have those who know how to
direct them, and not, specially and witrT intention,
those who do not know,—which seems to be the
present scheme. Well, one has to learn bit by bit.
This superstition is a very big and a very subtle thing;
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