The Self-controlled is one who has freed himself from the bondage of self. The seven hells and the eight heavens are too narrow to hold him—only the vast expanse of God is wide enough to receive him.

If the joy of heaven and the torture of hell ceased to be, there would be no loss to the spiritual aspect of God. “What a Vastness! If the worlds were not, It would not be less by a hair’s breadth. The kingdom of Its Glory is truly without begin­ning or end.”

Freedom from self leads to freedom from all. So long as thou art bound to any of the lower qualities, thou art its slave . . . . The Path is a jealous master and will not put up with any partner. So long as thou art a friend to self, thou art a stranger to God. Be then estranged from self that thou mayest unite with Him. The dead wall of self cannot be pulled down save with the help of a perfect Teacher.

Self-control will not allow thee to look down upon any creature, e. g. to tread upon even the lowliest ant in thy way. Wert thou able to raise the veil of ignorance from thine eyes, then wouldst thou see each and every being seeking and adoring God.

The Prophet prayed, “Show me things as they are.” His senior disciple ever prayed: “O God, show me truth and untruth, and help me to follow the one and avoid the other.” So it is said: “When God seeks the welfare of a man, He shows his defects to him,” that he may change from a temple of idols into a mosque.

Rest assured that thou hast nothing but good to expect, once self has been stripped off from thee. So long as thy self lies before thee, thou canst but swell in self-respect. A Satan in very truth is he that respects self, whether in the guise of angel or of man, whether on earth, in heaven or in hell. Self-respect consists in not transcending self. “End­less as the veils are, none is thicker than self-conceit. Know its destruction as thy foremost duty.”—Letter 64.