"He who acteth, placing all action in the _eternal_, abandoning attachment,
is unaffected by sin as a lotus leaf by the waters."
This is interpreted according to the viewpoint of the translator, even as,
among an audience of ten thousand persons, we may find almost as many
interpretations, and shades of meaning of a musical composition.
True, the Oriental meaning _seems_ to be the one that we shall cease to
love friends, relatives, and lovers, abandoning them as one would abandon
the furniture of one's household when outworn, and no longer of service.
We do not accept this interpretation.
To abandon one's friends, one's loved ones, yea, even one's would-be
enemies is equivalent to leaving one's companions on a sinking raft and,
without sentiment or remorse, save one's physical self from destruction.
No higher sentiment is known to struggling humanity than love of each
other. "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for a
friend."
Oriental or Occidental philosophy, whichever may be presented to the mind,
as an unfailing guide, should be distrusted, if that philosophy prescribes
the abandonment of lover, friend, relative, neighbor, brother, companion.
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