"
The terrible struggle which characterized the attainment of cosmic
consciousness, by so many of the sages and saviours of history, is, we
believe, clue to the fact that no one individual may hope to rise so
immeasurably above the plane of the race-consciousness of his day and age,
except through intense and overwhelming desire.
Gautama abandoned his heritage, his relatives, his wife to whom he was
devoted, and his infant son, as we have previously stated, not because
Illumination is purchasable at so terrible a price, but because his desire
to _know_ transcended all other desires, and in order to be free from the
demands made upon him, he must of necessity, seek solitude.
Few examples of the attainment of cosmic consciousness are as complete and
of such fullness, as that attained by Buddha, and no instance which history
affords has left so great an effect upon the world.
It is estimated that at least one-third of the human race are Buddhists.
This is not saying that any such number of persons are like unto Buddha,
nor do we contend that this is any evidence that his message is greater or
more fraught with truth than that of other illumined ones.
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