"The lady smiled very sweetly on him and bade him take a seat on her
right. Then rising and facing her other suitors she said, 'Friends, I
thank you for the interest and kindness you have shown towards me, but
you all made one mistake, and that is in thinking I am merely just what
this material form stands for, in thinking I am a woman and only a
woman, and nothing but a woman. And in thinking so you come, one with
gifts of silks, laces, gold, ivory, spices and many other things, as if
that was all I needed. Another offers bravery and protection for me,
thinking I was a weak woman and could not take care of myself; another
wants to make me a Princess, so as to excite my pride and vanity, by
causing so many to bow down to me, as if my joy consisted in having my
pride and vanity fed, and in looking upon my fellow beings as my slaves,
whose whole life is to contribute to my enjoyment. Then another offers
me a home and to make me the mother of many children; as if that was the
highest attainment for a spiritual being; while still another offers me
money, good things to eat and drink and wear, only what this body of
mine seems in his eyes. No, I will have to decline all your offers,
because you are under the illusion that I am only a woman.'
"Turning to the one on her right she said, 'By a life of self-denial and
discipline through prayer and meditation, and in cultivating the spirit
of love for all, and in making your life a free will offering to
humanity, you attained illumination. The angel now rules the animal and
you have arrived now to the state of realization of the Divine within
you. Not being in bondage to either the man or the woman, for you see
that each is a spiritual being like the other, therefore you look upon
me as a spiritual being manifested in the form of a woman. You have seen
that my wants and desires are spiritual, not material. All that I need
in the material world is very little and comes to me; for as Jesus has
said, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven, and all these things
(material) shall be added unto you."
"'Dear friend, you have appealed to my self, my spiritual nature. I now
respond, and, dear one, what I possess in the way of love shall be
yours, for I love you so dearly it will be a joy for me to give you my
love and live in your love, and we will both consecrate ourselves to
each other and to the Lord, in His humanity.'"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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