Then we come to the Mahatma, an illuminated soul. This soul looks at life from a different point of view, his outlook becomes different. He thinks about others more than about himself. His life is devoted to actions of beneficence. He expects no appreciation or reward for all that he can do for others. He does not look for praise and he is not afraid of blame. On one side connected with God, on the other side connected with the world he lives his life as harmoniously as possible.

There are three categories of Mahatmas.

The Master Mahatma

One Mahatma is busy struggling with himself and struggling with conditions before him and around him. One may ask, "Why this struggle?" The answer is that there is always a conflict between the person who wishes to go upwards and the wind that blows him downwards. The wind that blows a person downwards is continually felt. It is felt at every moment by the person who takes a step on the path of progress. It is a conflict with the self, it is a conflict with others, it is a conflict with conditions -- conflicts that come from all around, till every bit of that Mahatma is tested and tried, 'till every bit of his patience is exhausted and his ego is ground. A hard rock is turned into a soft paste -- then appears the personality of a Mahatma.

As a soldier in the war has so many wounds, and still more impressions which remain in his heart as wounds, such is the condition of this warrior who goes on the spiritual path. Everything stands against him: his friends, who may not know it, his foes, conditions, the atmosphere, the self. And therefore the wounds that he has to experience through this struggle, and the impressions that he receives through it, make him a spiritual personality, a personality which becomes an influence, a power, a personality which is difficult to resist, which is overwhelming.

The Saint Mahatma

The next category of Mahatma is the one who learns his lesson by passivity, resignation, sacrifice, love, devotion and sympathy.

There is a love that is like the light of the candle: blow, and it is gone. It can only remain as long as it is not blown, it cannot withstand blowing.
There is a love that is like the sun that rises and reaches the zenith, and then sets and disappears. The duration of this love is longer.
And there is a love that is like divine Intelligence, that was and is and will be.

The closing and the opening of the eyes will not take away intelligence; the rising and the setting of the sun will not affect intelligence; the lighting and the putting out of the candle does not affect intelligence.

When that something which through the winds and storms endures and through the rise and fall stands firm -- when that love is created -- then a person's language becomes different; the world cannot understand it. Once love has reached the Sovereign of love, it is like the water of the sea that has risen as vapor, has formed clouds over the earth, and then pours down as rainfall. The continual outpouring of such a heart is unimaginable; not only human beings, but even birds and beasts must feel its influence, its effect. It is a love that cannot be put into words, a love that radiates, proving the warmth it has by its atmosphere.

This resigned soul of the Mahatma may appear weak to someone who does not understand, for he takes praise and blame in the same way and he takes all that is given to him, favor or disfavor, pleasure or pain -- all that comes -- with resignation.

The Prophet Mahatma

For the third category of these high souls there is struggle on the one hand and resignation on the other, and this is a most difficult way of progress: to take one step forwards, and another step backwards, and so to go on. There is no mobility in the progress, because one thing is contrary to the other. On one side power is working, on the other side love; on one side kingliness, on the other side slavery.

As the great Ghaznavi said in a Persian poem, "I as an emperor, have thousands of slaves ready at my call. But since love has kindled my heart, I have become the slave of slaves."

On the one hand activity, on the other hand passivity.

The first example of the Mahatma may be called the master, the next the saint, and the third the prophet.