8 परमार्थसोपान [Part 1 R. A man must continue his meditation to the end of his life; he must utilise every breath of his life in its service; and finally, all this must be accomplished in a spirit of devotion. After dealing with these different stages of the meditational process, we shall discuss the place which Yoga and Absolutism occupy in the sphere of meditation. Ultimately, we shall find that the meditational process rises superior to both these elements. Next, we shall proceed to consider two different types of aspirants with their two different attitudes, the militant and the submissive. The one might be called the tough-minded type, and the other the tender-minded. Kabir peculiarly enough illustrates both these, while the tender-minded type finds its superb illustrations in Surdas and Mirabai. In reference to these latter Saints, we shall also consider the pheno- menon of the so-called Dark Night and the Dawn. CHAPTER V We now pass on to the final chapter of the pre- sent part, namely, on the culmination of spiritual experience in the Pada literature. The chapter will be devoted to the discussion of the spiritual experience under nine different heads, each containing a group of songs in an ascending order of spiritual experience. Group I will contain a description of the varieties of mystical experience attained by various Hindi saints. Under this head we shall consider in order the spiri- tual utterances, in the first place, of Mirabai, the Mystic Princess, then of the two great Hindi saints Surdas and Tulsidas, then of that group of spiritual
