PROBLEMS OF MEDIUMSHIP

　The problem was put to Silver Birch. He was told, "You are now said to be the permanent guide of somebody who has estab-lished a Spiritualist centre in Bombay." He replied:

　"This is one of the problems of mediumship. I have been there, but I have no other medium in the whole of the physical world than the one I am using now. I have not gone to the trouble of developing an instrument, through all these long years, through all these vicissitudes, only to abandon a developed instrument for one who has only just begun to develop."

　"It will be interesting to have that on record," said one mem-ber of the circle.

　He replied: "Tell them so. I will help them all I can, but they must not allow imperfect mediumship to make claims which are not in accordance with facts. Where truth is con-cerned we must fear nobody. We love them all and would serve them, but we cannot be any party to false claims. Truth is our standard, we respect no other. If we are to temporise, to be afraid of hurting feelings, let us not attempt to work at all. We are bound, when we strive to spread knowledge, to say that our first loyalty must be to truth, whatever is involved. Truth is a hard mistress, but we must follow her, for only in her service can we help mankind."

　Then there was read to Silver Birch a letter from a man in South Africa who originally had written in great distress and trouble but was now in a very much better frame of mind since receiving this guide's answer. 

　"I am very grateful to have this message from a soul who is now awake," said Silver Birch, "and I will join in his prayers to the Great Spirit. But tell him just as he has found the light after being in the darkness, just as he has found truth after having been worried by error, so he must serve others, that their fears may be assuaged and they may find the peace with which his soul is now filled. What has happened to him must be an incentive. He must serve others.  

　"Will you give him a message from me to say that I hope the new centre to which he has dedicated his activities will be a place from which the light of wisdom will stream, so that many now in the shadows will find that light and bless him for estab-lishing that lighthouse."

　As you will have seen emphasised in these pages, service is the keynote of this guide's teachings. Here, as a fitting conclu-sion, are the words he used at the end of a seance:

　"I am very grateful always for the loyalty and love that you have given to me. I never feel that I have earned or deserved them. I am as human as all of you. I have my faults, weaknesses and imperfections. I have advanced a little farther along the path of life and sometimes I have an extended vision. I am more for-tunate in so far as my experience of life, both in your world and

in mine, is much larger than that which you possess. In all the years that I have been with you I have striven to share this ex-perience with you, so that together we may use it to enrich the lives of others. That is important; that is worth while.

　"Let us fix our minds on objectives to be attained and know that as long as our gaze is on the fundamentals all else will fall into its proper place. The power that I have earned as a result of the life that I have lived I have always placed freely at your dis-posal. It has been the means of helping you, perhaps even more than you can at present realise. So let us continue to be good comrades trying to serve the Great Spirit and the children who need our service most.

　"I will seek that spiritual refreshment in the sphere where my heart and mind belong. I will come back. In all the years of our association you know that I have always stood at my post, come what may, and there I shall stand as long as I am told to do so. No one has asked me to withdraw. The overall picture of our past association is full of brightness. There are many souls we have helped. Alas, there are more that we have not helped; so we will turn our thoughts to them to see how we can serve them.

　"Let us remember the great purpose which is behind all of us. It is so easy to forget it, especially for you to become caught up with the rush of daily material things. Never allow them to engulf you to the extent that you have not the time to pause, to reflect and to remember the eternal part of your being. When all that seems so busy and important is put behind you, as it will one day, you will wonder why you were so concerned at the time.

　"There is a great work still to be done. You and I and all of us and all who are encouraged in striving to improve the world will not accomplish it in a day, in a week, in a month or in a year. But we can help, and the measure of our success will always be the number of those who are grateful because of what we have done. We have nothing to offer but love and guidance and knowledge to those who will avail themselves of these divine qualities."