Functions of the Gods. 59 



forward of evolution, this help is rendered in a 

 million ways, according to the needs of the time. 



Now, in the past, this working of the Gods was 

 recognised, and the sacred books are full of it. 

 They showed themselves continually among men, 

 they carried on their work, as it were, in the full 

 blaze of day. But now no longer do they show 

 themselves to men at large, and many have forgotten 

 even their existence, and very many people, even in 

 India, materialised by the thought in which they 

 have been trained, are half ashamed to say that they 

 believe in the existence and the working of the 

 Devas. The unbelief makes no difference, save to 

 those who disbelieve. The working of the Gods 

 remains ever the same. They are ever busy in 

 carrying out the Supreme Will. Only they do not 

 show themselves, and to those alone who recognise 

 their existence and their work will they manifest 

 themselves. If in the old days they showed them- 

 selves as they do not now, it was because men then 

 had reverence and love and were willing to bow 

 down to those who were wiser and greater than 

 themselves ; because then democracy was not 

 reigning ; because then the ignorant did not think 

 themselves equal to the learned, nor did man deem 

 himself equal to the Gods. In those days, because 

 they could help they came to the helping ; but they 



