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conceived of as invisible spiritual grace that descends from heaven, and it is showered down upon humanity, as it were, whenever any great Mahāṭma unites his soul with the Logos. Every Mahāṭma who joins his soul with the Logos is thus a source of immense power for the good of humanity in after generations. It is said that the Mahāṭmas, living as they do apart from the world, are utterly useless so far as humanity is concerned when they are still living, and are still more so when they have reached Nirvāṇa. This is an absurd proposition that has been put forward by certain writers who did not comprehend the true nature of Nirvāṇa. The truth is, as I have said, every purified soul joined with the Logos is capable of stimulating the energy of the Logos in a particular direction. I do not mean to say that in the case of every Mahāṭma there is necessarily any tendency to incarnate for the purpose of teaching ḍharma to mankind—in special cases this may happen; but in all cases there is an influence of the highest spiritual efficacy coming down from the Logos for the good of humanity, whether as an invisible essence, or in the shape of another human incarnation, as in the case of Kṛṣhṇa, or rather the Logos with reference to which we have been speaking of Kṛṣhṇa. It might be that this Logos that seems to have incarnated already on this planet among various nations for the good of humanity, was that into which the soul of a great Mahāṭma of a former kalpa was finally absorbed;