Illumination or enlightenment
(Yogi Ramacharaka)

All who have experienced this illumination, even in a faint degree,
 recognize the like experience in the tale, song, or preaching of another,
though centuries may roll between them. It is the song of the Soul,
which when once heard is never forgotten.
Though it be sounded by the crude instrument of the semi-barbarous races
or the finished instrument of the talented musician of to-day,
its strains are plainly recognized.
From Old Egypt comes the song
- from India in all ages 
- from Ancient Greece and Rome
- from the early Christian saint
- from the Quaker Friend -from the Catholic monasteries 
- from the Mohammedan mosque -from the Chinese philosopher
- from the legends of the American Indian hero-prophet
- it is always the same strain, and it is swelling louder and louder,
as many more are taking it up and adding their voices
or the sounds of their instruments to the grand chorus.