To make coal white, it is foolish to wash it in milk; the milk too gets black. You have to heat it red-hot, and continue the process until it is transformed into white ash! The white ash remains ash forever. Similarly, the tamasik mind (dull-witted and ignorant, represented by black) has to be transmuted into the rajasik stage (red or active and passionate) and then, to the satwik stage (white or calm and pious), by the process of spiritual discipline or heating. The blackness and the redness are produced by the qualities of greed and lust. Regular treatment with the drug of self-control (nigraha) will cure you of these. Holy days and occasions have been prescribed for inaugurating the treatment. The scriptures extol the drug and lay down the method of administration. The lives of saints encourage you to seek it and save yourself by it. Through these, man can ascend from the animal to the human level and from the human to the Divine! – Divine Discourse, Mar 09, 1967.