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PART FOUR
DIFFICULTIES Circumstances CIRCUMSTANCES: RESULTS, NOT CAUSES
It is an error or superstition to believe that an external thing or circumstance can be the cause of anything. All things and circumstances are the accompanying results of a Force that acts from behind the veil. The Force acts and each thing reacts according to its own nature.
One must not take consequences for causes.
Never take physical happenings at their face value. They are always a clumsy attempt to express something else, the true thing which escapes your superficial understanding.
Do not mind the apparent contradictions. There is a truth to be found behind.
CIRCUMSTANCES: RESULTS OF PAST ACTIONS
(Someone asked for sympathy regarding his circumstances at the time.) Page ― 229 I am full of sympathy but unshakably convinced that each one meets in this life the circumstances which he has, inwardly and outwardly, built for himself. 11 July 1939 People keep lamenting about their lot and feel that their troubles and their unhappy reactions would go if other people and things were changed. Do you share my doubt about this feeling?
Each one is the artisan of his own miseries. 4 December 1939 It is always a mistake to complain about the circumstances of our life, for they are the outward expression of what we are ourselves. 28 July 1954 It is in oneself that there are all the obstacles, it is in oneself that there are all the difficulties, it is in oneself that there are all the darkness and all the ignorance. 16 November 1954
Addressed to People of Ill Will
The evil you have wilfully done always comes back to you under one form or another. 24 April 1969 Each one is free to do whatever he likes, but he cannot prevent Page ― 230 his acts from bearing their natural consequences. It is only what is done with the Divine and for the Divine that is free from the slavery of consequences.
There is a Supreme Divinity witness of all our actions and the day of consequence will come soon. 1 March 1971 Each one brings upon himself the consequences of his acts. 3 March 1971 About what you say on the last page of your letter. Things are not altogether what you think them to be. For some years already, I have had much to say on the subject. But what is the use? There are certain waters which are best left unstirred. In any case, I would like you never to forget this: What each one meets in life is always exactly in accordance with what he is. Not in the way ignorant human justice understands it, but according to a law that is much more subtle, more deep, more true. Let us never forget that the supreme Lord is behind everything and that it is He who is the master of our destinies.
CIRCUMSTANCES AND ONE'S INNER CONDITION
Satisfaction does not depend on outer circumstances but on an inner condition. 26 July 1954 Page ― 231 People think that their condition depends on circumstances. But that is all false. If somebody is a “nervous wreck”, he thinks that if circumstances are favourable he will improve. But, actually, even if they are favourable he will remain what he is. All think they are feeling weak and tired because people are not nice to them. This is rubbish. It is not the circumstances that have to be changed: what is required is an inner change.
If you feel that a change is needed, it can be in the attitude, giving importance to what is to be said and realised and using the past as a preparation for the future. This is not a very difficult thing to do ― and I am quite sure that you will easily do it.
You have this trouble. It is an indication that there is something in you that needs an immediate change. There is something that is refusing to come into the Light. If you can change your consciousness, the trouble will disappear.
When one is in need of outward changes, it means that he is not progressing within; for he who progresses within can live always under the same outward conditions: they constantly reveal to him new truths. All outward change should be the spontaneous and inevitable expression of an inner transformation. Normally, all improvement of the conditions of physical life should be the blossoming to the surface of a progress realised within. 29 March 1958 Page ― 229 There can be no physical life without an order and rhythm. When this order is changed it must be in obedience to an inner growth and not for the sake of external novelty. It is only a certain part of the surface lower vital nature which seeks always external change and novelty for its own sake. It is by a constant inner growth that one can find a constant newness and unfailing interest in life. There is no other satisfying way.
By changing house you cannot change character. If you change your character you need not change your environment. 22 October 1964 Divine Mother, I have had a feeling of wanting to move into a separate house lately. I do not know whether I am right in this. May I have your divine guidance in this?
Exterior things must be of little importance when one does “sadhana”. The needed inner peace can be established in any surroundings. With love and blessings. 19 August 1966 Mother, I want to ask you why the life we lead is so dependent on material objects.
This need not be; if the consciousness is centred elsewhere, more deeply, physical things lose much of their importance. Page ― 233 |