On Thoughts And Aphorisms
1958-70
Contents
Jnana (Knowledge)
(1958)
Jnana (Knowledge)
(1960-61)
Jnana (Knowledge)
(1960-61)
Jnana (Knowledge)
(1969-70)
Karma (Works)
(1969-70)
Disease and Medical Science
Bhakti (Devotion)
(1969-70)
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289 – Mankind have wearied of strength and joy and called sorrow and weakness virtue, wearied of knowledge and called ignorance holiness, wearied of love and called heartlessness enlightenment and wisdom.
290 – There are many kinds of forbearance. I saw a coward hold out his cheek to the smiter; I saw a physical weakling struck by a strong and self-approving bully look quietly and intently at the aggressor; I saw God incarnate smile lovingly on those who stoned him. The first was ridiculous, the second terrible, the third divine and holy.
Sri Aurobindo tells us that to radiate love in all circumstances is a sign of the Divine who has equal love for the one who strikes him and the one who worships him – what a lesson for humanity ! 17 January 1970
291 – It is noble to pardon thine own injurers, but not so noble to pardon wrongs done to others. Nevertheless pardon these too, but when needful, calmly avenge.
292 – When Asiatics massacre, it is an atrocity; when Europeans, it is a military exigency. Appreciate the distinction and ponder over this world's virtues.
All this makes us feel very deeply the foolishness of human judgments based on self-interest and the reactions of the ego. So long as men remain in their present state of ignorance, their judgments and opinions are worthless in the face of Truth and should be considered as such. 20 January 1970
293 – Watch the too indignantly righteous. Before long you will find them committing or condoning the very offence which they have so fiercely censured. Page - 298 294 – “There is very little real hypocrisy among men.” True, but there is a great deal of diplomacy and still more of self-deceit. The last is of three varieties, conscious, subconscious and half-conscious; but the third is the most dangerous.
It seems to me that conscious self-deceit is the worst, isn't it?
Conscious self-deceit is rare because it implies a great development of consciousness together with a perverted will to deceive, which leads to the most dangerous kind of falsehood; but it is perhaps also the easiest to cure, for the consciousness is already awakened and it only has to be made aware of its mistake and to take the decision to correct it in order to have the power to do so. Others must first become conscious of what they are doing and this usually takes a long time. 21 January 1970
295 – Be not deceived by men's shows of virtue, neither disgusted by their open or secret vices. These things are the necessary shufflings in a long transition-period of humanity.
296 – Be not repelled by the world's crookednesses; the world is a wounded and venomous snake wriggling towards a destined off-sloughing and perfection. Wait, for it is a divine wager; and out of this baseness, God will emerge brilliant and triumphant.
Sri Aurobindo tells us that man is a transitional being and that from all the sufferings of the world will emerge a being of light capable of manifesting the Divine. Page - 299 Thus, all those who are not satisfied with the world as it is, know that their aspiration does not rise in vain and that the world is changing. If consecration and effort are associated with the aspiration, things will move faster. 22 January 1970
297 – Why dost thou recoil from a mask? Behind its odious, grotesque or terrible seemings Krishna laughs at thy foolish anger, thy more foolish scorn or loathing and thy most foolish terror.
298 – When thou findest thyself scorning another, look then at thy own heart and laugh at thy folly.
Is it only our mental conception that sees grotesque and odious things, or are they really as we see them? And the same applies to beauty, doesn't it?
It is certain that in the present state of the physical world, appearances are still very deceptive; physical beauty is not always the sign of a beautiful soul, and an ugly or grotesque body may conceal a genius or a resplendent soul. But for one who has more inner sensitivity, appearances are no longer deceptive and he can perceive the ugliness hidden beneath a pretty face and the beauty concealed beneath a mask of ugliness. There are also cases, and these are becoming more and more numerous, where the appearance reveals the inner reality which then becomes discernible to all. 23 January 1970 Page - 300 299 – Avoid vain disputing; but exchange views freely. If dispute thou must, learn from thy adversary; for even from a fool, if thou listen not with the ear and the reasoning mind but the soul's light, thou canst gather much wisdom.
300 – Turn all things to honey; this is the law of divine living.
301 – Private dispute should always be avoided; but shrink not from the public battle; yet even there appropriate¹ the strength of thy adversary.
302 – When thou hearest an opinion that displeases thee, study and find out the truth in it.
If you sincerely want to live according to the Truth, you must know that you can learn from everything and that you have the possibility of making progress at every moment. A great stupidity can often reveal a great light to you, if you know how to see it. 24 January 1970
303 – The mediaeval ascetics hated women and thought they were created by God for the temptation of monks. One may be allowed to think more nobly both of God and of woman.
304 – If a woman has tempted thee, is it her fault or thine? Be not a fool and a self-deceiver.
305 There are two ways of avoiding the snare of woman; one is to shun all women and the other to love all beings.
¹ Possible alternative reading: appreciate. Page - 301 What should be the ideal of a modern woman in ordinary life?
In ordinary life, women can have all the ideas they like, it is not very important From the spiritual point of view, men and women are equal in their capacity to realise the Divine. Each one must do so in his (or her) own way and according to his (or her) own possibilities. 25 January 1970
306 – Asceticism is no doubt very healing, a cave very peaceful and the hill-tops wonderfully pleasant; nevertheless do thou act in the world as God intended thee.
Sri Aurobindo shows us that one can be an ascetic by preference and not out of abnegation; and so he makes us understand that to be a servant of the Lord and to act only according to His will is a far higher state than any personal choice, no matter how saintly it may seem. 26 January 1970
307 – Three times God laughed at Shankara, first, when he returned to burn the corpse of his mother, again, when he commented on the Isha Upanishad and the third time when he stormed about India preaching inaction.
The Lord laughed when this man, who thought himself so wise, complied with conventions, wrote useless words and gave an example of overactivity in order to preach inaction. 27 January 1970 ¹.Later, Mother added, “For women, in ordinary life, the ideal is good health and harmony.” Page - 302 308 – Men labour only after success and if they are fortunate enough to fail, it is because the wisdom and force of Nature overbear their intellectual cleverness. God alone knows when and how to blunder wisely and fail effectively.
309 – Distrust the man who has never failed and suffered; follow not his fortunes, fight not under his banner.
310 – There are two who are unfit for greatness and freedom, the man who has never been a slave to another and the nation that has never been under the yoke of foreigners.
Certain essential qualities can only develop through suffering and difficulties. Men run away from them in their ignorance, but the Supreme Lord imposes them on those He has chosen to represent Him on earth in order to hasten their development for he is the Supreme Wisdom. 28 January 1970 311 – Fix not the time and the way in which the ideal shall be fulfilled. Work and leave time and way to God all-knowing.
312 – Work as if the ideal had to be fulfilled swiftly and in thy lifetime; persevere as if thou knewest it not to be unless purchased by a thousand years yet of labour. That which thou darest not expect till the fifth Page - 303 millennium, may bloom out with tomorrow's dawning and that which thou hopest and lustest after now, may have been fixed for thee in thy hundredth advent.
This is exactly the attitude we should all have towards transformation: as much energy and ardour as if we were certain of achieving it in our present life, as much patience and endurance as if we needed centuries to realise it. 29 January 1970
313 – Each man of us has a million lives yet to fulfil upon earth. Why then this haste and clamour and impatience?
314 – Stride swiftly, for the goal is far; rest not unduly, for thy Master is waiting for thee at the end of thy journey.
Here again, as always, Sri Aurobindo sees every aspect of the question and while preaching calm and patience to the restless, he rouses and preaches energy to the indolent. In the union of opposites lies true wisdom and total effectiveness. 30 January 1970
315 – I am weary of the childish impatience which cries and blasphemes and denies the ideal because the Golden Mountains cannot be reached in our little day or in a few momentary centuries.
316 – Fix thy soul without desire upon the end and insist on it by the divine force within thee; then shall the end itself create its means, nay, it shall become its own means. For the end is Brahman and already accomplished; Page - 304 see it always as Brahman, see it always in thy soul as already accomplished.
Certainly, we all carry in our souls the divine end of the eternal journey, and our personal incapacity is the only thing that prevents us from being immediately aware of it. Total and unconditional surrender to the Supreme Lord (Brahman) is the sole and wonderful way to cure this incapacity. 1 February 1970
317 – Plan not with the intellect, but let thy divine sight arrange thy plans for thee. When a means comes to thee as the thing to be done, make that thy aim; as for the end, it is, in the world, accomplishing itself and, in thy soul, already accomplished.
318 – Men see events as unaccomplished, to be striven for and effected. This is false seeing; events are not effected, they develop. The event is Brahman, already accomplished from of old, it is now manifesting.
One could say it in this way: everything exists from all eternity, and we become conscious of it progressively in what we call the material world. This way of seeing and speaking is a complete reversal of the ordinary human consciousness. 2 February 1970
319 – As the light of a star reaches the earth hundreds of years after the star has ceased to exist, so the event already accomplished in Brahman at the beginning manifests itself now in our material experience. Page - 305 Yes, but the will of Brahman that we should take part in this event dates back to the same moment and their relation remains the same. So the only thing that matters is not to act on personal impulse, but on the order received from Brahman. 4 February 1970
320 – Governments, societies, kings, police, judges, institutions, churches, laws, customs, armies are temporary necessities imposed on us for a few groups of centuries because God has concealed His face from us. When it appears to us again in its truth and beauty, then in that light they will vanish.
321 – The anarchic is the true divine state of man in the end as in the beginning; but in between it would lead us straight to the devil and his kingdom.
The Anarchic state is the self-government of each individual. And it will be the perfect government only when each one becomes conscious of the inner Divine and obeys Him and Him alone. 5 February 1970
322 – The communistic principle of society is intrinsically as superior to the individualistic as is brotherhood to jealousy and mutual slaughter; but all the practical schemes of Socialism invented in Europe are a yoke, a tyranny and a prison.
323 – If communism ever re-establishes itself successfully upon earth, it must be on a foundation of soul's brotherhood and the death of egoism. A forced association and a mechanical comradeship would end in a world-wide fiasco. Page - 306 324 – Vedanta realised is the only practicable basis for a communistic society. It is the kingdom of the saints dreamed of by Christianity, Islam and Puranic Hinduism.
As Sri Aurobindo tells us so well, individualism is a kind of self-justified jealousy, the reign of each one for himself. But the only true remedy is the exclusive and universal reign of the Supreme Lord, present and conscious in all beings, with a transitional government by those who are truly conscious of Him and entirely surrendered to His will. 7 February 1970
325 – “Freedom, equality, brotherhood,” cried the French revolutionists, but in truth freedom only has been practised with a dose of equality; as for brotherhood, only a brotherhood of Cain was founded – and of Barabbas. Sometimes it calls itself a Trust or Combine and sometimes the Concert of Europe.
326 – “Since liberty has failed,” cries the advanced thought of Europe, “let us try liberty cum equality or, since the two are a little hard to pair, equality instead of liberty. For brotherhood, it is impossible; therefore we will replace it by industrial association.” But this time also, I think, God will not be deceived.
As yet liberty, equality, fraternity are only words loudly proclaimed but never yet put into practice, and they cannot be put into practice so long as men remain what they are, ruled by their ego and all its desires instead of being ruled only by the One Supreme and supremely Divine. 8 February 1970 Page - 307 |