{"id":1039,"date":"2013-07-13T01:32:11","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1039"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:32:11","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:11","slug":"17-the-doctrine-of-sacrifice-vol-02-karmayogin-volume-02","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/02-karmayogin-volume-02\/17-the-doctrine-of-sacrifice-vol-02-karmayogin-volume-02","title":{"rendered":"-17_The Doctrine of Sacrifice.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\nThe Doctrine of Sacrifice<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nT<\/b><\/font>HE
\n<\/b><\/span>genius of self-sacrifice is not common to all nations and to all individuals; it is rare and precious, it is the flowering of
\nmankind’s ethical growth, the evidence of our gradual rise from the
\nself-regarding animal to the selfless divinity. A man capable of
\nself-sacrifice, whatever his other sins, has left the animal behind him; he has the stuff in him of a future and higher
\nhumanity. A nation capable of a national act of self-sacrifice ensures its
\nfuture.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Self-sacrifice involuntary or veiled by forms of selfishness is,
\nhowever, the condition of our existence. It has been a gradual growth in
\nhumanity. The first sacrifices are always selfish \u2014 they involve the sacrifice
\nof others for one’s own advancement. The first step forward is taken by the
\ninstinct of animal love in the mother who is ready to sacrifice
\nher life for the young, by the instinct of protection in the male who is ready
\nto sacrifice his life for his mate. The growth of this instinct is the sign of
\nan enlargement in the conception of the self. So long as there is
\nidentification of self only with one’s own body and its desires, the state of
\nthe
\njīva<\/i> is unprogressive
\nand animal. It is only when the self enlarges to include the mate and the
\nchildren that advancement becomes possible. This is the first human state, but
\nthe animal lingers in it in the view of the wife and children as chattels and
\npossessions meant for one’s own pleasure, strength, dignity, comfort. The
\nfamily even so viewed becomes the basis of civilisation, because it makes
\nsocial life possible. But the real development of the god in man does not begin
\nuntil the family becomes so much dearer than the life of the body that a man is
\nready to sacrifice himself for it and give up his ease or even his life for its
\nwelfare or its protection. To give up one’s ease for the family, that is a
\nstate which most men have attained; to give
\nup one’s life for the honour of the wife or the safety of the home is an act of
\na higher nature of which man is capable in individuals, in classes, but not in
\nthe mass. Beyond the family comes the com- <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 107<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

munity and the next step in the enlargement of the self is when the
\nidentification with the self in the body and the self in the family gives way
\nto the identification with the self in the community. To recognise that the
\ncommunity has a larger claim on a man than his family is the first condition of
\nthe advance to the social condition. It corresponds to the growth of the tribe
\nout of the patriarchal family and to the perfection of those communal institutions
\nof which our village community was a type. Here again, to be always prepared to
\nsacrifice the family interest to the larger interest of the community must be
\nthe first condition of communal life and to give one’s life for the safety of
\nthe community, the act of divinity which marks the consummation of the
\nenlarging self in the communal idea. The next enlargement is to the self in the
\nnation. The evolution of the nation is the growth which is most important now
\nto humanity, because human selfishness, family selfishness, class selfishness
\nhaving still deep roots in the past must learn to efface themselves in the
\nlarger national self in order that the God in humanity may grow. Therefore it is
\nthat Nationalism is the dharma<\/i> of the
\nage, and God reveals himself to us in our common Mother. The first attempts to
\nform a nationality were the Greek city, the Semitic or Mongolian monarchy, the
\nCeltic clan, the Aryan kula<\/i> or jāti<\/i>. It was the mixture of all these ideas
\nwhich went to the formation of the mediaeval nation and evolved the modern
\npeoples. Here again, it is the readiness to sacrifice self-interest, family
\ninterest, class interest to the larger national interest which is the condition
\nof humanity’s fulfilment in the nation and to die for its welfare or safety is
\nthe supreme act of self-consummation in the larger national ego. There is a yet
\nhigher fulfilment for which only a few individuals have shown themselves ready,
\nthe enlargement of the self to include all humanity. A step forward has been
\ntaken in this direction by the self-immolation of a few to humanitarian
\nideals, but to sacrifice the interests of the nation to the larger interest of
\nhumanity is an act of which humanity in the mass is not yet capable. God
\nprepares, but He does not hasten the ripening of the fruit before its season. A
\ntime will come when this also will be possible, but the time is not yet. Nor
\nwould it be well for humanity if it came before the other and lesser identification
\nwere<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 108<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n


\ncomplete;
\nfor that would necessitate retrogression in order to secure the step which has
\nbeen omitted. The advance of humanity is a steady progress and there is no
\ngreat gain in rushing positions far ahead, while important points in the rear
\nare uncaptured.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

The national ego may easily mean nothing more than collective
\nselfishness. I may be ready to sacrifice money and ease for the country in
\norder to secure my wealth, fame or position and property which depend upon her
\nsecurity and greatness. I may be ready to sacrifice these and more for her
\nbecause of the safety of the home and the hearth which her safety ensures. I
\nmay be ready to sacrifice much for her because her greatness, wealth, ease mean
\nthe greatness, wealth, ease of my community or my class. Or I may be ready to
\nsacrifice everything to secure her greatness because of my pride in her and my
\ndesire to see my nation dominant and imperial. All these are forms of
\nselfishness pursuing man into the wider life which is meant to assist in liberating
\nhim from selfishness. The curse of Capitalism, the curse of Imperialism which
\nafflict modern nations are due to this insistence. It is the source of that
\npride, insolence and injustice which affect a nation in its prosperity and by
\nthat fatal progression which the Greeks with their acute sense for these things
\nso clearly demarcated, it leads from prosperity to insolence and outrage and
\nfrom insolence and outrage to that atē<\/i>, that blind infatuation, which is
\nGod’s instrument for the destruction of men and nations. There is only one
\nremedy for this pursuing evil and it is to regard the nation as a necessary
\nunit but no more in a common humanity.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

There are two stages in the life of a nation, first, when it is
\nforming itself or new-forming itself, secondly, when it is formed, organised
\nand powerful. The first is the stage when Nationalism makes rightly its
\ngreatest demands on the individual, in the second it should abate its demands
\nand, having satisfied, should preserve itself in Cosmopolitanism somewhat as
\nthe individual preserves itself in the family, the family in the class, the
\nclass in the nation, not destroying itself needlessly but recognising a larger
\ninterest. In the struggles of a subject nation to realise its separate
\nexistence, the larger interest can only be viewed in pros-<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 109<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

pect and as a higher inspiration to a broad-minded and generous
\npatriotism. No sacrifice of the nation to the larger interest is possible, for
\nthe nation must exist before it can sacrifice its interests for a higher good.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

We are at present in the first or formative stage, and in this stage
\nthe demand of Nationalism is imperative. It is only by the sacrifices of the
\nindividual, the family and the class to the supreme object of building up the
\nnation that under such adverse circumstances Nationalism can secure the first
\nconditions for its existence. Every act of the new Nationalism has been a call
\nfor suffering and self-sacrifice. Swadeshi was such a call, arbitration was
\nsuch a call, national education was such a call, above all, passive resistance
\nwas such a call. None of these things can be secured except by a general
\nreadiness to sacrifice the individual and the family to the interests of the
\nnation. Nowadays a new call is visibly forming, the call on the higher classes
\nto sacrifice their privileges and prejudices, as the Japanese Samurai did, for
\nthe raising up of the lower. The spread of a general spirit of ungrudging
\nself-sacrifice is the indispensable prelude to the creation of the Indian
\nnation. This truth is not only evident from the very nature of the movement we
\nhave initiated, but it is borne out by the tests of history and experience to
\nwhich we have been recently asked to refer in each individual case before the
\nact of sacrifice is decided. It is by the appeal to history and experience that
\nthe Nationalist party has convinced the intellect, just as by its inspiring
\nideals and readiness to suffer, it has carried with it the heart of the nation.
\nThe demand that we should in every individual case go into a review of the
\nwhole question is excessive and impossible. It is enough if we are generally
\nconvinced of the utility and necessity of sacrifice and feel the individual
\ncall. It must be remembered that we cannot argue from the condition of a people
\nformed, free and prospering to that of a people subject, struggling and
\nmiserable. In the first case the individual is not called to frequent acts of
\nself-sacrifice, but only to those regularly demanded by the nation and to a
\ngeneral readiness for special sacrifice in case of necessity, but in the second
\nthe necessity is a constant quantity. Nor is it a sound principle to demand in
\nsuch circumstances an adequate value for every individual act of courage<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 110<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n


\nand self-denial.
\nIt would indeed be singular for the individuals of. a subject nation asked to
\npay the price of their liberty to say to the Dispenser of karma<\/i>, "You shall give me so much in
\nreturn for every individual sacrifice and we must know your terms beforehand.
\nWe will not trust you to the extent of a single pice worth of result for our
\nsufferings." Not by such men or such a spirit have subject nations been
\ndelivered.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 111<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n
\nHOME<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Doctrine of Sacrifice   THE genius of self-sacrifice is not common to all nations and to all individuals; it is rare and precious, it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-02-karmayogin-volume-02","wpcat-23-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1039\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}