{"id":1058,"date":"2013-07-13T01:32:18","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1058"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:32:18","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:18","slug":"76-passing-thoughts-26-2-1910-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\/76-passing-thoughts-26-2-1910-vol-02-karmayogin-volume-02","title":{"rendered":"-76_Passing Thoughts 26-2-1910.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\nPassing Thoughts<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\nVolume I – Feb.
\n26, 1910 – No. 34<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n


\n Great
\n Consequences<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nT<\/font>he events that
\nsway the world are often the results of trivial circumstances. When immense
\nchanges and irresistible movements are in progress, it is astonishing how a
\nsingle event, often a chance event, will lead to a train of circumstances that
\nalter the face of a country or the world. At such times a slight turn this way
\nor that produces results out of all proportion to the cause. It is on such
\noccasions that we feel most vividly the reality of a Power which disposes of
\nevents and defeats the calculations of men. The end of many things is brought
\nabout by the sudden act of a single individual. A world vanishes, another is
\ncreated almost at a touch. Certainty disappears and we begin to realise what
\nthe pralaya<\/i> of the Hindus, the
\npassage from one age to another, really
\nmeans and how true is the idea that it is by rapid transitions long-prepared
\nchanges are induced. Such a change now impends all over the world, and in
\nalmost all countries events are happening, the final results of which the actors
\ndo not foresee. Small incidents pass across the surface of great countries and
\nsome of them pass and are forgotten, others precipitate the future. In England,
\nin Prussia, in Greece, still more in Turkey, Persia and China a slight movement
\nof one or two men may be sufficient at the present moment to alter the
\ndestinies of the country.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n The
\n Egyptian Murder<\/a><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The assassination of Boutros
\nPasha in Egypt has the chance of being one of these momentous events. In itself
\nit is an incident which has happened in many countries without disturbing the
\nmarch of ordinary events. The lives of rulers are always open to this peril
\nfrom the fanatic, the personal enemy with a grudge, the<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Page \u2013 406<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

crank
\nor the lunatic. In England itself the lives of ruling men or princes have been
\ntaken or attempted. But these are not ordinary times and Egypt is not in a
\nnormal condition. Hitherto the Egyptian question has not been acute. There is a
\nstrong Nationalist sentiment which grows with time, the Denshawi incident has left wounds behind, but, beyond the mere
\nfact of the presence of the foreigner, there seems to be no specific grievance
\nwhich could give intensity of feeling or a formidable shape to the vague
\ndiscontent and the perfectly natural general aspiration. If the virtual ruler
\nof Egypt is well advised, the act of a solitary assassin need not provide
\nanything but a few days’ unhealthy excitement \u2014 it need not be the spark in the
\npower magazine. But if Sir Eldon Gorst allows himself to be swayed into providing
\nthe Egyptian with specific causes of discontent, he may succeed in adding an
\nEgyptian difficulty to the permanent burdens of England. The mind of rulers at
\nsuch seasons are moved rather by impulses beyond their control than by that
\ncalm thought which would guide them in ordinary times. We know what Lord Cromer would have done; it is to be seen what a
\nhigher Power impels Sir Eldon Gorst to do;
\nfor on the reception of an event and not on the event itself its consequences
\ndepend.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n\t
\n Great
\n Preparations<\/a><\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Conversely, at
\nsuch times great preparations, at least in the initial stages of the change,
\nlead to nothing or very little. Pompous associations, largely attended
\nconferences, earnest and careful deliberations all end in smoke; they vanish,
\nleaving no trace behind. This is largely because these great preparations
\neither take their stand on the chimaera that
\nthe past can be restored, or they anchor themselves on the permanency of
\npresent conditions. But in these periods things move so rapidly that
\nyesterday’s conditions entirely disappear today and today’s have no surety of
\nbeing in existence tomorrow. Under such circumstances the rule of the Gita becomes almost a necessity, to do one’s duty
\naccording to one’s lights and leave the results to God. For, when we attempt to
\ngaze into the immediate future, the one<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Page \u2013 407<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n


\ncomment that suggests itself is in the
\nHomeric phrase,<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n"These things lie on the knees of the
\nGods."<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n\t
\n Revelation
\n in Jail<\/a><\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Revelation is a
\nthing Religion powerfully asserts, Science
\nas powerfully denies. According to our ideas in this country, man has a
\nfaculty, latent in him but easily developed through the various means grouped
\nunder the expression Sadhana, by which he is
\nable to see spiritually and get the revelation of things not discernible by
\nthe reason. Srijut Krishna Kumar Mitra in
\nrelating his spiritual experiences in Agra
\njail dwelt on the revelation of the omnipresent and merciful God which was
\ncontinually with him in his imprisonment. He had what we call the pratyaksa darśan<\/i>. This is a thing the
\npossibility of which our wise men trained in European enlightenment think it a
\nvery intellectual thing to deny. On a similar occasion the Indian Social
\nReformer <\/i>sneered at the experience, declared that God reveals Himself only
\nin His laws and, if we remember right, scoffed at the idea of such a revelation
\nbeing given in such an inappropriate, disreputable and uncomfortable place as a
\njail. It is curious at least that not one but many should have had this
\nexperience recently in precisely similar circumstances and that the various
\nexperiences should have been expressed in almost exactly the same terms. After
\nall, an ounce of experience is worth a ton of theory. Our own belief is that
\nthe motions of the world are travelling towards a signal refutation of the
\natheistic and agnostic attitudes and that India is the place selected for the
\nrevelation. It is for this reason that these experiences are becoming so
\nfrequent in men who are rather men of action than what is generally known as
\npurely religious men, that is to say, who seek God in life and the service of
\nmen and not merely in the closet and the Ashram.
\nA new religion summing up and correcting the old, a religion based not on dogma
\nbut on direct knowledge and experience, is the need of the age, and it is only
\nIndia that can give it to the world.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Page \u2013 408<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Passing Thoughts Volume I – Feb. 26, 1910 – No. 34 Great Consequences   The events that sway the world are often the results of…<\/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-1058","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\/1058","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=1058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1058\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}