{"id":1591,"date":"2013-07-13T01:35:53","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1591"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:35:53","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:35:53","slug":"06-the-greatness-of-the-individual-vol-13-essays-in-philosophy-and-yoga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/13-essays-in-philosophy-and-yoga\/06-the-greatness-of-the-individual-vol-13-essays-in-philosophy-and-yoga","title":{"rendered":"-06_The Greatness of the Individual.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\nThe Greatness of the Individual
\n\t<\/font><\/b>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nI<\/font>N ALL<\/b> movements, in every great mass of human
\naction it is the Spirit of the Time, that which Europe calls the Zeitgeist and
\nIndia Kala, who expresses himself. The very names are deeply significant. Kali,
\nthe Mother of all and destroyer of all, is the Shakti that works in secret in
\nthe heart of humanity manifesting herself in the perpetual surge of men,
\ninstitutions and movements, Mahakala the Spirit within whose
\nenergy goes abroad in her and moulds the progress of the
\nworld and the destiny of the nations. His is the impetus which
\nfulfils itself in Time, and once there is movement, impetus
\nfrom the Spirit within, Time and the Mother take charge
\nof it, prepare, ripen and fulfil. When the Zeitgeist, God in
\nTime, moves in a settled direction, then all the forces of the
\nworld are called in to swell the established current towards
\nthe purpose decreed. That which consciously helps, swells it,
\nbut that which hinders swells it still more, and like a wave on
\nthe windswept Ocean, now rising, now falling, now high on
\nthe crest of victory and increase, now down in the troughs of
\ndiscouragement and defeat, the impulse from the hidden Source
\nsweeps onward to its preordained fulfilment. Man may help
\nor man may resist, but the Zeitgeist works, shapes, overbears,
\ninsists.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThe great and memorable vision of Kurukshetra when Sri
\nKrishna manifesting his world-form declared himself as destroying
\nTime, is significant of this deep perception of humanity.
\nWhen Arjuna wished to cast aside his bow and quiver, when
\nhe said, \u201cThis is a sin we do and a great destruction of men
\nand brothers, I will forbear,\u201d Sri Krishna after convincing his
\nintellect of error, proceeded by that marvellous vision described
\nin the eleventh canto of the Gita to stamp the truth of things
\nupon his imagination. Thus run the mighty stanzas: <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013<\/font> 29<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\u201cI am Time who waste and destroy the peoples; lo, I have arisen
\nin my might, I am here to swallow up the nations. Even without
\nthee all they shall not be, the men of war who stand arrayed in
\nthe opposing squadrons. Therefore do thou arise and get thee
\ngreat glory, conquer thy foes and enjoy a great and wealthy
\nempire. For these, they were slain even before and it is I who
\nhave slain them; be the occasion only, O Savyasachin.\u201d <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIt is not as the slow process of Time that Sri Krishna manifests
\nhimself; it is as the Zeitgeist consummating in a moment
\nthe work carefully prepared for decades that He appears to
\nArjuna. All have been moving inevitably towards the catastrophe
\nof Kurukshetra. Men did not know it: those who would
\nhave done everything possible to avert the calamity, helped its
\ncoming by their action or inaction; those who had a glimpse of
\nit strove in vain to stop the wheels of Fate; Sri Krishna himself
\nas the niskāma karmayogin<\/i> who does his duty without regard to results, went on that hopeless embassy to Hastinapura; but the
\nZeitgeist overbore all. It was only afterwards that men saw how
\nlike rivers speeding towards the sea, like moths winging towards
\nthe lighted flame all that splendid, powerful and arrogant Indian
\nworld with its clans of Kings and its weapons and its chariots
\nand its gigantic armies were rushing towards the open mouths
\nof the destroyer to be lost in His mighty jaws, to be mangled
\nbetween His gnashing teeth. In the līlā<\/font><\/i> of the Eternal there are
\nmovements that are terrible as well as movements that are sweet
\nand beautiful. The dance of Brindaban is not complete without
\nthe death-dance of Kurukshetra; for each is a part of that great <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nPage –
\n30<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tharmonic movement of the world which progresses from discord to accord, from hatred and strife to love and brotherhood, from evil to the fulfilment of the evolution by the transformation of   suffering and sin into beauty, bliss and good,
\n\t\t\tśivam<\/i>, śāntam<\/i>,   śuddham<\/i>, ānandam<\/i>
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nWho could resist the purpose of the Zeitgeist? There were strong men in India then by the hundred, great philosophers and Yogins, subtle statesmen, leaders of men, kings of thought and action, the efflorescence of a mighty intellectual civilisation at its height A little turning to the right instead of to the left on the part of a few of these would, it might seem, have averted the whole catastrophe So Arjuna thought when he flung aside his bow He was the whole hope of the Pandavas and without him their victory must seem a mere dream and to fight an act of madness Yet it is to him that the Zeitgeist proclaims the utter helplessness of the mightiest and the sure fulfilment of God’s decree “Even without thee all they shall not be, the men of war who stand arrayed in the opposing squadrons” For these men are only alive in the body; in that which stands behind and fulfils itself they are dead men Whom God protects who shall slay? Whom God has slain who shall protect? The man who slays is only the occasion, the instrument by which the thing done behind the veil becomes the thing done on this side of it That which was true of the great slaying at Kurukshetra is true of all things that are done in this world, of all the creation, destruction  and preservation that make up the
\nlīlā <\/i>  <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe greatness of this teaching is for the great Those who are commissioned to bring about mighty changes are full of the force of the Zeitgeist Kali has entered into them and Kali when she enters into a man cares nothing for rationality and possibility She is the force of Nature that whirls the stars in their orbits, lightly as a child might swing a ball, and to that force there is   <\/i> nothing impossible She is
\n\t\t\taghatana-ghatana-patīyasī<\/i>, very skilful in bringing about the impossible She is the
\n\t\t\tdevātmaśaktih<\/i>   <\/i>  svagunair nigūdhā<\/font><\/i>, the Power of the Divine Spirit hidden in the  modes of its own workings, and she needs nothing but time to carry out the purpose with which she is commissioned She  
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n\t\t\tPage –
\n31<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tmoves in Time and the very movement fulfils itself, creates its means, accomplishes its ends It is not an accident that she works in one man more than in another He is chosen because he is a likely vessel, and having chosen him she neither rejects him till the purpose is fulfilled nor allows him to reject her Therefore Sri Krishna tells Arjuna:
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“The thought which thou thinkest and takest refuge in egoism saying I will not fight, this thy resolve is a vain thing; Nature will yoke thee to thy work” When a man seems to have rejected his work, it merely means that his work is over and Kali leaves him for another When a man who has carried out a great work is destroyed, it is for the egoism by which he has misused the force within that the force itself breaks him to pieces, as it broke Napoleon Some instruments are treasured up, some are flung aside and shattered, but all are instruments This is the greatness of great men, not that by their own strength they can determine great events, but that they are serviceable and specially-forged instruments of the Power which determines them Mirabeau helped to create the French Revolution, no man more When he set himself against it and strove, becoming a prop of monarchy, to hold back the wheel, did the French Revolution stop for the backsliding of France’s mightiest? Kali put her foot on Mirabeau
\n\tand he disappeared; but the Revolution went on, for the Revolution was the manifestation of the Zeitgeist, the Revolution was the will of God
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nSo it is always The men who prided themselves that great events were their work, because they seemed to have an initial hand in them, go down into the trench of Time and others march forward over their shattered reputations Those who are swept forward by Kali within them and make no terms with Fate, they alone survive The greatness of individuals is the greatness of the eternal Energy within  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n\t\t\tPage –
\n32<\/span><\/p>\n

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

The Greatness of the Individual   IN ALL movements, in every great mass of human action it is the Spirit of the Time, that which…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-13-essays-in-philosophy-and-yoga","wpcat-36-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591","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=1591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}