{"id":3764,"date":"2013-07-13T01:51:05","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3764"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:51:05","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:51:05","slug":"05-religion-morality-idealism-and-yoga-vol-02-second-series-1949","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-other-editions\/letters-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-second-series-1949\/05-religion-morality-idealism-and-yoga-vol-02-second-series-1949","title":{"rendered":"-05_Religion Morality Idealism and Yoga.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\nSECTION THREE<\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nReligion, Morality, Idealism & Yoga<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

\n

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

\n
\nSpiritual Evolution\u2014Positivist Scepticism
\nand Faith<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nA<\/i>LL that you say only amounts, on the general issue, to the fact that this is a world of slow
\nevolution in which man has emerged out of the beast
\nand is still not out of it, light out of darkness, and a
\nhigher consciousness out of first a dead and then a
\nstruggling and troubled unconsciousness. A spiritual
\nconsciousness is emerging and it is through this spiritual consciousness that one can meet the Divine. Religions, full of vital and mental, mixed, troubled and
\nignorant stuff, can only get glimpses of the Divine; positivist reason with its questioning based upon
\nthings as they are and refusing to believe in anything that may or will be cannot get any vision at
\nall. The spiritual is a new consciousness that has
\nto evolve and has been evolving. It is quite natural that at first and for a
\nlong time only a few should
\nget the full light, while a greater number but still
\nonly a few compared with the mass of humanity,
\nshould get it partially. But what has been gained by <\/font><\/p>\n

\nthe few can at a stage of the evolution be completed <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 53 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nand more generalised and that is the attempt which
\nwe are making. But if this greater consciousness of light, peace and joy is to be gained, it
\ncannot be by questioning and scepticism which
\ncan only fall back on what is and say: "It is impossible, what has not been in the past cannot be in the future, what is so imperfectly realised as yet
\ncannot be better realised in the future." A faith,
\na will, or at least a persistent demand and aspiration
\nare needed\u2014a feeling that with this and this alone
\nI can be satisfied and a push towards it that will
\nhot cease till it is done. That is why a spirit of scepticism and denial stands in the way, because they
\nstand against the creation of the conditions under
\nwhich spiritual experience can unroll itself…. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nSignificance of the Recent Spiritual History of India<\/b><\/i>
\n<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nI REGARD the spiritual history of mankind and
\nespecially of India as a constant development of a
\ndivine purpose, not a book that is closed, the lines
\nof which have to be constantly repeated. Even <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 54 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthe Upanishads and the Gita were not final though
\neverything may be there in seed. In this development the recent spiritual history of India is a very
\nimportant stage and the names I mentioned had a special prominence in my thought
\nat the time\u2014
\nthey seemed to me to indicate the lines from which
\nthe future spiritual development had most directly
\nto proceed, not staying but passing on. I may say
\nthat it is far from my purpose to propagate any
\nreligion, new or old, for humanity in the future.
\nA way to be opened that is still blocked, not a
\nreligion to be founded, is my conception of the
\nmatter. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n18-8-1935 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nHindu Religion<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nI DO not take the same view of the Hindu religion
\nas J. Religion is always imperfect because it is a
\nmixture of man’s spirituality with his endeavours
\nthat come in in trying to sublimate ignorantly his
\nlower nature. Hindu religion appears to me as a
\ncathedral-temple, half in ruins, noble in the mass, <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 55 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\noften fantastic in detail but always fantastic with a
\nsignificance\u2014crumbling or badly outworn in places,
\nbut a cathedral-temple in which service is still done
\nto the Unseen and its real presence can be felt by
\nthose who enter with the right spirit. The outer
\nsocial structure which it built for its approach is
\nanother matter. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n19-9-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nInadequacy of Religion<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWHAT K says\u2014the central thing\u2014is very correct,
\nas always, the position of all who have any notion of
\nspirituality, though the religionists seem to find
\nit difficult to get to it. But though Christ and Krishna are the same, they are
\nthe same in difference,\u2014that is indeed the utility of so many manifestations instead of there being only one as these
\nmissionaries would have it. But is it really because
\nthe historical Christ has been made too much the
\nfoundation-stone of the Faith that Christianity is
\nfailing? It may be something inadequate in the
\nreligion itself\u2014perhaps in Religion itself; for all <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 56 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nreligions are a little off-colour now. The need of a
\nlarger opening of the soul into the Light is being
\nfelt, an opening through which the expanding
\nhuman mind and heart can follow. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n26-1-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nMoral and Spiritual Law of Action<\/i> <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE principle of life which 1 seek to establish is
\nspiritual. Morality is a question of man’s mind and
\nvital, it belongs to a lower plane of consciousness.
\nA spiritual life therefore cannot be founded on a
\nmoral basis, it must be founded on a spiritual basis.
\nThis does not mean that the spiritual man must be
\nimmoral\u2014as if there were no other law of conduct
\nthan the moral. The law of action of the spiritual
\nconsciousness is higher, not lower than the moral\u2014
\nit is founded on union with the Divine and living
\nin the Divine Consciousness and its action is founded
\n, on obedience to the Divine Will. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n10-9-1935 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 57 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nIdealist Activism and Dynamic Toga<\/i> <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nI HAD never a very great confidence in X’s
\nyoga-turn getting the better of his activism, he has two strong ties that
\nprevent it,\u2014ambition and need to act and lead in the vital, and in the mind a
\nmental idealism; these two things are the great fosterers of illusion. The
\nspiritual path needs a certain amount of realism \u2014one has to see the real value
\nof the things that are, which is very little except as steps in evolution. Then
\none can either follow the spiritual static path of rest and release or the
\nspiritual dynamic path of a greater truth to be brought down into life.  <\/font><\/p>\n

\n12-12-1934 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nProgress of Humanity<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTODAY a Kanchanjangha of correspondence has
\nfallen on my head, so I could not write about
\nHumanity and its progress. Were not the later views
\nof Lowes Dickinson grayed over by the sickly cast
\nof a disappointed idealism? I have not myself an
\nexaggerated respect for Humanity and what it is\u2014 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 58 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nbut to say that there has been no progress at all is
\nas much an exaggerated pessimism as the rapturous
\nhallelujahs of the nineteenth century to a progressive
\nHumanity were an exaggerated optimism. I shall
\nmanage to read through the chapter you sent me,
\nthough how I manage to find time for these things
\nis a standing miracle and a signal proof of a Divine
\nProvidence. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nYes, the progress you are making is of the genuine
\nkind,\u2014the signs are recognisable. And after all,
\nthe best way to make Humanity progress is to move
\non oneself,\u2014that may sound either individualistic or egoistic, but it isn’t: it
\nis only common sense,\u2014
\nas the Gita says: <\/font><\/p>\n

\n              "Whatever the best do is taken as the model
\nby the rest."1<\/sup>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThere are always unregenerate parts tugging
\npeople backwards and who is not divided? But it
\nis best to put one’s trust in the soul, the spark of
\nthe Divine within and foster that till it rises into a
\nsufficient flame. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n1<\/sup> yadyadacarati sresthastattadevetaro janah<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage – 59 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nCollapse of Modem Idealism<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAs<\/i> for your question\u2014Tagore, of course, belonged
\nto an age which had faith in its ideas and whose
\nvery denials were creative affirmations. That makes
\nan immense difference. Your strictures on his later
\ndevelopment may or may not be correct, but this
\nmixture even was the note of the day and it expressed
\na tangible hope of a fusion into something new and
\ntrue\u2014therefore it could create. Now all that
\nidealism has been smashed to pieces by the immense
\nadverse event and everybody is busy exposing its
\nweaknesses\u2014but nobody knows what to put in its
\nplace. A mixture of scepticism and slogans, "Heil-Hitler" and the Fascist Salute and the Five-Year-Plan
\nand the beating of everybody into one amorphous
\nshape, a disabused denial of all ideals on one side and on the other a blind
\n"shut-my-eyes and shut everybody’s-eyes" plunge into the bog in the hope
\nof finding some firm foundation there, will not carry
\nus very far. And what else is there? Until new
\nspiritual values are discovered, no great enduring
\ncreation is possible. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n24-3-1934 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 60 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nIneffective Intellectuals<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT is queer these intellectuals go on talking of
\ncreation while all they stand for is collapsing into
\nthe Meant<\/i> without their being able to raise a finger
\nto save it. What are they going to create, and from
\nwhat material? Besides what use is it all if a Hitler
\nwith his cudgel or a Mussolini with his castor oil
\ncan come at any moment and wash it out or beat
\nit into dust? <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nIntellectuals and Politicians<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nYES, but human reason is a very convenient and
\naccommodating instrument and works only in the
\ncircle set for it by interest, partiality and prejudice.
\nThe politicians reason wrongly or insincerely and
\nhave power to enforce the results of their reasoning
\nso as to make a mess of the world’s affairs: the
\nintellectuals reason and show what their minds
\nshow them, which is far from being always the truth,
\nfor it is generally decided by intellectual preference
\nand the mind’s inborn education-inculcated angle
\nof vision; but even when they see it, they have no
\npower to enforce it. So between blind power and <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 61 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nseeing impotence the world moves, achieving destiny
\nthrough a mental muddle. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nThe Only Way Out<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAs for the detachment of which you speak, it comes
\nby attaining the poise of the Spirit, the equality of
\nwhich the Gita speaks always, but also by sight,
\nby knowledge. For instance, looking at what
\nhappened in 1914\u2014or for that matter, at all that
\nis and has been happening in human history\u2014the
\neye of the Yogin sees not only the outward events
\nand persons and causes, but the enormous forces
\nwhich precipitate them into action. If the men
\nwho fought were instruments in the hands of rulers
\nand financiers, etc., these in turn were mere puppets
\nin the clutch of these forces. When one is habituated
\nto see the things behind, one is no longer prone to
\nbe touched by the outward aspects\u2014or to expect
\nany remedy from political, institutional or social
\nchanges; the only way out is through the descent
\nof a consciousness which is not the puppet of these
\nforces but is greater than they are and can force
\nthem either to change or disappear. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n17-7-1931 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 62 <\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SECTION THREE Religion, Morality, Idealism & Yoga Spiritual Evolution\u2014Positivist Scepticism and Faith   ALL that you say only amounts, on the general issue, to the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-02-second-series-1949","wpcat-99-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3764","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=3764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3764\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}