{"id":4017,"date":"2013-07-13T01:52:53","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4017"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:52:53","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:52:53","slug":"46-the-fool-vol-03-questions-and-answers-volume-03","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/03-questions-and-answers-volume-03\/46-the-fool-vol-03-questions-and-answers-volume-03","title":{"rendered":"-46_The Fool.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n
\nThe Fool <\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Long is the night for one who sleeps not;
\nlong is the road for one who is weary; long is the cycle of births for the fool
\nwho knows not the true law. <\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

If a man cannot find a companion who is his
\nsuperior or even his equal, he should resolutely follow a solitary path; for no
\ngood can come from companionship with a fool. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The fool torments himself by thinking,
\n\u201cThis son is mine, this wealth is mine.\u201d How can he possess sons and riches,
\nwho does not possess himself? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The fool who recognises his foolishness is
\nat least wise in that. But the fool who thinks he is intelligent, is a fool
\nindeed. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Even if the fool serves an intelligent man
\nthroughout his life, he will nevertheless remain ignorant of the truth, just as
\nthe spoon knows not the taste of the soup. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

If an intelligent man serves a wise man,
\nif only for a moment, he will quickly understand the truth, just as the tongue
\ninstantly perceives the savour of the soup. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The fools, those who are ignorant, have no
\nworse enemies than themselves; bitter is the fruit they gather from their evil
\nactions. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The evil action which one repents later
\nbrings only regrets and the fruit one reaps will be tears and
\nlamentations.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/i>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 216<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n

The good action one does not need to
\nrepent later brings no regret and the fruit one reaps will be contentment and
\nsatisfaction. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

As long as the evil action has not borne
\nits fruits, the fool imagines that it is as sweet as honey. But when this
\naction bears its fruits, he reaps only suffering. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Though month after month the fool takes
\nhis food with the tip of a blade of Kusa grass,<\/span><\/i>\u00b9<\/span><\/i> he is not for all
\nthat worth a sixteenth part of one who has understood the truth. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

An evil action does not yield its fruits immediately,
\njust as milk does not at once turn sour; but like a fire covered with ashes,
\neven so smoulders the evil action. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Whatever vain knowledge a fool may have
\nbeen able to acquire, it leads him only to his ruin, for it breaks his head and
\ndestroys his worthier nature. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The foolish monk thirsts after reputation,
\nand a high rank among the Bhikkhus, after authority in the monastery and
\nveneration from ordinary men. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cLet ordinary men and holy ones esteem
\nhighly what I have done; let them obey me!\u201d This is the longing of the fool,
\nwhose pride increases more and more. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

One path leads to earthly gain and quite
\nanother leads to Nirvana. Knowing this, the Bhikkhu, the disciple of the
\nPerfectly Enlightened One, longs no more for honour, but rather cultivates
\nsolitude.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font><\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/span>Kusa grass is considered sacred in India. Taking one’s
\nfood with the tip of a blade of Kusa grass symbolises an act of asceticism.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 217<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/i><\/div>\n

This seems to
\npoint directly to hypocrites who take up the external forms and appearances of
\nwisdom but in their hearts keep all the desires, ambitions, the need for show,
\nand live to satisfy this ambition and these desires instead of living for the
\nonly thing that is worth living for: attainment of the true consciousness,
\nintegral self-giving to the Divine, the peace, the light and the delight that
\ncome from the true wisdom and self-forgetfulness. <\/span><\/p>\n

One could easily
\nreplace throughout this text the word fool by the word ego. One who lives in
\nhis ego, for his ego, in the hope of satisfying his ego is a fool. Unless you
\ntranscend ego, unless you reach a state of consciousness in which ego has no
\nreason for existing, you cannot hope to attain the goal. <\/span><\/p>\n

The ego seems to
\nhave been indispensable at one time for the formation of the individual
\nconsciousness, but with the ego were born all the obstacles, sufferings,
\ndifficulties, all that now appears to us as adverse and anti-divine forces. But
\nthese forces themselves were a necessity for attaining an inner purification
\nand the liberation from ego. The ego is at once the result of their action and
\nthe cause of their prolongation. When the ego disappears, the adverse forces
\nwill also disappear, having no longer any reason for their existence in the
\nworld. <\/span><\/p>\n

With the inner
\nliberation, with a total sincerity and perfect purity, all suffering will
\ndisappear, because it will no longer be necessary for the progress of the
\nconsciousness towards its final goal. <\/span><\/p>\n

Wisdom, then,
\nconsists in working energetically at the inner transformation so that you may
\nemerge victorious from a struggle which will have borne its fruits but will no
\nlonger have any need to exist.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n


\n\u00a0<\/span><\/i>14 March 1958<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 218<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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