{"id":4040,"date":"2013-07-13T01:53:02","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4040"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:53:02","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:53:02","slug":"60-the-just-man-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\/60-the-just-man-vol-03-questions-and-answers-volume-03","title":{"rendered":"-60_The Just Man.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\nThe Just
\nMan <\/font> <\/span><\/i>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

A man
\nis not just if he judges arbitrarily. The wise man is one who distinguishes the
\njust from the unjust, who judges others in full knowledge according to law and
\nequity; this guardian of the Law is called a just man. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The
\nsage is not the man who speaks most. The man who is compassionate, friendly,
\nfearless, is called a sage. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

It is
\nnot by much speaking that the Doctrine is upheld; but he who has studied the
\nDoctrine, even a little, and mentally realised it, he alone upholds it. He does
\nnot neglect it. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

A man
\nis not a Thera<\/span><\/i>\u00b9<\/span>
\nbecause his hair is grey. He is ripe in years but he has aged fruitlessly. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

But
\none who possesses the truth, virtue, non-violence and self-mastery, who is free
\nfrom all impurity, who is wise, is indeed a Thera. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Neither
\neloquence nor a beautiful appearance grace a man who is jealous, selfish,
\ndeceitful. But one in whom such faults are completely uprooted and destroyed,
\nthat wise man is fully graced by them. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

As
\nfor the man who is undisciplined and untruthful, his shaven head does not make
\nhim an ascetic. Full of desire and greed, how can he be a Samana?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font><\/span> <\/font> <\/span>A senior monk]<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 266<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

He
\nwho is purged of all evil, both great and small, can be called a Samana, for he
\nis purified of all evil.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

A man
\nis not a Bhikkhu simply because he takes alms for his food. The observance of
\nvows is not enough to make him a Bhikkhu. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

But
\nhe who is above both good and evil, who leads a pure life, who walks with
\nunderstanding in this world, he can be called a Bhikkhu. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

One
\nwho observes silence does not by that become a sage, if he is ignorant and
\nfoolish; but he who can weigh good and evil as in a balance and make his
\nchoice, him one can call a sage. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

He
\nwho by contemplation measures this world and the other, he is a sage. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

A man
\nwho does harm to living creatures does not become a Noble One. One who
\npractises non-violence towards all creatures is called a Noble One. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

It is
\nneither by moral precepts and observances, nor by a wide knowledge, nor by
\npractising meditation, nor by a solitary life, nor by thinking, \u201cI have
\nattained the bliss of liberation which is unknown to those who live in the
\nworld\u201d, that one can be called a Bhikkhu. Be on your guard, O Bhikkhus, until
\nyou have attained the extinction of all desire. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

We shall take the last text. It is an interesting one. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is neither by moral precepts and observances, nor by a wide
\nknowledge, nor by practising meditation, nor by a solitary life, nor by
\nthinking\u201d, that one attains the true bliss; it is by <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 267<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

getting rid of all desires. Certainly it is not easy to get rid of
\nall desires, it sometimes needs a whole lifetime. But to tell the truth, it
\nseems to be a very negative way, although at a certain stage of development, it
\nis a discipline which it is very useful, even indispensable to practise, if one
\ndoes not want to deceive oneself. Because at first you begin by getting rid of
\nthe major desires, those that are most obvious and trouble you so much that you
\ncannot even have any illusions about them; then come subtler desires that take
\nthe form of things that have to be done, that are necessary, even at times of
\ncommands from within, and it requires time and much sincerity to discover and
\novercome them; at last it seems as if you had done away with these wretched
\ndesires in the material world, in external things, in the world of feelings, in
\nthe emotions and sentiments, in the mental world as regards ideas, and then you
\nfind them again in the spiritual world, and there they are far more dangerous,
\nmore subtle, more penetrating and much more invisible and covered by such a
\nsaintly appearance that one dare not call them desires.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And when one has succeeded in overcoming
\nall that, in discovering, dislodging and getting rid of them, even then one has
\ndone only the negative side of the work. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Buddha said or has been made to say
\nthat when one is free from all desire, one necessarily enters into infinite
\nbliss. This bliss may be a little dry and anyway it does not seem to me to be the
\nquickest way. <\/span><\/p>\n

If at the outset one were to seize the
\nproblem bodily, jump into it with courage and determination and, instead of
\nundertaking a long, arduous, painful, disappointing hunt after desires, one
\ngives oneself simply, totally, unconditionally, if one surrenders to the
\nSupreme Reality, to the Supreme Will, to the Supreme Being, putting oneself
\nentirely in His hands, in an upsurge of the whole being and all the elements of
\nthe being, without calculating, that would be the swiftest and the most radical
\nway to get rid of the ego. People will say that it is difficult to do it, but
\nat least a warmth is there, an ardour, an enthusiasm, a light, <\/span>
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 268<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

a beauty, an ardent and creative life. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is true that without desire nothing
\nmuch remains to sustain the ego and one has the impression that the
\nconsciousness becomes so hardened that if the ego crumbles into dust, then
\nsomething of one’s self also falls into dust and one is ready to enter into a
\nNirvana which is annihilation pure and simple. <\/span><\/p>\n

But what we consider here as the true
\nNirvana is the disappearance of the ego into the splendour of the Supreme. And
\nthis way is what I call the positive way, the self-giving that is integral,
\ntotal, perfect, without reserve, without bargaining. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the mere fact of not thinking of
\noneself, not existing for oneself, referring nothing to oneself, thinking only
\nof what is supremely beautiful, luminous, delightful, powerful, compassionate
\nand infinite, there is such a profound delight that nothing can be compared to
\nit. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is the only thing that deserves…
\nthat is worthy of being attempted. All the rest is only marking time. <\/span><\/p>\n

The difference is between climbing a
\nmountain by going round and round, slowly, laboriously, step by step, for
\nhundreds of years, and spreading invisible wings and soaring straight to the
\nsummit.  <\/span><\/p>\n

20 June 1958<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 269<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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