{"id":4295,"date":"2013-07-13T01:54:57","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4295"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:54:57","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:54:57","slug":"24-karma-69-70-374-vol-10-on-thoughts-and-aphorisms-volume-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/10-on-thoughts-and-aphorisms-volume-10\/24-karma-69-70-374-vol-10-on-thoughts-and-aphorisms-volume-10","title":{"rendered":"-24_karma-69-70_374.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

<\/p>\n

375 − What is this then thou callest<\/span>
\ndeath? Can God die? O thou who fearest<\/span> death, it is
\nLife that has come to thee sporting with a death-head and wearing a mask of
\nterror. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

376 − There is a means to attain physical immortality and death is
\nby our choice, not by Nature’s compulsion. But who would care to wear one coat
\nfor a hundred years or be confined in one narrow and changeless lodging unto a
\nlong eternity? <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

If a person feels that his work is over in this life and that he has
\nnothing more to offer, wouldn’t it be better for him to die and be born again
\ninstead of dragging out an aimless existence? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

This is what the unsatisfied ego asks
\nitself when it finds that things are not going as it desires.
\n<\/p>\n

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

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

But someone who belongs to the Divine and
\nwants to live in the truth knows that the Divine will keep him on earth as long
\nas He perceives his usefulness on earth and will make him leave the earth when
\nhe has nothing more to do there. So the question cannot arise, and he will live
\nquietly in the certitude of the Divine’s supreme wisdom.  <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n


\n6 March 1970<\/font><\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

You wrote yesterday: \u201cBut someone who belongs to the Divine…\u201d. Doesn’t
\neveryone, whoever he is, belong to the Divine? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

When I say, \u201csomeone who belongs to the
\nDivine\u201d, I mean a being who has abolished the ego within himself, who is
\nconstantly conscious of the Divine, who no longer has any personal will, who
\nacts only under the divine impulsion and who has no <\/span>other aim than to do what the Divine wants him
\nto do.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nPage – 320<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

I do not think there are many people in
\nthis state. And certainly these people will never worry whether their life is
\nuseful or not, since they exist only for and by the Divine and no longer have
\nany personal life.
\n<\/p>\n

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

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


\n7 March 1970<\/span><\/font><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

377<\/a> − Fear and anxiety are perverse forms of will. What thou fearest<\/span> and ponderest<\/span> over,
\nstriking that note repeatedly in thy mind, thou helpest<\/span>
\nto bring about; for, if thy will above the surface of waking repels it, it is
\nyet what thy mind underneath is all along willing, and the subconscious mind is
\nmightier, wider, better equipped to fulfil<\/span> than thy
\nwaking force and intellect. But the spirit is stronger than both together; from
\nfear and hope take refuge in the grandiose calm and careless mastery of the
\nspirit. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

378 \u2013 God made the infinite world by Self-knowledge which in its works
\nis Will-Force self-fulfilling. He used ignorance to limit His infinity; but
\nfear, weariness, depression, self-distrust and assent to weakness are the
\ninstruments by which He destroys what He created. When these things are turned
\non what is evil or harmful and ill-regulated within thee, then it is well; but
\nif they attack thy very sources of life and strength, then seize and expel them
\nor thou diest<\/span><\/span><\/b>. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

When these forces of destruction attack
\nus, it proves that we are ready to be liberated from the ego and to emerge
\nconsciously into the Divine Presence which is at the centre of our being, in
\nfull light, in peace and joy, free at last from the sufferings imposed upon us
\nby the ego. It is the ego which changes all the contacts of life into
\nsuffering, it is the ego which prevents us
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nPage – 321<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

from being conscious of the Divine
\nPresence within us and from becoming His calm, strong and happy instruments.
\n<\/p>\n

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

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

Let us make a complete offering of this
\nego with all its desires to the Divine, let us be confident and wait for the
\nliberation that is sure to come. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n9 March 1970<\/font><\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

379<\/a> − Mankind has used two powerful weapons to destroy its own
\npowers and enjoyment, wrong indulgence and wrong abstinence. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

380 − Our mistake has been and is always to flee from the ills of
\nPaganism to asceticism as a remedy and from the ills of asceticism back to
\nPaganism. We swing for ever between two false opposites. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

381 − It is well not to be too loosely playful in one’s games or
\ntoo grimly serious in one’s life and works. We seek in both a playful freedom
\nand a serious order. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

Excess in any direction is a violence; and
\nonly in peace, poise and harmony can the truth be discovered and lived.  <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n


\n10 March 1970<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

382<\/a> − For nearly forty years behind the wholly good I was weakly
\nin constitution; I suffered constantly from the smaller and the greater
\nailments and mistook this curse for a burden that Nature had laid upon me. When
\nI renounced the aid of medicines, then they began to depart from me like
\ndisappointed parasites. Then only I understood what a mighty force was the
\nnatural health within me and how much mightier yet the Will and Faith <\/span><\/b>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 322<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

exceeding mind which God meant to be the divine support of our life in
\nthis body. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

All the circumstances of life are arranged
\nto teach us that, beyond mind, faith in the Divine Grace gives us the strength
\nto go through all trials, to overcome all weaknesses and find the contact with
\nthe Divine Consciousness which gives us not only peace and joy but also
\nphysical balance and good health.  <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n


\n11 March 1970<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

383<\/a> − Machinery is necessary to modern humanity because of our
\nincurable barbarism. If we must encase ourselves in a bewildering multitude of
\ncomforts and trappings, we must needs do without Art and its methods; for to
\ndispense with simplicity and freedom is to dispense with beauty. The luxury of
\nour ancestors was rich and even gorgeous, but never encumbered. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

384 − I cannot give to the barbarous comfort and encumbered
\nostentation of European life the name of civilisation<\/span>.
\nMen who are not free in their souls and nobly rhythmical in their appointments
\nare not civilised<\/span>. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

385 − Art in modern times and under European influence has become
\nan excrescence upon life or an unnecessary menial; it should have been its
\nchief steward and indispensable arranger. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

So long as the mind governs life with the
\npresumptuous certitude that it knows, how can the reign of the Divine be
\nestablished?  <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n


\n12 March 1970<\/font><\/span><\/i> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 323<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\n
\nDisease
\nand Medical Science <\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n


\nTo
\nbe cured is good, but to avoid being ill is better.<\/font> 
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/span><\/i>\n<\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

How absolutely true!
\n<\/p>\n

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

387 − Medical Science has been more a curse to mankind than a
\nblessing. It has broken the force of epidemics and unveiled a marvellous<\/span> surgery; but, also, it has weakened the natural
\nhealth of man and multiplied individual diseases; it has implanted fear and dependence
\nin the mind and body; it has taught our health to repose not on natural
\nsoundness but a rickety and distasteful crutch compact from the mineral and
\nvegetable kingdoms. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

388 − The doctor aims a drug at a disease; sometimes it hits,
\nsometimes misses. The misses are left out of account, the hits treasured up,
\nreckoned and systematised<\/span> into a science. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

Wonderful !
\n<\/p>\n

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

389 − We laugh at the savage for his faith in the medicine man;
\nbut how are the civilised<\/span> less superstitious who have
\nfaith in the doctors? The savage finds that when a certain incantation is
\nrepeated, he often recovers from a certain disease; he believes. The civilised<\/span> patient<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 324<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

finds that when he doses himself according to a certain prescription, he
\noften recovers from a certain disease; he believes. Where is the difference? <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

One could say in conclusion that it is the
\nfaith of the patient which gives the remedy its power to heal.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

If men had an absolute faith in the
\nhealing power of Grace, they would perhaps avoid many illnesses.
\n <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n


\n13 March 1970<\/font><\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

391 − It is not the medicine that cures so much as the patient’s
\nfaith in the doctor and the medicine. Both are a clumsy substitute for the
\nnatural faith in one’s own self-power which they have themselves destroyed. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

392 − The healthiest ages of mankind were those in which there
\nwere the fewest material remedies. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

393 − The most robust and healthy race left on earth were the
\nAfrican savages; but how long can they so remain after their physical
\nconsciousness has been contaminated by the mental aberrations of the civilised<\/span>? <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

As always Sri Aurobindo’s<\/span>
\nwords are prophetic. For only when humanity is cured of its mental aberrations
\nwill it be able to  <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nPage – 325<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span><\/i>manifest the supramental<\/span>
\nconsciousness and recover the natural health which the mind has lost for it.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n


\n14 March 1970<\/font><\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

394<\/a> − We ought to use the divine health in us to cure and prevent
\ndiseases; but Galen and Hippocrates and their tribe have given us instead an armoury<\/span> of drugs and a barbarous Latin hocus-pocus as our
\nphysical gospel. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

395 − Medical Science is well-meaning and its practitioners often
\nbenevolent and not seldom self-sacrificing; but when did the well-meaning of
\nthe ignorant save them from harm-doing? <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

396 − If all remedies were really and in themselves efficacious
\nand all medical theories sound, how would that console us for our lost natural
\nhealth and vitality? The upas<\/span>-tree is sound in all
\nits parts, but it is still an upas<\/span>-tree.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

397 − The spirit within us is the only all-efficient doctor and
\nsubmission of the body to it the one true panacea. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

398 − God within is infinite and self-fulfilling Will. Unappalled<\/span> by the fear of death canst thou leave to Him,
\nnot as an experiment, with a calm and entire faith thy ailments? Thou shalt<\/span> find that in the end He exceeds the skill of a
\nmillion doctors. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

399 − Health protected by twenty thousand precautions is the
\ngospel of the doctor; but it is not God’s evangel for the body, nor Nature’s. <\/span><\/b>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 326<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

The sovereignty of mind has made humanity
\nthe slave of doctors and their remedies. And the result is that illnesses are
\nincreasing in number and seriousness.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

The only true salvation for men is to
\nescape from mental domination by opening to the Divine Influence which they
\nwill obtain through a total surrender.  <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n


\n15 March 1970<\/font><\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

400<\/a> − Man was once naturally healthy and could revert to that
\nprimal condition if he were suffered; but Medical Science pursues our body with
\nan innumerable pack of drugs and assails the imagination with ravening hordes
\nof microbes. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

401 − I would rather die and have done with it than spend life in
\ndefending myself against a phantasmal siege of microbes. If that is to be
\nbarbarous, unenlightened, I embrace gladly my Cimmerian darkness. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

402 − Surgeons save and cure by cutting and maiming. Why not
\nrather seek to discover Nature’s direct all-powerful remedies? <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

403 \u2013 should take long for self-cure to replace medicine, because of the
\nfear, self-distrust and unnatural physical reliance on drugs which Medical
\nScience has taught to our minds and bodies and made our second nature. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

We cannot counteract the harm done by
\nmental faith in the need for drugs by any external measures. Only by escaping
\nfrom the mental prison and emerging consciously into the light of the spirit,
\nby a conscious union with the Divine, can we enable Him to give back to us the
\nbalance and health we have lost. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nPage – 327<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

The supramental<\/span>
\ntransformation is the only true remedy.  <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n


\n17 March 1970<\/font><\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

404<\/a> − Medicine is necessary for our bodies in disease only because
\nour bodies have learned the art of not getting well without medicines. Even so,
\none sees often that the moment Nature chooses for recovery is that in which the
\nlife is abandoned as hopeless by the doctors. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

405 − Distrust of the curative power within us was our physical
\nfall from <\/span><\/b>
\nParadise<\/span>. Medical Science and a bad heredity are the two angels of God who stand
\nat the gates to forbid our return and re-entry. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

406 − Medical Science to the human body is like a great Power
\nwhich enfeebles a smaller State by its protection or like a benevolent robber
\nwho knocks his victim flat and riddles him with wounds in order that he may
\ndevote his life to healing and serving the shattered body. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

407 − Drugs often cure the body when they do not merely trouble or
\npoison it, but only if their physical attack on the disease is supported by the
\nforce of the spirit; if that force can be made to work freely, drugs are
\nsuperfluous. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n

Sri Aurobindo<\/span>
\ngives us a striking description of the nightmare in which we live, in order to
\nawaken within us an unwearying<\/span> aspiration towards the
\nsalvation that comes from the true consciousness and an exclusive faith in the
\nDivine’s omnipotence.  <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n


\n18 March 1970<\/font><\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 328<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\t\t<\/i><\/p>\n


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

375 − What is this then thou callest death? Can God die? O thou who fearest death, it is Life that has come to thee…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-10-on-thoughts-and-aphorisms-volume-10","wpcat-122-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4295","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=4295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4295\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

390<\/a> − The north-country Indian herdsman, attacked by fever, sits
\nin the chill stream of a river for an hour or more and rises up free and
\nhealthy. If the educated man did the same, he would perish, not because the same
\nremedy in its nature kills one and cures another, but because our bodies have
\nbeen fatally indoctrinated by the mind into false habits. <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

386<\/a> − Disease is needlessly prolonged and ends in death oftener
\nthan is inevitable, because the mind of the patient supports and dwells upon
\nthe disease of his body.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n