{"id":4307,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:04","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4307"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:04","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:04","slug":"18-jnana-69-70-154-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\/18-jnana-69-70-154-vol-10-on-thoughts-and-aphorisms-volume-10","title":{"rendered":"-18_jnana-69-70_154.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

\n154 \u2013 Hell and Heaven exist only in the soul’s consciousness. Ay, but so
\ndoes the earth and its lands and seas and fields and deserts and mountains and
\nrivers. All world is nothing but arrangement of the Soul’s seeing. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n155 \u2013 There is only one soul and one existence; therefore we all see one
\nobjectivity only; but there are many knots of mind and ego in the one
\nsoul-existence, therefore we all see the one Object in different lights and
\nshadows. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n156 \u2013 The Idealist errs; it is not Mind which created the worlds, but
\nthat which created mind has created them. Mind only mis<\/span>-sees,
\nbecause it sees partially and by details, what is created. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

How can idealism help us in our life here? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sri Aurobindo<\/span>
\nseems to be referring here to a school of philosophy which holds that the Idea
\nhas created the worlds. Naturally, this is wrong. <\/span><\/p>\n

Idealists who refuse to be the slaves of
\nMatter need not be proponents of this philosophy and can, by their idealism,
\nhelp men to be no more the slaves of material desires.
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n22 September 1969<\/font><\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n


\n157<\/a> \u2013 Thus said Ramakrishna and thus said Vivekananda. Yes, but let me
\nknow also the truths which<\/span> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage – 254<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\nthe Avatar cast not forth into speech and the prophet has omitted from
\nhis teachings. There will always be more in God than the thought of man has
\never conceived or the tongue of man has ever uttered. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n158 \u2013 What was Ramakrishna? God manifest in a human being; but behind
\nthere is God in His infinite impersonality and His universal Personality. And
\nwhat was Vivekananda? A radiant glance from the eye of Shiva; but behind him is
\nthe divine gaze from which he came and Shiva himself and Brahma and Vishnu and
\nOM all-exceeding. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Will the Avatars still need to take birth on earth once the supramental<\/span> consciousness is firmly established? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

This question will be easier to answer
\nwhen the supermind<\/span> is manifested in living beings on
\nearth. <\/span><\/p>\n

I had always heard that Sri Aurobindo<\/span> was \u201cthe last Avatar\u201d; but he is probably the last
\nAvatar in a human body \u2013 afterwards, we do not know….\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\u00a0<\/font><\/span>23 September 1969 <\/span><\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n159<\/a> \u2013 He who recognises<\/span> not Krishna, the God
\nin man, knows not God entirely; he who knows Krishna only, knows not even
\nKrishna. Yet is the opposite truth also wholly true that if thou canst see all
\nGod in a little pale unsightly and scentless flower, then hast thou hold of His
\nsupreme reality. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Once one has taken the path of Sri Aurobindo’s<\/span>
\nyoga, should not one stop worshipping all other gods and goddesses? <\/span><\/i>
\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 255<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

One who truly follows the path given by
\nSri Aurobindo<\/span>, as soon as he begins to have the
\nexperience of this path, will find it impossible to confine his consciousness
\nto the worship of any god or goddess or even of all of them together.  <\/span><\/p>\n


\n
\n\u00a0<\/font><\/span><\/i>26<\/font><\/span><\/i> <\/font>
\nSeptember
\n 1969<\/font><\/i><\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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

\n160<\/a> \u2013 Shun the barren snare of an empty metaphysics and the dry dust of
\nan unfertile intellectuality. Only that knowledge is worth having which can be
\nmade use of for a living delight and put out into temperament, action, creation
\nand being. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n161 \u2013 Become and live the knowledge thou hast; then is thy knowledge the
\nliving God within thee. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

How far can intellectual culture help us on our path? <\/span><\/i><\/span><\/u><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

If intellectual culture is carried to its furthest
\nlimit, it leads the mind to the unsatisfactory acknowledgement that it is
\nincapable of knowing the Truth and, in those who aspire sincerely, to the
\nnecessity of being quiet and opening in silence to the higher regions which can
\ngive you knowledge. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n27 September 1969 <\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n162<\/a> \u2013 Evolution is not finished; reason is
\nnot the last word nor the reasoning animal the supreme figure of Nature. As man
\nemerged out of the animal, so out of man the superman emerges. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I would like to see the English to know which
\ntense Sri Aurobindo<\/span> used for the verb \u00e9merge<\/i><\/span> \u2013 whether
\nit is present or future? <\/span><\/p>\n

If it is in the future, it is a promise we
\nall know and for<\/span><\/p>\n

\n Page – 256<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>whose realisation<\/span> we
\nare working. If it is in the present\u2026 I have nothing to add.
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n29 September 1969 <\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n163<\/a> \u2013 The power to observe law rigidly is the basis of freedom;
\ntherefore in most disciplines the soul has to endure and fulfil<\/span>
\nthe law in its lower members before it can rise to the perfect freedom of its
\ndivine being. Those disciplines which begin with freedom are only for the
\nmighty ones who are naturally free or in former lives have founded their
\nfreedom. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n164 \u2013 Those who are deficient in the free, full and intelligent
\nobservation of a self-imposed law, must be placed in subjection to the will of
\nothers. This is one principal cause of the subjection of nations. After their
\ndisturbing egoism has been trampled under the feet of a master, they are given
\nor, if they have force in them, attain a fresh chance of deserving liberty by
\nliberty. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

What are these disciplines which \u201cbegin with freedom\u201d that Sri Aurobindo<\/span> speaks of here? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I suppose that Sri Aurobindo<\/span>
\nis referring to the various disciplines of initiation practised<\/span>
\nin the various initiatory schools in the days when they had some importance and
\nauthority. <\/span><\/p>\n

Our age has become very materialistic and
\nno longer gives the same importance and authority to these schools.
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n30 September 1969 <\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n165<\/a> \u2013 To observe the law we have imposed on ourselves rather than the
\nlaw of others is what is meant by liberty in our unregenerate condition. Only
\nin God and<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 257<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\nby the supremacy of the spirit can we enjoy a perfect freedom. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

True liberty is to be in constant union
\nwith the Divine and to do only what the Divine wants us to do. <\/span><\/p>\n

But until then, it is better to impose on
\nourselves a higher law of action and conduct and to observe it scrupulously
\nrather than to obey the law of other men or of moral and social conventions.
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n1 October 1969 <\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

When one lives in a community, does it not often become necessary to
\nobey laws imposed by others instead of following the disciplines one would wish
\nfor oneself? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is obvious that if you have chosen or
\naccepted to live in a community, you must observe the laws of that community,
\notherwise you become an element of disorder and confusion. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>But
\na discipline willingly accepted cannot be harmful to the inner development and
\nthe growth of the higher consciousness. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/font> <\/span>
\n3 October 1969<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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

\n166<\/a> \u2013 The double law of sin and virtue is imposed on us because we have
\nnot that ideal life and knowledge within which guides the soul spontaneously
\nand infallibly to its self-fulfilment<\/span>. The law of sin
\nand virtue ceases for us when the sun of God shines upon the soul in truth and
\nlove with its unveiled splendour<\/span>. Moses is replaced
\nby Christ, the Shastra<\/span> by the Veda.\u00b9 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Do you think this idea of sin and virtue has done
\nhumanity any good? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b9 Shastra<\/span>: Scriptures; Veda: Knowledge.<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 258<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

As Sri Aurobindo<\/span>
\nsays, the law of sin and virtue was certainly necessary for the progress of
\nhumanity when it was given several thousand years ago. But today it no longer
\nhas any meaning or usefulness and should no longer be heeded. <\/span><\/p>\n

It belongs to a past which should no
\nlonger have any authority. <\/span><\/p>\n

But for this to be possible, it must be
\nreplaced by a more luminous and truer law and not by disorder and corruption.
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n4 October 1969
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/i>
\n
\n <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

And what is this more luminous law?\u00b9<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Perfect and spontaneous obedience to the
\ndivine order that must replace all law.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\u00a0<\/font><\/span>26 September 1970 <\/span><\/font><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

Is it good to break all moral and social conventions as the new
\ngeneration is doing? Don’t these things have any value?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What has value at one period no longer has
\nany at another as human consciousness goes on progressing. But one must take
\ngreat care to replace a law one no longer obeys by a higher and truer law that
\nfosters progress towards the future realisation<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

One has no right to abandon a law until one
\nis capable of knowing and following a higher and better law. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

P.S. Read again what I wrote yesterday, I
\nhad already explained this to you.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n


\n5 October 1969<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00b9
\n<\/span>This question was asked when these
\ncommentaries were first published in 1970.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 259<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

How can one follow this higher law?<\/span><\/i> \u00b9<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

At every moment, do what God wants. <\/span><\/p>\n


\n26 September 1970<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The goal foreseen by the Divine is always
\nattained, but only those whose consciousness is united with the Divine
\nConsciousness attain it directly and knowingly; the others \u2013 the vast
\nmajority of those who are conscious only of their external being \u2013 attain this
\ngoal only after having made many detours, which often seemed to be going in the
\nopposite direction.  <\/span><\/p>\n


\n6 October 1969<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n168<\/a> \u2013 The Cross is in Yoga the symbol of the soul and nature in their
\nstrong and perfect union, but because of our fall into the impurities of
\nignorance it has become the symbol of suffering and purification.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n169 \u2013 Christ came into the world to purify, not to fulfil<\/span>.
\nHe himself foreknew the failure of his mission and the necessity of his return with
\nthe sword of God into a world that had rejected him. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

In this Aphorism what does the sword of God represent? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>This question was asked when these
\ncommentaries were first published in 1970.<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 260<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

The sword of God is the power that nothing
\ncan resist. <\/span><\/p>\n


\n7 October 1969<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n170<\/a> \u2013 Mahomed’s<\/span> mission was necessary, else we
\nmight have ended by thinking, in the exaggeration of our efforts at
\nself-purification, that earth was meant only for the monk and the city created
\nas a vestibule for the desert. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n171 \u2013 When all is said, Love and Force together can save the world
\neventually, but not Love only or Force only. Therefore Christ had to look
\nforward to a second advent and Mahomed’s<\/span> religion,
\nwhere it is not stagnant, looks forward through the Imams to a Mahdi<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Love alone as preached by Christ failed to
\ntransform man. Force alone as preached by Mahomed<\/span> did
\nnot transform man, far from it. <\/span><\/p>\n

That is why the consciousness which is at
\nwork to transform mankind, unites Force with Love, and the One who must realise<\/span> this transformation will come on earth with the
\nPower of Divine Love.  <\/span><\/p>\n


\n10 October 1969 <\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n172<\/a> \u2013 Law cannot save the world, therefore Moses’ ordinances are dead
\nfor humanity and the Shastra<\/span> of the Brahmins is
\ncorrupt and dying. Law released into freedom is the liberator. Not the Pundit,
\nbut the Yogin<\/span>; not monasticism, but the inner
\nrenunciation of desire and ignorance and egoism. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

This is irrefutably clear and it is
\nexactly what we are trying to do. But human nature is rebellious and finds it difficult
\nto win <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 261<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

freedom at the price of renouncing desire
\nand ignorance and egoism. <\/span><\/p>\n

Most human beings prefer the slavery of
\ndesire and ignorance and egoism to freedom without them. <\/span><\/p>\n


\n13 October 1969 <\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n173<\/a> \u2013 Even Vivekananda once in the stress of emotion admitted the
\nfallacy that a personal God would be too immoral to be suffered and it would be
\nthe duty of all good men to resist Him. But if an omnipotent supra-moral Will
\nand Intelligence governs the world, it is surely impossible to resist Him; our
\nresistance would only serve His ends and really be dictated by Him. Is it not
\nbetter then, instead of condemning or denying, to study and understand Him? <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n174 \u2013 <\/sub>If we would understand God, we must renounce our
\negoistic and ignorant human standards or else ennoble and universalise<\/span>
\nthem. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

To the human way of understanding, the
\nworld is terribly immoral, full of suffering and ugliness, especially since the
\nappearance of the human race. So it is difficult for the human consciousness to
\naccept that this world could be the work of a personal God, because for man it
\nseems to be the work of an omnipotent monster. <\/span><\/p>\n

But Sri Aurobindo<\/span>
\nadds that it is better to try to understand instead of condemning. <\/span><\/p>\n

And surely the best way to understand is
\nto unite with this Supreme Consciousness so as to see as It sees and understand
\nas It understands. This is certainly the only true wisdom. <\/span><\/p>\n

And Yoga is the true way of uniting with
\nthe Supreme.  <\/span><\/p>\n

15 October 1969<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage – 262<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

154 \u2013 Hell and Heaven exist only in the soul’s consciousness. Ay, but so does the earth and its lands and seas and fields and…<\/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-4307","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\/4307","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=4307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

\n167<\/a> \u2013 God within is leading us always aright even when we are in the
\nbonds of the ignorance; but then, though the goal is sure, it is attained by circlings<\/span> and deviations. <\/span><\/p>\n