{"id":4308,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:04","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4308"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:04","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:04","slug":"05-jnana-60-61-43-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\/05-jnana-60-61-43-vol-10-on-thoughts-and-aphorisms-volume-10","title":{"rendered":"-05_jnana-60-61_43.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

 <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\n43 \u2013 If God draw me towards Heaven, then, even if His other hand strive
\nto keep me in Hell, yet must I struggle upwards. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Does not God know what He wants for us? Why should He want to pull us in
\ntwo opposite directions? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

God knows perfectly well what He wants for
\nus. He wants to bring us all back to Him in a perfect union. The goal is one,
\nthe same for all; but the means, the methods and the procedures for reaching it
\nare innumerable. There are just as many as there are beings on earth; and each
\none of these means is an exact expression of the will of the Supreme Lord, who,
\nin his integral vision and perfect wisdom, does what is needful for each
\nperson. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>So
\nif someone needs a contradiction, an inner opposition to intensify his
\naspiration and effort, the Lord, in His infinite Grace, even while drawing this
\nbeing upward and giving him the power to rise, will at the same time hold him
\ndown to create in him the resistance needed to intensify his aspiration and
\neffort. <\/span><\/p>\n

And if, like Sri Aurobindo, you can see
\nthat both movements have the same divine origin, then, instead of lamenting and
\nbeing alarmed, you rejoice and keep a firm and luminous faith. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\u00a0<\/font><\/span>19 July 1960 <\/span><\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n


\n44<\/a> \u2013 Only those thoughts are true the opposite of which is also true in
\nits own time and application; indisputable dogmas are the most dangerous kind
\nof falsehoods<\/span><\/i>.
\n<\/i>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Why are indisputable dogmas the most dangerous ones? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The absolute, infinite, eternal Truth is
\nunthinkable for the mind, which can conceive only what is spatial, temporal,
\nfragmentary and limited.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 66<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Thus, on the mental plane the absolute
\nTruth is divided into innumerable fragmentary and contradictory truths which,
\nin their entirety, strive to reproduce, insofar as possible, the original Truth.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

If one element of this totality is taken
\nseparately and affirmed as the only true one, however central or comprehensive
\nit may be, it necessarily becomes a falsehood, since it denies all the rest of
\nthe Total Truth. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is precisely how indisputable dogmas
\nare created and this is why they are the most dangerous kind of falsehood \u2013
\nbecause each one asserts that it is the sole truth to the exclusion of all
\nother truths which, in their innumerable and complementary totality, express
\nprogressively, in the becoming, the infinite, eternal, absolute Truth.
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n27 August 1960 <\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n45<\/a> \u2013 Logic is the worst enemy of Truth, as self-righteousness is the
\nworst enemy of virtue; for the one cannot see its own errors nor the other its
\nown imperfections. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What is the role of logic and reason in our lives? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The best answer I can give to your
\nquestion is this quotation from The
\nSynthesis of Yoga<\/i>: \u201cThe characteristic power of the reason in its fullness
\nis a logical movement assuring itself first of all available materials and data
\nby observation and arrangement, then acting upon them for a resultant knowledge
\ngained, assured and enlarged by a first use of the reflective powers, and
\nlastly assuring itself of the correctness of its results by a more careful and
\nformal action, more vigilant, deliberate, severely logical which tests, rejects
\nor confirms them according to certain secure standards and processes developed
\nby reflection and experience. The first business of the logical reason is
\ntherefore a <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 67<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

right, careful and complete observation of
\nits available material and data.\u201d\u00b9 <\/span><\/p>\n

But in this Aphorism Sri Aurobindo does
\nnot speak of reason. He speaks of logic, which is the partner and instrument of
\nreason. <\/span><\/p>\n

Logic is the art of correctly deducing one
\nidea from another and inferring from a fact all its consequences. But logic
\ndoes not itself possess the capacity to discern the truth. So your logic may be
\nindisputable, but if your starting-point is wrong, your conclusions will also
\nbe wrong, in spite of the correctness of your logic, or rather, because of it.
\nThe same holds true for self-righteousness, which is a feeling of virtuous
\nsuperiority. Your virtue makes you disdainful of others, and this pride \u2013 which
\nfills you with disdain for those who, according to you, are less virtuous than
\nyou are \u2013 makes your virtue completely worthless. <\/span><\/p>\n

That is why Sri Aurobindo tells us in his
\nAphorism that logic is the worst enemy of Truth, just as the feeling of
\nvirtuous superiority is the worst enemy of virtue. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n\u00a0<\/font><\/span>24 August 1960<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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

\n46<\/a> \u2013 When I was asleep in the Ignorance, I came to a place of meditation
\nfull of holy men and I found their company wearisome and the place a prison;
\nwhen I awoke, God took me to a prison and turned it into a place of meditation
\nand His trysting-ground. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Is Sri Aurobindo speaking here of his own experience in prison during
\nhis political life? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes. Sri Aurobindo is referring here to
\nhis experience in Alipore jail. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>But
\nwhat is interesting in this Aphorism is the contrast he points out between the
\nmaterial prison where only his body was <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>The Synthesis of Yoga, Cent. Vol. 21, p.
\n820.<\/font><\/span>
\n<\/font><\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 68<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

confined, while his spirit, unfettered by
\nsocial conventions and prejudice, free from all preconceived ideas and all doctrinaire
\nlimitations, had a direct and conscious contact with the Divine and a first
\nrevelation of the integral Yoga; and, on the other hand, the mental prison of
\nnarrow rules which excludes life and within which people often confine
\nthemselves when they renounce ordinary existence in order to devote themselves
\nto a spiritual life based on traditional dogmatic ideas. <\/span><\/p>\n

So Sri Aurobindo is here, as always, the
\nchampion of the real freedom beyond all rules and limitations, the total
\nfreedom of perfect union with the supreme and eternal Truth.  <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\u00a0<\/font><\/span>24 October 1960 <\/span><\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n47<\/a> \u2013 When I read a wearisome book through and with pleasure, yet
\nperceived all the perfection of its wearisomeness<\/span>,
\nthen I knew that my mind was conquered. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

How is it possible to read a wearisome book with pleasure? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is possible when your pleasure no
\nlonger depends on what you do or what happens to you, when your pleasure is the
\nspontaneous outward expression of the unchanging joy which you carry within
\nyourself with the Divine Presence. Then it is a constant state of consciousness
\nin all activities and in all circumstances. And, as of all wearisome things one
\nof the most wearisome is a wearisome book, Sri Aurobindo gives us this example
\nas an irrefutable proof of the conquest and transformation of the mind. <\/span><\/p>\n


\n10 November 1960
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/i>
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 69<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\n48<\/a> \u2013 I knew my mind to be conquered when it admired the beauty of the
\nhideous, yet felt perfectly why other men shrank back or hated. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

What does \u201cthe beauty of the hideous\u201d mean? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is always the same realisation
\npresented from different angles, expressed through various experiences: the
\nrealisation that everything is a manifestation of the Supreme, the Eternal, the
\nInfinite, immutable in his total perfection and in his absolute reality. That
\nis why, by conquering our mind and its ignorant and false perceptions we can,
\nthrough all things, enter into contact with this Supreme Truth which is also
\nthe Supreme Beauty and the Supreme Love, beyond all our mental and vital
\nnotions of beauty and ugliness, the good and the bad. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Even when we say \u201cSupreme Truth, Supreme
\nBeauty, Supreme Love\u201d, we should give to these words a meaning other than the
\none which is attributed to them by our intellect. It is to emphasise this fact
\nthat Sri Aurobindo writes, paradoxically, the beauty of the hideous.
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n14 November 1960<\/font><\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

What is this other meaning?<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I meant that we cannot conceive the Divine
\nintellectually. It is only when we leave the mental world and enter into the spiritual
\nworld, and, instead of thinking things, we live them and become them, that we
\ncan truly understand them. But even then, when we want to express our
\nexperience we have only those words that express our mental experiences, and in
\nspite of all our efforts these words are inapt to convey what we want to
\nexpress. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>That is why Sri Aurobindo so often uses
\nparadoxes to lift the mind out of the rut of ordinary thinking and, behind the <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 70<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

apparent absurdity of what is said, to
\nmake us see the light of what is felt and perceived.
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n26 November 1960 <\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n49<\/a> \u2013 To feel and love the God of beauty and good in the ugly and the
\nevil, and still yearn in utter love to heal it of its ugliness and its evil,
\nthis is real virtue and morality.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

How can one help to cure the evil and the ugliness that one sees
\neverywhere? Through love? What is the power of love? How can an individual
\nphenomenon of consciousness act on the rest of mankind?\u00b9<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

How can one help to cure evil and
\nugliness?… One may say that there is a kind of hierarchy of collaboration or
\naction: there is a negative help and a positive help. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>To
\nbegin with, there is a way that might be called negative, the way provided by
\nBuddhism and kindred religions: not to see. First of all, to be in such a state
\nof purity and beauty that you do not perceive ugliness and evil \u2013 it is like
\nsomething that does not touch you because it does not exist in you.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is the perfection of the negative
\nmethod. It is quite elementary: never to notice evil, never to speak of the
\nevil in others, not to perpetuate these vibrations by observation, by
\ncriticism, by insistence on what is bad. That is what the Buddha taught: each
\ntime you speak of an evil, you help to spread it. <\/span><\/p>\n

This barely touches the problem. <\/span><\/p>\n

Yet it should be a very general rule. But
\npeople who criticise have an answer for that; they say, If you do not see the
\nevil, you will never be able to cure it. If you leave someone in his ugliness,
\nhe will never get out of it. This is not true, but <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>Oral question and answer.<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 71<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

that is how they justify their behaviour.
\nSo in this Aphorism Sri Aurobindo forestalls these objections: it is not
\nbecause of ignorance or unconsciousness or indifference that you do not see the
\nevil \u2013 you are quite capable of seeing it, even of feeling it, but you refuse
\nto help to spread it by giving it the force of your attention and the support
\nof your consciousness. And for that you must yourself be above this perception
\nand feeling; you must be able to see the evil or the ugliness without suffering
\nfrom it, without being shocked or disturbed by it. You see it from a height
\nwhere these things do not exist, but you have the conscious perception of it,
\nyou are not affected by it, you are free. This is the first step. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The
\nsecond step is to be positively conscious of the supreme Good and supreme
\nBeauty behind all things, which sustains all things and enables them to exist.
\nWhen you see Him, you are able to perceive Him behind this mask and this distortion;
\neven this ugliness, this wickedness, this evil is a disguise of Something which
\nis essentially beautiful or good, luminous, pure. <\/span><\/p>\n

Then comes the true collaboration, for
\nwhen you have this vision, this perception, when you live in this consciousness,
\nit also gives you the power to draw That down into the manifestation, to the
\nearth, and to bring It into contact with what now distorts and disguises, so
\nthat little by little this distortion and this disguise are transformed by the
\ninfluence of the Truth that is behind. <\/span><\/p>\n

Here we are at the very summit of the
\nscale of collaboration. <\/span><\/p>\n

In this way it is not necessary to
\nintroduce the principle of love into the explanation. But if you want to know
\nor understand the nature of the Force or the Power that enables or brings about
\nthis transformation \u2013 particularly where evil is concerned, but also with
\nugliness to a certain extent \u2013 you see that love is obviously the most potent
\nand integral of all powers \u2013 integral in the sense that it applies in all cases.
\nIt is even more powerful than the power of purification which dissolves all bad
\nwill and which is, as it were, the master of the adverse forces, <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 72<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

but which has not the direct power of
\ntransformation. The power of purification first dissolves in order to allow the
\ntransformation afterwards. It destroys one form in order to be able to create a
\nbetter one, whereas love need not dissolve in order to transform; it possesses
\nthe direct power of transformation. Love is like a flame that changes what is
\nhard into something malleable and even sublimates this malleable thing into a
\nkind of purified vapour<\/span> \u2013 does not destroy, it
\ntransforms.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>In
\nits essence, in its origin, love is like a flame, a white flame which overcomes
\nall resistances. You can experience this yourself: whatever the difficulty in
\nyour being, whatever the burden of accumulated error, ignorance, incapacity and
\nbad will, a single second of this pure, essential, supreme love dissolves it as
\nin an all-powerful flame; a single moment and a whole past can disappear; a
\nsingle instant in which you\u00a0 <\/span>touch it in
\nits essence and a whole burden is consumed. <\/span><\/p>\n

And it is very easy to explain how a
\nperson who has this experience can spread it, can act on others; because to
\nhave the experience you must touch the one, supreme Essence of the whole
\nmanifestation, the Origin and the Essence, the Source and the Reality of all
\nthat is; and at once you enter the realm of Unity \u2013 there is no longer any
\nseparation of individuals, there is only one single vibration that can be
\nrepeated indefinitely in external form.\u00b9<\/span><\/p>\n

If you rise high enough, you find yourself
\nat the heart of all things. And what is manifest in this heart can manifest in
\nall things. That is the great secret, the secret of the divine incarnation in
\nan individual form, because in the normal course of things what manifests at
\nthe centre is realised in the external<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>Later the disciple asked Mother: \u201cIs it one single
\nvibration which\u00a0 <\/span>can be repeated
\nindefinitely or which\u00a0 <\/span>is repeated
\nindefinitely?\u201d Mother answered: \u201cI meant several things at the same time. This
\nsingle vibration is static everywhere, but when one realises it consciously,
\none has the power of making it active wherever one directs it; that is to say,
\none doesn’t move anything, but the stress of the consciousness makes it active
\nwherever one directs one’s consciousness.\u201d<\/font><\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 73<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

form only with the awakening and the
\nresponse of the will in the individual form. Whereas if the central Will is represented
\nconstantly and permanently in an individual being, this individual being can
\nserve as an intermediary between this Will and all beings, and will for them.
\nEverything this individual being perceives and offers in his consciousness to
\nthe supreme Will is answered as if it came from each individual being. And if
\nfor any reason the individual elements have a more or less conscious and
\nvoluntary relation with that representative being, their relation increases the
\nefficacy, the effectiveness of the representative individual; and thus the
\nsupreme Action can act in Matter in a much more concrete and permanent manner.
\nThat is the reason for these descents of consciousness \u2013 which we may describe
\nas \u201cpolarized\u201d, for they always come to earth with a definite purpose and for a
\nspecial realisation, with a mission \u2013 a mission which is decided upon,
\ndetermined before the incarnation. These are the great stages of the supreme
\nincarnations on earth. <\/span><\/p>\n

And when the day comes for the
\nmanifestation of supreme love, for the crystallised, concentrated descent of
\nsupreme love, that will truly be the hour of transformation. For nothing will
\nbe able to resist That. <\/span><\/p>\n

But since it is all-powerful, some
\nreceptivity must be prepared on earth so that the effects are not shattering.
\nSri Aurobindo has explained this in one of his letters. Someone asked him, \u201cWhy
\ndoes it not come immediately?\u201d He answered something like this: if divine love
\nwere to manifest in its essence upon earth, it would be like a bombshell;
\nbecause the earth is neither supple nor receptive enough to be able to widen
\nitself to the dimensions of this love. It not only needs to open, but to widen
\nitself and to become more supple \u2013 Matter is still too rigid. And even the
\nsubstance of the physical consciousness \u2013 not only the most material Matter,
\nbut the substance of the physical consciousness \u2013 is too rigid.
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nJanuary 1961<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage – 74<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\n50<\/a> \u2013 To hate the sinner is the worst sin, for it is hating God; yet he
\nwho commits it glories in his superior virtue. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

When we enter into a certain state of consciousness, we see clearly that
\nwe are capable of anything and that in fact there is not a single \u201csin\u201d that is
\nnot potentially our sin. Is this impression correct? And yet we revolt against
\nand feel an aversion for certain things: there is always something somewhere
\nwhich we cannot accept. Why? What is the true attitude, the effective attitude
\nin face of evil? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

There is not a single sin that is not our
\nsin\u2026 You have this experience when for some reason or other \u2013 depending on the
\ncase \u2013 you come into contact with the universal state of consciousness \u2013 not in
\nits limitless essence, but on any level of Matter. There is an atomic
\nconsciousness; there is a purely material consciousness; and there is, even
\nmore, a general psychological consciousness. When by going within, by a kind of
\nwithdrawal from the ego, you come into contact with this zone of consciousness,
\nlet us say, a terrestrial or collective human psychological zone \u2013 there is a
\ndifference, collective human is restrictive, whereas terrestrial includes many
\nanimal movements, even plant movements; but as in the present case the moral
\nnotion of guilt, sin, evil belongs exclusively to the human consciousness, we
\nwill say simply the collective human psychological consciousness \u2013 when you
\ncome into contact with that through this identification, naturally you feel or
\nsee or know that you are capable of any human movement anywhere. It is to some
\nextent a truth-consciousness \u2013 this egoistic sense of what belongs and does not
\nbelong to you, of what you can do and cannot do, disappears at that time; you
\nbecome aware that the fundamental structure of the human consciousness is such
\nthat <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>Oral question and answer<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 75<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

any human being is capable of doing
\nanything at all. And since you are in a truth-consciousness, at the same time
\nyou have the feeling that judgments or aversions, or rejection, are
\nabsurd.\u00a0 <\/span>Everything is potentially there.
\nAnd if certain currents of force \u2013 which you usually cannot trace; you see them
\ncome and go, but as a rule their origin and direction are unknown \u2013 if any one
\nof these currents enters into you, it can make you do anything. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>If
\nyou could always remain in this state of consciousness, after some time \u2013
\nprovided you maintained within you the flame of Agni<\/span>,
\nthe flame of purification and progress \u2013 you would be able not only to prevent
\nthese movements from taking an active form in you and expressing themselves
\nmaterially, but also to act on the very nature of the movement and transform
\nit. But, of course, unless you have attained a very high degree of realisation,
\nit will be practically impossible to maintain this state of consciousness for
\nlong. Almost immediately you fall back into the egoistic consciousness of the
\nseparate self. And then all the difficulties come back: the disgust, the revolt
\nagainst certain things, the horror they arouse in you, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is probable \u2013 it is even certain \u2013 that
\nuntil you are yourself completely transformed, these movements of disgust and
\nrevolt are needed so that you can do in yourself what has to be done to shut
\nthe door. For after all, the problem is not to allow them to manifest
\nthemselves. <\/span><\/p>\n

In another Aphorism Sri Aurobindo says \u2013 I
\nno longer remember his exact words \u2013 that sin is merely some thing which is not
\nin its right place. In this perpetual Becoming nothing ever repeats itself, and
\nthere are things that disappear, so to speak, into the past; and when their
\ndisappearance becomes necessary these things become, for our very limited
\nconsciousness, bad and repulsive. And we revolt against them because their time
\nis over. But if we had the overall view, if we could contain within ourselves
\nthe past, the present and the future all at once \u2013 as it is somewhere above \u2013
\nwe would see the relativity of these things <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 76<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

and that it is above all the progressive
\nForce of evolution that gives us the will to reject; and that wherever they are
\nin their right place, they are quite acceptable. Only, it is practically
\nimpossible to have this experience unless you have the total vision, that is to
\nsay, the vision that belongs to the Supreme alone! Therefore you must first of
\nall identify yourself with the Supreme; then, afterwards, with this
\nidentification, you can return to a sufficiently exteriorised consciousness and
\nsee things as they are. But that is the principle, and to the extent that you
\nare capable of realising it, you reach a state of consciousness where you can
\nlook at everything with a smile of total certitude that everything is as it
\nshould be. <\/span><\/p>\n

Naturally, people who do not think deeply
\nenough will say, \u201cAh, but if we saw that everything is as it should be, nothing
\nwould move!\u201d No, you cannot prevent things from moving! Even for a fraction of
\na second they do not stop moving. It is a continuous, total transformation, a
\nmovement that never ceases. And because it is difficult for us to feel like
\nthis, it is possible for us to imagine that if we were to enter into certain
\nstates of consciousness, things would not change. But even if we were to enter
\ninto an apparently total inertia, things would continue to change and so would
\nwe! <\/span><\/p>\n

Basically, disgust, revolt, anger, all
\nthese movements of violence are necessarily movements of ignorance and
\nlimitation, with all the weakness \u2013 that limitation represents. Revolt is a
\nweakness is the feeling of an impotent will. You will \u2013 or you think you will \u2013
\nyou feel, you see that things are not as they should be and you revolt against
\nwhatever does not agree with what you see. But if you were all-powerful, if
\nyour will and your vision were all-powerful, there would be no occasion for you
\nto revolt, you would always see that all things are as they should be. If we go
\nto the highest level and unite with the consciousness of the supreme Will, we
\nsee, at every second, at every moment of the universe, that all is exactly as
\nit should be, exactly as the Supreme wills it. That is omnipotence. And all
\nmovements<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 77<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

of violence become not only unnecessary
\nbut utterly ridiculous. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Therefore there is only one solution: to unite
\nourselves by aspiration, concentration, interiorisation and identification with
\nthe supreme Will. And that is both omnipotence and perfect freedom at the same
\ntime. And that is the only omnipotence and the only freedom; everything else is
\nan approximation. You may be on the way, but it is not the entire thing. So if
\nyou experience this, you realise that with this supreme freedom and supreme
\npower there is also a total peace and a serenity that never fails. Therefore,
\nif you feel something which is not that, a revolt, a disgust, something which
\nyou cannot accept, it means that in you there is a part which has not been
\ntouched by the transformation, something which has kept the old consciousness,
\nsomething which is still on the path \u2013 that is all. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In this Aphorism Sri Aurobindo speaks of those who hate the sinner. One
\nmust not hate the sinner. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is the same problem seen from another
\nangle. But the solution is the same. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Not to hate the sinner is not so difficult, but not to hate the virtuous
\nis much more difficult. It is easy to understand a sinner, it is easy to
\nunderstand a poor wretch, but the virtuous\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

But in reality, what you hate in them is
\ntheir complacency, it is only that. Because after all they are right not to do
\nevil \u2013 you cannot blame them for that! But because of that they think
\nthemselves superior. And that is what is so difficult to tolerate: their
\nfeeling of superiority, the way in which they look down from their heights on
\nall these poor devils \u2013 who are no worse than they are! <\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, I have seen such marvellous examples
\nof this! <\/span><\/p>\n

Take, for example, a person who has
\nfriends, whose friends<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 78<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

are very fond of her because they see
\nspecial capacities in her, because it is pleasant to be in her company, one can
\nalways learn from her. Then all of a sudden, by a concurrence of circumstances,
\nthis person is shunned by society because she has been with another man or
\nbecause she is living with someone else without being officially married, in
\nshort, because of all these social things which have no value in themselves.
\nAnd all her friends \u2013 I am not speaking of those who truly loved her \u2013 all her
\nacquaintances, all those who received her kindly, who welcomed her and greeted
\nher with a warm smile when they met her in the street, now turn their heads the
\nother way and walk right past her without a glance \u2013 this has happened even
\nhere in the Ashram! I do not want to give any details, but anyway, several
\ntimes something happened which contravened accepted social laws, and people who
\nhad shown so much affection and sympathy \u2013 oh, they would sometimes say, \u201cThis
\nperson is lost!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

When such things happen in the world at
\nlarge, I find it quite natural, but when it happens here, I always get a little
\nshock, in the sense that I say to myself: \u201cWell, well, they haven’t gone beyond
\nthat!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Even people who profess to be
\nbroad-minded, to be above all these \u201cconventions\u201d, fall straight into the trap,
\nimmediately. Then to protect their conscience, they say: \u201cMother does not allow
\nit. Mother does not permit it. Mother does not tolerate it!\u201d \u2013 adding one more
\nstupidity to all the others. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>It
\nis very difficult to get out of this state. This is truly self-righteousness,
\nthis sense of social dignity. But it is narrow-mindedness, because a person
\nwith a little intelligence is not going to be caught out by something like
\nthat. For example, people who have travelled the world and seen that all these
\nsocial rules depend entirely on climate, race, custom, and even more on time
\nand period, can smile at all that. But right-minded people \u2013 phew! <\/span><\/p>\n

It is an elementary stage. Until you come
\nout of this state <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 79<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


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

  43 \u2013 If God draw me towards Heaven, then, even if His other hand strive to keep me in Hell, yet must I struggle…<\/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-4308","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\/4308","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=4308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4308\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}