{"id":4315,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:07","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4315"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:07","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:07","slug":"04-jnana-60-61-29-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\/04-jnana-60-61-29-vol-10-on-thoughts-and-aphorisms-volume-10","title":{"rendered":"-04_jnana-60-61_29.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

\n29 \u2013 I have forgotten what vice is and what virtue; I can only see God,
\nHis play in the world and His will in humanity.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

If everything is God’s will, what is the use of personal will? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In the universe and more particularly upon
\nearth everything is part of the divine plan executed by Nature and everything
\nis necessary for its fulfilment. Personal will is one of Nature’s means of
\naction and indispensable for her working. So personal will is in a way part of
\nGod’s will. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>However, to understand properly, we must first
\nagree on the meaning that is given to the word will. <\/span><\/p>\n

Will, as it is usually conceived, is the
\nelaboration of a thought, to which is added a force, a power of fulfilment
\naccompanied by an impulse to carry it out. That is the description of human
\nwill. Divine will is quite another thing. It is a vision united with a power of
\nrealisation. Divine will is omniscient and omnipotent, it is irresistible and
\nimmediate in its execution. <\/span><\/p>\n

Human will is uncertain, often wavering, always
\nin conflict with opposing wills. It is effective only when for some reason or
\nother it is in accord with the will of Nature \u2013 itself a transcription of the
\ndivine will \u2013 or with the divine will itself, as a result of Grace or Yoga. <\/span><\/p>\n

So one can say that personal will is one
\nof the means that God uses to bring us back to Him.
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n20 April 1960 <\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n30<\/a> \u2013 I saw a child wallowing in the dirt and the same child cleaned by
\nhis mother and resplendent, but each time I trembled before his utter purity. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Can a child keep this purity even when he has grown up? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In theory, it is not impossible, and some
\npeople born away from cities, civilisations and cultures may maintain
\nthroughout the <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage- 54<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

life of their earthly body this
\nspontaneous purity, a purity of the soul that is not obscured by the mind’s
\nworking. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>For
\nthe purity of which Sri Aurobindo speaks here is the purity of instinct, that
\nobeys Nature’s impulses spontaneously, never calculating, never questioning,
\nnever asking whether it is good or bad, whether what one does is right or
\nwrong, whether it is a virtue or a sin, whether the outcome will be favourable
\nor unfavourable. All these notions come into play when the mental ego makes its
\nappearance and begins to take a dominant position in the consciousness and to
\nveil the spontaneity of the soul. <\/span><\/p>\n

In modern \u201ccivilised\u201d life, parents and
\nteachers, by their practical and rational \u201cgood advice\u201d, lose no time in
\ncovering up this spontaneity which they call unconsciousness, and substituting
\nfor it a very small, very narrow, limited mental ego, withdrawn into itself,
\ncrammed with notions of misbehaviour and sin and punishment or of personal
\ninterest, calculation and profit; all of which has the inevitable result of
\nincreasing vital desires through repression, fear or self-justification. <\/span><\/p>\n

And yet for the sake of completeness it
\nshould be added that because man is a mental being, he must necessarily in the
\ncourse of his evolution leave behind this unconscious and spontaneous purity,
\nwhich is very similar to the purity of the animal, and after passing through an
\nunavoidable period of mental perversion and impurity, rise beyond the mind into
\nthe higher and luminous purity of the divine consciousness.
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n31<\/a> \u2013 What I wished or thought to be the right thing does not come about;
\ntherefore it is clear that there is no All-Wise one who guides the world but
\nonly blind Chance or a brute Causality.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

For some people events are always contrary to what <\/span><\/i>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 55<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

they desire or aspire for or believe to be good for them. They often
\ndespair. Is this a necessity for their progress? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Despair is never a necessity for progress,
\nit is always a sign of weakness and tamas<\/i>;
\nit often indicates the presence of an adverse force, that is to say, a force
\nthat is purposely acting against sadhana.\u00b9\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So, in all circumstances of life you must
\nalways be very careful to guard against despair. Besides, this habit of being
\nsombre, morose, of despairing, does not truly depend on events, but on a lack
\nof faith in the nature. One who has faith, even if only in himself, can face
\nall difficulties, all circumstances, even the most adverse, without
\ndiscouragement or despair. He fights like a man to the end. Natures that lack
\nfaith also lack endurance and courage. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sri Aurobindo tells us that for human
\nbeings the degree of success in physical life depends on the degree of harmony
\nbetween the individual and universal physical Nature. Some people have a will
\nwhich is spontaneously in tune with the will of Nature, and they succeed in
\neverything they undertake; others, on the contrary, have a will which is more
\nor less totally out of tune with the will of cosmic Nature and they fail in
\neverything they do or try to do. <\/span><\/p>\n

As for the question of what is necessary
\nfor progress, in an evolving world everything is necessarily a help to
\nprogress; but individual progress extends over a considerable number of lives
\nand through innumerable experiences. It cannot be judged on the basis of a
\nsingle life between birth and death. On the whole, it is certain that the
\nexperience of a life of failure and defeat is just as useful to the soul’s
\ngrowth as the experience of a life of success and victory; even more so, no
\ndoubt, than the experience of an uneventful life, as human existence usually
\nis, in which success and failure, satisfaction and disappointment, plea-<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>The practice of Yoga.<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 56<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

sure and pain mingle and follow one
\nanother \u2013\u00a0 <\/span>a life that seems \u201cnatural\u201d
\nand does not require any great effort.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n4 May 1960 <\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n32<\/a> \u2013 The Atheist is God playing at hide and seek with Himself; but is
\nthe Theist any other? Well, perhaps; for he has seen the shadow of God and
\nclutched at it.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

What does \u201cGod playing at hide and seek with Himself\u201d mean? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In the game of hide and seek, one person
\nhides and the other seeks. So God hides from the atheist who says, \u201cGod? I do
\nnot see him, I do not know where he is; therefore he does not exist.\u201d But the
\natheist does not know that God is also in him; and therefore it is God who is
\ndenying his own existence. Isn’t that a game? And yet a day will come when he
\nwill be brought face to face with himself and will be obliged to recognise that
\nhe exists.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The
\nbeliever thinks himself very superior to the atheist, but all that he has been
\nable to seize of God is His shadow and he clings to this shadow imagining that
\nit is God himself. For if he truly knew God, he would know that God is all
\nthings and in everything; then he would cease to think himself superior to
\nanybody. <\/span><\/p>\n

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


\n11 May 1960
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/i>
\n
\n <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n33<\/a> \u2013 O Thou that lovest, strike! If Thou strike me not now, I shall know
\nthat Thou lovest me not. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I have not understood this Aphorism very well.<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 57<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

All who aspire for the divine perfection
\nknow that the blows which the Lord deals us in His infinite love and grace are
\nthe surest and quickest way to make us progress. And the harder the blows the
\nmore they feel the greatness of the divine Love. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Ordinary men, on the contrary, always ask God
\nto give them an easy, pleasant and successful life. In every personal
\nsatisfaction they see a sign of divine mercy; but if on the contrary they meet
\nwith unhappiness and misfortune in life, they complain and say to God, \u201cYou do
\nnot love me.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

In opposition to this crude and ignorant
\nattitude, Sri Aurobindo says to the divine Beloved, \u201cStrike, strike hard, let
\nme feel the intensity of Thy love for me.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n18 May 1960
\n<\/font> <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n34<\/a> \u2013 O Misfortune, blessed be thou; for through thee I have seen the
\nface of my Lover. <\/span><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

If through misfortune one sees the face of God, then it is no longer
\nmisfortune, is it? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Obviously, far from being a misfortune, it
\nis a blessing. And this is precisely what Sri Aurobindo means. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>When things happen which are not what we
\nexpect, what we hope for, what we want, which are contrary to our desires, in
\nour ignorance we call them misfortunes and lament. But if we were to become a
\nlittle wiser and observe the deeper consequences of these very same events, we
\nwould find that they are leading us rapidly towards the Divine, the Beloved;
\nwhereas easy and pleasant circumstances encourage us to dally on the path, to
\nstop along the way to pluck the flowers of pleasure which present themselves to
\nus and which we are too weak or not sincere enough to reject resolutely, so
\nthat our march forward is not delayed.<\/span><\/p>\n

One must already be very strong, very far
\nalong the way, to<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 58<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

be able to face success and the little
\nenjoyments it brings without giving way. Those who can do this, those who are
\nstrong, do not run after success; they do not seek it, and accept it with
\nindifference. For they know and appreciate the value of the lashes given by
\nunhappiness and misfortune. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>But ultimately the true attitude, the
\nsign and proof that we are near the goal, is a perfect equality which enables
\nus to accept success and failure, fortune and misfortune, happiness and sorrow
\nwith the same tranquil joy; for all these things become marvellous gifts that
\nthe Lord in his infinite solicitude showers upon us.
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n25 May 1960 <\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n35<\/a> \u2013 Men are still in love with grief; when they see one who is too high
\nfor grief or joy, they curse him and cry, \u201cO thou insensible!\u201d Therefore Christ
\nstill hangs on the cross in Jerusalem.<\/span><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n


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

\n36 \u2013 Men are in love with sin; when they see one who is too high for
\nvice or virtue, they curse him and cry, \u201cO thou breaker of bonds, thou wicked
\nand immoral one!\u201d Therefore Sri Krishna does not live as yet in Brindavan.\u00b9 <\/span>
\n<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

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

I would like to have an explanation of these two Aphorisms. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

When Christ came upon earth, he brought a
\nmessage of brotherhood, love and peace. But he had to die in pain, on the
\ncross, so that his message might be heard. For men cherish suffering and hatred
\nand want their God to suffer with them. They wanted this when Christ came and,
\nin spite of his teaching and sacrifice, <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>The village where Sri Krishna spent his childhood, and
\nwhere he danced with Radha and the other Gopis<\/i>.<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 59<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

they still want it; and they are so
\nattached to their pain that, symbolically, Christ is still bound to his cross,
\nsuffering perpetually for the salvation of men. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>As
\nfor Krishna, he came upon earth to bring freedom and delight. He came to
\nannounce to men, enslaved to Nature, to their passions and errors, that if they
\ntook refuge in the Supreme Lord they would be free from all bondage and sin.
\nBut men are very attached to their vices and virtues (for without vice there
\nwould be no virtue); they are in love with their sins and cannot tolerate
\nanyone being free and above all error. <\/span><\/p>\n

That is why Krishna, although immortal, is
\nnot present at Brindavan in a body at this moment.
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n3 June 1960 <\/span><\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n37<\/a> \u2013 Some say Krishna never lived, he is a myth. They mean on earth; for
\nif Brindavan existed nowhere, the Bhagavat\u00b9 could not have been written.<\/span><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

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

Does Brindavan exist anywhere else than on earth? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The whole earth and everything it contains
\nis a kind of concentration, a condensation of something which exists in other
\nworlds invisible to the material eye. Each thing manifested here has its
\nprinciple, idea or essence somewhere in the subtler regions. This is an
\nindispensable condition for the manifestation. And the importance of the
\nmanifestation will always depend on the origin of the thing manifested. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the world of the gods there is an ideal
\nand harmonious Brindavan of which the earthly Brindavan is but a deformation
\nand a caricature. <\/span><\/p>\n

Those who are developed inwardly, either
\nin their senses or in their minds, perceive these realities which are invisible
\n(to the ordinary man) and receive their inspiration from them. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>The story of Krishna, as related in the Bhagavat
\nPurana.<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 60<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

So the writer or writers of the Bhagavat
\nwere certainly in contact with a whole inner world that is well and truly real
\nand existent, where they saw and experienced everything they have described or
\nrevealed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whether Krishna existed or not in a human
\nform, living on earth, is only of very secondary importance (except perhaps
\nfrom an exclusively historical point of view), for Krishna is a real, living
\nand active being; and his influence has been one of the great factors in the
\nprogress and transformation of the earth. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n8 June 1960 <\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n38<\/a> \u2013 Strange! The Germans have disproved the existence of Christ; yet his
\ncrucifixion remains still a greater historic fact than the death of Caesar. <\/span>
\n<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

To what plane of consciousness did Christ belong? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In the Essays
\non the Gita<\/i> Sri Aurobindo mentions the names of three Avatars, and Christ
\nis one of them. An Avatar is an emanation of the Supreme Lord who assumes a
\nhuman body on earth. I heard Sri Aurobindo himself say that Christ was an
\nemanation of the Lord’s aspect of love. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The
\ndeath of Caesar marked a decisive change in the history of Rome and the
\ncountries dependent on her. It was therefore an important event in the history
\nof Europe. <\/span><\/p>\n

But the death of Christ was the
\nstarting-point of a new stage in the evolution of human civilisation. This is
\nwhy Sri Aurobindo tells us that the death of Christ was of greater historical
\nsignificance, that is to say, it has had greater historical consequences than
\nthe death of Caesar. The story of Christ, as it has been told, is the concrete
\nand dramatic enactment of the divine sacrifice: the Supreme Lord, who is
\nAll-Light, All-Knowledge, All-Power, All-Beauty, All-Love, All-Bliss, accepting
\nto assume
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 61<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

human ignorance and suffering in matter,
\nin order to help men to emerge from the falsehood in which they live and
\nbecause of which they die. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n16 June 1960<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n39<\/a> \u2013 Sometimes one is led to think that only those things really matter
\nwhich have never happened; for beside them most historic achievements seem
\nalmost pale and ineffective. <\/span><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

I would like to have an explanation of this Aphorism. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sri Aurobindo, who had made a thorough
\nstudy of history, knew how uncertain are the data which have been used to write
\nit. Most often the accuracy of the documents is doubtful, and the information
\nthey supply is poor, incomplete, trivial and frequently distorted. As a whole,
\nthe official version of human history is nothing but a long, almost unbroken
\nrecord of violent aggressions: wars, revolutions, murders or colonisations.
\nTrue, some of these aggressions and massacres have been adorned with flattering
\nterms and epithets; they have been called religious wars, holy wars, civilising
\ncampaigns; but they nonetheless remain acts of greed or vengeance. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Rarely in history do we find the description
\nof a cultural, artistic or philosophical outflowering.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is why, as Sri Aurobindo says, all this
\nmakes a rather dismal picture without any deep significance. On the other hand,
\nin the legendary accounts of things which may never have existed on earth, of
\nevents which have not been declared authentic by official knowledge, of
\nwonderful individuals whose existence is doubted by the scholars in their
\ndried-up wisdom, we find the crystallisation of all the hopes and aspirations
\nof man, his love of the marvellous, the heroic and the sublime, the description
\nof everything he would like to be and strives to become. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 62<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

That, more or less, is what Sri Aurobindo
\nmeans in his Aphorism. <\/span><\/p>\n


\n22 June 1960 <\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n40<\/a> \u2013 There are four very great events in history, the siege of Troy, the
\nlife and crucifixion of Christ, the exile of Krishna in Brindavan and the colloquy
\nwith Arjuna on the field of Kurukshetra. The siege of Troy created Hellas, the
\nexile in Brindavan\u00b9 created devotional religion (for before there was only
\nmeditation and worship), Christ from his cross humanised Europe, the colloquy
\nat Kurukshetra will yet liberate humanity. Yet it is said that none of these
\nfour events ever happened. <\/span><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

(1)<\/span><\/i> Were the meditation and worship of former
\ntimes the same as those of today?\u00a0 <\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

(2) What does this mean: \u201cthe colloquy at Kurukshetra will yet liberate
\nhumanity\u201d? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

(1) In ancient times, as in our own day,
\neach religion had its own particular kind of meditation and worship. And yet
\neverywhere, always, meditation is a special mode of mental activity and
\nconcentration, only the details of the practice vary. Worship is a series of
\nceremonies and rites that are scrupulously and exactly performed in honour of a
\ndeity. <\/span><\/p>\n

Here Sri Aurobindo refers to the worship
\nand meditation of ancient India, in Vedic and Vedantic times.<\/span><\/p>\n

(2) The colloquy at Kurukshetra is the
\nBhagavad Gita. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sri Aurobindo considers the message of the
\nGita to be the basis of the great spiritual movement which has led and will
\nlead humanity more and more to its liberation, that is to say, to its escape
\nfrom falsehood and ignorance, towards the truth.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>The child Krishna had to take refuge at
\nBrindavan in order to escape his uncle Kansa, the tyrant king of Mathura.<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 63<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

From the time of its first appearance, the
\nGita has had an immense spiritual action; but with the new interpretation that
\nSri Aurobindo has given to it, its influence has increased considerably and has
\nbecome decisive. <\/span><\/p>\n


\n29 June 1960<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n41<\/a> \u2013 They say that the gospels are forgeries and Krishna a creation of
\nthe poets. Thank God then for the forgeries and bow down before the inventors. <\/span>
\n<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What is the role of the Gospels in the life of man? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The Gospels were the starting-point of the
\nChristian religion. To say what they have brought to the world it would be
\nnecessary to give a historical and psychological account of the development of
\nthe life of Christianity and the action of the Christian religion upon earth.
\nThat would take a long time and be somewhat out of place here. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>I
\ncan only say that the writers of the Gospels have tried to reproduce exactly
\nwhat Christ taught and that they have in a certain measure succeeded in
\ntransmitting his message. It is a message of peace, brotherhood and love. <\/span><\/p>\n

But it is better to keep silent about what
\nmen have done with this message. <\/span><\/p>\n


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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n42<\/a> \u2013 If God assigns to me my place in Hell, I do not know why I should
\naspire to Heaven. He knows best what is for my welfare. <\/span><\/b>
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Do Heaven and Hell exist? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Heaven and Hell are at once real and
\nunreal. They both exist <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 64<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

and do not exist. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Human thought is creative; it gives more or less
\nlasting forms to mental, vital and even subtle physical substance. These forms
\nare appearances rather than realities; but for those whose thoughts they are,
\nand still more for those who believe in them, they have a concrete enough
\nexistence to give them an illusion of reality. Thus, for the believers of
\nreligions which assert the existence of a hell, a paradise, or various heavens,
\nthese places do exist objectively, and when they die they can go there for a
\nlonger or shorter period. But still these things are only impermanent mental
\nformations; they carry no eternal truth in themselves. <\/span><\/p>\n

I have seen the heavens and hells where
\nsome people have gone after death, and it is very difficult to make them
\nunderstand that there is no truth in them. Once it took me more than a year to
\nconvince someone that his so-called hell was not hell and to get him out of it.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The hell which Sri Aurobindo speaks of
\nhere is more a state of consciousness than a place, it is a psychological
\ncondition that one creates for oneself. <\/span><\/p>\n

Just as you can carry within you a heaven
\nof blissful communion with the Divine, you can, if you do not take care to
\nmaster the asuric\u00b9 tendencies in your nature, also carry in your consciousness
\na hell of misery and desolation. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are moments in life when everything
\naround you, people and circumstances, is so obscure, so adverse, so ugly that
\nall hope of a higher realisation seems to vanish. The world seems irremediably
\ndoomed to a night of cruel hatred, unconscious and obstinate ignorance and
\nintractable bad will. Then one may say with Sri Aurobindo, \u201cGod has assigned to
\nme a place in hell\u201d; and, with him too, in all circumstances, however terrible
\nthey may seem, one should dwell in the peaceful joy of total surrender to the Divine
\nand say to the Lord in all sincerity, Let Thy will be done.
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n13 July 1960 <\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>Of the Asuras, hostile beings of the
\nmentalised vital plane.<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 65<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\n
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29 \u2013 I have forgotten what vice is and what virtue; I can only see God, His play in the world and His will in…<\/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-4315","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\/4315","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=4315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4315\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}