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Psychological
Perfection
Page-2
But
there is another movement which should constantly acompany
devotion.... That kind of sense of gratitude that the Divine
exists; that feeling of a marvelling thankfulness which
truly fills you with a sublime joy at the fact that the
Divine exists, that there is something in the universe which
is the Divine, that it is not just the monstrosity we see,
that there is the Divine, the Divine exists. And each time
that the least thing puts you either directly or indirectly
in contact with this sublime Reality of divine existence,
the heart is filled with so intense, so marvellous a joy,
such a gratitude as of all things has the most delightful
taste.
There
is nothing which gives you a joy equal to that of gratitude.
One hears a bird sing, sees a lovely flower, looks at a
little child, observes an act of generosity, reads a beautiful
sentence, looks at the setting sun, no matter what, suddenly
this comes upon you, this kind of emotion — indeed
so deep, so intense that the world manifests the Divine,
that there is something behind the world which is the Divine.
So
I find that devotion without gratitude is quite incomplete,
gratitude must come with devotion.
I
remember that once we spoke of courage as one of the perfections;
I remember having written it down once in a list. But this
courage means having a taste for the supreme adventure.
And this taste for supreme adventure is aspirationan —
aspiration which takes hold of you completely and flings
you, without calculation and without reserve and without
a possibility of withdrawal, into the great adventure of
the divine discovery, the great adventure of the divine
meeting, the yet greater adventure of the divine Realisation;
you throw yourself into the adventure without looking back
and without asking for a single minute, "What's going
to happen?'' For if you ask what is going to happen, you
never start, you always remain stuck there, rooted to the
spot, afraid to lose something, to lose your balance.
That's
why I speak of courage — but really it is aspiration.
They go together. A real aspiration is something full of
courage.
And
now, surrender. In English the word is "surrender'',
there is no French word which gives exactly that sense.
But Sri Aurobindo has said — I think we have read this
— that surrender is the first and absolute condition
for doing the yoga. So, if we follow what he has said, this
is not just one of the necessary qualities: it is the first
attitude indispensable for beginning the yoga. If one has
not decided to make a total surrender, one cannot begin.
But
for this surrender to be total, all these qualities are
necessary. And I add one more — for so far we have
only four — I add endurance. For, if you are not able
to face difficulties without getting discouraged and without
giving up, because it is too difficult; and if you are incapable...
well, of receiving blows and yet continuing, of "pocketing''
them, as they say — when you receive blows as a result
of your defects, of putting them in your pocket and continuing
to go forward without flagging — you don't go very
far; at the first turning where you lose sight of your little
habitual life, you fall into despair and give up the game
The
most... how shall I put it? the most material form of this
is perseverance. Unless you are resolved to begin the same
thing over again a thousand times if need be... You know,
people come to me in despair, "But I thought it was
done and now I must begin again!'' And if they are told,
"But that's nothing, you will probably have to begin
again a hundred times, two hundred times, a thousand times;
you take one step forward and think you are secure, but
there will always be something to bring back the same difficulty
a little farther on. You think you have solved the problem,
you must solve it yet once again; it will turn up again
looking just a little different, but it will be the same
problem'', and if you are not determined that: :Even if
it comes back a million times, I shall do it a million times,
but I shall go through with it'', well, you won't be able
to do the yoga. This is absolutely indispensable.
People
have a beautiful experience and say, "Ah, now this
is it!'' And then it settles down, diminishes, gets veiled,
and suddenly something quite unexpected, absolutely commonplace
and apparently completely uninteresting comes before you
and blocks your way. And then you say, "Ah! what's
the good of having made this progress if it's going to start
all over again? Why should I do it? I made an effort, I
succeeded, achieved something, and now it's as if I had
done nothing! It's indeed hopeless.'' For you have no endurance.
If
one has endurance, one says, "It's all right. Good,
I shall begin again as often as necessary; a thousand times,
ten thousand times, a hundred thousand times if necessary,
I shall begin again — but I shall go to the end and
nothing will have the power to stop me on the way.''
This is most necessary. Most necessary.
So
here's my proposal: we put surrender first, at the top of
the list, that is, we accept what Sri Aurobindo has said
— that to do the integral yoga one must first resolve
to surrender entirely to the Divine, there is no other way,
this is the way. But after that one must have the
five psychological virtues, five psychological perfections,
and we say that these perfections are:
Sincerity
or Transparency
Faith or Trust (Trust in the Divine, naturally)
Devotion or Gratitude
Courage or Aspiration
Endurance or Perseverance.
One
form of endurance is faithfulness}, faithfulness
to one's resolution—being faithful. One has taken a
resolution, one is faithful to one's resolution. This is
endurance.
There you are.
If one persists, there comes a time when one is victorious.
Victory is to the most persistent.
25
January 1956
- The Mother
