252. If thou think defeat is the end of thee, then go not forth to fight, even though thou be the stronger. For Fate is not purchased by any man nor is Power bound over to her possessors. But defeat is not the end, it is only a gate or a beginning.

        253. I have failed, thou sayest. Say rather that God is circling about towards His object.

        254. Foiled by the world, thou turnest to seize upon God. If the world is stronger than thou, thinkest thou God is weaker? Turn to Him rather for His bidding and for strength to fulfil it.

Why does God need to "circle about towards His object"? He can easily reach it immediately if He wants to, and make everybody's work easier and more effective.

Surely Sri Aurobindo did not say that God  needs to circle about, because he is all-powerful; but his power is not an arbitrary one as men understand it.

To begin to understand anything about this, one must know and feel that in the whole universe  there is nothing which is not an expression of his omnipotent and omnipresent will; and only by consciously uniting with Him can one begin to understand this, not mentally, but through an experience of consciousness and vision.

In his ordinary consciousness, even with the widest intelligence, man can only grasp an infinitesimal part of creation and so he cannot understand it and still less judge it.

And if we want to hasten the transformation of the world, the best we can do is to give ourselves without reserve or calculation to That which knows.

28 December 1969
- The Mother

255. So long as a cause has on its side one soul that is intangible in faith, it cannot perish.

        256. Reason gives me no basis for this faith, thou murmurest. Fool! if it did, faith would not be needed or demanded of thee.

        257. Faith in the heart is the obscure and often distorted reflection of a hidden knowledge. The believer is often more plagued by doubt than the most inveterate sceptic. He persists because there is something subconscient in him which knows. That tolerates both his blind faith and twilit doubts and drives towards the revelation of that which it knows.

Is it good to have a "blind faith" which neither questions nor reasons?

What men usually call blind faith is in fact what the Divine Grace sometimes gives to those whose intelligence is not developed enough to have true knowledge. So blind faith can be something very respectable, although it is of course clear that one who has  true knowledge is in a far superior position.

To which plane does faith belong—mental or psychic?

Faith is an exclusively psychic phenomenon.

30 December 1969
- The Mother

258. The world thinks that it moves by the light of reason, but it is really impelled by its faiths and instincts.

        259. Reason adapts itself to the faith or argues out a justification of the instincts; but it receives the impulse subconsciously, therefore men think that they act rationally.

        260. The only business of reason is to arrange and criticise the perceptions. It has neither in itself any means of positive conclusion nor any command to action. When it pretends to originate or impel, it is masking other agencies.

        261. Until Wisdom comes to thee, use the reason for its God-given purposes and faith and instinct for theirs. Why shouldst thou set thy members to war upon each other?

What are the highest aims of reason, faith and instinct in ordinary life and in spiritual life?

Each one has his own aims according to his nature and the goal he wants to attain in ordinary life.

As for spiritual life, it has only one goal: to know the Divine and to unite with Him, by every possible means and with the help of faith, which is certainly the most powerful motive-force for beginners.

31 December 1969
- The Mother

262. Perceive always and act in the light of thy increasing perceptions, but not those of the reasoning brain only. God speaks to the heart when the brain cannot understand him.

        263. If thy heart tell thee, Thus and by such means and at such a time it will happen, believe it not. But if it gives thee the purity and wideness of God's command, hearken to it.

        264. When thou hast the command, care only to fulfil it. The rest is God's will and arrangement which men call chance and luck and fortune.

It is obviously in the silence of the mind that it is possible to perceive the Divine Command. The true way of knowing is above words and thoughts.

When this phenomenon occurs, it becomes very clear, because one knows the Divine Command  first, and the words to describe it come later.

1 January 1970
- The Mother

265. If thy aim be great and thy means small, still act; for by action alone these can increase to thee.

        266. Care not for time and success. Act out thy part, whether it be to fail or to prosper.

        267. There are three forms in which the command may come, the will and faith in thy nature, thy ideal on which heart and brain are agreed and the voice of Himself or His angels.

        268. There are times when action is unwise or impossible; then go into Tapasya in some physical solitude or in the retreats of thy soul and await whatever divine word or manifestation.

        269. Leap not too quickly at all voices, for there are lying spirits ready to deceive thee; but let thy heart be pure and afterwards listen.

It is indeed of utmost importance not to accept each and every voice as coming from the Divine, because one is liable to obey the command of an imposter. There is only one guarantee which is a complete absence of all personal desire, even the desire of serving the Divine, and the fact of being immersed in a total peace. Only then can one be sure of one's discernment.

3 January 1970
- The Mother