First letter in "The Mother"

(Two powers: Aspiration and Grace)

by Sri Aurobindo

 
There are two powers that alone can effect in their conjunction the great and difficult thing which is the aim of our endeavor,
- a fixed and unfailing aspiration that calls from below and
- a supreme Grace from above that answers.

But the supreme Grace will act only in the conditions of the Light and the Truth; it will not act in conditions of Falsehood and Ignorance. For if it were to yield to the demands of the Falsehood, it would defeat its own purpose.

These are the conditions of Light and Truth, the sole conditions under which the highest will descend; and it is only the very highest supramental Force descending from above and opening from below that can victoriously handle the physical Nature and annihilate its difficulties . . .

There must be a total and sincere surrender; there must be an exclusive self opening to the divine Power; there must be a constant and integral choice of the Truth that is descending, a constant and integral rejection of the falsehood of the mental, vital and physical Powers and Appearances that still rule the earth-Nature.

The surrender must be total and seize all parts of the being.

It is not enough that psychic should respond and higher mental aspect or even the inner vital submit and the physical consciousness feel the influence. There must be no part in the being, even the most external, anything that makes a reserve, anything that hides behind doubts, confusions and subterfuges, anything that revolts or refuses.

If a part of the being surrenders, but another part reserves itself, follows its own way or makes its own conditions, then each time that happens, you are yourself pushing the divine Grace away from you.

If behind your devotion and surrender you make a cover for your desires, egoistic demands and vital insistences, if you put these things in the place of true aspiration or mix them with it and try to impose it on the Divine Shakti, then it is idle to invoke the divine Grace to transform you.

If you open yourself on one side or in one part to the Truth and on another side are constantly opening the gates to hostile forces, it is in vain to expect that the divine Grace will abide with you.
You must keep the temple clean if you wish to install there a living Presence.

If each time the Power intervenes and brings back the Truth, you turn your back on it and call in again the falsehood that has been expelled, it is not the divine Grace you must blame for failing you, but the falsity of your own will and the imperfection of your own surrender.

If you call for the Truth and yet something in you chooses what is false, ignorant and undivine or even simply is unwilling to reject it altogether, then always you will be open to attack and the Grace will recede from you. Detect first what is false or obscure in you and persistently reject it, then alone can you rightly call for the divine Power to transform you. Do not imagine that truth and falsehood, light and darkness, surrender and selfishness can be allowed to dwell together in the house consecrated to the Divine.

The transformation must be integral, and integral therefore the rejection of all that withstands it.

Reject the false notion that the divine Power will do and is bound to do everything for you at your demand and even though you do not satisfy the conditions laid down by the Supreme.

Make your surrender true and complete, then only will all else be done for you.

Reject too the false and indolent expectation that the divine will do the surrender for you. The Supreme demands your surrender to her, but does not impose it: you are free at every moment, till the irrevocable transformation comes, to deny and to reject the Divine or to recall your self-giving, if you are willing to suffer the spiritual consequence.

Your surrender must be self-made and free; it must be the surrender of a living being, not of an inert automaton or mechanical tool.

An inert passivity is constantly confused with the real surrender, but out of an inert passivity nothing true and powerful can come. It is the inert passivity of the physical Nature that leaves it at the mercy of every obscure or undivine influence.

A glad and strong and helpful submission is demanded to the working of the Divine force, the obedience of the illumined disciple of the Truth, of the inner Warrior who fights against obscurity and falsehood, of the faithful servant of the Divine.

This is the true attitude and only those who can take and keep it, preserve a faith unshaken by disappointments and difficulties and shall pass through the ordeal to the supreme victory and the greatest transmutation.

Sri Aurobindo

In SABCL, volume 25, "The Mother and Letters on the Mother" (pages 1-5)

The Mother has commented that text
on July 7, 1954
in CMW, vol. 6, "Questions and Answers - 1954", pages 203-218

published by Sri Aurobindo Ashram - Pondicherry
diffusion by SABDA

You can HEAR The Mother reading that text on the external site (Real Audio)
http://www.miraura.org/media/mother.html