Sri Aurobindo
Letters of Sri Aurobindo
13. Opposition of the Hostile Forces
When there is an attack or obstruction, the call or the
thinking of the Mother may not succeed at once, even the will to get rid of the
attack or obstruction may not succeed at once, but one must persevere till the
result comes, and if one perseveres the result is bound to come.
One sees the negative side only during the attacks,
because the first thing the attack or obstruction does is to try to cloud the
mind’s intelligence. If it cannot do that it is difficult for it to prevail
altogether for the time being. For if the mind remains alert and clings to the
truth, then the attack can only upheave the vital and, though this may be
painful enough, yet the right attitude of the mind acts as a corrective and
makes it easier to recover the balance and the true condition of the vital comes
back more quickly. If the vital keeps its balance, then the attack touches the
physical consciousness only with its suggestions and is much more superficial or
even it can do no more than create a temporary restlessness, uneasiness or
ill-health in the body – the rest of the consciousness remaining unaffected. It
is therefore very important to accustom oneself to keep the right mental
attitude even in the midst of an attack, however strong it is. To keep faith is
the best help for that – the faith that the Divine is always there and I shall
pass to him through whatever trials. That helps to look at other things also in
the true light.
By tamasic ego is meant the ego of weakness,
self-depreciation, despondency, unbelief. The rajasic ego is puffed up with
pride and self-esteem or stubbornly asserts itself at every step or else
wherever it can; the tamasic ego, on the contrary, is always feeling “I am weak,
I am miserable, I have no capacity, I am not loved or chosen by the Divine, I am
so bad and incapable – what can the Divine do for me?” Or else “I am especially 
chosen out for misfortune and suffering, all are preferred to me, all are
progressing, I only am left behind, all abandons me, I have nothing before me
but flight, death or disaster,” etc., etc., or something or all of these things
mixed together. Sometimes the rajasic and tamasic Ahankar mix together and
subtly support each other. In both cases it is the “I” that is making a row
about itself and clouding the true vision. The true spiritual or psychic vision
is this: “Whatever I may be, my soul is a child of the Divine and must reach the
Divine sooner or later. I am imperfect, but seek after the perfection of the
Divine in me and that not I but the Divine Grace will bring about; if I keep to
that, the Divine Grace itself will do all.” The “I” has to take its proper place
here as a small portion and instrument of the Divine, something that is nothing
without the Divine but with the Grace can be everything that the Divine wishes
it to be.
The Mother’s help is always there but you are not
conscious of it except when the psychic is active and the consciousness not
clouded. The coming of suggestions is not a proof that the help is not there.
Suggestions come to all, even to the greatest sadhaks or to the Avatars – as
they came to Buddha or Christ. Obstacles are there – they are part of Nature and
they have to be overcome. What has to be attained is not to accept the
suggestions, not to admit them as the truth or as one’s own thoughts, to see
them for what they are and keep oneself separate. Obstacles have to be looked at
as something wrong in the machinery of human nature which has to be changed –
they should not be regarded as sins or wrong-doings which make one despair of
oneself and of the sadhana.