Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Volume II - Part 2

Fragment ID: 11812

Of course all prayer is not heard – the world would be a still more disastrous affair than it is, if everybody’s prayers were heard, however sincere. Even the Godward prayer is not always heard – at once, even as faith is not always justified at once. Both prayer and faith are powers towards realisation which have been given to man to aid him in his struggle – without them, without aspiration and will and faith (for aspiration is a prayer) it would be difficult for him to get anywhere. But all these things are merely means for setting the Divine Force in action – and it sometimes takes long, very long even, before the forces come into action or at least before they are seen to be in action or bear their result. The ecstasist is not altogether wrong even when he overstates his case. Even the overstatements sometimes help to convince the Cosmic Power, so that it says “Oh well, if it is like that all right – ”.