Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Volume 2. 1935

Fragment ID: 16869

1935

Now I see that a period of no-effort also comes during the course of sadhana. It is when we cannot make any active effort against the inertia in spite of our knowledge and will. We have got to accept this as a stage (though not a pleasant one), because we are dealing with the physical, the most degraded part of the human nature.

And yet the spirit of confrontation must be kept alive.

The period of no-effort is usually when the physical consciousness is uppermost – for the nature of that is inertia, to be moved by the higher forces or to be moved by the lower forces or any forces, but not to move itself. One must still use one’s effort if one can, but the great thing is to be able to call down the Force from above into the physical – otherwise to remain perfectly quiet and, undisturbed, expect its coming.