Nirodbaran

Correspondence with Sri Aurobindo

Second Series

1. Spirituality

The Man of Sorrows

II. Difficulties and Despair

It seems that it is futile to make any effort for anything. One tries hard to reject habitual thoughts  but to no avail. How little is the result after some days of effort! What then is the use?

All that is the physical mind refusing to take the trouble of the labour and struggle necessary for the spiritual achievement. It wants to get the highest, but desires a smooth course all the way, “who the devil is going to face so much trouble for getting the Divine?” – that is the underlying feeling. The difficulty with the thoughts is a difficulty every yogi has gone through – so the phenomenon of a little result after some days of effort. It is only when one has cleared the field and ploughed and sown and watched over it that big harvests can be hoped for.

One must either use effort and then one must be patient and persevering, or one can rely on the Divine with a constant call and aspiration. But then the reliance has to be a true one not insisting on immediate fruit.

24.10.1934