Sri Aurobindo

Letters on Himself and the Ashram

The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo. Volume 35

His Life and Attempts to Write about It
On His Published Prose Writings

Passages from The Mother [1]

What I want to know is — when does God take full charge of our sadhana?

The sadhana described in the Arya in the beginning was based on the conviction that God was the sadhak. In subsequent years, individual effort was permitted in Arya, something like cooperation between the individual and God.

This is an error. There is no such variation in the beginning of the Arya and in subsequent years.

In the message of {{0}}February,[[Chapter One of The Mother was first issued as a “message” on 21 February 1927. — Ed.]] the operator is God and the individual becomes the operated. The individual effort consists in fasting etc. before and during the operation.

What is all this about operations and fasting? Certainly, I cannot have written anything of the kind.

What are the signs of the coming of the Divine Grace? Does the Divine Grace take full charge of the sadhana as soon as the sadhak gives the charge? If not, when will it take full charge?

If he gives full charge truly and really, with an absolute sincerity of total surrender and does not come in the way of the divine Grace. How many can do that? It cannot be done by a word or by taking up a mental posture.

Calling on God to do everything and save one all the trouble and struggle is a self-deception and does not lead to freedom and {{0}}perfection.[[Sri Aurobindo incorporated this sentence into Chapter Two of The Mother, which he wrote on the back of this letter. — Ed.]]

30 May 1927