Page 4 - NAMAH-Apr-2016

The whole world yearns after freedom, yet each creature is in
love with his chains; this is the first paradox and inextricable
knot of our nature.

Man is in love with the bonds of birth; therefore he is caught in
the companion bonds of death. In these chains he aspires after
freedom of his being and mastery of his self-fulfilment.

Man is in love with power; therefore he is subjected to
weakness. For the world is a sea of waves of force that meet and
continually fling themselves on each other; he who would ride
on the crest of one wave, must faint under the shock of hundreds.

Man is in love with pleasure; therefore he must undergo the yoke
of grief and pain. For unmixed delight is only for the free and
passionless soul; but that which pursues after pleasure in man is
a suffering and straining energy.

Man hungers after calm, but he thirsts also for the experiences of
a restless mind and a troubled heart. Enjoyment is to his mind a
fever, calm an inertia and a monotony.

Man is in love with the limitations of his physical being, yet
he would have also the freedom of his infinite mind and his
immortal soul.

And in these contrasts something in him finds a curious
attraction; they constitute for his mental being the artistry of
life. It is not only the nectar but the poison also that attracts his
taste and his curiosity.

— Sri Aurobindo