Page 14 - NAMAH-Jul-2022

Namah Vol. 30, Issue 2, 15th July 2022

the midst of this complex play the individual To greatness: an inspired labour chisels
stands as a limited constructed being with a With heavenly cruelty an unwilling mould (13).”
limited amount of force exposed to numberless
shocks, which may wound, maim, break up or “Bliss is the secret stuff of all that lives,
disintegrate the construction which he calls Even pain and grief are garbs of world-delight,
himself. Pain is in the nature of a nervous and It hides behind thy sorrow and thy cry.
physical recoil from a dangerous or harmful Because thy strength is a part and not God’s
contact; it is a part of what the Upanishad whole,
calls jugupsa, the shrinking of the limited Because afflicted by the little self
being from that which is not himself and not Thy consciousness forgets to be divine
sympathetic or in harmony with himself, its As it walks in the vague penumbra of the flesh
impulse of self-defence against “others”. It And cannot bear the world’s tremendous touch,
is from this point of view, an indication by Thou criest out and sayst that there is pain.
Nature of that which has to be avoided or, if Indifference, pain and joy, a triple disguise,
not successfully avoided, has to be remedied. Attire of the rapturous Dancer in the ways,
It does not come into being in the purely Withhold from thee the body of God’s bliss.
physical world so long as life does not enter Thy spirit’s strength shall make thee one with
into it; for till then mechanical methods are God,
sufficient. Its office begins when life with its Thy agony shall change to ecstasy,
frailty and imperfect possession of Matter Indifference deepen into infinity’s calm
enters on the scene; it grows with the growth And joy laugh nude on the peaks of the Absolute
of Mind in life. Its office continues so long (14).”
as Mind is bound in the life and body which
it is using, dependent upon them for its References
knowledge and means of action, subjected to
their limitations and to the egoistic impulses 1. Sri Aurobindo. The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo,
and aims which are born to those limitations. Volume 21. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram
But if and when Mind in man becomes capable Trust; 2005, p. 118.
of being free, unegoistic, in harmony with
all other beings and with the play of the 2. Ibid., pp..115-16
universal forces, the use and office of suffering
diminishes, its raison d’etre must finally 3. Sri Aurobindo. CWSA, Volume 28; 2012, p. 194.
cease to be and it can only continue as an
atavism of Nature, a habit that has survived 4. Sri Aurobindo. CWSA, Volume 21, p. 114.
its use, a persistence of the lower in the as
yet imperfect organisation of the higher. Its 5. Sri Aurobindo. CWSA, Volume 33; 1997, p. 18.
eventual elimination must be an essential
point in the destined conquest of the soul over 6. Sri Aurobindo. CWSA, Volume 31; 2014, p. 177.
subjection to Matter and egoistic limitation
in Mind (12).” 7. Sri Aurobindo. CWSA, Volume 21, p. 113.

“Pain is the hand of Nature sculpturing men 8. Ibid., p. 114

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