Page 6 - NAMAH-Oct-2024

something which concerns itself very little with the decrees of reason; something which
can allow itself to be irrational because it is a higher irrationality, with a higher light;
something which is beyond ordinary knowledge and which receives its inspirations from
above, from high above, from the divine Wisdom. That is what this means.

As for the knowledge of which Sri Aurobindo speaks here, it is ordinary knowledge, it is
not Knowledge by identity; it is knowledge that can be acquired by the intellect through
thought, through ordinary means.

But once again — and in any case we shall have occasion to return to this when we study
the next aphorism — do not be in a hurry to abandon reason in the conviction that you
will immediately attain to Wisdom, because you must be ready for Wisdom; otherwise,
by abandoning reason, you run a great risk of falling into unreason, which is rather
dangerous.

Many times in his writings, particularly in The Synthesis of Yoga, Sri Aurobindo warns us
against the imaginings of those who believe they can do sadhana without rigorous self-
control and who heed all sorts of inspirations, which lead them to a dangerous imbalance
where all their repressed, hidden, secret desires come out into the open under the
pretence of liberation from ordinary conventions and ordinary reason.

One can be free only by soaring to the heights, high above human passions. Only when
one has achieved a higher, selfless freedom and done away with all desires and impulses
does one have the right to be free.

But neither should people who are very reasonable, very moral according to ordinary social
laws, think themselves wise, for their wisdom is an illusion and holds no profound truth.

One who would break the law must be above the law. One who would ignore
conventions must be above conventions. One who would despise all rules must be
above all rules. And the motive of this liberation should never be a personal, egoistic
one: the desire to satisfy an ambition, aggrandise one’s personality, through a feeling of
superiority, out of contempt for others, to set oneself above the herd and regard it with
condescension. Be on your guard when you feel yourself superior and look down on
others ironically, as if to say, “I’m no longer made of such stuff.” That’s when you go off
the track and are in danger of falling into an abyss.

When one truly attains wisdom, the true wisdom, the wisdom Sri Aurobindo is speaking
of here, there is no longer higher and lower; there is only a play of forces in which each
thing has its place and its importance. And if there is a hierarchy it is a hierarchy of
surrender to the Supreme. It is not a hierarchy of superiority with regard to what is
below.

6