Latest / Sri Aurobindo Studies / Freeing Oneself from Responsibility for Oneself by Reliance on the Divine
Transcript
- 0:00There was a young man who happened to be living at the
- 0:03same place during the 1970s who got into his head the idea that
- 0:09the divine was watching out for him so he could not come to any
- 0:13harm. He walked out into traffic on a
- 0:17busy road and with cars honking and braking, he survived without
- 0:22a scratch. Was this a sign that indeed he
- 0:26needed not to worry about himself, that the Divine was
- 0:30looking out for him? There's the famous story told by
- 0:35Sri Ramakrishna of the disciple who was given the idea of Thou
- 0:40art God along with every other being.
- 0:44He took this seriously and went about his business, walking
- 0:49through the town in deep contemplation of this profound
- 0:52teaching. When an out of control elephant
- 0:55came charging down the road at high speed.
- 0:59The driver of the elephant yelled for the youth to get out
- 1:02of the way. The disciple, however, felt that
- 1:05since both he and the elephant were God, nothing bad could come
- 1:09of it. He was dashed to the ground by
- 1:12the furious elephant and left unconscious.
- 1:16His guru came and revived him. When he awakened, his guru asked
- 1:22why he had not gotten out of the way.
- 1:25The disciple replied that relying on the guru's inspired
- 1:29teaching, he felt that he was safe in the presence of God, who
- 1:33was immanent in both himself and the elephant.
- 1:37The guru asked, but why did you not heed the inspired words of
- 1:42the elephant driver, who also is God?
- 1:47Clearly, the question of turning over responsibility of all one's
- 1:50actions and life to the Divine and not worrying about the
- 1:54individual being and its needs is a subtle teaching which
- 1:59cannot be applied with an immature understanding.
- 2:03If one can truly enter into a state of consciousness where the
- 2:06Divine is managing everything, that is a wonderful outcome.
- 2:12As the Mother concludes below. The cells of the body need to be
- 2:17infused with wisdom and common sense.
- 2:20That implies that the state of consciousness needed is not one
- 2:24of heedlessness, as we saw in the two cases recited above, but
- 2:30a state where even the body has to be able to rise to a new
- 2:34level of conscious awareness, the mother notes quote.
- 2:41It is an inexpressible joy not to have any responsibility for
- 2:45oneself, no longer to think of oneself.
- 2:49It is so dull, in monotonous and insipid to be thinking of
- 2:53oneself, to be worrying about what to do and what not to do,
- 2:58what will be good for you and what will be bad for you, what
- 3:01to shun and what to pursue. Oh, how wearisome it is.
- 3:07But when one lives like this, quite open, like a flower
- 3:11blossoming in the sun, before the Supreme Consciousness, the
- 3:15Supreme Wisdom, the Supreme Light, the supreme Love, which
- 3:21knows all, which can do all, which takes charge of you, and
- 3:26you have no more worries, that is the ideal condition.
- 3:32And why is it not done? 1 does not think of it, one
- 3:36forgets to do it. The old habits come back, and
- 3:40above all, behind, hidden somewhere in the inconscient or
- 3:45even in the subconscient, there is this insidious doubt that
- 3:50whispers in your ear. Oh, if you are not careful, some
- 3:56misfortune will happen to you. If you forget to watch over
- 4:00yourself, you do not know what they may happen.
- 4:05And you are so silly, so silly, so obscure, so stupid, that you
- 4:11listen and you begin to pay attention to yourself and
- 4:16everything is ruined. You have to begin all over again
- 4:20to infuse into yourselves a little wisdom, a little common
- 4:25sense, and learn once more not to worry.
- 4:30End Quote. Reference Srioro Bindu and the
- 4:34Mother, Looking from Within, Chapter 4, Ordeals and
- 4:39Difficulties, pages 100 to One O 1.