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The Need for Patience and Perseverance · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  Scientists tell us that human beings diverge from chimpanzees
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  somewhere between 4:00 and 8:00 million years ago.
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  Somewhere around 2,000,000 years ago, the line of development
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  that led to human beings appeared and our current
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  formation, Homo sapiens came on the scenes around 300,000 years
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  ago. Each stage led to expression of
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  new physical, vital and mental traits that coalesced around the
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  current status of what we understand to be human
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  capabilities today. While there may be some debate
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  about the exactness of these calculations, there remains the
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  underlying fact that development of any stage of consciousness
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  from a preceding stage does not happen overnight.
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  We are now engaged with the development and expression of
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  the next term of the evolution of consciousness beyond the
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  mental level developed in the human being.
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  How long will this take if we look back at each prior stage of
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  development? The vital consciousness
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  developing out of the material consciousness.
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  The mental consciousness developing out of the vital
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  consciousness. The higher mental consciousness
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  developing out of the rudimentary mental
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  consciousness, we see a time frame of millions of years in
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  the normal processes of nature. This background and perspective
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  is of utmost importance for the spiritual seeker who takes up
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  the work needed to bring about the changes in human nature that
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  can prepare and develop the next stage of evolution of
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  consciousness. Human beings tend to be
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  impatient. We want to see instant results,
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  have instant success. Anything that does not happen
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  quickly within the framework of our very short human lifetimes
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  in relation to the time scales noted above is a cause for
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  questioning, doubt and expression of impatience.
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  How do we reconcile the time needed by nature with the human
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  time frame? We need to adjust our
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  expectations and develop imperturbable patience so that
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  we can persevere without the kind of instant gratification
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  that we generally desire. Patience does not imply
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  indolence. There should be the focus and
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  energy concentrated to continue the progress, while at the same
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  time the understanding and view that these changes may take many
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  human lifetimes. First Nations people speak of
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  looking at consequences down to 7 generations in the future to
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  provide a better perspective of the impact of our actions.
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  The development of a new stage of conscious evolution is a far
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  longer process than just 7 generations.
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  We thus look at this as a disinterested work without
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  personal desire, without personal expectation, without
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  personal gratification of instant success.
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  As part of the larger intentions of the divine manifestation, the
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  individual may and likely will experience changes that are real
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  and palpable along the way. These changes help create the
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  incremental readiness for human development beyond the mental
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  level, with all the requirements for such a change and all of the
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  receptivity and capacities in place to accept such a change
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  and integrate it into the expression of nature over time.
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  It is important to note that the expression of each further stage
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  of consciousness has proceeded an order of magnitude faster
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  than the preceding stage. What took billions of years to
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  occur in the expression of the vital consciousness out of the
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  material consciousness was truncated down to just hundreds
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  of thousands of years for the development of the human mental
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  capacities out of the level seen in primates generally at that
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  time. Several additional elements look
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  to speed up the process for the next stage.
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  As Srioro Bindo has explained, there's the introduction of the
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  Super mental force into the physical consciousness that
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  begins to prepare the way and introduce its own aspects of
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  preparation for the transformation.
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  The conscious participation of awake individuals also
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  represents A qualitative change in the way.
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  Nature has done this in the past and this can speed up the entire
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  development enormously. With an order of magnitude
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  change and this conscious focus and participation, what nature
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  might take 10s of thousands of years to do could conceivably be
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  done in a much shorter time frame.
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  That does not, however, imply overnight.
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  What can start to become visible are incremental changes in our
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  physical, vital and mental existence as the higher force
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  that is working to manifest this next phase embeds itself in the
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  earth nature and begins to prepare the ground for its full
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  expression over time, Srioro Bindo notes quote.
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  It is certain that an ardent aspiration helps to progress,
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  but patience is also needed, for it is a very big change that has
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  to be made and although there can be moments of great
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  rapidity, it is never all the time like that.
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  Old things try to stick as much as possible.
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  The new that come have to develop and the consciousness
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  takes time to assimilate them and make them normal to the
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  nature. End Quote, the mother adds
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  Quote. You must arm yourself with an
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  endless patience and endurance. You do a thing once, 10 * 100 *
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  1000 times if necessary, but you do it till it gets done, and not
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  done only here and there, but everywhere and everywhere at the
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  same time. This is the great problem one
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  sets oneself. That is why to those who come to
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  tell me very lightheartedly, I want to do yoga, I reply, Think
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  it over. One may do the yoga for a number
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  of years without noticing the least result.
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  But if you want to do it, you must persist, and persist with
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  such a will that you should be ready to do it for 10 lifetimes,
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  100 lifetimes if necessary, in order to succeed.
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  I do not say it will be like that, but the attitude must be
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  like that. End Quote Reference Sri Oro
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  Bindu and the Mother looking from Within, Chapter 5,
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  Attitudes on the Path, page 136.