Latest / Sri Aurobindo Studies / Ideal Expectations, Real Life Results and Divine Grace

Transcript

Ideal Expectations, Real Life Results and Divine Grace · Sri Aurobindo Studies

• 0:01
  We think and plan and harbour expectations as if we are the
• 0:06
  sole arbiter of what happens in our lives.
• 0:10
  We then judge the results from the standpoint of our ideal
• 0:13
  expectations and express either dismay or disappointment that
• 0:19
  what we hoped for has not come to pass.
• 0:23
  What we frequently fail to take into account is the interactive
• 0:27
  and complex nature of the world within which we live and act.
• 0:31
  There is a play of forces that adjusts, modifies and reacts to
• 0:36
  the energy we express, and in many cases we find that those
• 0:41
  forces deflect our intention into another direction entirely.
• 0:47
  We then bemoan our failure or the catastrophe that has
• 0:50
  occurred, rather than looking beyond for a higher intention or
• 0:56
  even recognizing that the idea we had was right, but the field
• 1:01
  in which it was being sown was not prepared to receive it at
• 1:04
  this time. In many cases, our own situation
• 1:09
  is not perfect, and we are trying to accomplish something
• 1:12
  before we are truly ready to manifest it within ourselves.
• 1:17
  We thus are rebuffed and forced to address the weaknesses and
• 1:21
  developmental needs that block the full expression.
• 1:26
  These issues occur every day in the daily life of people.
• 1:30
  A businessman reported that he had a serious concern about the
• 1:34
  operations of the company under his operations manager.
• 1:38
  He did not have all the facts but had an inkling or sense of
• 1:41
  worry. So he called a meeting with that
• 1:44
  operations manager. The meeting was planned, but
• 1:48
  suddenly on the morning of the meeting, the operations manager
• 1:52
  advised that he had to deal with a family situation and would not
• 1:56
  be available. Since the businessman felt a
• 1:59
  sense of urgency about the situation, he was disappointed
• 2:04
  and decided to go ahead with the planned meeting but call in the
• 2:08
  assistant to that operations manager who was himself supposed
• 2:12
  to be an expert in certain areas and was himself being
• 2:16
  compensated as a manager. The meeting confirmed the deep
• 2:21
  concerns and at the end the businessman chose to terminate
• 2:25
  the employment of this assistant.
• 2:27
  Within hours, the operations manager resigned by e-mail.
• 2:32
  Later, the businessman was able to ascertain the reality of his
• 2:36
  fears in the matter, the life and death consequences to the
• 2:40
  business and felt that there was a saving grace that led to the
• 2:44
  termination of both individuals from their employment.
• 2:49
  For a spiritual seeker, the operation of what may be called
• 2:53
  divine grace is even more palpable.
• 2:57
  Essentially, by definition, the seeker has a strong aspiration
• 3:01
  and will to develop his spiritual nature.
• 3:05
  Yet he is starting from the basis of a normal, physical,
• 3:09
  vital and mental existence that is built up and conditioned
• 3:13
  based on his upbringing, the family, the society, the time
• 3:18
  spirit within which he lives, and thus has many ideas,
• 3:23
  reactions, tendencies and desires that need to be
• 3:28
  addressed to truly liberate himself from the bondage these
• 3:31
  things cause in his external ego, personality and nature.
• 3:37
  Spiritual seekers frequently weep and decry the absence of
• 3:41
  the Divine, and they describe the dark night of the soul when
• 3:46
  the Divine appears to have withdrawn and left them to their
• 3:49
  own devices to deal with the contradictions between their
• 3:53
  aspiration and the life they are living.
• 3:57
  When they look back later, they frequently find that their
• 4:00
  struggles had led to substantial changes in the way they looked
• 4:03
  at life, their desires, and their reactions.
• 4:08
  The ways of the divine grace are thus inscrutable and for the
• 4:12
  most part cannot be understood at the time, but only through
• 4:17
  the lens of present, looking back at the past.
• 4:22
  Hermann Hesse, in his short novel Siddhartha, illustrates
• 4:26
  the divine play. The seeker and his friend go to
• 4:30
  meet the Buddha who is teaching enlightenment.
• 4:34
  His friend joins the order, but Siddhartha feels he must gain
• 4:37
  his own inner experience and enlightenment.
• 4:41
  He returns to the city where he is smitten by a courtesan who
• 4:45
  advises him that she will only accept rich men.
• 4:49
  He had abandoned worldly pursuits and seeking after
• 4:52
  wealth as a seeker, but he is so smitten that he agrees to her
• 4:57
  proposal. He gains a position, becomes
• 5:01
  wealthy and takes up a relationship with this beautiful
• 5:05
  woman. He has a midlife crisis and
• 5:09
  departs from the life he had built, despairing and suicidal.
• 5:13
  He has an inward experience and joins a ferryman on the river
• 5:18
  who has spiritual insights gained during his simple life.
• 5:22
  What he was not ready to hear earlier as a seeker now came
• 5:27
  instantly to him and he gained a measure of enlightenment.
• 5:32
  His worldly life could be considered a set back, but in
• 5:36
  reality it prepared him for a more complete and wider form of
• 5:40
  enlightenment and spiritual growth.
• 5:44
  The mother observes. Quote when you are in a
• 5:48
  particular set of circumstances and certain events take place.
• 5:53
  These events often oppose your desire or what seems best to
• 5:57
  you, and often you happen to regret this and say to yourself
• 6:02
  how good it would have been if it were otherwise, if it had
• 6:06
  been like this or like that, for little things and big things.
• 6:11
  Then years pass by, events are unfolded, you progress, become
• 6:17
  more conscious, understand better, and when you look back
• 6:22
  you notice first with astonishment, then later with a
• 6:26
  smile, that those very circumstances which seem to you
• 6:30
  quite disastrous or unfavourable, were exactly the
• 6:34
  best thing that could have happened to you to make you
• 6:37
  progress as you should have. And if you are the least bit
• 6:41
  wise, you tell yourself truly, the Divine Grace is infinite.
• 6:48
  So when this sort of thing has happened to you a number of
• 6:50
  times, you begin to understand that in spite of the blindness
• 6:54
  of man and deceptive appearances, the grace is at
• 6:57
  work everywhere, so that at every moment it is the best
• 7:02
  possible thing that happens in the state the world is in at
• 7:07
  that moment. It is because our vision is
• 7:10
  limited, or even because we are blinded by our own preferences,
• 7:16
  that we cannot discern that things are like this.
• 7:20
  But when one begins to see it, one enters upon a state of
• 7:24
  wonder which nothing can describe.
• 7:27
  For behind the appearances 1 perceives this grace, infinite,
• 7:32
  wonderful, all, powerful, which knows all, organizes all,
• 7:38
  arranges all, and leads us, whether we like it or not,
• 7:44
  whether we know it or not, towards the supreme goal, that
• 7:48
  is, union with the Divine, the awareness of the Godhead, and
• 7:53
  union with Him. Then one lives in the action and
• 7:58
  presence of the grace, a life full of joy, of wonder, with the
• 8:02
  feeling of a marvellous strength, and at the same time
• 8:06
  with a trust so calm, so complete, that nothing can shake
• 8:11
  it any longer. And when 1 is in this state of
• 8:15
  perfect receptivity and perfect adherence, 1 diminishes to that
• 8:20
  extent the resistance of the world to the Divine action.
• 8:24
  Consequently, this is the best collaboration one can bring to
• 8:29
  the action of the Divine. One understands what he wants
• 8:33
  and with all one's consciousness adheres to His will.
• 8:39
  End Quote. Reference Srioro Bindu and the
• 8:43
  Mother, Looking from within, Chapter 1.
• 8:47
  Looking at Life and Circumstances, pages 26 to 27.