Chapter 112303–305

From the spiritual point of view, men and women are equal in their capacity to realise the Divine. Each one must do so in his (or her) own way and according to his (or her) own possibilities.

25 January 1970 306 – Asceticism is no doubt very healing, a cave very peaceful

and the hill-tops wonderfully pleasant; nevertheless do thou act in the world as God intended thee.

Sri Aurobindo shows us that one can be an ascetic by preference and not out of abnegation; and so he makes us understand that to be a servant of the Lord and to act only according to His will is a far higher state than any personal choice, no matter how saintly it may seem.

26 January 1970 307 – Three times God laughed at Shankara, first, when he

returned to burn the corpse of his mother, again, when he commented on the Isha Upanishad and the third time when he stormed about India preaching inaction.

The Lord laughed when this man, who thought himself so wise, complied with conventions, wrote useless words and gave an example of overactivity in order to preach inaction.

27 January 1970 308 – Men labour only after success and if they are fortu-

nate enough to fail, it is because the wisdom and force of Nature overbear their intellectual cleverness. God alone knows when and how to blunder wisely and fail effectively.