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WRITINGS BY THE MOTHER
© Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust

 

Some people are always complaining about their disabilities. But that doesn't lead you very far. If, once, you have truly seen your weaknesses and truly, sincerely understood, seen that you must not be like that--that's the end of complaining. Then there is the daily effort, the building up of the will, the vigilance of every moment--you must never allow a recognised mistake to renew itself. To err through ignorance, to err through unconsciousness, is obviously very unfortunate, but it can be put right. Whereas to go on making the same mistake, knowing that it must not be made, is an act of cowardice which we must not permit ourselves.

To say, "Oh, human nature is like this. Oh, we are in the inconscience. Oh, we are in the ignorance"--all this is laziness and weakness. And behind this laziness and weakness there is a huge bad will. There!

I say this because many people have made this remark to [old p. 35]me, many. And it is always a way of justifying oneself: "Oh, we are doing what we can." It is not true. Because if you are sincere, [new p. 35]once you have seen--as long as you have not seen, nothing can be said--but the moment you see is the moment when you receive the Grace, and once you have received the Grace, you no longer have the right to forget it.

5 December 1958

Collected Works of The Mother, First Edition, Volume 10, pp. 34-35