WRITINGS BY THE MOTHER
© Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust
Difficulties
The Cause and Utility of Difficulties
The difficulties are always due to a resistance, some part or several parts of the being refusing to receive the force, the consciousness and the light put upon them and revolting against the divine influence. It is rare that somebody can surrender entirely to the Divine's Will without having to face one or another of these difficulties. But to keep steady one's aspiration and to look at oneself with an absolute sincerity are the sure means to overcome all obstacles.
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Surely all these troubles come from a resistance somewhere, something that opposes the work of transformation.
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Always circumstances come to reveal the hidden weaknesses that have to be overcome.
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Difficulties are sent to us exclusively to make the realisation more perfect.
Each time we try to realise something and meet with a resistance or an obstacle or even a failure--what seems to be a failure--we should know, we should never forget that it is exclusively, absolutely, so that the realisation may be more perfect.
So this habit of cringing, of getting discouraged or even of feeling uncomfortable, or of abusing yourself and telling yourself: "There! Again I have made a mistake"--all that is absolute foolishness.
Simply tell yourself: "We don't know how to do things as they ought to be done; well, they are being done for us, come what may!" And if we could see to what extent all that seems to be, yes, a difficulty, a mistake, a failure, an obstacle--all that is just to help us, so that the realisation may be more perfect.
Once you know that, everything becomes easy.
6 October 1958
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Shocks and trials always come as a divine grace to show us the points in our being where we fall short and the movements in which we turn our back on our soul by listening to the clamour of our mental being and vital being.
If we know how to accept these spiritual blows with due humility, we are sure to cover a great distance at a single bound.
22 February 1965
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Be absolutely convinced that everything that happens, happens in order to give us precisely the lesson we needed, and if we are sincere in the "sadhana", the lesson should be accepted with joy and gratitude.
For one who aspires to the divine life, what can the actions of a blind and ignorant humanity matter to him?
18 January 1967
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If truly you love the Divine, prove it by remaining quiet and peaceful. All that comes to each one in life, comes from the Divine to teach us a lesson, and if we take it in the right spirit, we make rapid progress.
Try to do so.
13 December 1967
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Difficulties come because there are possibilities in you. If in life everything was easy, then it would be a life of nothing. Because difficulties come on your way it shows you have possibilities. Do not be afraid.
22 February 1968
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You can say to X, on my behalf, that he must look at this apparently unhappy circumstance as the proof that the Lord considers that he is ready for spiritual life and that he must no more be attached to any exterior or material thing.
If he takes things that way, he will soon feel that all sorrow is gone away from him.
What I meant was, not to worry about it. Let him take what comes to him without getting upset or sorry, excited or nervous.
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For the aspirant and the "sadhak", all that comes in his life comes to help him to know the Truth and to live it. Be confident, you will conquer; and it will mean a big step forward.
With love and blessings.
12 September 1969
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The difficulties come always to make us progress. The greater the difficulty, the greater can be the progress.
Be confident and endure.
With love and blessings.
November 1969
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The hours preceding Victory are most often the most difficult.
For the individual's surrender, it is the last resistances, sometimes quite insignificant, that are the most obstinate and difficult to conquer.
But with a greater obstinacy a victorious conclusion of the fight is certain.
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Never Complain About Difficulties
He who wants to advance on the path of perfection must never complain about the difficulties on the way, for each is an opportunity for a new progress. To complain is a sign of weakness and insincerity.
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Where the two extremes meet, to complain of anything at all, of oneself, of others or of circumstances, is a weakness and an insincerity towards one's supreme Self.
The two extremes meet in their effect on the attitude towards the circumstances of life: the total surrender to the Divine Will manifested in all things; and the consciousness of the supreme power that organises all things according to its all-powerful conception. In either case there is no place for complaint: if one is completely surrendered to the Divine, how can one complain about His Will, whatever form it takes? And on the other hand, if one feels the power of organising the world according to the supreme truth of life, how can one complain about the state this life is in, since it depends only on oneself to change it?
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Never grumble. All sorts of forces enter you when you grumble and they pull you down. Keep smiling. I seem always to be joking but it is not mere joking. It is a confidence born from the psychic. A smile expresses the faith that nothing can stand against the Divine and that everything will come out all right in the end.
28 May 1954
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The more you grumble, the more your pains will increase.
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If you are not satisfied with what you are, take advantage of the Divine's help and change yourself. If you haven't the courage to change, submit to your destiny and keep quiet.
But to constantly complain about the condition you are in, without doing anything to change it, is a waste of your time and energy.
The difficulties can disappear only when the egoistic concentration upon desires and conveniences disappears.
12 March 1958
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Never Worry About Difficulties
Never worry.
Do with sincerity all you do and leave the results to the Divine's care.
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Let us live each day without anxiety. Why worry beforehand about something that will probably never happen?
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Anxiety is a lack of confidence in the Divine's Grace, the unmistakable sign that the consecration is not complete and perfect.
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Don't foresee difficulties--it does not help to surmount them and helps them to come.
5 August 1932
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It is better not to worry about progress, because worrying only hinders the advance. It is better to open in all trust and simplicity to the divine help and to have faith in the Victory.
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Live in the consciousness of the Eternal and you will have no more worry.
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Forget about Difficulties
My nature appears childish to me!
One must not attach too much importance to these little things. What is important is always to keep in view the ideal that one wants to realise and always to try one's best to realise it.
6 April 1934
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Yes, after all, these small superficial things are of very little importance if compared to the mission we have to fulfil upon earth.
29 September 1937
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We must always keep in mind the big ideal and work that is to be achieved so that we should not give too much importance to small details, trifles that must not draw our attention; let them come, let them go like small clouds in the sky, which do not affect the fine weather.
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Do not attach undue importance to unimportant things.
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We must be freed from all care for contingencies, we must be delivered from the ordinary outlook on things.
25 November 1954
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Never think of a difficulty--you give it strength.
14 April 1958
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Do not concentrate on an obstacle; that only strengthens it.
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If you go on thinking of the trouble, it will go on increasing. If you concentrate upon it, it will swell up, it will think that it is being welcomed. But if you don't pay any attention, it will lose interest in you and go away.
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The best remedy is to stop thinking of yourself and your defects and difficulties.
Let us think only of the big work to be done, the ideal that Sri Aurobindo has given us to realise. The work and NOT how we do it.
I will help.
5 June 1961
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Forget your difficulties. Think only of being a more and more perfect instrument for the Divine to do His work and the Divine will conquer all your difficulties and transform you.
With love and blessings.
5 March 1968
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Forget your difficulties.
Forget yourself...
And the Lord will take care of your progress.
With love and blessings.
5 March 1968
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Divine Mother, I implore you to illumine and put a living faith in this dark area in me.
Do not give any importance to that part and it will lose its strength and little by little even its existence.
My love and blessings are always with you.
1971
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Face and Overcome Difficulties
Be grateful for all ordeals, they are the shortest way to the Divine.
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The joy one experiences in living for an ideal is the sure compensation for all the difficulties of the path.
Have faith in your destiny and your road will be lit.
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For each one and for the whole world anything becomes useful if it helps to find the Divine.
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The grace and protection are always with you. When in any inner or outer difficulty or trouble, do not allow it to oppress you; take refuge with the Divine Force that protects.
If you do that always with faith and sincerity, you will find something opening in you which will always remain calm and peaceful in spite of all superficial disturbances.
3 February 1931
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Those who are sincere I can help and turn easily towards the Divine. But where there is insincerity I can do very little. And as I have told you already, we have only to be patient and wait for things to become better. But surely I do not see why you should get disturbed and in what way your disturbance would help things to be better. You know by experience that there is only one way of getting out of confusion and obscurity; it is to remain very quiet and peaceful, firm in equanimity and to let the storm pass away. Rise above these petty quarrels and difficulties and wake up once more in the light and the power of my love which never leaves you.
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All unpleasantness should be faced with the spirit of Samata.
24 November 1932
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It is good to turn a difficulty into an occasion for a new progress.
13 March 1935
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Surely you could not believe that sadhana could be done without facing some difficulties. As your aspiration is sincere, whatever was in the subconscient standing in the way of the Divine Realisation, has come to the surface in order to be transformed. There is nothing there to make you sad or depressed--on the contrary you ought to rejoice at these occasions to make progress and never forget to lean for support and help on my love, force and blessings.
15 December 1936
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If you keep your faith unshaken and your heart always open to me, then all difficulties, however great, will contribute to the greater perfection of your being.
19 April 1937
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Try to withdraw from your outward circumstances which alone can be upset by such things and find the peace inside which remains always untouched.
14 November 1937
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Always when one faces difficulties and overcomes them it begins a new spiritual opening and victory.
7 December 1937
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When you want to make a progress, the difficulty you wished to conquer increases tenfold in importance and intensity in your consciousness. You have only to persevere. That is all; it will pass away.
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In spite of all difficulties I go on with the belief that if I hold on, the difficult times will go. If I accept defeat, then I shall go.
This is the right attitude. Stick to it and you shall conquer.
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Sadhana is always difficult and everybody has conflicting elements in his nature and it is difficult to make the vital give up its ingrained habits.
That is no reason for giving up sadhana. One has to keep up the central aspiration which is always sincere and go on steadily in spite of temporary failures; and it is then inevitable that the change will come.
With my love and blessings.
3 May 1939
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What do obstacles matter? We shall always go forward.
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That doesn't matter! The difficulties are there for the pleasure of surmounting them.
Go forward, keep confident and all will be well.
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I have always the same thing to say: quiet confidence and courage is the only way of getting out of difficulties.
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Perfect mental balance: indispensable for facing the difficulties of life.
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To conquer the difficulties there is more power in a smile than in a sigh.
27 December 1941
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Ordeals are there for everybody. It is the way in which one faces them that makes the difference. Some have a smile, some make a fuss.
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Whenever things become difficult we must remain quiet and silent.
11 April 1954
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Whatever is the difficulty, if we keep truly quiet the solution will come.
8 August 1954
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The errors can become stepping-stones, the blind gropings can be changed into conquests.
8 December 1954
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To keep steady one's aspiration and to look at oneself with an absolute sincerity are the sure means to overcome all obstacles.
10 May 1955
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All difficulties are there to test the endurance of the faith.
13 June 1956
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Look life in the face from the soul's inner strength and become master of circumstances.
19 September 1956
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May the Divine Mother give me the necessary force so that the following prayer of mine may become effective.
As a son of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, my greatest interest is in Truth. Let not the mountain of pride hidden in Nature distort in any way the movements of this Truth--the Glorious Sun. Lift me above smallness.
Do not let the view of the part hide the perception of the whole, and the details of one step obstruct the concentration on the Goal.
Blessings.
14 May 1963
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I would like to pray to the Mother to kindly explain to me the meaning of the dramatising of everything by the vital nature.
What I meant is that life is always full of difficulties, hardships and sufferings; this is a common fact and each one has to face his own lot of them. The only way to face them properly is to endure and to put one's interest, hope and faith in the inner life and consciousness turned towards the Divine, aspiring for the Divine and capable of receiving the Divine's Force and Help. But often the vital being or some part of it takes a kind of perverse pleasure in giving a dramatic importance to each and every difficulty and thus cuts the contact with the inner being and the Divine's Force.
This bad habit which is common to many people must be stopped and then each one can and will feel that he receives very concretely the help he needs to go through the ordeals of life.
2 February 1964
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Our ordeals never exceed our capacity of resistance.
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The difficulties are for the strong, and help to make them stronger.
Persevere and you will conquer. You can be sure that my help, force and blessings are always with you.
With love.
12 July 1966
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The ordeals are for everybody--it is the way of meeting them that differs according to individuals.
With love and blessings.
21 April 1967
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The only way out of your difficulty is to find the psychic being and to live entirely in its consciousness.
Life upon earth as it is now is full of miseries and any sensitive heart is full of sorrow because of that. To get in contact with the Divine Consciousness and to live in its mercy, its strength and its light is the only truly effective way to get out of this difficulty and suffering and by uniting with the psychic we can obtain this condition.
My help and blessings are with you for this purpose.
6 April 1969
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All difficulties are solved by taking rest in the Divine's arms, for these arms are always opened with love to shelter us.
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When everything goes wrong, one must know how to remember that God is all-powerful.
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The Divine is present among us. When we remember Him always He gives us the strength to face all circumstances with perfect peace and equanimity. Become aware of the Presence and your difficulties will disappear.
7 November 1970
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To live within, in constant aspiration towards the Divine--that renders us capable of regarding life with a smile and remaining in peace whatever the external circumstances.
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Live within, do not be shaken by external circumstances.
26 July 1971
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To live only for the Divine: this means to have overcome all the difficulties of the individual life.
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He who lives to serve the Truth is not affected by outward circumstances.
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