A random series of inept events
To which reason lends illusive sense, is here,
Or the empiric Life’s instinctive search,
Or a vast ignorant mind’s colossal work.
But wisdom comes, and vision grows within:
Then Nature’s instrument crowns himself her king;
He feels his witnessing self and conscious power;
His soul steps back and sees the Light supreme.
Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, Book I, Canto II, page 20
Blows and misfortunes
22 – God struck me with a human hand; shall I say then, “I pardon Thee thy insolence, O God”?
23 – God gave me good in a blow. Shall I say, “I forgive thee, O Almighty One, the harm and the cruelty, but do it not again”?
What does this mean: “God struck me with a human hand”?
These two aphorisms are illustrations of the affirmation of the Divine Presence in all things and all beings, and they also develop the idea which has already been touched on, that there is nothing and no one to forgive, since the Divine is the originator of all things.
This is how this sentence, “God struck me with a human hand”, should be read and understood. If you see nothing but the appearances, it is only one man hitting another. But for one who sees and knows the Truth, it is the supreme Lord who gives the blow through that human hand, and the blow necessarily does good to the one who receives it, that is to say, brings about a progress in his consciousness, for the ultimate aim of creation is to awaken all beings to the consciousness of the Divine.
Once you have understood that, the rest of the two aphorisms is easily explained. Are we to forgive the Lord for the good He does us, while, at the same time, asking Him not to do it again? The self-contradiction and stupidity of such a formula are obvious.
24 – When I pine at misfortune and call it evil, or am jealous and disappointed, then I know that there is awake in me again the eternal fool.
What is this “misfortune” and why does it come?
If you act in order to obtain a result and if the result obtained is not the one you expected, you call this a misfortune. As a general rule, any event that is unexpected or feared is considered by ordinary minds to be a misfortune. Why does this misfortune come? In each case the reason is different; or rather, it is only after the event that the need to explain things makes us look for reasons. But most often our evaluation of circumstances is blind and mistaken. We judge in ignorance. It is only later on, sometimes very much later on, when we have the necessary perspective and view the train of events and the overall results, that we see things as they really were. Then we perceive that what seemed bad to us was in truth very useful and helped us to make the necessary progress.
Sri Aurobindo describes the state of one who is sunk in ignorance and desire and who judges everything from the point of view of his narrow and limited ego as that of “eternal fool”. To be able to understand and feel things correctly one must have a universal vision and be conscious of the Divine Presence and Will in all things and in all circumstances.
Then we know that whatever happens to us is always for our good, if we take the point of view of the spirit in the unfolding of time.
25 – When I see others suffer, I feel that I am unfortunate, but the wisdom that is not mine, sees the good that is coming and approves.
What is this “wisdom”?
It is the supreme wisdom, the wisdom of the Supreme. By this wisdom the present, the past and the future are all seen equally. It knows the causes of all effects and the effects of all causes. The sum total of all circumstances, perceived simultaneously in their entirety, is seen by it as Nature’s sublime effort to express the Divine progressively, her ascending march towards divine perfection. That is “the good that is coming”, everything tends towards that; and that is why the true wisdom approves.
For it is only our shortsightedness, our too limited perception and our misguided sensations that, for us, change into suffering what is a possibility and an opportunity for progress.
And this is proved by the fact that as soon as we understand and collaborate, suffering disappears.
The Mother, On Thoughts and Aphorisms, CWM volume 10, pages 47 – 50.