Spiritual Strength
08-06-2014
Spiritual Strength
Man feeling the strength of the Spirit as sweetness of life is a high experience of the Spirit. The Thiruvasakam says that if God punishes or chooses to punish, it is a victory for the very gods. Life deciding to shower its infinite wealth on Man offers bankruptcy to him with love. If you fill the ranks of your army with veterans, God, says Sri Aurobindo, plants a Napoleon on the other side. Mary before she could hear of her being the heiress, was banished from the house of Gresham. The future royalty takes the shape of exile in life. Americans cannot eat hot spices. Europeans are used to pepper, clove etc. for centuries. Even they cannot stand chilies. Rajaji had never travelled abroad before he went to USA to meet Kennedy. It was a trip of a little more than a week when he was to stand the rigour of American bland taste. Mother says low consciousness needs strong taste. On is way back S.Y. Krishnaswamy, a Tanjore Iyengar met him in Rome. நாக்கு செத்துப் போச்சி, ஆத்துக்குப் போய் ரசம் பண்ணிக் கொண்டா, என்றார். Non-spicy food is a punishment for the Indian tongue. Chili is a horror for the Americans. But even they cannot escape the rare taste if it is brought out. Bob was invited to the house of the manager of HMP to breakfast when he was offered மிளகாய் பொடி. He would not touch it. On being persuaded he did taste it and liked it. A week later Bob asked for another dose of it.Food may be physical, but taste is spiritual. Tyranny and cruelty are physical but their spiritual version is the delicate ecstasy of the touch of sweetness. Its human biological version is the woman’s loving the domination of Man. The electorate love to be deceived by the leaders’ falsity, even when they know it.The subconscious calls for it, enjoys it. When exposed bare to the bone, they declare, “Yes, I love to be cheated, as I do know the privilege of being a victim.” It is one stage for the consciousness in its journey from the inconscient to being conscious. Literature becomes immortal when it speaks of these shades of truth so that it reaches the reader’s full appreciation. Life becomes literature in the plane of imagination that senses the strong touch of darkness as the sweet embrace of the breeze.
In Mark Twain, the Prince courts misfortune.As the charm of a pretty face, misfortune has an irresistible charm. Sri Aurobindo calls it Krishna at his tricks. The hazardous wager held such a charm to Phileas Fogg. It opened to him the door of entry into the English gentleman’s life. Theoretically, all suffering is of this kind. In suttee we see it clearly. Suttee is for the chaste wife who cannot live after the death of the husband.At its acme, such a devoted woman dies the same moment her husband breathes his last. When the life lingers, she takes delight in burning herself. There are instances of wives doing so in great joy. It is barbaric when it is thrust on unwilling women. Everyone is not நந்தனார், not to be burnt by the fire he entered. Sri Aurobindo and The Mother felt the hell fire in their inner being, trying to open a road to Supermind. One expression of it is the joy the mother feels when the baby passes urine on her lap.Done in ignorance, it is pain. Pure knowledge of spiritual light senses that pain as rapturous ecstasy. God created the universe to enjoy that delight in infinite dimension eternally. It is known that great good fortune comes to narrow personalities as intolerable pain or fainting or even insanity.This truth is given to us, as there is a thin line of separation between insanity and genius.
Romance is for those to whom utter insecurity is intense security. Man lives on the surface. A little strength is enough for him to survive. Even the surface life has its intensities. They are the momentary ecstasies of varying descriptions.The surface cannot sustain intensities for long. That is why intense emotions and sensations appear on the surface in the reverse. Even the sufferings of great intensity, as one sought by the Prince are brought to an end quickly. To cross the surface and enter into the inner Mind is the very step that is indispensable. It is a subtle world. I believe tradition knows one part of this world – the subtle physical. All the 64 Sastras were written by the Rishis who entered into this world. Beyond it are the subtle vital and subtle mental worlds.
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