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Knowledge of the Future is there in the Past

 

March. 21, 2002

  • All that Mother aspires for man can be achieved by him if he follows the old, age old wisdom of Truth.
  • If that is that SIMPLE, it only means knowing is not knowledge and that knowledge too is not power.
  • Can we then say power alone matters, nothing else?

- Knowledge of the body in the cells acts at once.

- Knowledge that is not power is not full knowledge.

- Knowledge and will fusing becomes true power.

- When the outer becomes inner, speed rises phenomenally.

- Knowledge is a part; Unity, Truth, Goodness, Power and Love complete knowledge.

- Manomaya Purusha is the Spirit of Life-Spirit; for divine life the supramental being must be born.

- We must move from Time to Simultaneity.

- We must enter into the depth, cross the inner mind, abandon the surface mind or allow the subliminal to surface.

- Our parts of Being must unite, know the other planes of existence, cross over Time, shed ego and leap beyond the cosmic Self to know the Absolute.

- Discover the Infinite in the finite.

- Realise the relative is the Absolute.

- See the contradiction as the aspiration of the subliminal.

- Discover the points of reconciliation of Matter and Spirit in the cosmic and transcendental consciousness.

- Know the mental psychic and let it grow into the physical psychic and Ishwara.

- Let the ego dissolve, psychic emerge and spread all over the universe.

  • Mother and The Sri Aurobindo can be stated in 15 or 20 more ways too. None of them are known to the past. How can we say the knowledge of the future is in the past?
  • It is true none of these are part of the past. It is equally true that the knowledge required in the future is in the past.
  • The knowledge I speak of is POWER that realises which divides in the consciously known facts and principles on one side and the values and strategies called for to help those principles yield the end results. The past knows those values and strategies in toto. This is known as the wisdom of the world and without exception ALL aspects of this vast great wisdom are enshrined in the proverbs of all nations as well as in great literature. Even the lowest type of literature speaks of them and they are taught to children as stories.
  • What then is NEW in Sri Aurobindo?
  • We know man has developed so far unconsciously and the future is for conscious development.
  • In an episode of "Yes, Prime Minister" called Party Games, Jim Hacker who was a junior Minister in the Cabinet suddenly and unexpectedly becomes the Prime Minister. In his life as well as in the life of UK this was strange. The process is well depicted in the most minute detail. What struck me is ALL the rules of higher life are meticulously followed here with supreme mastery. Anyone who desires to find the infinite in the finite and launches the work will need to follow all these rules. We often find devotees who embark on a project err in many ways. Even one error will be fatal. Devotees err in dozens of ways. Jim became the Prime Minister of UK. It is in life.
  • If one wants to do the same thing in Mother's consciousness, all that he needs to do is NOT to move away from Mother's consciousness and work as the characters in this play work.
  • When a token work is proposed, devotees err in 90% of the places in as many ways and in as many strategies and feel that Mother's Consciousness is too exacting and is impossible. This episode shows all this is honoured in life FULLY at its own level.
  • It is clear that devotees who cannot rise to the heights of life, cannot rise to the heights in Mother.
  • Let me give the significant points I want to spotlight.

- Jim Hacker occupied the 4th or lower place in the British Cabinet.

- His permanent Secretary was one of the three senior secretaries in the civil service.

- The Cabinet Secretary called Humphrey for a meeting over dinner and gently disclosed his intention to retire 6 months early and said Humphrey's name was in the top of the list of probable candidates.

- In the next breath, he is told that his is the only name in the list. Humphrey moved to his new post, and suddenly Jim acquired a shade of higher respect to his own Permanent Secretary.

- A few days later the Prime Minister declared his intention to resign on New Year, the same time the Cabinet Secretary would be retiring.

- Jim Hacker was approached by two aspirants to the PM's post. Jim was in a dilemma, as support to one is enmity of the other.

- The Home Secretary who was the Deputy Leader of the party was charged with drunken driving and out of the race.

- Humphrey called the Chief Whip of the party and showed him one leaf in the file of each of the two present aspirants, one accusing of involvement with an Argentine woman and the other of an illegal financial deal.

- They decided that both the existing aspirants were thus disqualified and decided on Jim Hacker as the only available option.

- Jim was called into the meeting and shown the relevant pages of the files.

- A day earlier Humphrey spoke to Bernard in general terms and indirectly suggested to him, in his capacity as Hacker's private secretary, that he should plant a seed of this possibility in Jim's mind, which Bernard does.

- Jim did not catch the suggestion at first. At its repetition, the potential greed came alive and caught the idea but it remained inconceivable.

- Humphrey's pretext in calling Jim was he was at that time the party chairman.

- Humphrey and the chief whip asked Jim to think of a third candidate.

- Jim rose to the occasion, modestly putting himself in the background.

- The three of them silently decided on their chosen course.

- Now both the aspirants must withdraw.

- That job was given to Jim.

- Jim was told a candidate must be a killer too, which idea Jim accepted.

- Jim eliminated both after a deft handling.

- It was not enough they withdrew. They should support Jim.

- Jim was told to explain to the two aspirants that it was not enough they withdrew but both needed the protection of the one who knew their secrets.

- Jim secured their support.

- It was not enough the field was free but Jim needed an excuse, a boosting occasion in the eyes of the public to deserve the post. He had already been told by Humphrey how to create a situation that would put him in the limelight.

- Jim tried and succeeded.

- He became the PM and acquired in the eyes of Humphrey a shade of higher respect this time in his turn.

  • It is significant that no one at any stage openly mentioned the work on hand. It was all done implicitly.
  • One whose stature is high and well deserves the post may thus be spoken to or spoken of.
  • When the small rises to heights or a new ideal is to enter into the portals of power, outspoken expressions that are in the gross plane will not serve the purpose. It needs to be done in the subtle plane which will not permit of explicit expressions.
  • The job of eliminating the rivals was given to Jim as he was a non-entity rising. To a person who is already above this would not be given.
  • Reading the episode or seeing the film with the rules of subtle life in mind will amply justify my view.
  • One who desires to take up a Token work must quality himself as Jim qualified himself for the post of PM.
  • By doing the work from the centre of Mother's consciousness with the rules of life carefully and dexterously followed, one is bound to discover the infinite in the finite.
  • It is a JOY to know the sincere loyalty of the civil service to work, master, truth and they are all, all the time aboveboard and blemishless.
  • Sri Aurobindo says the intelligence we see now in the very best was in there in the primitive man. The form was already there.
  • Along with the intelligence, the strategies of work that complete it were there, as it was another form of work intelligence.
  • What was not there was the higher consciousness. HE says Nature's work will be over if the progress on all the six fronts - Unity, Truth, Goodness, Knowledge, Power, Love - are over.
  • Not only Sir Humphrey, but wherever any work is well completed, e.g. in the battlefield, in a church, at home, or in a company, one sees the presence of this intelligence and these strategies.
  • As the selfish man's efficiency is the same as the unselfish man's efficiency, the only difference is of the point of reference.
  • To move towards the Supermind, man has all the endowments he needs except the higher consciousness.
  • The higher consciousness is attained by the aspiration to move above which means moving away from the ego, selfishness, Time, Mind and the surface.
  • When people move from agriculture to manufacture or from there to service, they carry all their skills with them to be employed in a different context. The changing context does not change the Spirit of work.
  • Those to whom I present the idea of a Token Work, should have the Spirit of work and if they do not have it, they should acquire it. Please note it has nothing to do with Mother. It has everything to do with work.

Comments

Bullet point No.6, line 3,

Bullet point No.6, line 3, "The past knows those values and strategies in toto." - in total?

Bullet point no. 22:One who

Bullet point no. 22:

One who desires to take up a Token work must quality (qualify?) himself as Jim qualified himself for the post of PM.



story | by Dr. Radut