818. Payment

Love gives. It cannot take. It can only give. Maybe man takes, he can only take and he cannot give is an uncharitable statement to make about mankind. At least in our own personal experience, we would have seen one example of such a person. Having read the words of Sri Aurobindo about the unregenerate vital, not wanting to be under an obligation, I began to collect evidences for it from my readings of history and literature. During the course of my research, I came across precious examples in life and in literature for another principle with which this article opens. My main focus was how much I am qualified under these rules, how unregenerate my vital is and how unwilling I was to pay where payment was due. It was instructive.

Someone suffering an incurable disease came across another person in whom she developed a hope. She offered half her property to him. In half an hour of conversation, her hopes rose and she offered all her property. She was cured. Rather, she was transformed from the ghost she was to a girl of good looks. Her offer was no longer in the air. A man entrusted a friend with all his money. The friend invested it and raised it to a value of thirty times in 18 months. It never occurred to the man that the friend could also be given a trifle out of the good fortune he had created. Two rich men bought a large coffee estate together. One man paid his share. The other man did not. The buyer did not ask for the payment. The seller did not pay, nor did he give a receipt for the money for five years. It is inconceivable, but I was a witness to it. I can write here up to fifteen such instances directly from the events I experienced or was a witness to. Conan Doyle wrote 56 short stories and 4 novels with Sherlock Holmes as the hero. It seems he made an experiment of his work to study this principle in life. Holmes never asks for payment. No one paid him, but everyone, before the work was over, copiously promised to pay.

A Lord came representing the throne and assured his payment, but never paid. A gold king asked him to burn money if necessary, but never paid. A poor girl offered to pay if she got her property. She got it but never paid. The police took Holmes' help but would not even pay his expenses. An Austrian King and a Duke from whom Holmes demanded payment paid. A banker lost a crown and offered to pay its whole value, but never mentioned payment on its recovery. Sri Aurobindo says it never occurs to Man that a payment is due for service rendered or goods received. Love that is incapable of taking expresses through the mind or body. The body is physical and is possessive. Even when the body expresses DIVINE LOVE that cannot take, in the beginning it wants to take for a period before it starts giving. If you see someone coming forward to pay AFTER the work is over and without being asked, you can be sure he is NOT physical.  Yoga is to move from Mind to Supermind. There is the necessity for some of us to move from the vital to the mental. A few people may find themselves in the physical. They too can move. The power of the Force is wherever you are, you will be moved to the top, as in politics when the party wants, a person is moved from anywhere to everywhere. Man does not want to pay is a human reality