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SPEECH AND PRACTICE
It is not enough to know, you must practise. It is not enough to pretend, you must be. 15 November 1940 On the path of Truth, in order to know more you must put into practice what you already know. A little bit of sincere practice is worth much more than a lot of written or spoken words. July 1953 A drop of practice is better than an ocean of theories, advices and good resolutions.
1968 Speak less, act more. Talk little, be true, act sincerely.
To listen is good, but not sufficient ― you must understand. To understand is better, but still not sufficient ― you must act. 24 November 1969 Page ― 224 (Message for the inauguration of Sri Aurobindo’s Action)
To speak well is good. To act well is better. Never let your actions be below your words. 29 July 1970 It is better to state a truth than to disregard it; but it is much better still to live it than to state it.
One speaks a great deal about this teaching but one does not follow it.
eople who do not live what they think are useless.
It is good to read a Divine Teaching. It is better to learn it. The best is to live it.
A teaching can be profitable only if it is perfectly sincere, and that means if it is lived at the moment when it is given. Words often repeated, thoughts often expressed cannot be any longer sincere. Page ― 225 All theories, all teachings are, in the last analysis, nothing but ways of seeing and speaking. Even the highest revelations are worth no more than the power of realisation that comes with them. To live the Supreme Truth, if only for a minute, is worth more than writing or reading hundreds of books on the methods or processes by which to find it.
To realise a progressive truth, theory must be moulded according to the practice and not practice made to suit the theory.
Before acting, know what you have to do. Page ― 226 |