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Progress and Perfection PROGRESS
Progress is the sign of the divine influence in creation.
Progress: the reason why we are on earth.
The purpose of earthly life is progress. If you stop progressing you will die. Every moment that you spend without progressing is one step closer to your grave.
From the moment you are satisfied and aspire no longer, you begin to die. Life is movement, life is effort; it is marching forward, climbing towards future revelations and realisations. Nothing is more dangerous than wanting to rest.
One has always something to learn and a progress to make, and in each circumstance we can find the occasion of learning the lesson and making the progress. 11 September 1934 Progress: to be ready, at every minute, to give up all one is and all one has in order to advance on the way. 29 June 1950 Page – 82 There is no end to progress and every day one can learn to do better what one does. 26 April 1954 Do not think of what you have been, think only of what you want to be and you are sure to progress. 1 June 1954 Do not look behind, look always in front, at what you want to do − and you are sure of progressing. 2 June 1954 Let us keep flaming in our heart the fire of progress. 21 June 1954 What cannot be done today will surely be done later on. No effort for progress has ever been made in vain. 25 June 1954 Let us progress ourselves, it is the best way of making others progress. 23 July 1954 Stagnation means decomposition. No enterprise can flourish unless it is progressive. Go always forward towards a growing perfection. 21 February 1957 Page – 83 No institution can live unless it is progressive. The true progress is to come always closer to the Divine. Each year that passes must be marked by a new progress towards perfection. 21 February 1957 Whatever is new will always meet an opposition from conservative people. If we yield to this opposition, the world will never advance one step. 7 November 1961 The world progresses so rapidly that we must be ready at any moment to overpass what we know in order to know better. 3 March 1963 In the constant march forward of the universe, whatever has been accomplished is nothing but the first step towards a greater realization.
Each year that passes should be − and is necessarily − a new conquest.
Everybody and everything can always progress and I am always working in view of a possible improvement, knowing that the greatest difficulty brings always the greatest victory and I trust that you are with me for that. Page – 84
Mixing will not make you perfect − perfection must come from within. 1 March 1936 Perfection is not a maximum or an extreme. It is an equilibrium and a harmonisation.
Perfection is not a summit, it is not an extreme. There is no extreme: whatsoever you do, there is always the possibility of something better and exactly this possibility of something better is the very meaning of progress.
Perfection is eternal; it is only the resistance of the world that makes it progressive.
It may be said that perfection is attained, though it remains progressive, when the receptivity from below is equal to the force from above which wants to manifest. 3 January 1951 You cannot expect anybody to be perfect unless you are perfect yourself. And to be perfect means to be exactly as the Lord wants you to be. 3 June 1958 Page – 85 Perfection is all that we want to become in our highest aspiration. 9 October 1966 Thirst for perfection: constant and multiple aspiration.
Never forget the goal. Never stop aspiring. Never halt in your progress, and you are sure to succeed.
Power of success: the power of those who know how to continue their effort.
It is not enough to try, you must succeed.
One must never try for the sake of succeeding. 7 April 1952 (Someone suggested that the popularity of an Ashram journal would increase if its readers were asked for their reactions and expectations. When the matter was referred to the Mother, she wrote:) Page – 86 Let us become as vulgar as we can and success is sure to come. 16 January 1955 All that is done with the purpose of pleasing the public and obtaining success is vulgar and leads to falsehood. I enclose a deeper view of the subject.¹ Blessings. 18 January 1965 Whatever circumstance is given to you, make the best use of it in line with the Truth; to take advantage of it is quite different. All success depends upon the measure of your truth.
Success depends entirely on the sincerity. 27 June 1972 Success in supramental works: the result of patient labour and a perfect consecration.
Spiritual success is the conscious union with the Divine.
¹ For those who are eager to get rid of falsehood, here is a way: Do not try to please yourself, do not try either to please others. Try only to please the Lord. Because He alone is the Truth. Each and every one of us, human beings in our physical body, is a coat of falsehood put on the Lord and hiding Him. As He alone is true to Himself, it is on Him that we must concentrate and not on the coats of falsehood. Page – 87 Success is a harder ordeal to pass through than misfortune. It is in the hour of success that one must be especially vigilant to rise above oneself.
As soon as you think that you have succeeded in a certain thing, the adverse forces make it a point to attack and spoil it. Moreover, when you think of success, you relax your aspiration and the slightest relaxation is sufficient to spoil the game. The best thing is not to think of it but to go on doing your duty. But sometimes when you go on thinking of your short-comings and failures and you get depressed, then you have to put the success before your nose and say, “Look at this.”
We have come not for Peace but for Victory, because in a world governed by the hostile forces Victory must come before Peace. February 1930 Two things you must never forget: Sri Aurobindo’s compassion and the Mother’s love, and it is with these two things that you will go on fighting steadily, patiently, until the enemies are definitively routed and the Victory is won for ever. Courage outside, peace inside and a quiet unshakable trust in the Divine’s Grace. 19 May 1933 Page – 88 In front of the repeated attacks from the enemy you must keep your faith intact and endure till the Victory is won. 2 February 1942 The ultimate victory of the Divine is certain beyond all doubt. 6 April 1942 The Victory is certain and with this certitude we can face patiently any amount of wrong suggestions and hostile attacks.
The certitude of the Victory gives an infinite patience with the maximum of energy.
Let us have a sincere aspiration united to a constant goodwill and the victory is certain. 19 May 1954 The victory of yesterday must be only one step towards tomorrow’s victory. 7 September 1954 In the sincerity of our trust lies the certitude of our victory. 3 October 1954 Page – 89 There is nothing which is not ultimately an instrument leading to the integral victory of the Divine. July 1956 Sweet Mother, You have written: “The ideal child is courageous. He always goes on fighting for the final victory, though he may meet with many defeats.” What does “the final victory” mean? What is victory and what is defeat? What do they represent in our sports ?
I was not referring to victory in games, but to the victory of the consciousness over ignorance and stupidity. 19 March 1970 Victory will triumph over all obstacles. Page – 90 |