WRITINGS BY THE MOTHER
© Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust

Aspiration

Sri Aurobindo also has written this: Aspire intensely, but without impatience.... The difference between intensity and impatience is very subtle--it is all a difference in vibration. It is subtle, but it makes all the difference.

Intensely, but without impatience. That's it. One must be in that state.

And for a very long time, a very long time, one must be satisfied with inner results, that is, results in one's personal and individual reactions, one's inner contact with the rest of the world--one must not expect or be premature in wanting things to materialise. Because our hastiness usually delays things.

If it is like that, it is like that.

We--I mean men--live harassed lives. It is a kind of half-awareness of the shortness of their lives; they do not think of it, but they feel it half-consciously. And so they are always [old p. 203][new p. 201]wanting--quick, quick, quick--to rush from one thing to another, to do one thing quickly and move on to the next one, instead of letting each thing live in its own eternity. They are always wanting: forward, forward, forward.... And the work is spoilt.

That is why some people have preached: the only moment that matters is the present moment. In practice it is not true, but from the psychological point of view it ought to be true. That is to say, to live to the utmost of one's capacities at every minute, without planning or wanting, waiting or preparing for the next. Because you are always hurrying, hurrying, hurrying.... And nothing you do is good. You are in a state of inner tension which is completely false--completely false.

All those who have tried to be wise have always said it--the Chinese preached it, the Indians preached it--to live in the awareness of Eternity. In Europe also they said that one should contemplate the sky and the stars and identify oneself with their infinitude--all things that widen you and give you peace.

These are means, but they are indispensable.

And I have observed this in the cells of the body; they always seem to be in a hurry to do what they have to do, lest they have no time to do it. So they do nothing properly. Muddled people--some people turn everything upside down, their movements are jerky and confused--have this to a high degree, this kind of haste--quick, quick, quick.... Yesterday, someone was complaining of rheumatic pains and he was saying, "Oh, it is such a waste of time. I do things so slowly!" I said (Mother smiles), "So what!" He didn't like it. You see, for someone to complain when he is in pain means that he is soft, that is all; but to say, "I am wasting so much time, I do things so slowly!" It gave a very clear picture of the haste in which men live. You go hurtling through life... to go where?... You end with a crash!

What is the use of that?

Collected Works of The Mother, First Edition, Volume 10, pp. 202-03