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Perfect vigilance

Nothing is neglected in its observation

 

Magnolia grandiflora L. (Magnoliaceae)

Southern magnolia

Ivory white

Additional information

In each human being there is a beast crouching ready to manifest at the slightest unwatchfulness. The only remedy is a constant vigilance.

The Mother

The Mother. Collected Works of the Mother.- Volume 14. - Words of the Mother

if you relax, relax your vigilance, all of a sudden you find that you are at the other end from where you wanted to go!

The Mother

The Mother. Collected Works of the Mother.- Volume 6. - Questions And Answers (1954)

A great vigilance is required to avoid falling into the movements of the lower consciousness; and a still greater will is needed to get out of them.

The Mother

The Mother. Collected Works of the Mother.- Volume 17. - More answers from the Mother

The true sage guards vigilance as his most precious treasure.

***

"Vigilance is the way that leads to immortality (Nirvana). Negligence is the way that leads to death. Those who are vigilant do not die. Those who are negligent are dead already."

The Mother

The Mother. Collected Works of the Mother.- Volume 3. - Questions and Answers (1929)

To be vigilant is not merely to resist what pulls you downward, but above all to be alert in order not to lose any opportunity to progress, any opportunity to overcome a weakness, to resist a temptation, any opportunity to learn something, to correct something, to master something. If you are vigilant, you can do in a few days what would otherwise take years. If you are vigilant, you change each circumstance of your life, each action, each movement into an occasion for coming nearer the goal.

There are two kinds of vigilance, active and passive. There is a vigilance that gives you a warning if you are about to make a mistake, if you are making a wrong choice, if you are being weak or allowing yourself to be tempted, and there is the active vigilance which seeks an opportunity to progress, seeks to utilise every circumstance to advance more quickly.

There is a difference between preventing yourself from falling and advancing more quickly.

And both are absolutely necessary.

He who is not vigilant is already dead. He has lost contact with the true purpose of existence and of life.

So the hours, circumstances, life pass in vain, bringing no-thing, and you awake from your somnolence in a hole from which it is very difficult to escape.

The Mother

The Mother. Collected Works of the Mother.- Volume 3. - Questions and Answers (1929)

Vigilance means to be awake, to be on one's guard, to be sincere - never to be taken by surprise. When you want to do sadhana, at each moment of your life, there is a choice between taking a step that leads to the goal and falling asleep or sometimes even going backwards, telling yourself, "Oh, later on, not immediately" - sitting down on the way.

The Mother

The Mother. Collected Works of the Mother.- Volume 3. - Questions and Answers (1929)

If one wants to lead the spiritual life, one must not be three-fourths asleep. It is necessary to be wide awake and very attentive, otherwise you are like a little boat upon a river or a great sea with terrible currents, and if you are not alert, if you do not pay close heed to these currents, if you relax, relax your vigilance, all of a sudden you find that you are at the other end from where you wanted to go! You are carried away, just like that, quite naturally. "Why, yes, I wanted to go there and I find myself here!"

The Mother

The Mother. Collected Works of the Mother.- Volume 6. - Questions And Answers (1954)

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