of work to keep and develop what one has got – as it is in all other things – until there is the complete siddhi. Then of course labour finishes and one is in assured possession. So tapasya of one kind or another is not avoidable.Sri Aurobindo
Letters of Sri Aurobindo
Volume 2. 1934 — 1935
Letter ID: 644
Sri Aurobindo — Roy, Dilip Kumar
November 3, 1935
The late Brahmananda, one of the most favourite disciples of Sri Ramakrishna has said, “The human is lax by nature, that is why he does not prescribe for himself a hard askesis (tapasya) nor a long sadhana and revels in platitudes about the Divine Grace. But it is all a rationalisation of our inveterate tendency to follow the line of least resistance in as much as without tapasya Grace does not descend. You must labour hard if you really mean business.” What do you say to that?
I am glad that Brahmananda has intervened or at least wandered in at the right moment – it is something more than a coincidence. It is true that Brahmananda though not a great man or a great personality like Vivekananda, was or became a more perfect bhakta and sattwic Yogi. What he says about tapasya is of course true. If one is not prepared for labour and tapasya, control of the mind and vital, one cannot demand big spiritual gains – for the mind and vital will always find tricks and excuses for prolonging their own reign, imposing their likes and dislikes and staving off the day when they will have to become obedient instruments and open channels of the soul and spirit. Grace may sometimes bring undeserved or apparently undeserved fruits, but one can’t demand Grace as a right and privilege – for then it would not be Grace. As you have seen – let us bless Brahmananda for it! – one can’t claim that one has only to shout and the answer must come. Besides, I have always seen that there has been really a long unobserved preparation before the Grace intervenes, and also, after it has intervened, one has still to put in a good deal of work to keep and develop what one has got – as it is in all other things – until there is the complete siddhi. Then of course labour finishes and one is in assured possession. So tapasya of one kind or another is not avoidable.
You are right again about the imaginary obstacles. Good Lord! What mountains of them you had piled up on the way – a regular Abyssinia. It is why we are always imprecating against mental constructions and vital formations – because they are the defence-works mind and vital throw up against their capture by the Divine. However, the first thing is to become conscious of all that as you have now become – the secret thing is to be firm in knocking it all down and making a tabula rasa1, a foundation of calm, peace, happy openness for the true building.
1 Tabula rasa: an erased tablet in latin.