The
Need of the Moment1Sri Aurobindo
Bande Mataram
Early Political Writings. 1890 — May 1908
Bande Mataram. March 18, 1908
The
Need of the Moment1
All that we do and attempt proceeds from faith, and if we are deficient in faith nothing can be accomplished. When we are deficient in faith our work begins to flag and failure is frequent; but if we have faith things are done for us. No great work has ever been done without this essential courage. Misled by egoism, we believe that we are working, that the results of what we do are our creation, and when anything has to be done we ask ourselves whether we have the strength, the means, the requisite qualities, but in reality all work is done by the will of God and when faith in Him is the mainspring of our actions, success is inevitable. Sometimes we wish a thing very intensely and our wish is accomplished. The wish was in fact a prayer, and all sincere prayer receives its answer. It need not be consciously addressed to God, because prayer is not a form of words but an aspiration. If we aspire, we pray. But the aspiration must be absolutely unselfish, not alloyed by the thought of petty advantages or lower aims if it is to succeed. When we mingle self with our aspirations, we weaken to that extent the strength of the prayer and the success is proportionately less.
Whoever believes in God, rises above his lower self; for God is the true Self of the Universe and of everything within the Universe.
When we rely upon our lower self, we are left to that lower self, and succeed or fail according to our strength of body or intellect under the law of our past life and actions.
There is one law for the lower self and another for the higher.
The lower self is in bondage to its past; the higher is lord of the past, the present and the future.
So the will of the lower self is born of ahaṅkāra and limited by ahaṅkāra, but the will of the higher self is beyond ahaṅkāra and cannot be limited by it.
It is omnipotent.
But so long as it works through the body, it works under the laws of time, space and causality and we have to wait for its fulfilment till the time is ready, the environment prepared, the immediate causes brought about.
The will once at work infallibly brings about the 
necessary conditions; all we have to do is to allow it to work.
Apply this great psychological law to what is happening in India. The aspiration towards freedom has for some time been working in some hearts, but they relied on their own strength for the creation of the necessary conditions and they failed. Of those who worked, some gave up the work, others persisted, a few resorted to tapasyā, the effort to awake2 in themselves a higher Power to which they might call for help. The tapasyā of those last had its effect unknown to themselves, for they were pouring out a selfless aspiration into the world, and the necessary conditions began to be created. When these conditions were far advanced, the second class who worked on began to think that it was the result of their efforts, but the secret springs were hidden from them. They were merely the instruments through which the purer aspiration of their old friends fulfilled itself.
If the conditions of success are to be yet more rapidly brought about, it must be by yet more of the lovers of freedom withdrawing themselves from the effort to work through the lower self. The aspiration of these strong souls purified from self will create fresh workers in the field, infuse the great desire for freedom in the heart of the nation and hasten the growth of the necessary material strength.
What is needed now is a band of spiritual workers whose tapasyā will be devoted to the liberation of India for the service of humanity.
The few associations already started have taken another turn and devoted themselves to special and fragmentary work.
We need an institution in which under the guidance of highly spiritual men workers will be trained for every field, workers for self-defence, workers for arbitration, for sanitation, for famine relief, for every species of work which is needed to bring about the necessary conditions for the organisation of Swaraj.
If the country is to be free, it must first
organise3 itself so as to be able to maintain its freedom.
The winning of freedom is an easy task, the keeping of it is less easy.
The first needs only one tremendous effort in which all the energies of the country must be concentrated; the second requires a4 united, organised5 and settled strength.
If these two conditions are satisfied, nothing more is needed, for all else is detail and will inevitably follow.
For the first condition the requisite is a mighty selfless faith and aspiration filling the hearts of men as in the day of Mazzini.
For the second, India, which has no Piedmont to work out her salvation, requires to
organise6 her scattered strengths into a single and irresistible whole.
For both these ends an institution of the kind we have named is essential. The force of a great stream of aspiration must be poured over the country, which will sweep away as in a flood the hesitations, the selfishnesses, the fears, the self-distrust, the want of fervour and the want of faith which stand in the way of the spread of the great national awakening of 1905. A mightier fountain of the spirit must be prepared from which this stream of aspiration can be poured to fertilise the heart of the nation. When this is done, the aspiration towards liberty will become universal and India be ready for the great effort.
The organisation7 of Swaraj can only be effected by a host of selfless workers who will make it their sole life-work. It cannot be done by men whose best energies and time are given up to the work of earning their daily bread and only the feeble remnant to their country. The work is enormous, the time is short, but the workers are few. One institution is required which will train and support men to help those who are now labouring under great disadvantages to organise8 education, to build up the life of the villages, to spread the habit of arbitration, to help the people in time of famine and sickness, to preach Swadeshi. These workers must be selfless, free from the desire to lead or shine, devoted to the work for the country's sake, absolutely obedient yet full of energy. They must breathe the strength of the spirit, of selfless faith and aspiration derived from the spiritual guides of the institution. The material is ready and even plentiful, but the factory which will make use of the material has yet to be set on foot. When the man comes, who is commissioned by God to do it, we must be ready to recognise9 him.
Later edition of this work: The Complete Works of Sri Aurobindo.- Set in 37 volumes.- Volumes 6-7.- Bande Mataram: Political Writings and Speeches. 1890–1908 .- Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, 2002.- 1182 p.
1 The exact date of the article is uncertain. It appeared in the daily edition on 18 or 19 March. Both these issues have been lost. The article was reprinted in the weekly edition on 22 March.
2 2002 ed. CWSA, vol.6-7: wake
3 2002 ed. CWSA, vol.6-7: organize
4 2002 ed. CWSA, vol.6-7: an
5 2002 ed. CWSA, vol.6-7: organized
6 2002 ed. CWSA, vol.6-7: organize
7 2002 ed. CWSA, vol.6-7: organization
8 2002 ed. CWSA, vol.6-7: organize
9 2002 ed. CWSA, vol.6-7: recognize