The Path

Our path is so simple, yet so difficult! We have only to leave ourselves entirely in Thy hands, Mother Divine, and everything else will be done for us; but against this simple act of surrender the whole of our nature and the whole world seem to stand, and we have to win every inch of ground by stern, resolute, courageous fight and struggle.

Yet everywhere the principle is the same; whenever there is any obstacle, any difficulty, any imperfection in our being, we have simply to surrender it to Thee and wait with patient hope and aspiration. And this is so natural, so in harmony with the true nature of things! Our mind and life and body are living in falsehood and perversion, and their highest perfection lies in identification with Thee. Only it is ignorance and lack of faith and inertia which make them refuse or revolt. Once the faith in divine life is born and the will to attain it, the rest becomes simple and easy.

With even a little of this faith and surrender, the obstacles begin to disappear. With surrender comes peace, comes joy, comes hope. Growing in joyful surrender, we grow in devotion to Thee, Mother, and the greater the sincerity of devotion, the nearer we approach the light, the joy, the power, the peace of Thy divine consciousness, and we become more and more one and integrally identified with Thee. And it is so easy, so natural, so intensely joyful to be devoted to Thee, Mother Divine! Our path is simple and all difficulties and obstacles, however great and powerful, inevitably disappear before simple, sincere, earnest devotion.

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Our life is to be guided not by any human standard, but by the divine. It is not sufficient that we fulfil what can be expected from men; we must pass through the tests applicable to the gods.

The limited and mixed pleasures after which human beings strive are not for us; we aspire after the taste of immortal joy. The little conquests attained by great struggle and effort are not for us; our aim is to make the world forces yield to our will. The imperfect knowledge, full of ignorance and falsehood, attained by the reason and the understanding, is not for us; we seek the light which, blazing like the sun from within, will dispel all our darkness.

Nothing mean, nothing impure, nothing undivine is to be tolerated by us. We must rise above the human passions, above the little joys and sorrows which disturb men, above the small pursuits which keep human beings occupied. What is impossible to achieve for a mortal man shall be achieved in us through the divine Grace. We must always aspire to follow not the human standard but the divine.

And that divine standard is Thy own Self, Mother, Thou art our ideal and our guide. To know Thy will in every detail and to follow it under all circumstances, that is the standard we have accepted for our life.

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My sole aspiration, Mother, is to make myself a perfect vehicle for the manifestation of the Truth, and to make my life a real extension of Thy divine life. Everything that I call “me” and “mine” shall be replaced by “Thee” and “Thine”; all the conditions for the higher divine life shall be fully and strictly fulfilled, that is my sole work, my sole sadhana.

My thoughts and feelings and willings, going on in their old way, keep me bound to the lower life of ignorance and falsehood; all these have to be thrown away entirely and replaced by the reflections of Thy thoughts, feelings and willings, — that is the way to the realisation of the life divine. Thou hast placed Thyself before us as the embodiment of the Truth, as the ideal to be attained by us. It is by making ourselves perfectly plastic and responsive to Thy touch and influence that we shall conquer all our human limitations.

We now depend on the mind for our light and guidance, hence we grope and stumble. Let us free our mind from all thoughts and desires, all prejudices and attachments, and keep it always open and turned towards Thee, so that Thou mayest intuitivise and transform it. We must make our mind worthy of reliance, before we rely on it. With a mind pure and transformed, we shall steadily follow the light and rise to the life divine which Thou hast held before us as our ultimate goal.

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Thou hast clearly shown the path to us, Mother, we have only to follow it up; Thou wilt guide us at every step, help us in all our difficulties, support us with Thy infinite love and grace; we have only to turn towards Thee with all our heart and soul.

Thou dost not require anything from us which is beyond our power to give; Thou dost not give us any work which we cannot carry out; we have only to make the best use of our light and power, we have to fulfil the part assigned to us; whatever else is necessary, Thou wilt do for us.

But our efforts must be sincere, persistent, and determined. We must not allow inertia or lethargy to overtake us; we must not allow falsehood to mix up with our aspiration. We must watch every thought or desire that may rise in us, and constantly open ourselves to Thee, Mother. We must not leave anything to chance, but consciously and ceaselessly strive to fulfil all the conditions of our transformation in their minutest detail.

Thou hast made our task perfectly clear to us; but it is a great and difficult task, and it is only by devoting all our heart and soul to it that we can ever hope to achieve it.

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It is not that our sadhana will bear fruit only in some distant date in the future; it is fulfilling itself every moment and is a course of progressive self-realisation. Even a little of it delivers us from great sorrow and sin; every step brings new joy, new life.

Our very resolution to turn away from the lower things in life and to realise the Divine, brings forth all that is best in us. By holding firmly to our faith, we are delivered from the torments of doubt and uncertainty. By aspiration we easily conquer the forces which would pull us down. By giving up desires we strike at the root of all misery and sin. By getting rid of egoism we rise above the conflicts of the world and realise the unity and harmony of the higher life. By surrender to Thee, Mother, we are relieved from the great burden of life, and taste true freedom and peace. Sincere self-giving and devotion to Thee, Mother, brings such a joy as has no parallel in the lower life of the senses.

The more we advance in sadhana, the more we grow in purity and peace, in light and harmony, in power and joy; every step we take brings its own reward; even a little of it delivers us from great sorrow and sin. Thus, we advance to the glories of the divine life.